词汇提示

1.legacy 遗产

2.bequeathed 遗赠

3.blunt 减弱

4.slumbered 睡

5.apathy 冷漠

6.categorically 绝对的

7.meek 温顺的

8.totalitarian 极权主义的

9.yoke 枷锁

10.speculation 投机

11.intrigue 阴谋 

原文

Vaclav Havel: 'Contamination of morality' (2)

Why do I say this?

It would be very unreasonable to understand the sad legacy of the last forty years as something alien, which some distant relative bequeathed us.

On the contrary, we have to accept this legacy as a sin we committed against ourselves.

If we accept it as such, we will understand that it is up to us all, and up to us only, to do something about it.

We cannot blame the previous rulers for everything, not only because it would be untrue but also because it could blunt the duty that each of us faces today,namely, the obligation to act independently, freely, reasonably, and quickly.

Let us not be mistaken: the best government in the world, the best parliament and the best president, cannot achieve much on their own.

And it would also be wrong to expect a general remedy from them only.

Freedom and democracy include participation and therefore responsibility from us all.

If we realize this, then all the horrors that the new Czechoslovak democracy inherited will cease to appear so terrible.

If we realize this, hope will return to our hearts.

In the effort to rectify matters of common concern, we have something to lean on.

The recent period - and in particular,the last six weeks of our peaceful revolution -has shown the enormous human,moral, and spiritual potential and civic culture that slumbered in our society under the enforced mask of apathy.

Whenever someone categorically claimed that we were this or that, I always objected that society is a very mysterious creature and that it is not wise to trust only the face it presents to you.

I am happy that I was not mistaken.

Everywhere in the world people wonder where those meek, humiliated,skeptical, and seemingly cynical citizens of Czechoslovakia found the marvelous strength to shake from their shoulders in several weeks and in a decent and peaceful way the totalitarian yoke.

And let us ask: from where did the young people who never knew another system take their desire for truth, their love of free thought, their political as,their civic courage and civic prudence?

How did it happen that their parents- the very generation that had been considered as lost - joined them?

How is it possible that so many people immediately knew what to do and, none of them needed any advice or instruction?

Masaryk based his politics on morality.

Let us try in a new time and in a new way to restore this concept of politics.

Let us teach ourselves and others that politics should be an expression of a desire to contribute to the happiness of the community rather than of a need to cheat or rape the community.

Let us teach ourselves and others that politics can be not only the art of the possible, especially if this means the art of speculation, calculation, intrigue,secret deals, and pragmatic maneuvering,but that it can even be the art of the impossible, namely, the art of improving ourselves and the world...

翻译

瓦茨拉夫·哈维尔:“道德的污染”(2)

我为什么这么说?
把过去四十年的悲惨遗产理解为某种陌生的东西，是某个远亲留给我们的，这是非常不合理的。
相反，我们必须接受这一遗产是我们对自己犯下的罪。
如果我们这样接受它，我们就会明白，我们所有人都有责任，也只有我们有责任对此采取行动。
我们不能把一切都归咎于前任统治者，不仅因为这是不真实的，而且因为它会削弱我们今天每个人所面临的责任、独立、自由、合理和迅速行动的义务。
让我们不要误解:世界上最好的政府、最好的议会和最好的总统，单凭自己的力量是无法取得很大成就的。
而且，仅仅指望从他们那里得到普遍的补救也是错误的。
自由和民主包括参与，因此也包括我们所有人的责任。
如果我们认识到这一点，那么新的捷克斯洛伐克民主所继承的一切恐怖将不再显得那么可怕。
如果我们意识到这一点，希望就会重新回到我们的心中。
在纠正共同关心的问题的努力中，我们是有依靠的。
最近一段时期，特别是我们和平革命的最后六个星期，显示了我们社会中巨大的人性、道德和精神潜力和公民文化，它们被强加在冷漠的面具下沉睡着。
每当有人明确地宣称我们是这样或那样时，我总是反对说，社会是一种非常神秘的生物，只相信它呈现给你的面孔是不明智的。
我很高兴我没有弄错。
世界各地的人们都想知道，那些温顺、受辱、怀疑和看似愤世嫉俗的捷克斯洛伐克公民，在几周内，以一种体面而和平的方式，从他们的肩膀上摆脱了极权主义的枷锁。
让我们问一下:那些从不了解另一种制度的年轻人，他们对真理的渴望、对自由思想的热爱、他们的政治抱负、他们的公民勇气和公民审慎，是从哪里来的?
他们的父母——被认为是迷失的一代——是如何加入他们的呢?
怎么可能这么多人马上就知道该怎么做，而且他们都不需要任何建议或指导?
马萨里克把他的政治建立在道德之上。
让我们尝试在一个新的时代，以一种新的方式，恢复这一政治概念。
让我们教育自己和他人，政治应该是一种为社会幸福做出贡献的愿望的表达，而不是欺骗或强奸社会的需要。
让我们教导自己和他人，政治不仅可以是可能的艺术，特别是如果这意味着投机、计算、阴谋、秘密交易和务实操作的艺术，而且它甚至可以是不可能的艺术，即改善我们自己和世界的艺术……