那些年學校教給我們的十個最大"謊言"(2)

peans Invaded Africa and Kidnapped the Slaves

7.歐洲人侵入非洲拐賣奴隸

This isn't meant to trivialize slavery, or pardon any of the people who took part in it, or condone it in any way. But let's face it: most Americans are under the impression that colonial-era slavery got its start with white people sailing over to Africa, kidnapping hundreds of thousands of people, and bringing them back to Europe and America in chains.

我並非打算將奴隸制度視爲無足輕重的存在，或赦免那些參與者的罪過，也並非擬將以某種方式寬恕這種行爲。而是想讓大家正視這個問題：大多數美國人認爲，白人航行至歐洲，綁架了數以萬計的奴隸，並將他們束以枷鎖帶回歐洲和美國，由此拉開了殖民時代奴隸制的序幕。

Parts of that are true. There were a lot of chains, and many Africans were certainly kidnapped. But despite the picture painted by many history textbooks, the majority of those slaves were actually sold to Europeans by other African slave traders—slave traders who had been operating on the continent for thousands of years. Slavery is nothing new to the world; it was actually pretty normal around that time. In fact, Egyptians were using Caucasian slaves in their armies during the thirteenth century. Heck, even the Bible endorsed the practice!

這樣的看法在很大程度上是正確的，確實曾有許多非洲人被綁架並束以枷鎖。但不管歷史課本上出現的那些圖片描繪的是何情形，大多數奴隸實際上是被其他非洲奴隸販子賣到歐洲的——奴隸制度已經在這片大陸存在了數千年之久。現今奴隸制度對世界而言並不新奇，而實際上早在那時奴隸制就已是極爲平常的存在。事實上，13世紀左右的埃及人就曾組建白人奴隸軍隊。見鬼的是，就連《聖經》都認可奴隸制的存在。

As far as the Atlantic Slave Trade was concerned, in-country African slaves were typically members of a defeated tribe. But as soon as slave traders realized that Europeans would pay for their slaves, they actively began kidnapping people just to sell them on the Nigerian coast.

就大西洋奴隸貿易而言，以往非洲國內的奴隸一般都是戰敗部落的成員。但自從奴隸貿易興起，奴隸販賣便越發有利可圖，非洲的奴隸販子開始活躍起來，他們綁架本國奴隸，並在尼日利亞海岸將其拍賣。

And speaking of lies about slavery…

然後他們便開始散播關於奴隸制的各種“謊言”……

ham Lincoln Was Strongly Opposed to Slavery

6.亞伯拉罕·林肯強烈反對奴隸制度

Abraham Lincoln is often put on a pedestal as one of the greatest opponents of slavery for freeing the slaves with his Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. In fact, he struggled with conflicting and ambiguous views on slavery—not to mention sexuality—during his entire Presidential career. He wasn't a stalwart supporter of abolition; he only wanted to do what would make the Union stronger (remember, this was a time when the Confederate states had split from the Union and were at war).

亞伯拉罕·林肯在1862年頒佈的《解放奴隸宣言》使奴隸們重獲自由，他也因此常被尊崇爲最偉大的奴隸制反對者之一。但實際上，在整個總統生涯中，他對奴隸制的看法總是模棱兩可。他並沒有堅定地主張廢除奴隸制度，他這樣做僅僅只是一種戰略上的需要，爲使聯邦更爲強大（畢竟我們不能忘了，在那期間，美利堅聯盟國已經脫離聯邦，並正與南部聯盟交戰）。

In his own words: “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union.” This is called talking out of both sides of your mouth.

他自己也曾說過：“我的終極目標是要保住聯邦，而不是廢除奴隸制。如果解放黑人奴隸就能夠保住聯邦，我會那樣做；假如不這樣也能達到目標，那我就不解放他們；如果只解放一部分奴隸也同樣能取得成效的話，我也會照章辦事。”典型的政治辭令，毫無立場。

The Emancipation Proclamation didn't really touch on racial equality or human rights. It was a wartime decision: “as a fit and necessary military measure. . . . All persons held as slaves in the Confederate states will thenceforward . . . be free.” In other words: only the enemy's slaves were freed. Hooray to the great emancipator!

《解放奴隸宣言》實際上並沒有觸及種族平等或人權問題。它只不過是一個戰時決定，是“一項合宜且必需的軍事政策……美利堅聯盟國內的所有奴隸在那之後都將獲得自由。”換言之：只有南部聯盟的奴隸也得到解放，我們才能對這位偉大的解放者高呼“萬歲”。

Let's face it—if Honest Abe really wanted equality, Martin Luther King probably wouldn't have a holiday named after him.

讓我們正視現實吧——如果“正直的亞伯”（對林肯的愛稱）當真想要平等，那以馬丁·路德·金（Martin Luther King）命名的假日也許便不復存在了。

onds Are Made from Coal

5.鑽石由煤炭演變而成

If you believe that diamonds are made from highly compressed coal, don't worry—so does everyone else. But it's completely false: diamonds are found in vertical shafts filled with rocks formed by volcanoes, while coal is mainly found among other types of rocks—like limestone and shale.

如果你認爲鑽石是煤炭經過高度壓縮而形成的，那也不用擔心，因爲幾乎所有人都抱有這種看法。但這種看法卻是完全錯誤的：鑽石形成於火山噴發時的豎直熔岩通道中，而煤炭則主要形成於其他類型的岩石之中（比如石灰岩與頁岩）。

Coal is almost never found in the same type of environment as diamonds. Coal is formed near the surface from plant matter, while diamonds are formed in the Earth's mantle—over ninety miles (145 km) closer to the core—and then carried up to the crust during volcanic eruptions.

煤炭與鑽石的形成環境幾乎也無任何相似之處。煤炭主要是由地球表面的植物殘骸堆積演變而成，而鑽石則形成於地幔之中——距離地心90餘英里（145公里）——然後在火山爆發時被帶至地殼表面。

It's true that diamonds are formed from carbon by intense heat—2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,100 degrees Celcius)—and high pressure, but it's unlikely that the carbon comes from coal. So while the idea of a lump of coal becoming a beautiful diamond makes a pretty picture, it's still one big spoonful of lies.

鑽石的確是碳元素在高溫（2000華氏度，即1100攝氏度）高壓的環境下所形成，但這裏的碳元素不可能是從煤炭中提煉而出。因此儘管把一塊煤變成一顆璀璨鑽石的想法美妙無比，卻純屬異想天開。

On the other hand, modern science can pretty much turn anything into a diamond in the lab: even the corpse of your recently deceased loved one.

另一方面，現代科學幾乎可以把任何東西都變成鑽石，甚至你剛死去愛人的屍體。我不得不感嘆大千世界果真無奇不有。

Founding Fathers Were All Christian

4.美國的開國元勳都是基督徒

One of the prevailing myths taught in history classes is that the Founding Fathers of America were all Christian. The Declaration of Independence talks about God; the pledge of allegiance (which, incidentally, wasn't even created until more than a century later) uses the words “under God”; and it all sort of jumbles together into the idea that Washington and crew were Bible-thumping Christian men.

人們普遍認爲美國的開國元勳都是基督徒，這其實也是我們在歷史課上學到的謊言之一。《獨立宣言》有涉及到上帝，效忠誓詞中也有“在上帝庇護之下”（under god）這樣的語句（順便一提，這句話是在建國一百多年後才加上去的）。所有諸如此類的言辭給公衆造成了一種錯覺，即華盛頓和其他開國元勳都是宣講福音的基督徒。

Well, they weren't. For starters, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were both believed to be deists, who don't follow the Bible explicitly but assume there's a “god” because nature is so great. George Washington most likely followed pantheism, which is the belief that nature is god. John Adams was a Unitarian, an offshoot of Christianity that believes Jesus was a great guy, but not God's Son. Alexander Hamilton was a typical Christian—but only later in life, after his son was killed.

實際上，他們並不都是基督徒。托馬斯·傑斐遜和本傑明·富蘭克林被認爲是自然神論者，他們並不嚴格遵奉《聖經》爲至高真理，但卻堅信有“上帝”的存在，因爲自然是如此妙不可言，而上帝在創造這個世界之後，就讓它按照自然的不變的法則運轉下去；喬治·華盛頓則很有可能是泛神論者，認爲“自然即上帝”；約翰·亞當斯信奉一位論派，一位論派是基督教的一個分支，認爲耶穌是一個偉大的人，但卻不承認他的“神子”身份；亞歷山大·漢密爾頓倒是一位典型的基督徒——但他也是在晚年喪子之後才重歸於年輕時候信仰的基督教。

翻譯：李念 來源：前十網