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WernerReich_2019X-_犹太人大屠杀时期，我的魔术、善良和生存的故事_-
In the rather delightful book "The Little Prince," 在一本读起来非常 令人愉快的书,《小王子》中,
delightful:adj.可爱的,可喜的;令人愉快的;
there is a quotation , which says "It's only with the heart that one can see rightly . 有这么一句话—— “一个人只有用心去看,才能看到真实。
quotation:n.报价;引用;引文;引语; rightly:adv.正确地;恰当地;公正地;合适地;
What is essential is invisible ." 事情的真相只用眼睛是看不见的。”
essential:n.要点;要素;实质;必需品;adj.完全必要的;必不可少的;极其重要的;本质的; invisible:adj.看不见的;n.看不见的人或物;
And while the author wrote these words sitting in a comfortable chair, somewhere in the United States, 当这本书的作者在美国的某个地方, 坐在舒服的椅子上 写出这些文字的时候,
United:adj.联合的; v.联合,团结; (unite的过去分词和过去式)
I learned this very same lesson miles away in a filthy , dirty barrack in an extermination camp in Poland . 我在数英里外的波兰集中营 恶臭肮脏的营房中, 学着同样的一个教训。
filthy:adj.肮脏的;污秽的;下流的;淫秽的;adv.极其肮脏的;富得流油的; barrack:n.营房;兵舍;vt.使…驻兵营内;向…提供营房;vi.住入营房; extermination:n.消灭;根绝; Poland:n.波兰(欧洲国家);
It isn't the value or the size of a gift that truly matters, it is how you hold it in your heart. 礼物的价值或大小并不重要, 真正重要的是 你如何将其牢记在心中。
When I was six years old, my mother, my father, my sister and myself left Jew-hating Germany, and we went to Yugoslavia. 在我 6 岁的时候, 我和我的母亲、父亲、姐姐 一起离开了讨厌犹太人的德国, 前往南斯拉夫。
And we were in Yugoslavia for seven happy years, and then Germany invaded Yugoslavia and we suddenly were persecuted again, and I had to go into hiding. 我们在那里度过了快乐的 7 年, 随后,德国入侵南斯拉夫, 突然间我们又开始遭受迫害, 我不得不躲起来以求保命。
invaded:v.入侵;拥入;遍布(invade的过去分词);adj.被侵入的; persecuted:v.迫害,残害,压迫;骚扰;打扰(persecute的过去分词和过去式)
And I was hiding for roughly two years with a couple who had worked for the resistance movement. 我和一对参与反抗运动的夫妇 在一起住了 2 年。
roughly:adv.粗糙地;概略地; resistance:n.电阻;抵抗;阻力;抗力;
And I developed films, and I made enlargements . 那段时间,我做着 冲洗胶卷、放大照片的工作。
enlargements:n.放大;放大的照片;增补物;
One day, when I was 15 years old, 我 15 岁的时候,有一天,
I was arrested by the gestapo and beaten up, and, for two months, dragged through various prisons, and eventually , I ended up in a 150-year-old fortress in Czechoslovakia , which the Nazis had converted into a concentration camp . 我被国家秘密警察（盖世太保） 逮捕并殴打。 在接下来的 2 个月, 我被拖拽着流离于不同的监狱。 最终,我来到了捷克斯洛伐克, 被关押于一个有着 150 年历史, 已经被纳粹改造成集中营的堡垒中。
gestapo:n.盖世太保(德国纳粹秘密警察); eventually:adv.最后,终于; fortress:n.城堡;堡垒;要塞;设防的地方; Czechoslovakia:n.(前)捷克斯洛伐克; Nazis:n.纳粹;纳粹党人(nazi的复数); converted:adj.修改的;改变信仰的;v.转变;改变信仰(convert的过去式和过去分词形式); concentration camp:n.集中营;
I was there for 10 months. 我在那里呆了 10 个月。
I laid railroad tracks , 我铺过铁轨,
tracks:n.小道;足迹;车辙;轨道;v.追踪;跟踪;(track的第三人称单数和复数)
I exterminated vermin , 灭过害虫,
exterminated:vt.消灭;根除; vermin:n.害虫;寄生虫;歹徒;
I made baskets, and after 10 months, about 2,000 of us were loaded into cattle cars, the doors were closed, and we were shipped east. 编过篮子。 在 10 个月后, 包括我在内的 2000 人被赶上牛车, 车门一关,我们被送往东边。
For three days, we traveled like that, and when we were unloaded , we were smelling of urine and of feces , and we found ourselves in the Auschwitz extermination camp. 整整 3 天的路程,我们都在牛车上。 当我们被要求下车的时候, 闻到的都是尿液粪便的气味, 我们发现自己已身处 奥斯威辛集中营。
unloaded:adj.[电]空载的;v.卸货;解除…的负担;倾销;(unload的过去式和过去分词) urine:n.尿; feces:n.排泄物;渣滓;
A camp that, by that time, had murdered already over one million people and sent them through the chimney into the sky. 在那个时候,这一个集中营 已经谋杀了不止 100 万人, 纳粹通过烟囱把人们送上天。
chimney:n.烟囱;
We arrived, we were stripped of all of our properties, whatever we had, and were given striped uniforms , were given a tattoo on our arms, and we also were given the message that we would be there for exactly six months. 我们到达后, 身上所有的东西都被夺走, 每个人都一丝不挂。 他们统一发放条纹制服, 并在我们的手臂上纹上编号。 他们还告知我们, 我们将在这里呆上整整 6 个月。
stripped:adj.剥去的;v.剥夺;脱衣;把…剪成条状;(strip的过去式和过去分词) striped:adj.有条纹的;有斑纹的;v.被剥去(strip的过去分词); uniforms:n.制服;军服;军人;v.使穿制服;(uniform的复数第三人称单词) tattoo:n.文身;连续急促的敲击;(尤指军事上的)击鼓号;v.将花纹刺在…上;给…文身;
And after that, we would leave the camp. 在那之后,我们就可以离开这里——
Through the chimney. 通过那个烟囱。
We were assigned to different barracks . 我们被分配到不同的营房。
assigned:v.分配(某物);分派;指定;委派;(assign的过去分词和过去式) barracks:n.兵营,营房; v.使驻扎军营里; (澳)大声鼓噪(barrack的三单形式);
And the barracks were filled with wooden bunks , six people on each level, three people sleeping in one direction and three in the other direction, so whichever way you slept, you always had a pair of feet in your face . 营房里摆满了木床, 每一层能睡 6 个人, 3 个人面朝里睡同一个方向, 另外 3 个人面朝外睡另一个方向, 所以不论你对着哪个方向睡, 总是有一双脚在你的面前。
wooden:adj.木制的;木头的;木头似的;死板的 bunks:n.铺位(bunk的复数);v.哄骗(bunk的单数第三人称); whichever:pron.任何一个;无论哪个;adj.无论哪个;无论哪些; in your face:挑衅;咄咄逼人的;
The man next to me was an extremely nice gentleman, and he introduced himself as Mr. Herbert Levine. 睡在我边上的人 是一个非常友好的绅士, 他自称为赫伯特·莱文先生。
extremely:adv.非常,极其;极端地;
Mr. Levine was kind and polite to me. 莱文先生对我非常礼貌友善。
One day, when I came back from a work assignment , 一天,我完成了 被分配的工作回到营房,
assignment:n.分配:(分派的)工作,任务:
I climbed up, 爬上床,
I was at the top level of the three-tier bunk, and there was Mr. Levine with a deck of cards. 我睡的是三层床的最上铺, 我看到莱文先生手上拿着一副牌。
three-tier:三层; deck:n.甲板;舱面;层面;一副(为52张);v.装饰;打扮;布置;用力击倒;
And he was shuffling these cards. 他正在洗那副牌。
shuffling:v.拖着脚走;坐立不安;洗牌;(shuffle的现在分词)
And I couldn't understand it, you know, having a deck of cards in Auschwitz was like finding a gorilla in your bathroom. 我无法理解, 在奥斯威辛里有一副牌 就好比在你的厕所里 找一只大猩猩。
gorilla:大猩猩
(Laughter) （笑声）
You know, "What is he doing there?" “他在这里做什么？”
And then Mr. Levine turned to me and offered me the deck, and said, "Pick a card." 随后莱文先生转向我, 伸手将牌递到我面前, 并说:“选一张牌。”
So I picked a card, and he performed a card trick for me. 于是我选了张牌, 他给我表演了一个纸牌魔术,
performed:v.表演;执行;履行;演出;工作,运转(好/不好)(perform的过去分词和过去式)
He performed a miracle . 仿佛展现了一个奇迹。
miracle:n.奇迹,奇迹般的人或物;惊人的事例;
And I'd never seen a card trick before, and the man who performed it was sitting right there. 我之前从来没有看过纸牌魔术, 而且表演魔术师就坐在我跟前。
And then Mr. Levine did the unthinkable . 之后莱文先生 做了件让我意想不到的事。
unthinkable:adj.不能想象的;过分的;
He actually explained the trick to me. 他竟然向我解释了魔术中的小把戏。
And the words got burned into my brain. 这些话深深烙印在了我的脑海里。
And I remembered every single word, and from that day on, 我记住了其中的每一个字, 从那天起,
I practiced that trick every day. 我每天都在练习那个魔术把戏。
Although I didn't have any cards. 即使我手中没有牌,
I just kept on practicing. 我也会继续练习。
About three weeks later, the entire camp, with the exception of a couple hundred of us, were sent to the gas chambers . 大约在 3 周过后, 除了我和其他几百个人之外, 整个集中营剩下的人 都被送去了毒气室。
with the exception of:除了…以外; chambers:n.内庭(chamber的复数);
I was sent to another camp where I worked in the stables , and then, in January 1945, when the Russians advanced , 60,000 of us were sent on a death march. 我被送到了另一个营地, 在那里的马厮工作。 在 1945 年 1 月, 当俄罗斯军队继续向外扩张, 我们 6 万人被迫进行了一场死亡行军。
stables:n.[畜牧]马厩;牛棚(stable的复数); advanced:adj.先进的; v.前进; (advance的过去式和过去分词形式)
And we walked for three days, on and off, and in the middle of the winter, and by the time we arrived at a railroad siding, out of the 60,000 people, 15,000 had died. 我们断断续续,走了有 3 天, 而且那时正值寒冬。 等我们抵达铁路岔口的时候, 6 万人中, 1.5 万人没能熬过去,丢了性命。
And the rest of us were loaded into open railroad cars, and for four days, shipped all the way from Poland down to Austria . 我们剩下的这些人 全被装上一辆开放式火车车厢, 之后的 4 天, 从波兰一路南下至奥地利。
Austria:n.奥地利;[国]奥地利;欧洲中南部内陆国家;
And we found ourselves in a death camp, in a concentration camp called Mauthausen, which again was built like a fortress. 我们发现自己又到了 一个叫毛特豪森的死亡集中营, 同样,这里有着 宛如堡垒的建筑外观。
And at that point, the SS abandoned us, and there was no food there, and there were thousands and thousands of bodies there. 从那时起,党卫军抛弃了我们, 我们没有食物维生, 数千人就饿死在那里。
abandoned:adj.被抛弃的放纵的;v.抛弃;丢弃,离开;放弃;(abandon的过去分词和过去式)
I slept for three days next to a dead man, just to get his ration of a tablespoon of moldy bread. 我在一个死去的男人边上 睡了 3 天, 就为了领取他那一勺 定量的发霉面包。
tablespoon:n.大调羹,大汤匙;一餐匙的量; moldy:adj.发霉的;乏味的;陈腐的;
And two days before the end of the war, May 5, we were liberated by American forces. 在战争结束的 2 天前, 5 月 5 号, 我们被美军释放。
liberated:adj.不受传统思想束缚的,开放的; v.解放; (liberate的过去式和过去分词)
At that time, I was 17 years old, and I weighed 64 pounds. 那时候,我 17 岁, 体重 64 磅。
And I hitchhiked back to Yugoslavia. 我搭了个便车
hitchhiked:v.免费搭便车;搭顺风车(hitchhike的过去分词和过去式)
And when I came back to Yugoslavia, there was communism there, there was no family there and there were no friends there. 回到南斯拉夫。 那里有共产主义, 却没有家人, 没有朋友。
communism:n.共产主义;
I stayed there for two years, and after two years, I managed to escape to England. 我在那里呆了 2 年, 然后设法逃到了英格兰。
And when I came to England, 到达英格兰的时候,
I couldn't speak English, 我不会说英语,
I had no education, I had no skills. 我没有受过教育, 也没有任何生存技能。
I started working, and about a year after I arrived in England, 我开始找工作糊口。 大概在达到英格兰的 1 年后,
I bought myself a deck of cards. 我给自己买了一副牌。
And for the very first time, 有史以来第一次,
I actually performed the trick that was shown to me in Auschwitz on top of a bunk bed. 我真正地表演出了 那位莱文先生在奥斯维辛木床上铺 展示给我的魔术把戏。
And it worked. 而且我的表演很成功,
It worked beautifully. 很完美。
And I showed it to some friends of mine, and they loved it. 我给一些朋友们展示了 这个纸牌魔术, 他们很喜欢。
And I went to a magic store, and I bought some magic tricks , and I showed them to my friends, and I bought some more magic tricks and I showed it to them. 之后我去了个魔术用品商品, 买了一些魔术道具, 又表演给我的朋友们看, 之后我又买了更多的魔术道具 表演给我的朋友们看。
magic tricks:n.魔术;
And then I bought some magic books, and I bought some more magic books. 再之后,我买了一些 魔术相关的书籍,越买越多。
There's a very, very thin line between a hobby and insanity . 在爱好与疯狂之间 只剩一条非常模糊的界线。
insanity:n.疯狂;精神错乱;精神病;愚顽;
(Laughter) （笑声）
Anyway, I got married, and I came to the United States, and one of the first jobs that I had demanded from me to speak to small groups of people. 后来我结了婚, 来到了美国, 而我在这儿的第一份工作 是对着一小群人做演讲。
And I managed it, I was very good at it. 我做到了,我很擅长演讲。
And then, 25 years ago, I retired. 25 年后,我退休了,
And I started speaking in schools. 开始在学校进行演讲。
And the only reason why I could speak in schools is because a very friendly man showed a rather scared kid a card trick in a concentration camp. 我能在学校演讲的唯一原因, 是因为一位非常友好的绅士 曾经在集中营给 一个内心充满恐惧的孩子 表演了一个纸牌魔术。
This man who showed it to me, Mr. Levine, had been a professional magician. 这位给我表演魔术的男人, 莱文先生, 一直是一个专业魔术师。
professional:adj.专业的;职业的;职业性的;n.专业人员;职业运动员;
He worked in Germany, and when he came to Auschwitz, the SS knew who he was, so they gave him some cards, they gave him a piece of string , they gave him some dice , and he performed for them. 他在德国工作, 当他去奥斯维辛的时候, 党卫军知道他的身份, 所以他们给他了一些牌, 一根绳子, 还有一些骰子, 让他给他们表演节目。
string:n.字符串; v.悬挂; adj.由弦乐器组成的; dice:n.骰子;色子;掷骰游戏;掷骰赌博;v.将(肉、菜等)切成小方块;将…切成丁;
And then he also taught some of them. 他也给别人教了其中的一些魔术。
He survived the war, but his wife and his son died. 他在战争中幸存, 但他的妻儿都没能幸免于难。
He came to the United States and performed in various venues , but I never met him again. 他来到美国, 在各种活动中表演魔术, 但我从未再遇见过他。
venues:n.场地,场馆(venue复数形式);犯罪现场,发生地点;
But the trick that he showed me stayed with me and enabled me to go around schools and try to make this world just a little bit better. 然而他展示给我的魔术 却深深扎根在我的心中, 也让我能够去各个学校演讲, 努力让这个世界变得更好一点。
enabled:v.使得;授予…权力;(enabled是enable的过去式)
So if you ever know somebody who needs help, if you know somebody who is scared, be kind to them. 所以如果你知道某个人需要帮助, 如果你知道某个人感到害怕, 请善待他们。
Give them advice, give them a hug, teach them a card trick. 给他们些建议, 一个拥抱, 教他们如何玩纸牌魔术。
Whatever you are going to do, it's going to be hope for them. 不论你做什么, 对他们来讲都是一线希望。
And if you do it at the right time , it will enter their heart, and it will be with them wherever they go, forever. 而且你如果在正确的时间 做这件事, 你的善意就会融入他们的内心, 永远伴随着他们,永远。
at the right time:在适当时候;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）