Freedom is Worth the Risk 为了自由，冒险又何妨

Freedom is Worth the Risk

埃尔默·戴维斯

The philosopher George Santayana, at the age of eighty-eight, admitted that things no longer seemed so simple to him as they did fifty years ago.

哲学家乔治·桑塔亚那在八十八岁高龄时坦言在他眼里事物不再像五十年前那么简单。

Even those of us who have not reached Mr. Santayana's age must share that feeling; but we must act by the best light we have, hoping that the light will grow brighter- and we have reason to hope it will, so long as men remain free to think. The most important thing in the world, I believe, is the freedom of the mind. All progress, and all other freedoms, spring from that.

我们当中那些即使未到桑塔亚那先生那个年纪的人一定也有同感，但我们必须在最充足的光线下活动，并且希望光线会更明亮——只要人类仍然有思想的自由，我们有理由希望它会更明亮。我相信世上最重要的事情是思想的自由，所有的进步及其他一切自由皆源于此。

It is a dangerous freedom, but this is a dangerous world. You cannot think right without running the risk of thinking wrong; but for any evils that may come from thinking, the cure is more thinking. Over much of the world, at present, the freedom of the mind is suppressed.

这种自由是危险的，但这个世界本身就危险。不冒犯错误的风险就无法正确地思考，但是对于任何思想可能带来的邪恶，治疗的药方是进一步思考。目前世界上许多地方思想的自由受到压制。

We have got to preserve it here, despite the efforts of very earnest men to suppress it—men who say, and perhaps believe, that they are actuated by patriotism, but who are doing their best to destroy the liberties which above all are what the United States of America has meant, to its people and to humanity.

我们必须在这里保留思想的自由，即使有些一本正经的人竭力遏制它——这些人口口声声说他们这样做是基于爱国，也许他们真这样想，但他们却在竭尽所能摧毁自由，而拥有自由正是美利坚合众国对它的民众和整个人类的首要意义之所在。

This is perhaps a less personal statement than most of those in "This I believe". If so, it is because a man of my age, in his relation to himself, runs mostly on momentum; and it is a little difficult to look back and figure out what give him the push, or the various pushes.

这种观点也许不像这个节目大多数观点那样带个人感情色彩，如果真是如此，则是因为一个人到我这个年纪大多靠冲动处理与自己的关系，让他回过头来想清楚是什么激励了他，是有点困难的。

What he has to consider now is what he can contribute to the present, or the future, as a member of a very peculiar species—possibly even a unique species—which has immense capacities for both good and evil, as it has amply demonstrated during its recorded history.

现在他要考虑的是作为一个非常特殊的种群（也许甚至是独一无二的种群）的一员，能为现在或将来做出什么贡献。历史记载已充分证明这一种群无论行善还是作恶，能力都很强。

That history to date is ---barring some unpredictable cosmic disaster---the barest beginning of what may lie ahead of us. But we happen to live in one of the turning points of history—by no means the first, as it will not be the last; and the future of mankind will be more than usually affected by what we do in this generation.

那需要标注日期的历史阻止了一些不可预知的宇宙灾难，也许是摆在我们眼前的最原初的开端，而我们碰巧身处历史转折点之一——绝不是第一个也不会是最后一个；我们这一代的所作所为将对人类的未来造成较大的影响。

What should we do? Well, first of all and above all, preserve freedom, and extend it if we can. Beyond that I don't know how better to define our business than to say we should try to promote an increase of decency. Decency in the sense of respect for other people; of taking no advantage; of never saying,"This man must be miserable in order that I may be comfortable."

我们该怎么办？嗯，首先也是最重要的是保留自由，尽我们所能拓展自由。除此之外，除了说我们应该努力促使人们不断端正行为之外，我不知道该如何更好地说明我们的这一事业。行为端正意味着尊重他人、不利用人、永远不说：“得让这个人吃些苦头我心里才舒服。”

This is not as easy as it looks; it's impossible to exist without hurting somebody, however unintentionally. But there are limits. I do not believe that human life is accurately represented by Viggeland's famous sculptured column in Oslo, of people climbing over one another and trampling one anther down. The Nazis, when they occupied Norway, greatly admired that sculpture.

这看起来容易，做起来难，因为我们不可能在生活中不伤害他人，无论这种伤害多么无心，但是伤害是有限度的。我不相信挪威奥斯陆市维格兰雕塑公园著名的“生命之柱”上人们从别人身上爬过去再把人往下踩的情景准确地表现了人类的生活。纳粹在占领挪威时对那根石柱顶礼膜拜。

They would. But the rest of us can do better than that; many men and women in every age have done better, and are doing it still.

他们会照此行事，可我们其他人的行为可以比他们有人性，每个时代的众多男男女女都是如此，现在仍然如此。

The Scottish scientist J.B.S.Haldane once said that the people who can make a positive contribution to human progress are few; that most of us have to be satisfied with merely staving off the inroads of chaos.

苏格兰科学家约翰·伯登·桑德斯·霍尔丹曾说能为人类发展做出积极贡献的人寥寥无几，大多数人只能满足于避开乱世的侵扰。能那样已经够难了，尤其是当今这个动荡不安的时代。

That is a hard enough job—especially in these times, when those inroads are more threatening that they have been for a long time past. But if we can stave them off, and keep the field clear for the creative intelligence, we can feel that we have done our part toward helping the human race get ahead.