英國語文第六冊(雙語):人類對動物的殘忍(1)

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LESSON 34 Cruelty to animals

第三十四課 人類對動物的殘忍

Man is the direct agent of a wide and continual distress to the lower animals; and the question is, "Can any method be devised for its alleviation?" On this subject that scriptural image is strikingly realized: "the whole [inferior] creation groaning and travailing together in pain" because of him. It signifies naught to the substantive amount of the suffering, whether it be prompted by the hardness of his heart, or only permitted through the heedlessness of his mind. In either way it holds true, not only that the arch-devourer Man stands preminent over the fiercest children of the wilderness as an animal of prey, but that for his lordly and luxurious appetite, as well as for his service or merest curiosity and amusement, Nature must be ransacked throughout all her elements. Rather than forego the veriest gratifications of vanity, he will wring them from the anguish of wretched and ill-fated creatures; and whether for the indulgence of his barbaric sensuality or his barbaric splendour, he can stalk paramount over the sufferings of that prostrate creation which has been placed beneath his feet.

人類是低等動物廣泛而深遠(yuǎn)的痛苦的代名詞，問題是：有無辦法可以緩解？《圣經(jīng)》形象顯然已對該問題有所意識：人類導(dǎo)致所有[下等]造物在痛苦中呻吟勞作。而對于它們所遭受的巨大痛苦，人類亦或始于內(nèi)心的殘酷，亦或純屬神經(jīng)大條，卻假裝視而不見。無論怎么看這都是事實(shí)。因?yàn)槿祟愂莾?yōu)越的吞噬者，為了填飽自己那傲嬌貪婪的胃，為了受到服務(wù)，亦或僅被好奇和享樂驅(qū)使，人類會像猛獸般撲向荒野中最兇猛的子女，將自然萬物洗劫一空。人類用不幸之生物的痛苦來滿足自己的虛榮心，而這樣的虛榮心卻永遠(yuǎn)得不到滿足。為了放縱自己無法抑制的殘暴帶來的快感，人類將絕望痛苦的萬物踩在腳下，趾高氣揚(yáng)。

These sufferings are really felt. The beasts of the field are not so many automata without sensation, so constructed as to assume all the natural expressions of it. Nature hath not practised this universal deception upon our species. These poor animals just look, and tremble, and give forth the very indications of suffering that we do. Theirs is the distinct cry of pain. Theirs is the unequivocal physiognomy of pain. They put on the same aspect of terror on the demonstrations of a menaced blow. They exhibit the same distortions of agony after the infliction of it. The bruise, or the burn, or the fracture, or the deep incision, or the fierce encounter with one of equal or of superior strength, affects them similarly to ourselves. Their blood circulates as ours. They have pulsations in various parts of the body as we have. They sicken, and they grow feeble with age, and, finally, they die, just as we do.

痛苦是真真切切的。大地萬物不是無感的機(jī)器，它們自創(chuàng)造之時便具備所有的自然的情感表達(dá)。自然從未用這種普遍適應(yīng)的騙術(shù)欺騙我們這些物種。這些可憐的小家伙兒只能無助地忘著、顫抖著、對于人類給自己造成的傷害表現(xiàn)出種種跡象。它們凄厲地哭喊，它們猙獰的表情，無不在闡述著自己遭受的巨大痛苦。在面對威脅時它們同樣恐懼；當(dāng)遭受極大痛苦時它們同樣表情扭曲；瘀傷、燒傷、骨折、深切口、與同等或更強(qiáng)大之物的激烈交鋒也同樣會使它們受到影響，就像我們?nèi)祟愐粯?。它們的血液和我們的血液一樣循環(huán)流動，它們不同的身體部位也有著和我們一樣的跳動著的脈搏，它們會生病，會隨著年齡的增長變得虛弱，最后，它們會和我們一樣死去。