The publication of Albert Einstein's private diaries detailing his tour of Asia in the 1920s reveals the theoretical physicist's racist attitudes to the people he met on his travels, particularly the Chinese.
公布的阿爾伯特·愛(ài)因斯坦的個(gè)人日記詳細(xì)紀(jì)錄了他在20世紀(jì)20年代的亞洲之行,這本日記也揭示了這位理論物理學(xué)家對(duì)他旅行途中遇到的人(特別是中國(guó)人)的種族歧視態(tài)度。

Written between October 1922 and March 1923, the diaries see the scientist musing on his travels, science, philosophy and art. In China, the man who once described racism as “a disease of white people” describes the “industrious, filthy, obtuse people” he observes.
這些日記寫(xiě)于1922年10月至1923年3月,紀(jì)錄了這位科學(xué)家對(duì)他的游歷、科學(xué)、哲學(xué)及藝術(shù)的思考。他曾稱(chēng)種族歧視為“白人的一種疾病”,然而,在中國(guó),他卻用種族歧視的態(tài)度來(lái)描述他注意到的“勤勞、骯臟且愚笨的人”。

He notes how the “Chinese don't sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely . Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.”
他提到“中國(guó)人吃飯的時(shí)候不是坐在凳子上而是蹲著,就像歐洲人在茂密的樹(shù)林中放松自己時(shí)的樣子。所有的一切都安靜且拘謹(jǐn)?shù)剡M(jìn)行著。甚至孩子們都無(wú)精打采的,而且看上去傻傻的?!?/div>

Ze'ev Rosenkranz, senior editor of the Einstein Papers Project, said: “I think a lot of comments strike us as pretty unpleasant – what he says about the Chinese in particular.
愛(ài)因斯坦研究項(xiàng)目的高級(jí)編輯澤伊夫·羅森克蘭茨表示:“我覺(jué)得愛(ài)因斯坦的許多評(píng)論都令我們十分震驚,而且很令人不快,特別是他對(duì)中國(guó)人的評(píng)價(jià)。

“They're kind of in contrast to the public image of the great humanitarian icon. I think it's quite a shock to read those and contrast them with his more public statements. He didn't intend them for publication.”
“這些評(píng)論有點(diǎn)與這位偉大的人道主義代表人物的公眾形象不符。我認(rèn)為與他更多的公開(kāi)發(fā)言相比,讀到這些很令人震驚,而他也并未打算公開(kāi)這些?!?/div>

Rosenkranz said that although views like Einstein's were prevalent at the time, they were not universal. “'We have to understand, he was of the zeitgeist , part of the time' – but I think I tried here and there to give a broader context. There were other views out there, more tolerant views,” he said.
羅森克蘭茨表示,雖然像愛(ài)因斯坦那樣的觀點(diǎn)在當(dāng)時(shí)很盛行,但卻并不普遍?!啊覀兊妹靼?,他從一定程度上順應(yīng)了時(shí)代思潮’,但我想盡量給大家呈現(xiàn)一個(gè)更全面的背景。當(dāng)時(shí)社會(huì)上盛行的還有其他觀點(diǎn),一些更寬容的觀點(diǎn)?!?/div>

In his introduction, Rosenkranz writes how it is important to explore how a humanist icon such as Einstein – whose image was once used for a UNHCR campaign with the slogan “A bundle of belongings isn’t the only thing a refugee brings to his new country. Einstein was a refugee” – could have written xenophobic comments about the peoples he encountered.
在他的介紹中,羅森克蘭茨寫(xiě)道,愛(ài)因斯坦的形象曾被用于一次聯(lián)合國(guó)難民活動(dòng)的標(biāo)語(yǔ)中,“一堆行李并非一個(gè)難民能帶給他的新國(guó)家的唯一之物。愛(ài)因斯坦就曾是一名難民”,而探究像他這樣一位人道主義代表人物怎么會(huì)寫(xiě)出這樣仇外的評(píng)論十分重要。

“The answer to this question seems very relevant in today’s world, in which the hatred of the other is so rampant in so many places around the world,” he writes. “It seems that even Einstein sometimes had a very hard time recognising himself in the face of the other.”
“這個(gè)問(wèn)題的答案似乎與當(dāng)前的世界密切相關(guān),在世界各地那么多地區(qū)仇視他人的問(wèn)題都很?chē)?yán)重,”他寫(xiě)道?!吧踔翋?ài)因斯坦有時(shí)候在面對(duì)他人的時(shí)候都很難認(rèn)清自己?!?/div>

(翻譯:Dlacus)

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