散文佳作108篇 第73期:Hate(Excerpt) 仇恨（節(jié)選）

仇 恨(節(jié)選)

Hendrik Willem Van Loon

亨德里克·威廉·房龍

Suddenly the war was over, and Hitler was captured and brought to Amsterdam. A militarytribunal condemned him to death. But how should he die? To shoot or hang him seemed tooquick, too merciful. Then someone uttered what was in everybody’s mind: the man who hadcaused such incredible suffering should be burned to death.

戰(zhàn)爭忽然結(jié)束，希特勒抓到了，押解到阿姆斯特丹。軍事法庭判他死刑?？稍趺磦€(gè)死法?槍斃了吧，上絞刑架吧，都未免死的太快、太便宜了他。后來，不知是誰說出了大家的心里話：此人造成的苦難簡直令人難以置信，應(yīng)該把他燒死。

“But,” objected one judge, “our biggest public square in Amsterdam holds only 10,000 people,and 7,000,000 Dutch men, women and children will want to be there to curse him during hisdying moments.”

“可是，”有一名法官不贊成，“我們阿姆斯特丹最大的廣場也只能容納萬把人，可他要死了，到時(shí)候男男女女，少小娃子，是荷蘭人誰不想上前去咒他一句，總得有700萬人啊。”

Then another judge had an idea. Hitler should be burned at the stake, but the wood was to beignited by the explosion of a handful of gunpowder set off by a long fuse which should start inRotterdam and follow the main road to Amsterdam by way of Delft, The Hague, Leiden andHaarlem. Thus millions of people crowding the wide avenues which connect those cities couldwatch the fuse burn its way northward to Herr Hitler’s funeral pyre.

于是又一名法官出了個(gè)點(diǎn)子，希特勒應(yīng)該綁在火刑架上燒死，不過木柴要拿一把火藥來點(diǎn)著，火藥用一根長引線來引爆，引線應(yīng)該從鹿特丹牽起，然后沿著主干公路，走德爾夫特、海牙、萊登、哈勒姆，再接到阿姆斯特丹。這樣，千家萬戶平民百姓，簇?fù)碓谶B接這幾座城市的寬闊大道上，都可以一睹這根引線由南向北一路燃去，直到把為希特勒閣下舉行火葬的柴火堆點(diǎn)著。

A plebiscite was taken as to whether this was a fitting punishment. There were 4,981,076 yeasand one nay. The nay was voted by a man who preferred that Hitler be pulled to pieces by fourhorses.

如此懲辦是否妥當(dāng)，還特地舉行了一次公民投票。計(jì)有4981076票贊成，一票反對。投反對票者提出，應(yīng)對希特勒處以四馬分尸。

At last the great day came. The ceremony commenced at four o’clock on a June morning. Themother of three sons who had been shot by the Nazis for an act of sabotage they did notcommit set fire to the fuse while a choir sang a solemn hymn of gratitude. Then the peopleburst forth into a shout of triumph.

這個(gè)盛大的日子終于來臨6月的一天，清晨4時(shí)整，葬儀開始。有一位母親，她的3個(gè)兒子都叫納粹殺害了，說是犯有莫須有的破壞行為。如今引線就由她來點(diǎn)燃，這時(shí)唱詩班唱起了一首莊嚴(yán)的感恩贊美詩。接著人群里爆發(fā)出一陣勝利的歡呼。

The spark slowly made its way from Rotterdam to Delft, and on toward the great square inAmsterdam. People had come from every part of the country. Special seats had been providedfor the aged and the lame and the relatives of murdered hostages.

火花從鹿特丹慢慢燃到德爾夫特，往前再奔阿姆斯特丹的廣場。全國四面八方都來了人。上年紀(jì)的、有殘疾的、遇害人質(zhì)的親屬，都備有專席接待。

Hitler, clad in a long yellow shirt, had been chained to the stake. He preserved a stoicalsilence until a little boy climbed upon the pile of wood surrounding the former Fuhrer andplaced there a placard which read, “This is the world’s greatest murderer.” This so aggravatedHitler’s pent-up feelings that he burst forth into one of his old harangues.

希特勒身穿黃色長衫，已經(jīng)被鎖鏈拴在了火刑柱上。他始終保持自制，默不作聲，直到有個(gè)小男孩爬上這位元首身邊的柴堆，貼上一張告示，寫的是：“本人乃蓋世元兇。”這下可激發(fā)了希特勒憋在心里的情緒，他居然故伎重演，破口大罵起來。

The crowd gaped, for it was a grotesque sight to see this little man ranting away just as if hewere addressing his followers. Then a terrific howl of derision silenced him.

觀眾都傻了眼：這么個(gè)小小人物竟然大放厥詞，活像是在對他的徒子徒孫訓(xùn)話，真是一大奇觀，好不滑稽。接著是驚天動(dòng)地的吼聲一片，嘲笑四起，把他鎮(zhèn)住了。

Now came the great moment of the day. About three o’clock in the afternoon the sparkreached the outskirts of Amsterdam. Suddenly there was a roll of drums. Then, with anemotion such as they had never experienced before, the people sang the Wilhelmus, thenational anthem. Hitler, now ashen-gray, futilely strained at his chains.

最隆重的時(shí)刻到了，下午3點(diǎn)鐘光景，火花燃到了阿姆斯特丹的效區(qū)。剎時(shí)間鼓聲震天。接著，人們懷著從來沒有這么激動(dòng)的心情，唱起了國歌《威爾海爾慕斯》。希特勒這時(shí)面如死灰，枉自在鎖鏈里掙扎。

When the Wilhelmus came to an end the spark was only a few feet from the gunpowder; fivemore minutes and Hitler would die a horrible death. The crowd broke forth in a shout of hate. Aminute went by. Another minute. Silence returned. Now the fuse had only a few inches to go.And at that moment the incredible happened.

國歌唱畢，火花離火藥只有幾英尺了，再過5分鐘，希特勒就不得好死了。觀眾仇恨心切，一下子迸發(fā)出來，喊聲大作。一分鐘過去了，又過了一分鐘，重新安靜下來。眼看引線只剩下幾英寸了。就在此時(shí)此刻，偏偏出了不可思議的事。

A wizened little man wriggled through the line of soldiers standing guard. Everybody knew whohe was. Two of his sons had been machine-gunned to death by parachute troops; his wife andthree daughters had perished in Rotterdam’s holocaust. Since then, the poor fellow had seemeddeprived of reason, wandering aimlessly about and supported by public charity—an object ofuniversal pity.

有個(gè)一身干癟的小個(gè)子男人，拐彎抹角混過了執(zhí)行警戒的士兵隊(duì)列。誰都知道他。他有兩個(gè)兒子，叫傘兵部隊(duì)拿機(jī)槍掃死了;他的妻子，3個(gè)女兒，都在鹿特丹的大屠殺中殺喪生。從那時(shí)起，這個(gè)可憐的人就好像一直神志不清，他無所事事，到處流浪，全靠社會(huì)上的慈善團(tuán)體養(yǎng)著——一個(gè)人人見了都同情的人物。

But what he did now made the crowd turn white with anger. For he deliberately stamped uponthe fuse and put it out.

可眼下他的舉動(dòng)觸犯了眾怒，大家臉都?xì)獾盟?，原來他特意跑來踩那根引線，把火踩滅了。

“Kill him! Kill him!” the mob shouted. But the old man quietly faced the menacing populace.Slowly he lifted both arms toward heaven. Then in a voice charged with fury, he said:

“殺了他!殺了他!”眾人叫嚷起來。只見老人面對著殺氣騰騰的群眾，神色從容。他緩緩地朝天舉起雙臂。接著，他憤恨地說：

“Now let us do it all over again!”

“咱們再從頭點(diǎn)起來!”