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敢說是北朝鮮發動戰爭的房老師
昨天網上有一博客,內容是慶祝美國國慶,文章中應用了林肯在Gettysburg的一篇講話。作者在博客用的是中文。因為這講話是我五十七年前讀的課文,當時英文老師要求讀了必須能夠背出來,因此到今天印象還是很深刻,當然現在只能夠記得頭上幾句了。我上網找出原文,再通讀一遍,同時過去往事又歷歷在目。
五十七年前是1958年,我還是青少年。當時的上海的學校高中有所謂的英文課,英文程度之低和所教內容之荒唐很難讓現在的學生相信。讀的句子就是Down with the landlords. The bandits Chiang kai-she。因為我父親在香港,我準備去香港,因此英文一定要好好學,只有自己想辦法請老師教。
通過朋友介紹,我找到了一位最好的英文老師,老師姓房,住在復興西路,自己有一西式弄堂房子,他就在樓下客廳給學生上課。當時老師大概六十五左右,精神和身體看來都很好。
我是去學英文的,那老師的英文水平怎樣呢。你只要知道他的經歷,你就可以下結論。他的英文水平應該是上海灘最上層的了。解放前他已經是上海字林西報的編輯了。這是英國人在中國出版的歷史最久的英文報紙,1850年在上海創辦,主要讀者是外國在中國的外交官員、傳教士和商人。解放后因為是英國人的,不是美國的,所以還可以繼續出版。解放后許多英國人回國了,因此房老師升為主要編輯了。能夠編輯給外國人看的報紙的老師,你說他的英文怎樣。
那他怎樣又坐在家裡教英文了呢。在給我上課時,我們也隨便聊聊,他講給我聽,是朝鮮戰爭爆發,字林西報根據世界上多家通訊社的報道,是金日成的十三萬軍隊向南朝鮮發起突然進攻的,報紙刊登了這消息,因此報紙被勒令停刊。字林西報被加上造謠和該報曾發表大量干預中國內政的言論的罪名。他是編輯,在報紙勒令停刊的同時,就進了提籃橋監獄,判了幾年徒刑,放出來后,回到家中,屬於被裡弄管制的反革命。
因為是被裡弄管制,他不能夠隨便出外,只能夠坐在家裡。他教我英文,還有幾個學生,都是親戚朋友介紹,對外人是不能夠漏風的,否則老師學生都有麻煩了。
我跟房老師學了三年英文,每星期去三次。房老師過去不是當老師的,但是他教英文是很有一套方法,對我們學生也有許多各方面知識的指導。
這麼多年過去了,再讀到這課文又想到房老師,隨筆寫一點。
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATION OF
THE CEMETERY AT GETTYSBURG
Four score and seven years ago our
fathers brought forth on this continent , a new nation , conceived in Liberty ,
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal .
Now we are engaged in a great civil war
, testing whether that nation , or any nation so conceived and so dedicated ,
can long endure . We are met on a great battle-field , as a final resting place
for those who have gave their lives that that nation might live . It is
altogether fitting and proper that we should do this .
But , in a large sense , we can not
dedicate——we can not consecrate——we can not hallow——this ground . the brave men
, living and dead , who struggled here , have consecrated it , far above our
poor power to add or detract . The world will little note , nor long remember
what we say here , but it can never forget what they did here . It is for us
the living , rather , to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they
who fought here have thus for so nobly advanced . It is rather for us to be
here dedicated to the great task remaining before us——that from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion——we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have dead
in vain——that this nation , under God , shall have a new birth of freedom——and
that government of the people , by the people , for the people , shall not
perish from the earth .
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