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导读：奥巴马称，美国将干净利落地完结阿富汗任务，今年春季将把一线作战的任务交给盟友阿富汗，自己转为后方支援。 Lexington 列克星敦 The view from Maine streets 缅因人民，你们怎么看？ Barack Obama’s talk of peace does not convince a city marked by war 战争之都缅因质疑奥巴马的和平之说 Mar 2nd 2013 |From the print edition AFTER long years of messy combat, America’s mission in Afghanistan is going to have a swift and tidy ending, Barack Obama recently told Congress. This spring American forces will move to a support role behind Afghan allies. 近来，贝拉克·奥巴马告诉国会，经过长年混战，美国将干净利落地完结阿富汗任务。今年春季，美军将把一线作战的任务交给盟友阿富汗，自己转为后方支援。 By the end of next year the war will be over, the mission completed. After a grinding decade, Mr Obama declared ringingly in his state-of-the-union address that “our brave men and women in uniform” are coming home. 明年年末，这场战争就会落幕，而美国也顺利完成任务。奥巴马在国情咨文演讲中高调宣布，十年的磨难结束了，“在战场上拼搏的英雄儿女”即将回归故里。 That pledge earned a standing ovation. Beyond Washington, in the sort of American communities that provide the backbone of the armed forces, it prompts a more complicated response. 听到总统的承诺，人们纷纷起立鼓掌。然而，在华府之外，在脊梁部队诞生之处的地区产生了更为复杂的回应。 The small city of South Portland in Maine is one of many obscure places to be heavily touched by war since the September 11th 2001 attacks. No state has lost more soldiers in Afghanistan, per person, than Maine—a fertile recruiting ground in every conflict since the civil war and still today home to an unusual number of veterans. 位于缅因州的小城市南波特兰就是态度不明的地区其中之一。2001年9·11袭击事件之后，这些地区在阿富汗战争中倍受影响。按牺牲士兵占总人口的比例来看，缅因是在阿富汗战争中损失最为严重的州——自南北战争以来的每场战争中，缅因州都输送了大量兵力；至今，缅因仍是大量老兵的故乡。 And the Afghan and Iraqi campaigns cost South Portland dearer than most places in Maine. A windswept coastal city of 25,000, it lost four local men, three of them young graduates from the same high school. 在美阿战争和美伊战争中，南波特兰的牺牲人数也超过缅因其他地区。这个风急浪高的海滨城市总人口仅2.5万，却在战争中失去了四名同胞，其中三名还是毕业于同一高中的校友。 One town cannot represent American opinion. Yet talking to a cross-section of locals, as well as to state military and government officials, the same observations come up repeatedly. It may be useful to record some of them. 一座小城的意见不能代表整个美国。但是，在和当地各个领域人民以及和缅因将士、政府官员的对话中，也能听到相同的声音。也许，将这些想法部分记录下来会起到一定的作用。 The cheering in Washington feels painfully premature to those whose neighbours and relatives are still in Afghanistan, or waiting for fresh deployments there with regular or part-time units. 看到华府一片欢腾，赴阿富汗军人的家属、邻居以及等待新一轮部署的常备军人和后备军人内心充满苦楚，感叹华府人民过于幼稚。2013年2月12日，奥巴马发表和平演讲。 A Maine national guard unit left the day after Mr Obama’s speech on February 12th, and more will follow this year. South Portland’s police department is still missing an officer, on duty in Afghanistan. 仅一日之后，缅因一支国家警卫队就离开家乡奔赴阿富汗，而今年还会有更多战士被送去阿富汗。南波特兰警察局的一位警官上了阿富汗战场，至今未归。 At Broadway Variety, a convenience store which has sent hundreds of care packages to South Portlanders serving overseas, collections continue for fresh parcels of cookies, candy and other home comforts. 一家名为百老汇杂货的便利店已经给在海外奋战的南波特兰战士送去了数百箱爱心包裹。现在店里的集装物品还在源源不断的送着刚打包好的饼干、糖果等物品，让他们感受到来自故乡的温暖。 In South Portland the pre-announced ending of the war feels perilous, not stirring. Worries loom about the safety of the last troops, and angst about signs of hostility from Afghans supposed to be allies. 在南波特兰，提前宣告战事走向尾声并未让人们欢呼雀跃，相反，人们觉得此举过于冒险。人们开始担心留在阿富汗的军人是否安全，开始焦虑本该是盟友的阿富汗人却显露出敌对的迹象。 Even the most vocally patriotic doubt that the war will end in a way that brings “closure”. Jake Myrick, an Iraq war veteran and campaigner for ex-soldiers, loyally complains that the media do not show the good works being done by Americans in Afghanistan. 甚至那些口口声声说着自己忠贞爱国的志士也不相信战事会利利索索的结束。Jake Myrick是美伊战争的老兵，一直致力于退伍军人运动，他的控诉发自肺腑：媒体并未报道国人在阿富汗完成了什么伟业。 But after news reports of Afghan forces killing their American trainers, he still wrote in protest to Maine’s governor demanding the withdrawal of the state’s national guardsmen, fearing the Pentagon had lost sight of its war goals. 但当他在最新消息中读到阿富汗军队杀死了美军教官后，他依然坚持向缅因州长写信抗议，要求撤回警卫队，因为他害怕五角大楼已经忘了战争的目标。 The commander of Maine’s national guard, Brigadier-General James Campbell, says that explaining the war’s final stages is “hard”. As troops are drawn down, he questions the war constantly, fearing a moment when a grieving parent or spouse asks why their loved one died, “and I don’t have an answer”. 担任缅因国家警卫队指挥的James Campbell准将说，战事的最后阶段不好解释。随着军中人数减少，他不断质疑这场战争，他害怕悲伤的父母或配偶问他为何自己的挚爱会离去，他说“我也不知道答案”。 No more global crusades, please 请不要再四处征战了 Support for the troops has healed old griefs, which is some comfort to Vietnam veterans who recall coming home to be blamed for an unpopular war. The sight of mostly blue-collar boys pulling on their country’s uniform has narrowed social divisions in a community split by wealth, says Laurie Wood, a local school principal and the aunt of one of the dead. 越战老兵每每回想起当年回归故乡，人们谴责他们不应该参与一场不得民心的战争时，内心就会涌起悲伤。现在，人们对军队的支持，或许可以安抚一下他们。缅因当地一所学校的校长Laurie Wood在战争中失去了侄子，她表示，多数工人披上了战甲，此举拉近了由财富差距产生的社会分裂。 Ideological differences have also been trumped, if not healed, by respect for the troops: although that change only took place after local boys died. The city votes Democratic at election time, but—this being northern New England—it has plenty of prickly independents and libertarian-tinged Republicans too. 对军队的尊重，如果没消除思想上的隔阂，至少点醒了人们的意识。该市在选举中支持民主党，但是新英格兰北部地区也有很多敏感的无党派人士和带有自由论色彩的共和党人士。 Starting during the Iraq war, some military families and supporters strung yellow ribbons from lamp posts and electricity poles, prompting other residents to say the city was being made to look pro-war. The argument lasted years and “really divided” South Portland, recalls the city’s chief administrator, James Gailey. 自美阿战争起，有些军属和支持战争的人民就开始在路灯和电线杆上系上黄丝带[1]，让其他居民也感受到本市对战事的支持。行政长官James Gailey回忆道，双方的争论持续了数年，这才是南波特兰市分裂的“真正原因”。 A handsome stone memorial in the city’s main park, dedicated in 2011, is an “overdue” statement of thanks for military service, says the mayor, Tom Blake. It is also the product of a truce between the pro- and anti-ribbon camps, who were persuaded to back a monument as a compromise. 2011年，该市在中央公园树立了一块端正的石碑，市长Tom Blake说这是对人民参军报效祖国的“挽歌”。石碑同样也是双方阵营休战的成果。黄丝带运动支持派说服反对派相信，支持立碑既是做出让步。 Yet some fear that reverence for the troops has dangerously dulled public curiosity. Ms Wood’s beloved nephew, Justin Buxbaum, found himself at war after signing up, aged 16, because without military grants “he didn’t know how to pay for college,” she says. 然而，有人担心，拥军行为威胁到了人们对战事的了解，减少了人们的好奇心。Wood女士心爱的侄子Justin Buxbaum年仅16岁，他并未签署协议就上了战场，Wood解释说，如果没有军饷，“他就没钱交大学学费了。” Once in Afghanistan he died in an accident when a roommate’s gun fell and went off. That isn’t the story that people want to hear, she says, but the details matter less and less as time passes, being subsumed into an “amorphous” narrative about heroism. Many stopped paying close attention after Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden were killed, she says. 在阿富汗从军期间，Justin室友的手枪意外滑落走了火，Justin也因此丧生。她说，但人们不喜欢这种故事，而故事细枝末节会随着时间慢慢湮没，盲目的英雄主义故事将取而代之。她还表示，萨达姆·侯赛因和奥萨马·本·拉登死后，很多人都不在密切关注战事了。 Brigadier-General Campbell admits to being dismayed when he walks through American airports in uniform and strangers try to buy him sandwiches. Volunteer soldiers need no sympathy, he says. Campbell准将承认，当他穿着军装穿过机场以及陌生人给他买三明治时，他内心感到很恐惧。他说，志愿参军的战士不需要同情。 On the whole, he says, the people of Maine are more sensible than that, especially those who seek to join the armed forces, whose numbers have not fallen. Maine’s military recruits are asking to serve their country, but “not really signing up to some great moral cause,” the general says. 他表示，总的来说，缅因人不应该只了解到这一层面，尤其是那些数量居高不下的有志加入军队的人。这位准将说，缅因州招募来的新兵一心只想报效祖国，而不是为了什么“崇高的理想”。 All America may need a dose of such pragmatism, if South Portlanders are right. They call their city more overtly patriotic than a decade ago, yet more cynical, too. For all Mr Obama’s assurances, many fear an untidy ending in Afghanistan, and further messy crises to follow. Whether fresh interventions might be justified divides them. In short, they will believe in the homecoming of the brave when they see it. 如果南波特兰人民的行为没错，所有美国人都应该学学这股务实的劲头。他们认为市民流露出的爱国情怀比十年前更为明显，但同时也更为偏激。尽管奥巴马作出了保证，但仍有人担心阿富汗战争不会结束得很利索，而随后将危机四起。新一轮的干预措施是否合理，他们意见不一。简言之，只有亲眼看到勇士们回归故乡，他们才会相信这场战争确实已经结束。 译者注： 1.黄丝带：表示等待久违的亲人回来，来源于1971年10月14日《纽约时报》上的一个小说，后改编成歌曲，故事大意也在歌里。 【日积月累】 grinding adj.令人难以忍受的 amorphous adj.无定形的 |
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