我登上了山顶
I’ve Been to the Mountaintop
马丁·路德·金
By Martin Luther King
真的很感谢你们，我的朋友们。
Thank you very kindly, my friends.
刚才我听着拉尔夫·艾伯纳西的一番颇具说服力的慷慨介绍，同时自忖了一番，我感到很疑惑，他刚才说的是谁啊？能听到你最亲近的朋友和伙伴的赞扬，的确是件非常愉快的事情。而拉尔夫·艾伯纳西是我在这个世界上最好的朋友。
As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It’s always good to have your closest friend and associate to say something good about you. And Ralph Abernathy is the best friend that I have in the world.
即便是在有暴风警告的情况下，今晚大家仍然能来这里，我真的很高兴。这表明了你们不管发生什么事情都要将运动坚定地进行下去的决心。现在孟菲斯就出了些问题，这个世界也在接连不断地出问题。
I’m delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow. Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world.
要知道，如果我站在时间的起点上，可以以一种鸟瞰全景的眼光来浏览整个人类社会的历史，而全能的主对我说：“马丁·路德·金，你想生活在哪个时代呢？”——我会让我的灵魂飞往埃及，去看看，在那里神之子离开埃及黑暗的土牢，并一路跟随他们宏大庄严的迁徙，或者甚至跟着他们一路跨过红海，跋涉过蛮荒之地前往主所允诺的福地。尽管这场景很壮观，但我不愿就此打住。我会接着来到希腊，让思绪飞到奥林匹斯山，看看在帕台农神庙里，柏拉图（注：古希腊哲学家，代表作《理想国》)，亚里士多德（注：古希腊哲学家），苏格拉底（注：古希腊哲学家），欧里庇得斯(注：希腊三大悲剧家之一，代表作《希波吕托斯》、《美狄亚》)，阿里斯托芬(注：古希腊诗人、喜剧作家，享有“喜剧之父”的美名)齐聚一堂，看看他们在帕台农神庙里一起讨论伟大而不朽的真理（或者说“实在”的各个议题）。但我仍不会停住。我要继续前行，甚至是来到罗马帝国的全盛时代。我要看看在多位君主和领袖的管理下，这里所取得的发展。但我仍不会在此停留。我甚至还要到文艺复兴时期去看一看。快速地浏览一遍文艺复兴为人类生活中的文化和美学所带来的新的气象。但我仍不会就此停步。我还要去那个人所处的时代，那个我以他的名字命名的人所处的时代，再走一遍他所走的路，看看马丁·路德将《九十五条论纲》钉在维滕贝格大学的教堂大门上。
And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, “Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?” —I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God’s children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn’t stop there. I would move on by Greece, and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon. And I would watch them around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality. But I wouldn’t stop there.I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn’t stop there. I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and aesthetic life of man. But I wouldn’t stop there. I would even go by the way that the man for whom I’m named had his habitat. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church in Wittenberg.
但我还不愿停住。我还要继续穿行到1863年，看看那个犹豫不决的、名字叫做亚伯拉罕·林肯、最终作出决定必须签署《解放宣言》的总统。但我还不能停住。我还要去30年代早期看看，看看那个正努力解决他的国家的银行破产问题的人，最终信心满满地呼喊道：“除了恐惧本身，我们没有什么好恐惧的。”但我还不愿就此留在这里。莫名其妙地，我会对主说：“如果您允许我在20世纪的后半段再活几年的话，我就很满足了。”
But I wouldn’t stop there.I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating President by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. But I wouldn’t stop there.I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation. And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but “fear itself ”. But I wouldn’t stop there.Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, “If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy.”
呃，这真是很奇怪的要求啊，因为任谁都知道，当今世界无处不在的是混乱骚动。而这个国家从内部出了问题，麻烦遍地，混乱无处不在，这真是奇怪的说法呀！但是无论如何我知道，只有在天足够黑的时候，星光才更加美丽。
Now that’s a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around. That’s a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.
我能看到上帝在20世纪所做的努力，然而，人类却以一种很奇怪的方式予以抵消予以回应着——这个世界确实出了问题。越来越多的人站起来了，今天不管他们在哪里集会，不论是在南非的约翰内斯堡，还是在肯尼亚的首都内罗毕，还是在加纳的首都阿克拉，纽约城，还是在佐治亚州的首府亚特兰大，还是在密西西比州的首府杰克逊，还是田纳西州的孟菲斯——他们的呼喊总是一样的——“我们要自由！”
And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding—something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee—the cry is always the same— “We want to be free.”
我很高兴能够活在当下的另外一个原因是，我们已经到了不得不正视那些，在整个人类历史过程中，人们一直试图解决而没能解决的问题的时候了，他们没能解决那些难题是因为他们没有被逼到不得不做的地步。而如今我们要生存的话就必须解决这些问题。已经有好几年了，人类一直在谈论战争与和平。但是现在仅仅是谈论已经远远不够了。在当今世界，已经不再是在暴力与非暴力之间的选择了，现在的问题是要么非暴力，要么一起毁灭。这就是我们今天的处境。并且，人权改革上也是如此，如果我们再不采取行动，而且尽快地，使这个世界上的有色人种摆脱长年的贫穷、长年的痛苦、长年的被忽视的话，那我们所处的世界必定会走向末日。所以，我很高兴主让我降生在这样一个时代，可以亲眼目睹这个时代所有的发生。而且，我也很高兴他让我来到了孟菲斯，我还记得——我还记得以前，那个时候黑人们四处奔走，然而，正如拉尔夫经常说的，那个时候黑人根本就不成气候，他们的游行是无关痛痒的，但是那样的时代已经彻底过去了，我们现在已经今时不同往日了，我们决心在主的国度里争取我们应得的权利，这也是我们所做的所有事的终极目的。我们并不是要和什么人进行任何的消极的抗争以及进行任何消极的争吵。我们只是想说我们要做人，我们只是决心要做真正的国民。我们只是想说我们都是主的子民，正因为我们都是主的子民，所以我们不要在压迫下活下去。那么在当今这样一个伟大的历史时期，我说的所有这些意味着什么呢？意味着我们得团结在一起，我们要团结在一起而且要保持统一。要知道，在埃及，当法老想要延长他的奴隶统治时，他有他钟爱的一套手段。是什么呢？他让奴隶们相互搏斗，但是一旦奴隶们聚在一处，法老的宫廷就出了事，他奴役奴隶的日子也就到了头。也就是说一旦奴隶们团结起来，奴隶制度的终结也就开始了。现在就让我们团结起来吧。
