新外研版

高中英语

第三册

Unit 2

B

Developing ideas

课文再现

英汉对照

The Power of Good

善行的力量

 

“The British Schindler”: the life of Nicholas Winton

“英国辛德勒”：尼古拉斯·温顿的生平

 

It is August 1939, and a group of frightened children are boarding a train at Prague’s Wilson Station. Their heartbroken parents do not join them. Indeed, they fear they may never see their children again. But they know that their children will live. These are among the 669 children, most of them Jewish, that Nicholas Winton will go on to save from death at the hands of the Nazis.

1939年8月，一群心惊胆战的孩子们在布拉格的威尔逊车站登上列车。而他们伤心欲绝的父母却没有上车。事实上，他们害怕再也见不到自己的孩子了。但他们知道，孩子们会活下来。这些孩子大都是犹太人，他们是尼古拉斯·温顿即将从纳粹手里解救的669名儿童中的一部分。

 

Nicholas Winton was born on 19 May 1909 in London, to German-Jewish parents. The family later took British nationality. On leaving school, Winton worked in banks in Germany and France. He returned to Britain in 1931, where he worked in business.

尼古拉斯·温顿1909年5月19日出生于伦敦，父母是德裔犹太人。一家人后来加入了英国国籍。从学校毕业后，温顿先后在德国和法国的银行工作。他于1931年回到英国，从事商业工作。

 

In December 1938, a friend asked Winton to come to Prague to aid people who were escaping from the Nazis. In Prague, Winton saw people living in terrible conditions and whose lives were in danger. He decided to help transport children to safety in Britain. He established an office to keep records of the children, and then returned to Britain to find temporary homes for them. He used donated funds and his own money to pay the 50 pounds per child that the British government required. By August 1939, Winton had saved 669 children.

1938年12月，一个朋友请求温顿前往布拉格帮助那里的人们逃脱纳粹的迫害。在布拉格，温顿看到人们生活在恶劣的环境中，连生命都受到威胁。他决定帮助把孩子转移到英国安全的地方。他开设了一个办事处来记录孩子们的信息，然后回到英国为孩子们寻找寄养家庭。他用捐款和自己的钱来支付英国政府向每个孩子征收的50英镑的费用。截至1939年8月，温顿已经解救了669个孩子。

 

During World War II, Winton served as an officer in Britain’s Royal Air Force. He left the military in 1954. He then worked for international charities and for various companies. For the most part, he did not mention the children he saved, and his actions soon disappeared from people’s memories.

二战期间，温顿曾在英国皇家空军担任军官。他于1954年离开部队。之后他在一些国际慈善机构和多家公司工作过。他极少提及自己救孩子的事情，于是这些事渐渐淡出了人们的记忆。

 

That all changed in 1988 when his wife Grete found a forgotten journal at home. The journal contained photographs and names of the children and addresses of the families that took them in. She sent the journal to a newspaper, and that year Winton was seen on the British television programme That’s Life. At one point, the host asked people in the audience to stand up if Nicholas Winton had saved their lives. A shocked Winton watched as the majority of people rose to their feet. The programme brought his actions to public attention, and Winton became a respected figure around the world.

直到1988年，一切都发生了改变。他的妻子格蕾特在家中发现一本被遗忘的日记。日记里夹着孩子们的照片，上面记录着孩子们的名字以及寄养家庭的地址。她将日记寄给了一家报社。同年，温顿参加英国的一档电视节目《这就是生活》。节目中，主持人问在场有没有被温顿救过的人，如果有请起立。温顿震惊地看到在场的大多数人都站了起来。这个节目让他的善举为公众所了解，也让温顿被世界各地的人们所尊敬。

 

Later, Winton received various honours for his achievement, including a knighthood in 2003, and the Czech government’s highest honour, the Order of the White Lion, in 2014.

此后，温顿因其成就而获得了各种荣誉，其中包括2003年获得爵士称号，以及2014年获得捷克政府的最高荣誉“白狮勋章”。

 

Nicholas Winton passed away on 1 July 2015, at the age of 106. As the Chinese saying goes, “A kind-hearted person lives a long life.”

尼古拉斯·温顿于2015年7月1日与世长辞，享年106岁。正如中国谚语所说：“仁者寿。”

　　

 

　　

 

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