A Message to Garcia
By Elbert Hubbard
与加西亚书
阿尔伯特·哈伯德
In all this Cuban business there is one man stands out on the horizon of my memory like Mars at perihelion. When war broke out between Spain & the United States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The President must secure his cooperation, and quickly.
每思及古巴战事,则难忘有此一人。
美西之役时,美利坚欲交通古巴匪首加西亚。加氏隐于古巴山林之中,无人知其居所,遑论与其书信之往来。美利坚总统麦金莱急欲觅之以共商对敌之事。
What to do!
如之何?
Some one said to the President, "There’s a fellow by the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can."
或语于总统曰:“兹有一卒,名曰罗文。与书加氏,惟其堪任。”
Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, & in three weeks came out on the other side of the Island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail.
罗文往诣总统,受总统与加氏密函。至于罗文受书、密封、纳怀慎藏,历四日至古巴,入丛林,越岛屿,又三周,将密函与加氏,皆非此文之大者也。
The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; Rowan took the letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- "Carry a message to Garcia!"
其要者如是:罗文受总统麦金莱与加氏之密函,靡请于总统,“彼加氏安在?”
勇哉罗文,有此懿行。当塑像以供于各州之学府,以彰现其精神。学子非特习鸟兽虫鱼之属,更应效法其德行:忠于上,敏于行,专其心,不辱命——“传书加西亚”。
General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias.
加氏已逝,然诸加氏存焉。
No man, who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been well nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man- the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, & half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, God in His goodness performs a miracle, & sends him an Angel of Light for an assistant. You, reader, put this matter to a test: You are sitting now in your office- six clerks are within call.
今者,善经营企业者鲜矣。盖人手虽多,而能者寡矣。或无能为之,或不愿为之。
拖泥带水、敷衍塞责、漫不经心,已成常态。倘非威逼之、利诱之,或祈诸上帝,则无人分其忧、解其难,成其事。
尔等不妨一试:君端坐于案后,六名职员侍于左右。
Summon any one and make this request: "Please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio".
君呼其一并命之曰:“请子查阅百科全书,摘录克里吉奥生平诸事项。”
Will the clerk quietly say, "Yes, sir," and go do the task?
此子必诺曰:然。此子果能践诺乎?
On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:
否也。此子定将瞠目而问:
Who was he?
Which encyclopedia?
Where is the encyclopedia?
Was I hired for that?
Don’t you mean Bismarck?
What’s the matter with Charlie doing it?
Is he dead?
Is there any hurry?
Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself?
What do you want to know for?
伊阿谁也?
所载何书?
斯书安在?
其吾职乎?
彼系俾斯麦耶?
此非查利职耶?
其犹生乎?
君急用乎?
斯书予君,君自阅之可乎?
君所欲何知?
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