These developments should not surprise any student of history. Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The yearning for freedom eventually manifests itself. The Bible tells the thrilling story of how Moses stood in Pharaoh's court centuries ago and cried, "Let my people go." This was an opening chapter in a continuing story. The present struggle in the United States is a later chapter in the same story. Something within has reminded the Negro of his birthright of freedom, and something without has reminded him that it can be gained. Consciously or unconsciously, he has been caught up by the spirit of the times, and with his black brothers of Africa and brown and yellow brothers in Asia, South America and the Caribbean, the United States Negro is moving with a sense of great urgency toward the promised land of racial justice.
学历史的人不会惊诧于这些发展。被压迫者不可能永远被压迫。对自由的渴望最终必然会表现出来。《圣经》里讲到过一个激动人心的故事，很多世纪以前，摩西站在法老的宫殿里，大声说道:“让我的人民走。”这是一个连续性故事的开篇第一章。今天在美国的斗争是这同一故事的后续篇章。黑人内心的某种东西提醒他自由是与生俱来的权利，而外面世界发生的事情提醒他这种自由是可以得到的。不管他是否意识到，他已经深受时代精神的影响。美国黑人和他非洲的黑人兄弟们，和亚洲、南美洲和加軌比海的棕色和黄色兄弟们一起，迫切地奔向种族平等的人间乐土。
Nothing could be more tragic than for men to live in these revolutionary times and fail to achieve the new attitudes and the new mental outlooks that the new situation demands. In Washington Irving's familiar story of Rip Van Winkle, the one thing that we usually remember is that Rip slept twenty years. There is another important point, however, that is almost always overlooked. It was the sign on the inn in the little town on the Hudson from which Rip departed and scaled the mountain for his long sleep. When he went up, the sign had a picture of King George III of England. When he came down, twenty years later, the sign had a picture of George Washington. As he looked at the picture of the first President of the United States, Rip was confused, flustered and lost. He knew not who Washington was. The most striking thing about this story is not that Rip slept twenty years, but that he slept through a revolution that would alter the course of human history.
对于生活在这样的革命时代的人来说，如果不能具有新形势所要求的新态度和新观念的话，那就是最大的悲剧了。在华盛顿•欧文著名的小说《瑞普•凡•温克尔》里，我们一般都记得瑞普一睡就睡了二十年。但还有一个几乎总是被忽略掉的关键点，那就是哈得孙河边小镇上小酒馆挂的招牌，瑞普当初就是从这里出发去爬山，结果昏睡了那么久的。当他上山的时候，那个招牌上挂着英国国王乔治三世的照片，而当他二十年后从山上下来时，上面已是乔治·华盛顿的照片了。望着这位美国第一任总统的照片，瑞普感到困惑、迷茫、不知所措。他不知道华盛顿是何方神圣。这个故事里令人惊奇的不是瑞普昏睡了二十年，而是他这一睡，睡过去一场会改变人类历史进程的革命。
来源:可可英语 http://www.kekenet.com/daxue/201901/576371.shtml
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