道格拉斯·麦克阿瑟西点军校告别演说

Sylvanus Thayer Award Acceptance Address ( 道格拉斯 麦克阿瑟)

"Duty,Honor, Country" 责任、荣誉、国家

As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, "Where are you bound for, General?" And when I replied, "West Point," he remarked,"Beautiful place. Have you ever been there before?"

今天早晨，当我走出旅馆时，看门人问道：“将军，您上哪去?”一听说我要去西点，他说：“那是个好地方，您从前去过吗?”

No humanbeing could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this [Thayer Award].Coming from a profession I have served so long, and a people I have loved sowell, it fills me with an emotion I cannot express. But this award is notintended primarily to honor a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code-- the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land ofculture and ancient descent. That is the animation of this medallion. For alleyes and for all time, it is an expression of the ethics of the Americansoldier. That I should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arousesa sense of pride and yet of humility which will be with me always.

这样的荣誉是没有人不深受感动的。长期以来，我从事这个职业，又如此热爱这个民族，能获得这样的荣誉简直使我无法表达我的感情。然而，这种奖赏主要并不意味着对个人的尊崇，而是象征一个伟大的道德准则——捍卫这块可爱土地上的文化与古老传统的那些人的行为与品质的准则。这就是这个大奖章的意义。无论现在还是将来，它都是美国军人道德标准的一种体现。我一定要遵循这个标准，结合崇高的理想，唤起自豪感，同时始终保持谦虚……

Duty,Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought tobe, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to buildcourage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to belittle cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.

责任、荣誉、国家。这三个神圣的口号，庄严的指出你们要做的，你们能做的，你们将做的。这是你们振作的起点，当勇气快消失的时候，由此建立起勇气;当信心快失去的时候，由此恢复起信心;当希望将渺茫的时候，由此点燃起希望。

Unhappily,I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, northat brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.

懊恼的是，我既没有流利的词句，诗人的幻想，又缺少生动的比喻，来向大家说明它们的意义。

Theunbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase.Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, everytroublemaker, and I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely differentcharacter, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery andridicule.

没有信仰的人们会说：这不过是空话，不过是口号，不过是华丽的词藻而已。每一个徒尚空谈的人，每一个政客，每一个犬儒之徒，每一个伪君子，每一个惹事生非的人，还有，我很遗憾的说，一些完全与我们不同品格的人，将试图把它们贬损到甚至虚伪与可笑的程度。

Butthese are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. Theymold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense. Theymake you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to faceyourself when you are afraid. They teach you to be proud and unbending inhonest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words foractions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur ofdifficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassionon those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to havea heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forgethow to weep; to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be seriousyet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you willremember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, themeekness of true strength. They give you a temper of the will, a quality of theimagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life,a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an appetite foradventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, theunfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teachyou in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.

但是，它们却自有其建树。它们建立了你们的人格。它们将你们陶冶得足以担当未来的任务作为保护这个国家的卫士。它们使你们在软弱时能够坚强不屈，畏惧时能够有勇气面对自己。它们教你在公平的失败中要自豪而不屈，成功时却要谦逊而温和;实践力行而不徒尚空谈;面对困难和挑战的刺激与压迫而不寻求逸乐;学着怎样在风雨中站立起来，却同情那些跌倒的人们;要自制而後制人;心灵要纯洁，目标要高尚;学着欢笑，但永不忘记如何哭泣;勇往直前，但不忽略过去;举止庄重，但不过份严肃;要谦冲为怀，才能记住真正伟大的单纯;要有真知的头脑，也要有实力的谦和。它们可以给你们一种稳健的意志，幻想的气质，强烈的感情，生命的潜力，克服怯懦的优越气势，舍弃逸乐而偏爱冒险的慾求。它们在你心里建立起好奇的意识，永不熄灭的进取的希望，以及生命的愉悦与启示。它们就这样教你作为一个军官和君子。

And whatsort of soldiers are those you are to lead? Are they reliable? Are they brave?Are they capable of victory? Their story is known to all of you. It is thestory of the American man-at-arms. My estimate of him was formed on thebattlefield many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then asI regard him now -- as one of the world's noblest figures, not only as one ofthe finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless. His nameand fame are the birthright of every American citizen. In his youth andstrength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give.

你要统率哪一种士兵呢?他们可靠吗?他们勇敢吗?他们能获胜吗?他们的故事，你们都知道。那是美国战士的故事。我对他们的印象，建立於许多许多年以前的战场上，而且从未改变。他们是世界上最高尚的人物，过去我认为如此，现在我仍认为如此;不仅认为他们是最优秀的军事人员，同时也认为他们是最纯洁的。他们的名望与声誉，是每一个美国公民与生俱来的权利。在他们年轻力壮的时候，他们奉献出了人类所能奉献的热爱与忠诚。

He needsno eulogy from me or from any other man. He has written his own history andwritten it in red on his enemy's breast. But when I think of his patience underadversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I amfilled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs tohistory as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. Hebelongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principlesof liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and byhis achievements. In 20 campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousandcampfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patrioticself-abnegation, and that invincible determination which have carved his statuein the hearts of his people. From one end of the world to the other he hasdrained deep the chalice of courage.

他们无需我来褒扬，也不需要别人的赞颂。他们已写下了他们自己的历史，血淋淋的写在敌人的胸膛上……;在二十次战役中，在一百个战场上，在一千次营火里，我曾亲眼看到那永恒的坚毅，那忘我的爱国忠诚，以及那无敌的决心，这些气质已使他们同胞的心上刻下了他们的影像。从天涯到海角，他们曾深深的乾了勇气之杯。

As Ilistened to those songs [of the glee club], in memory's eye I could see thosestaggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs, on many aweary march from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle-deep throughthe mire of shell-shocked roads, to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped,covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home totheir objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God.

每当我听着那些纪念的歌声，我眼中的记忆就浮现，第一次大战中那些蹒跚的行列，背负着潮湿的背包，疲惫的跋涉长途，从落雨的黄昏到细雨的黎明，在弹痕斑斑泥淖四布的道路上淹没了脚踝;凄凉地准备攻击，嘴唇发青，满身泥泞，在风雨中颤抖着，奔向目标，而就有许多人，到上帝的座下接受审判去了。

I do notknow the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. Theydied unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on theirlips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always, for them: Duty, Honor,Country; always their blood and sweat and tears, as we sought the way and thelight and the truth.

我不知他们生时的尊严，但我深知他们死时的荣耀。 他们毫不迟疑的死去，毫不抱怨的死去，满怀信心的死去，口角上仍挂着希望，希望我们继续争取到胜利。他们一直信奉的是：责任、荣誉、国家。总是他们的血汗泪流，为我们开启了道路与光明。

And 20years after, on the other side of the globe, again the filth of murky foxholes,the stench of ghostly trenches, the slime of dripping dugouts; those boilingsuns of relentless heat, those torrential rains of devastating storms; theloneliness and utter desolation of jungle trails; the bitterness of longseparation from those they loved and cherished; the deadly pestilence oftropical disease; the horror of stricken areas of war; their resolute anddetermined defense, their swift and sure attack, their indomitable purpose,their complete and decisive victory -- always victory. Always through thebloody haze of their last reverberating shot, the vision of gaunt, ghastly menreverently following your password of: Duty, Honor, Country.

而二十年後，在地球的另一边，再度是肮脏的散兵坑，恶臭的阴沟，泥泞的战壕，灼热的太阳，倾盆的豪雨，森林小径的寂寞与全然隔绝，那些被爱着的人们长期分离的痛苦，热带致命的疫疠，战区袭击的恐怖。他们那坚强的防御，他们那迅速而准确的攻击，他们那不屈的意志，他们那完全而确定的胜利─总会胜利，总是经由最後反击流血的朦胧。那些憔悴苍白的人们，虔敬的追随着你们的口号：责任、荣誉、国家。

The codewhich those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand thetest of any ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind.Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are fromthe things that are wrong.

Thesoldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act ofreligious training -- sacrifice.

Inbattle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divineattributes which his Maker gave when he created man in his own image. Nophysical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the Divine helpwhich alone can sustain him.

Howeverhorrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offerand to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.

You nowface a new world -- a world of change. The thrust into outer space of thesatellite, spheres, and missiles mark the beginning of another epoch in thelong story of mankind. In the five or more billions of years the scientiststell us it has taken to form the earth, in the three or more billion years ofdevelopment of the human race, there has never been a more abrupt or staggeringevolution. We deal now not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitabledistances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe. We are reaching outfor a new and boundless frontier.

你们现在面对着一个新的世界，一个变动的世界。卫星和飞弹的进入太空，标明了悠久的人类历史中另一个时代的开始—太空纪元。科学家告诉我们，费了五十亿或者更多的年月，才形成了地球;在三十亿或者更多的年月中，才发展出了人类，再没有比现在的进展更突然而更巨大的了!我们现在不仅要处理世界上的事物，同时要探讨宇宙中无限的距离与尚未发现的秘密。我们现在正迈向一个没有边际的新境界。

We speakin strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds and tideswork for us; of creating unheard synthetic materials to supplement or evenreplace our old standard basics; to purify sea water for our drink; of miningocean floors for new fields of wealth and food; of disease preventatives toexpand life into the hundreds of years; of controlling the weather for a moreequitable distribution of heat and cold, of rain and shine; of space ships tothe moon; of the primary target in war, no longer limited to the armed forcesof an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations; of ultimate conflictbetween a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetarygalaxy; of such dreams and fantasies as to make life the most exciting of alltime.

我们使用着奇怪的词语，谈着利用宇宙能，谈着呼风唤雨…所谈的战争基本目标，不限於敌人的军队，而同时也包抱敌人的民众在内;谈着人类与另一个星球上邪恶势力的最後衡突;诸如此类的美梦与幻想，已使我们的生命空前的令人振奋。

Andthrough all this welter of change and development, your mission remains fixed,determined, inviolable: it is to win our wars.

在所有这些发展与变化之中，你们的任务仍是不变的，坚定的，神圣的，那就是：打赢我们的战争。

Everythingelse in your professional career is but corollary to this vital dedication. Allother public purposes, all other public projects, all other public needs, greator small, will find others for their accomplishment. But you are the ones whoare trained to fight. Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, thesure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory; that if youlose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your publicservice must be: Duty, Honor, Country.

你们事业中的其他一切，都是为了完成这一重大奉献。所有其他的共同目的，所有其他的共同计划，所有其他的共同需要，不论大的或小的，自会有人完成;但你们却是受训练来作战的。你们的职业是军事，你们的意志是战胜，你们要知道：在战争中，胜利是没有代替品的;如果你们失败，国家就要灭亡;你们服务大众的基本信条就是：责任、荣誉、国家。

Otherswill debate the controversial issues, national and international, which dividemen's minds; but serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war-guardian,as its lifeguard from the raging tides of international conflict, as itsgladiator in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended,guarded, and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of rightand justice.

其他的人，自会去辩论争议性的国内与国际事端。但你们却要沉着的，镇静的，超然的，站在保卫国家的岗位上，在国际纠纷的狂流中作国家的救生员，在战场上作国家的斗士。一个半世纪以来，你们已经保卫了，防御了，护持了它那自由与独立、公理与正义的神圣传统。

Letcivilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government;whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing, indulged in toolong, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown tooarrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by moralsgrown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent;whether our personal liberties are as thorough and complete as they should be.These great national problems are not for your professional participation ormilitary solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in thenight: Duty, Honor, Country.

让文人们去争辩政府措施的良窳，我们国力的衰微，是否由於长期赤字的负累?联邦专制主义者的坐大?权力集团的猖狂?政治的过份腐化?罪恶的过份猖獗?民心的过於低落?租税的过份提高或极端份子的过份狂暴?另外，我们的个人自由是否像应有的那麽确定而完整?这些国家大事，无需你们这一行介入，也不必使用武力解决。路标正如同夜间十倍亮度的灯塔一般，竖立在那里，指引着你们的方向-责任、荣誉、国家。

You arethe leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system ofdefense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation's destinyin their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. The Long Gray Line has neverfailed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki,in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magicwords: Duty, Honor, Country.

你们是将我们整个国防系统纳入一体的操纵杆。从你们的行列中，产生出伟大的将领，在战钟响时，掌握国家的命运，西点军校的同学们从未使我们失望过。如果你们要那样做，就会有一百万个幽灵，穿着草绿色的呢衣，穿着棕色的、蓝色的、灰色的卡其，从白十字架上跳出来，怒吼着喊出神魔般的铭语：责任、荣誉、国家!

Thisdoes not mean that you are war mongers.

这并不是说你们都是好战之徒。

On thecontrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he mustsuffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.

正好相反，军人比别人更祈求和平，因为他们必须承受战争的最深创伤与疤痕。

Butalways in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of allphilosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."

我们的耳际常会响起圣哲柏拉图的名言：「只有死者曾经看到战争的结局。」

Theshadows are lengthening for me. The twilight is here. My days of old havevanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of thingsthat were. Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxedand caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirstyears, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drumsbeating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattleof musketry, the strange, mournful mutter of the battlefield.

我已老耄，黄昏已至。我的老年已快结束，声音与颜色都渐黯淡。它们经由往事的梦境而渐渐消逝。它们的回味是奇美的，有泪水的滋润，也有昨日微笑的抚慰。那时到来，我会急切的听着，听着那迷人的起床号音，听着那遥远的召集鼓声。在我的梦中，我再度听到枪枝的撞击声，步枪的响声，战场上奇异而悲伤的低语。

But inthe evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.

在我梦境的黄昏，我又回到了西点军校。

Alwaysthere echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.

那里总是一再回响着：

Todaymarks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross theriver my last conscious thoughts will be of The Corps, and The Corps, and TheCorps.

今天是我最後一次校阅你们。但是我要你们知道，当我渡过这条河的时候，我的内心深处仍将思念着西点军校的各单位，同学们，同袍们!

I bidyou farewell.

现在我向你们道别了。