On His Seventieth Birthday 在七十寿辰宴会上的讲话（在线收听）

演讲实录

乔治·伯纳·萧（1856—1950），爱尔兰剧作家，现代杰出的现实主义戏剧作家，是世界著名的擅长幽默与讽刺的语言大师。中国读者习惯称他为萧伯纳。1925年“因为作品具有理想主义和人道主义，令人激动的讽刺艺术浸润独特的诗意之美”而获诺贝尔文学奖，他把这笔约合8000英镑的奖金捐给了瑞典的穷作家们。他于1856年7月26日出生在爱尔兰首府都柏林的一个小公务员家庭。1950年11月2日，萧伯纳在赫特福德郡埃奥特圣劳伦斯寓所因病逝世，终年94岁。萧伯纳毕生创作幽默，他的墓志铭虽只有一句话，但恰巧体现了他的风格：“我早就知道无论我活多久，这种事情迟早总会发生的。”本篇为萧伯纳在七十寿辰宴会上的讲话。

演讲实录

Of late years the public have been trying to tackle me in every way they possibly can, andfailing to make anything of it they have turned to treating me as a great man. This is a dreadfulfate to overtake anybody. There has been a distinct attempt to do it again now, and for that reasonI absolutely decline to say anything about the celebration of my seventieth birthday. But when theLabor Party, my old friends the Labor Party, invited me here I knew that l should be all right.

Now, however, we have built up a constitutional Party. We have built it up on a socialisticbasis. My friend, Mr. Sidney Webb, Mr. Macdonald and myself said definitely at the beginningthat what we had got to do was to make the Socialist Party a constitutional party to which anyrespectable God-fearing man could belong without the slightest compromise of his respectability.

We got rid of all those traditional that is why Governments in the present day are more afraid of usthan they were of any of the Radical people.

Our position is a perfectly simple one and we have the great advantage of understanding ourposition. We oppose socialism to capitalism.

According to the capitalists, there will be a guarantee to the world that every man in tilecountry would get a job. They didn't contend it would be a well-paid job, because if it was wellpaid a man would save up enough one week to stop working the next week, and they weredetermined to keep a man working the whole time on a bare subsistence wage, and on the otherhand, divide an accumulation of capital.

They said capitalism not only secured this for the working man, but, by insuring fabulouswealth in the hands of a small class of people, they would save money whether they liked it or notand would have to invest it. That is capitalism, and this Government is always interfering withcapitalism. Instead of giving a man a job or letting him starve they are giving him doles — aftermaking sure he has paid for them first. They are giving capitalists subsidies and making all sortsof regulations that are breaking up their own system. All the time they are doing it, and we aretelling them it is breaking up, they don't understand.

We say in criticism of capitalism: Your system has never kept its promises for one single daysince it was promulgated. Our production is ridiculous. We are producing eighty horsepowermotor cars when many more houses should be built. We are producing most extravagant luxurieswhile children starve. You have stood production on its head. Instead of beginning with the thingsthe nation needs most, you are beginning at just the opposite end. We say distribution has becomeso glaringly ridiculous that there are only two people out of the 47,000,000 people in this countrywho approve of the present system of distribution — one is the Duke of Northumberland and theother is Lord Banbury.

We are opposed to that theory. Socialism, which is perfectly clear and unmistakable, says thething you have got to take care of is your distribution. We have to begin with that, and privateproperty, if it stands in the way of good distribution, has got to go.

A man who holds public property must hold it on the public condition on which, for instance,I carry my walking stick. I am not allowed to do what I like with it. I must not knock you on thehead with it. We say that if distribution goes wrong, everything else goes wrong-religion, morals ,government. And we say, therefore (this is the whole meaning of our socialism), we must beginwith distribution and take all the necessary steps.

I think we are keeping it in our minds because our business is to take care of the distributionof wealth in the worId and I tell you, as I have told you before that I don't think there are two men,or perhaps one man, in our 47,000,000 who approves of the existing distribution of wealth. I willgo even further and say that you will not find a single person in the whole of the civilized worldwho agrees with the existing system of the distribution of wealth. It has been reduced to a blankabsurdity.

I think the day will come when we will be able to make the distinction between us and thecapitalists. We must get certain leading ideas before the people. We should announce that we arenot going in for what was the old-fashioned idea of redistribution, but the redistribution of income.

Let it always be a question of income.

I have been very happy here tonight. I entirely understand the distinction made by ourChairman to night when he said you hold me in social esteem and a certain amount of personalaffection . I am not a sentimental man, but l am not insensible to all that. I know all the value, andit gives me, now that I have come to the age of seventy (it will not occur again and I am saying itfor the first time), a great feeling of pleasure that l can say what a good many people can't say.

参考译文

近年来，公众舆论想方设法对我发难，在一无所获之后，又转而把我捧为伟人。不管谁碰上这种事都是可怕的灾难。现在，显然又有人想故伎重演。因此，对于庆祝我70寿辰的活动，我完全拒绝发表任何意见。不过，当我的工党老朋友们请我到这里来时，我知道不会有麻烦。

不管怎样，我们现在已经建立了一个立宪党，我们已经把它建立在社会主义的基础之上。我和我的朋友西德尼·韦布先生及麦克唐纳先生一开始就明确说过，我们必须做的就是把社会党变成一个拥护宪法的党，使任何可敬的、虔诚的人都能在个人尊严丝毫不受侵犯的情况下加入这个党。我们革除了陈规陋习，这就是为什么比起任何持激进观点的人来，政府目前更怕我们。

我们的立场是非常简单明确的，我们的极大优势在于理解自己的立场。我们用社会主义来反对资本主义。

按照资本家的观点，完全可以保证这个国家人人都能得到一份职业。他们不主张职业工资很高，因为如果工资很高，一个星期就可以攒下足够的钱，下个星期就不必工作了。

他们决心以仅能糊口的工资使人们始终不停地工作，而他们自己则分享着一份资本增益。

他们说，资本主义不仅为工人提供了上述保证，而且，由于确保巨额财富掌握在一个人数很少的阶级手中，这些人不论愿意与否都会把钱积攒下来，并且不得不用于投资。这就是资本主义，而我们的政府却总是妨碍资本主义。政府既不为一个人提供工作，又不让他挨饿，而是在肯定他已经为得到救济而先付过钱之后，给他一点救济金。政府给资本家补助金，却又制订出各种破坏自己制度的规定。政府一直在干这样的事。我们告诉政府这是破坏，政府却不懂。

我们在批评资本主义时说：自制度公布以来，你们从未有哪一天遵守过。我们的生产是荒唐的。需要建造更多的房屋时，我们却在生产80马力的汽车。孩子们正在挨饿时，我们却在生产最豪华的奢侈品。你们把生产颠倒了。你们不先生产国民最需要的东西，却反其道而行之。我们说分配已经变得绝顶荒谬，以致在我国四千七百万人口中，只有两个人赞成现行的分配制度——一个是诺森伯兰公爵，另一个是班伯里勋爵。

我们反对那种理论。明白无误的社会主义理论指出，你们必须注意的问题是你们的分配。我们必须由此着手，而如果私有财产妨碍公正的分配，就必须予以废除。

掌握公共财产的人必须受到社会的制约，比如，我带着手杖也要受社会制约。我不能拿着它随心所欲。我不能拿它敲诸位的脑袋。我们说如果分配出了问题，一切都会出问题，包括宗教、道德、政府等。因此，我们说（这是我们的社会主义的全部意义），我们必须从分配着手，采取一切必要的步骤。

我想我们都能铭记这一点，因为我们的任务就是要注意世界是财富的分配问题。我刚才对你们说过，现在还要对你们说，我认为在我国四千七百万人口中，不会有两个人，也许不会有一个人赞成现行的财富分配制度。我甚至要进一步说，你们在整个文明世界也找不出一个赞同现行财富分配制度的人。这种分配制度已经堕落为极其荒谬的东西了。

我认为，总有一天我们将能够把自己同资本主义者区别开来。我们必须把某些指导思想公布于众。我们必须宣布，我们所为之努力的不是陈旧的再分配观念，而是收入再分配。我们要让再分配始终成为一个收入问题。

今晚我在这里感到非常高兴。我们今晚的主席说，你们认为我享有社会的尊敬，并颇受你们个人的喜爱。我完全理解这番褒奖。我不是一个容易动感情的人，但是这一切感动了我。我知道这一切的价值，在我年届70的时候（人生70岁只有一次，因此我这样说也是最后一次了），它使我能说出许许多多人不能说的话，这使我感到极大的快乐。

Vocabulary Bank

1. dreadful ［'dredful ］adj 可怕的，使人震惊的He has to live with the dreadful knowledge that he caused their deaths.

他知道是自己使他们丧命而终生痛苦。

2. distinct ［dis'ti?kt ］adj 清楚的，明显的

I had the distinct impression that I was being watched.

我很明显地感觉到有人在监视我。

3. constitutional ［?k?nsti'tju:??n?l ］adj 符合宪法的They claimed that the new law was not constitutional.

他们声称这项新法律不符合宪法。

4. radical ［'r?dik?l ］adj 极端的，过激的

She is radical in her demands.

她的要求十分偏激。

5. contend ［k?n'tend ］v 主张（某事物），争辩I would contend that unemployment is our most serious social evil.

我认为失业是我们社会最为严重的弊病。

6. subsistence ［s?b'sist?ns ］n 生计，维生之道His life has reduced to subsistence on bread and water.

他已经降到以面包和水维持生活。

7. subsidy ［'s?bsidi ］n 补助金（尤指政府为扶持工业，平抑物价等而发放的）The government has reduced the level of subsidy to the arts.

政府减少了对艺术界的补贴。

8. criticism ［'kritisiz(?)m ］n 批评，非难

I have two criticisms of your plan.

我对你的计划有两条批评意见。

9. extravagant ［iks'tr?v?ɡ?nt ］adj 奢侈的，（指行为）放纵的This was an extravagant use of natural resources.

这是对自然资源的滥用。

10. distribution ［?distri'bju:??n ］n 分配，分布Pines have a very wide distribution.

松树的分布很广。

11. moral ［'m?r?l ］n 行为的标准，是非的原则He is a person of loose morals.

他是个行为放荡的人。

12. affection ［?'fek??n ］n 喜爱，爱

He felt great affection for his sister.

他很疼爱他的妹妹。

13. sentimental ［?senti'mentl ］adj 多情的，感情用事的She's too sentimental about her cat.

她对她的猫未免太牵肠挂肚了。

Language Guide

The Labor Party

英国工党

英国工党（the Labor Party）是英国两大执政党之一，是中间偏左，社会民主主义和民主社会主义的政党。1900年2月27日建立于伦敦，1906年称工党。1924年1月，在自由党的支持下首次组阁，并从此开始与保守党轮流执政。英国前首相布莱尔、戈登·布朗皆为工党领袖。

The Socialist Party

社会党

社会党可以理解为尊奉社会民主主义或者民主社会主义，反对通过暴力革命方式夺取政权，而主张通过改良把资本主义和平地过渡到社会主义的修正主义政党的统称。美国社会党，法国社会党，德国社会民主党，英国工党等也属于这类政党。人们也经常将这类修正主义政党统称为“社会民主党”。

Grammar Master

1. assure，ensure，insure与reassure这四个单词可谓是形近意似，但用法却不无区别。

assure用来表示“保证某事将要发生”，既可以用来确证某事，也可以表示使某人确信。

assure的宾语通常是人或人称代词，assure sb. of sth.，不能直接搭配that从句。

例　He assured us of his ability to solve the problem.

他向我们保证他有能力解决这个问题。

例　We booked early to assure ourselves of（getting）good seats.

我们及早订座以保证我们能得到好座位。

assure后面还可跟抽象名词作宾语，此时与ensure同义，表示确保。

例　Weeks of practice assured/ensured success in the match.

几个星期的训练确保了比赛的胜利。

例　Nothing can assure permanent peace.

没有什么能确保永久和平。

ensure的意思是“使某行为或某件事的结果得以保证”，即“确保某事发生”。ensure后可以直接跟that从句，并可以用复合宾语。常用结构为：ensure sth.／ensure + that／ensure+ obj. (i) + obj. (d)。

例　To ensure the child's quick recovery，the doctor gave him an antibiotic.

为使这个孩子尽快恢复，医生给他打了一剂抗生素。

例　Registration ensures delivery of mail.

挂号寄邮件保证会送到。

ensure也可以表示确保安全，免遭伤害。

例　To ensure freedom against tyranny.

反对暴政，维护自由。

在美语中ensure常拼写为insure，意为“以防不测，向保险公司付钱投保”。

例　My house is insured against fire.

我的房子保了火险。

例　Are you insured for all risks?

你是不是给自己保了综合险？

reassure表示安慰忧虑不安的人，使其安心，恢复信心。常用结构为：reassure sb.

(about sth.)／reassure sb. + that从句。

例　I was worried that my work wasn't good enough，but the teacher reassured me about it.

我担心我的作业不够好，可是老师却让我不要太担心。

例　The captain reassured the passengers about the strength of the ship.

那位船长向乘客保证船很坚固，要他们安心。

2. entirely，totally，fully，completely是英语表达中常用的副词，看似都可以用来表示“全部，都”的意思，但要注意它们之间的区别。entirely强调一个整体的“完全”，totally强调数量上的“完全”，fully的程度最深，可译为“完全地，彻底地，十分地”，completely可用来表达“十分，完全地”。

例　Although they are twins, they look entirely different.

他们虽是双胞胎，但是相貌却完全不同。

例　I'm afraid I totally forgot about it.

很抱歉，我把这件事忘得干干净净了。

例　I don't fully understand his reasons for leaving.

我没有完全理解他离开的理由。

例　The army made a completely successful attack on the enemy capital.

军队攻击敌人首都的行动非常成功。