道格拉斯·麦克阿瑟(Douglas MacArthur),美国陆军五星上将。出生于阿肯色州小石城的军人世家。1899年中学毕业后考入西点军校,1903年以名列第一的优异成绩毕业,到工程兵部队任职,并赴菲律宾执勤。麦克阿瑟有过50年的军事实践经验,被美国国民称之为"一代老兵",而其自身的又曾是"美国最年轻的准将、西点军校最年轻的校长、美国陆军历史上最年轻的陆军参谋长",凭借精妙的军事谋略和敢战敢胜的胆略,麦克阿瑟堪称美国战争史上的奇才。
这是麦克阿瑟将军的一篇著名演讲,是他一生中最后一次也是最感人的一次演讲,1962年5月,他应邀来到他的母校西点军校,接受军校的最高奖励——西尔维纳斯·塞耶荣誉勋章。他检阅了学员队,和他们共进午餐。
我的生命已近黄昏,暮色已经降临,我昔日的风采和荣誉已经消失。它们随着对昔日事业的憧憬,带着那余晖消失了。昔日的记忆奇妙而美好,浸透了眼泪和昨日微笑的安慰和抚爱。我尽力但徒然地倾听,渴望听到军号吹奏起床导对那微弱而迷人的旋律,以及远处战鼓急促敲击的动人节奏。我在梦幻中依稀又听到了大炮在轰鸣,又听到了滑膛枪在鸣放,又听到了战场上那陌生、哀愁的呻吟。
The shadows are lengthening for me. The
twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of
wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ears, for the witching
melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums
beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the
rattle of musketry, the strange,
mournfulmutter of the battlefield.
然而,晚年的回忆经常将我带回到西点军校。我的耳旁回响着,反复回响着:责任,荣誉,国家。今天是我同你们进行的最后一次点名。但我愿你们知道,当我到达彼岸时,我最后想的是学员队,学员队,还是学员队。
But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point. Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country. Today marks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross the river my last
conscious thoughts will be of The Corps, and The Corps, and The Corps.
演讲全文:General Douglas MacArthur -- Thayer Award Address
General Westmoreland, General Grove,
distinguished guests, and gentlemen of the Corps!
As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, "Where are you bound for, General?" And when I replied, "West Point," he remarked, "Beautiful place. Have you ever been there before?"
No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a
tribute as this [Thayer Award]. Coming from a
profession I have served so long, and a people I have loved so well, it fills me with an
emotion I cannot express. But this award is not intended
primarily to honor a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code -- the code of conduct and
chivalry of those who guard this
beloved land of
culture and ancient descent. That is the animation of this medallion. For all eyes and for all time, it is an expression of the
ethics of the American soldier. That I should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arouses a sense of pride and yet of
humility which will be with me always: Duty, Honor, Country.
Those three
hallowed words reverently
dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to
regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.
Unhappily, I possess neither that
eloquence of diction, that
poetry of imagination, nor that
brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean. The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the
extent of
mockery and ridicule.
But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation's defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid. They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but
humble and gentle in success; not to
substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the
stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to have
compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future yet never
neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be
modest so that you will remember the
simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the
meekness of true strength. They give you a
temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a
freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of an
appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and
inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.
And what sort of soldiers are those you are to lead? Are they reliable? Are they brave? Are they
capable of victory? Their story is known to all of you. It is the story of the American man-at-arms. My
estimate of him was formed on the
battlefield many, many years ago, and has never changed. I regarded him then as I regard him now -- as one of the world's noblest figures, not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless. His name and fame are the
birthright of every American citizen. In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that
mortality can give.
He needs no eulogy from me or from any other man. He has written his own history and written it in red on his enemy's breast. But when I think of his
patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his
modesty in victory, I am filled with an
emotion of
admiration I cannot put into words. He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism. He belongs to
posterity as the
instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom. He belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements. In 20 campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that
enduring fortitude, that
patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible
determination which have carved his
statue in the hearts of his people. From one end of the world to the other he has drained deep the chalice of courage.
As I listened to those songs [of the glee club], in memory's eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs, on many a weary march from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle-deep through the mire of shell-shocked roads, to form
grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and for many, to the judgment seat of God.
I do not know the
dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death.
They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory.
Always, for them: Duty, Honor, Country; always their blood and sweat and tears, as we sought the way and the light and the truth.
And 20 years after, on the other side of the globe, again the filth of murky foxholes, the stench of
ghostly trenches, the slime of dripping dugouts; those boiling suns of
relentless heat, those torrential rains of devastating storms; the
loneliness and utter
desolation of
jungle trails; the
bitterness of long
separation from those they loved and cherished; the
deadlypestilence of
tropical disease; the
horror of
stricken areas of war; their
resolute and determined defense, their swift and sure attack, their
indomitable purpose, their complete and
decisivevictory -- always victory. Always through the
bloody haze of their last reverberating shot, the
vision of gaunt,
ghastly men reverently following your password of: Duty, Honor, Country.
The code which those words perpetuate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any
ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the
uplift of mankind. Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are from the things that are wrong.
The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training -- sacrifice.
In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those
divine attributes which his Maker gave when he created man in his own image. No
physical courage and no brute
instinct can take the place of the Divine help which alone can
sustain him.
However
horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.
You now face a new world -- a world of change. The
thrust into outer space of the satellite, spheres, and missiles mark the
beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind. In the five or more billions of years the scientists tell us it has taken to form the earth, in the three or more
billion years of development of the human race, there has never been a more
abrupt or staggering evolution. We deal now not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitable distances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe. We are reaching out for a new and
boundless frontier.
We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds and tides work for us; of creating unheard synthetic materials to
supplement or even
replace our old standard basics; to
purify sea water for our drink; of
mining ocean floors for new fields of
wealth and food; of disease preventatives to
expand life into the hundreds of years; of controlling the weather for a more equitable
distribution of heat and cold, of rain and shine; of space ships to the moon; of the
primary target in war, no longer
limited to the armed forces of an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations; of
ultimateconflict between a united human race and the
sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy; of such dreams and fantasies as to make life the most exciting of all time.
And through all this welter of change and development, your
mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable: it is to win our wars.
Everything else in your
professionalcareer is but corollary to this vital dedication. All other public purposes, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishment. But you are the ones who are trained to fight. Yours is the
profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no
substitute for victory; that if you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be: Duty, Honor, Country.
Others will
debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men's minds; but serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war-guardian, as its lifeguard from the raging tides of
international conflict, as its gladiator in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded, and protected its
hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.
Let
civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; whether our strength is being sapped by
deficit financing, indulged in too long, by
federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by
politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as
thorough and complete as they should be. These great national problems are not for your
professionalparticipation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold
beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.
You are the
leaven which binds together the entire
fabric of our national
system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation's
destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds. The Long Gray Line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.
This does not mean that you are war mongers.
On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.
But always in our ears ring the
ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war."
The shadows are lengthening for me. The
twilight is here. My days of old have vanished, tone and tint. They have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were. Their memory is one of
wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday. I listen vainly, but with thirsty ears, for the witching
melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums
beating the long roll. In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the
rattle of musketry, the strange,
mournfulmutter of the battlefield.
But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.
Always there echoes and re-echoes: Duty, Honor, Country.
Today marks my final roll call with you, but I want you to know that when I cross the river my last
conscious thoughts will be of The Corps, and The Corps, and The Corps.
I bid you farewell.
- twilight [´twailait] n.黎明;黄昏 (初中英语单词)
- yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天;前不久 (初中英语单词)
- rattle [´rætl] n.嘎吱声 (初中英语单词)
- mutter [´mʌtə] v.&n.咕哝;嘀咕 (初中英语单词)
- conscious [´kɔnʃəs] a.意识的;自觉的 (初中英语单词)
- tribute [´tribju:t] n.贡物;献礼;颂词 (初中英语单词)
- profession [prə´feʃən] n.职业;声明;表白 (初中英语单词)
- emotion [i´məuʃən] n.感情;情绪;激动 (初中英语单词)
- personality [,pə:sə´næliti] n.人;个性;人品;人物 (初中英语单词)
- beloved [bi´lʌvd] a.为....所爱的 n.爱人 (初中英语单词)
- culture [´kʌltʃə] n.修养;文化;饲养 (初中英语单词)
- poetry [´pəuitri] n.诗;诗意 (初中英语单词)
- imagination [i,mædʒi´neiʃən] n.想象(力) (初中英语单词)
- phrase [freiz] n.短语;词组;措词 (初中英语单词)
- character [´kæriktə] n.特性;性质;人物;字 (初中英语单词)
- extent [ik´stent] n.长度;程度;范围 (初中英语单词)
- failure [´feiljə] n.失败;衰竭;破产 (初中英语单词)
- humble [´hʌmbəl] a.谦卑的 vt.贬抑 (初中英语单词)
- substitute [´sʌbstitju:t] n.代理人 v.代替,取代 (初中英语单词)
- stress [stres] n.强调;压力 vt.强调 (初中英语单词)
- challenge [´tʃælindʒ] n.&vt.向....挑战;怀疑 (初中英语单词)
- neglect [ni´glekt] vt.&n.疏忽;忽视;忽略 (初中英语单词)
- seriously [´siəriəsli] ad.严肃;严重,重大 (初中英语单词)
- modest [´mɔdist] a.谦虚的;朴素的 (初中英语单词)
- wisdom [´wizdəm] n.智慧,聪明,才智 (初中英语单词)
- temper [´tempə] n.韧度 v.锻炼;调和 (初中英语单词)
- appetite [´æpitait] n.欲望;食欲 (初中英语单词)
- capable [´keipəbəl] a.有能力;能干的 (初中英语单词)
- victory [´viktəri] n.胜利,战胜 (初中英语单词)
- estimate [´estimət, ´estimeit] n.估计;评价 vt.估价 (初中英语单词)
- patience [´peiʃəns] n.忍耐(力);耐心;坚韧 (初中英语单词)
- admiration [,ædmə´reiʃən] n.赞赏,钦佩 (初中英语单词)
- instructor [in´strʌktə] n.教师;指导者 (初中英语单词)
- statue [´stætʃu:] n.塑像,雕像 (初中英语单词)
- dignity [´digniti] n.尊严,尊贵;高官显贵 (初中英语单词)
- deadly [´dedli] a.致命的 ad.死一般地 (初中英语单词)
- horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖;战栗 (初中英语单词)
- bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的;血腥的 (初中英语单词)
- vision [´viʒən] n.视觉;想象力;幻影 (初中英语单词)
- divine [di´vain] a.神圣的 v.预言 (初中英语单词)
- physical [´fizikəl] a.物质的;有形的 (初中英语单词)
- instinct [´instiŋkt] n.本能;直觉;天资 (初中英语单词)
- sustain [sə´stein] vt.支撑;蒙受;确认 (初中英语单词)
- horrible [´hɔrəbəl] a.可怕的;恐怖的 (初中英语单词)
- thrust [θrʌst] v.&n.猛推;冲;刺;挤进 (初中英语单词)
- beginning [bi´giniŋ] n.开始,开端;起源 (初中英语单词)
- frontier [´frʌntiə] n.国境;边疆;边界 (初中英语单词)
- energy [´enədʒi] n.活力,精力;能力 (初中英语单词)
- replace [ri´pleis] vt.放回;复置;取代 (初中英语单词)
- wealth [welθ] n.财富,财产 (初中英语单词)
- distribution [,distri´bju:ʃən] n.分配;分布(状态) (初中英语单词)
- primary [´praiməri] a.主要的 n.居首位的 (初中英语单词)
- conflict [´kɔnflikt, kən´flikt] n.&vi.战斗;抵触 (初中英语单词)
- mission [´miʃən] n.代表团;使馆vt.派遣 (初中英语单词)
- professional [prə´feʃənəl] a.职业的 n.自由职业 (初中英语单词)
- career [kə´riə] n.经历;生涯;职业 (初中英语单词)
- debate [di´beit] n.&v.讨论,辩论 (初中英语单词)
- international [,intə´næʃənəl] a.国际的,世界的 (初中英语单词)
- federal [´fedərəl] a.联邦的,联邦制的 (初中英语单词)
- politics [´pɔlitiks] n.政治(学);政治活动 (初中英语单词)
- violent [´vaiələnt] a.强暴的;猛烈的 (初中英语单词)
- solution [sə´lu:ʃən] n.解答;解决;溶解 (初中英语单词)
- fabric [´fæbrik] n.织物;结构;组织 (初中英语单词)
- system [´sistəm] n.系统,体系,制度 (初中英语单词)
- contrary [´kɔntrəri] a.相反的 n.相反 (初中英语单词)
- farewell [feə´wel] int.再见 n.&a.告别 (初中英语单词)
- vainly [´veinli] ad.虚荣地;自负地 (高中英语单词)
- melody [´melədi] n.悦耳的音调;乐曲 (高中英语单词)
- distinguished [di´stiŋgwiʃt] a.卓越的,著名的 (高中英语单词)
- chivalry [´ʃivəlri] n.侠义;骑士团 (高中英语单词)
- descent [di´sent] n.出身,家世 (高中英语单词)
- dictate [dik´teit] v.口授;指示,命令 (高中英语单词)
- regain [ri´gein] vt.收回;恢复 (高中英语单词)
- simplicity [sim´plisiti] n.简单;朴素 (高中英语单词)
- greatness [´greitnis] n.巨大;高尚;卓越 (高中英语单词)
- inspiration [,inspi´reiʃən] n.鼓舞;灵感;启发 (高中英语单词)
- reliable [ri´laiəbl] a.可靠的;可信赖的 (高中英语单词)
- loyalty [´lɔiəlti] n.忠诚;忠心;忠实 (高中英语单词)
- posterity [pɔ´steriti] n.子孙;后代 (高中英语单词)
- patriotic [,pætri´ɔtik] a.爱国的 (高中英语单词)
- determination [di,tə:mi´neiʃən] n.决心;决定 (高中英语单词)
- grimly [´grimli] ad.严厉地;坚强地 (高中英语单词)
- loneliness [´ləunliniz] n.孤独,寂寞 (高中英语单词)
- jungle [´dʒʌŋgəl] n.丛林;杂乱的东西 (高中英语单词)
- bitterness [´bitənis] n.苦味;辛酸;苦难 (高中英语单词)
- separation [,sepə´reiʃən] n.分离;分开;分居 (高中英语单词)
- tropical [´trɔpikəl] a.热带地区的 (高中英语单词)
- stricken [´strikən] strike的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
- ghastly [´gɑ:stli] a.苍白的;可怕的 (高中英语单词)
- billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
- abrupt [ə´brʌpt] a.突然的;粗鲁的 (高中英语单词)
- universe [´ju:nivə:s] n.天地;全人类;银河系 (高中英语单词)
- mining [´mainiŋ] n.采矿;矿业 (高中英语单词)
- expand [ik´spænd] vt.张开;膨胀;扩大 (高中英语单词)
- limited [´limitid] a.有限(制)的 (高中英语单词)
- ultimate [´ʌltimit] a.最终的 n.终极;顶点 (高中英语单词)
- accomplishment [ə´kʌmpliʃmənt] n.完成;成就;才艺 (高中英语单词)
- serene [si´ri:n] n.&a.清澈的;宁静的 (高中英语单词)
- mighty [´maiti] a.强有力的 ad.很 (高中英语单词)
- corrupt [kə´rʌpt] a.腐败的 v.败坏;贿赂 (高中英语单词)
- thorough [´θʌrə] a.彻底的;详尽的 (高中英语单词)
- destiny [´destini] n.命运 (高中英语单词)
- wondrous [´wʌndrəs] a.极好的 ad.惊人地 (英语四级单词)
- mournful [´mɔ:nful] a.令人沮丧的 (英语四级单词)
- primarily [´praimərəli, prai´merəli] ad.首先;主要地 (英语四级单词)
- humility [hju:´militi] n.谦逊,谦让 (英语四级单词)
- hallowed [´hæləud] a.神圣的,崇高的 (英语四级单词)
- eloquence [´eləkwəns] n.雄辩;口才 (英语四级单词)
- compassion [kəm´pæʃən] n.同情;怜悯 (英语四级单词)
- freshness [´freʃnis] n.新鲜 (英语四级单词)
- mortality [mɔ:´tæliti] n.致命性;死亡率 (英语四级单词)
- adversity [əd´və:siti] n.灾难;逆境 (英语四级单词)
- modesty [´mɔdisti] n.谨慎;端庄;羞怯 (英语四级单词)
- objective [ɔb´dʒektiv] a.客观的 n.目标 (英语四级单词)
- desolation [desə´leiʃ(ə)n] n.荒凉 (英语四级单词)
- resolute [´rezəlu:t] a.坚决的;不屈不挠的 (英语四级单词)
- decisive [di´saisiv] a.决定性的,确定的 (英语四级单词)
- uplift [ʌp´lift, ´ʌplift] vt.提高;振奋(精神) (英语四级单词)
- evolution [,i:və´lu:ʃən] n.进化;发展;发育 (英语四级单词)
- boundless [´baundlis] a.无边无际的 (英语四级单词)
- supplement [´sʌplimənt, ´sʌpliment] n.增补;增刊;附录 (英语四级单词)
- sinister [´sinistə] a.阴险的;不吉的 (英语四级单词)
- civilian [si´viljən] n.平民 a.平民的 (英语四级单词)
- ominous [´ɔminəs] a.不祥的;预示的 (英语四级单词)
- beating [´bi:tiŋ] n.敲;搅打;失败 (英语六级单词)
- ethics [´eθiks] n.伦理学;道德标准 (英语六级单词)
- brilliance [´briljəns] n.光辉,辉煌 (英语六级单词)
- slogan [´sləugən] n.标语;口号 (英语六级单词)
- hypocrite [´hipəkrit] n.伪善者;伪君子 (英语六级单词)
- mockery [´mɔkəri] n.嘲笑;笑柄 (英语六级单词)
- meekness [´mi:knis] n.温顺;卑恭屈节 (英语六级单词)
- battlefield [´bætlfi:ld] n.战场 (英语六级单词)
- birthright [´bə:θrait] n.生来就有的权利 (英语六级单词)
- enduring [in´djuəriŋ] a.持久的 (英语六级单词)
- fortitude [´fɔ:titju:d] n.坚忍;刚毅 (英语六级单词)
- ghostly [´gəustli] a.鬼的;朦胧的 (英语六级单词)
- relentless [ri´lentləs] a.无情的;坚韧的 (英语六级单词)
- pestilence [´pestiləns] n.瘟(鼠)疫;毒害(物) (英语六级单词)
- indomitable [in´dɔmitəbəl] a.不屈不挠的 (英语六级单词)
- satellite [´sætəlait] n.(人造)卫星;随从 (英语六级单词)
- purify [´pjuərifai] vt.净化;精炼;提纯 (英语六级单词)
- deficit [´defisit] n.缺乏,赤字,亏空 (英语六级单词)
- arrogant [´ærəgənt] a.傲慢的;自大的 (英语六级单词)
- participation [pɑ:,tisi´peiʃən] n.参加,参与 (英语六级单词)
- beacon [´bi:kən] n.灯塔;信标 v.照亮 (英语六级单词)
- leaven [´levən] n.发醇剂 vt.发生影响 (英语六级单词)