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The Ethics of Living Jim Crow
黑人的处世哲学
Richard Wright
理查德·赖特
My first lesson in how to live as a Negro came when I was quite small. We were living in Arkansas. Our house stood behind the railroad tracks. Its skimpy yard was paved with black cinders. Nothing green ever grew in that yard. The only touch of green we could see was far away, beyond the tracks, over where the white folks lived. But cinders were good enough for me and I never missed the green growing things. And anyhow cinders were fine weapons. You could always have a nice hot war with huge black cinders. All you had to do was crouch behind the brick pillars of a house with your hands full of gritty ammunition. And the first woolly black head you saw pop out from behind another row of pillars was your target. You tried your very best to knock it off. It was great fun.
我很小的时候，就上了该如何做黑人的第一课。那时我们住在阿肯色州。我家位于铁路后面，空荡荡的后院是由黑煤渣铺成的，从未长过一草一木。我们仅能看到的一点绿色远在铁路另一边的白人居住区。不过对我来说，只要有煤渣就足够了，我从未感到过需要什么青枝绿叶，况且煤渣还是很好的武器呢。你可以随时用大块黑煤渣武装起来展开激烈的战斗。你只需手里握着大把渣石飞弹，蹲在房子的砖砌柱子背后。从另一排柱子后面第一个冒出来的毛茸茸的黑脑袋就是你要攻击的靶子。于是你奋力将其打掉。可真是好玩极了。
I never fully realized the appalling disadvantages of a cinder environment till one day the gang to which I belonged found itself engaged in a war with the white boys who lived beyond the tracks. As usual we laid down our cinder barrage, thinking that this would wipe thewhite boys out. But they replied with a steady bombardment of broken bottles. We doubled our cinder barrage, but they hid behind trees, hedges, and the sloping embankments of their lawns. Having no such fortifications, we retreated to the brick pillars of our homes. During the retreat a broken milk bottle caught me behind the ear, opening a deep gash which bled profusely. The sight of blood pouring over my face completely demoralized our ranks. My fellow-combatants left me standing paralyzed in the center of the yard, and scurried for their homes. A kind neighbor saw me and rushed me to a doctor, who took threestitches in my neck.
我从未真正意识到生活在满地煤渣的环境里有多么不利，直到有一天我们一帮人与住在铁路那边的一群白人男孩打开了仗，方才明白。与往常一样，我们把煤渣交织而成的火力网对准目标，以为这样就能全歼那伙白小子。没有想到他们竟用破玻璃瓶子不断地向我们回击。我们使用了加倍的煤渣弹，可是他们躲到了树丛、篱笆和草坪斜坡后面。我们没有这种防御工事，只好退到我们住屋的砖柱跟前。撤退途中，一只破牛奶瓶刚好击中我耳后，划开了一条很深的口子，流血不止。见我血流满面，我们队伍的士气一下子全垮了。战友们撇下我，一个个都溜回了家，留下我一人站在院子中央发呆。一位好心的邻居见状立即把我送到医院。医生在我颈上缝了三针。
