Never Give In, Never, Never, Never 永不言弃

Never Give In, Never, Never, Never 永不言弃

——Winston Churchill 温斯顿*丘吉尔
Almost a year has passed since I came down here at your Head Master’s kind invitation in order to cheer myself and cheer the heart of a few of my friends by singing some of our own songs. The ten months that has passed have seen very terrible catastrophic events in the world—ups and downs, misfortunes—but can anyone sitting here this afternoon, this October afternoon, not feel deeply thankful for what has happened in the time that has passed and for the very great improvement in the position of our country and of our home? Why, when I was here last time we were quite alone, desperately alone, and we had to been so for five or six month. We were poorly armed. We are not so poorly armed today; but then we were very poorly armed. We had the unmeasured menace of the enemy and their air attack still beating upon us, and you yourselves had experience of this attack; and I expect you are beginning to feel impatient that there has been this long lull with nothing particular turning up!

catastrophic [.kætə’strɑfɪk] • adj.大突变(灾难)的；悲惨结局的
unmeasured [ʌn’meʒəd] • adj.不可测量的；无边无际的；没有界限的；【韵】不按照韵律的
menace ['menəs] • n.威胁；危险的人（或物）；令人恐怖的氛围；危险气氛 • v.对…构成危险；危及；威胁到
lull [lʌl] • v.缓和；使放松；使镇静；（使）减弱 • n.间歇使安静；暂停；麻痹
ups and downs 坎坷，起伏跌宕
air attack 空袭

上次应校长的真挚邀请，我来到这里，演唱了属于我们自己的歌曲，并希望以此来自勉并鼓励我身边的朋友们，至此已经时隔将近一年了。在过去的十个月里，世界上发生了许多恐怖的灾难性事件——既有跌宕起伏，也有痛苦不堪——但是这个下午，这个十月的下午，在座的哪一个人能不对这段时间发生的事情以及我们的国家，我们的家园所取得的巨大改善而心存感激。是的，上次我来这里的时候，我们感到异常孤立，甚至是孤立无援，这种状态持续了五到六个月。以前，我们的武器装备不够精良，现在的武器装备大有改善，但在那时，我们的确称不上武器装备精良。敌人的威胁无处不在，他们对我们所改进的空袭也仍旧在持续，在座的各位你们也已经亲身经历了这场战役；我想你们也开始对这场战争长时间的停滞不前，没有任何转机感到身心疲惫了。

But we must learn to be equally good at what is short and sharp and what is long and tough. It is generally said that the British are often better at the last. They do not expect to move from crisis to crisis; they do not always expect that each day will bring up some noble chance of war; but when they very slowly make up their minds that the thing has to be done and the job put through and finished, then, even if it takes months—if it takes years—they do it.

noble ['noʊb(ə)l] • adj.崇高的；品质高尚的；宏伟的；壮丽的 • n.出身高贵的人；贵族成员
put through • na.经受；测试；试验；使…通过**

但我们必须学会既能应对短暂而激烈的挑战，又能应对持久而艰难的挑战。人们常说，英国人总是笑在最后。他们不希望从一个危机走向另一个危机；他们不会期盼每一天都会带来宝贵的战争机会，而当他们慢慢地下定决心必须做这件事并为之付出努力，直到最终完成，而且，即使这件事会耗时几个月，甚至几年，他们也会义无反顾地去做。

Another lesson I think we may take, just throwing our minds back to our meeting here ten months ago and now, is that appearances are often very deceptive, and as Kipling well says, we must meet with Triumph and Disaster. And treat those two impostors just the same.

deceptive [dɪ’septɪv] • adj.欺骗性的；误导的；骗人的
impostors [ɪm’pɑstər] • n.冒名顶替者；骗子

我认为我们应该接受的另一个教训是，回想十个月以前我们的那次会面，在看看现在，我们会发现外表经常带有欺骗性。正像吉普林所说的，我们必须“直面胜利和灾难，并以相同的态度对待这两者”。

You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see may more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period—I am addressing myself to the School—surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force, never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated.

tell from • un.辨别；区分开:
petty ['peti] • n.佩蒂；【会】小额；厕所
conviction [kən’vɪkʃ(ə)n] • n.定罪；确信；服罪；【神】悔罪 信念；你的信仰理念；交通违章
convictions of honor and good sense荣誉和理智的信念
yield [jild] • n.产量；产出；利润 • v.屈服；让步；放弃；提供 • 网络收益；收益率；出产
might [maɪt] • auxv.可能；可以；也许；该• n.威力；强大力量
overwhelming [.oʊvər’hwelmɪŋ] • adj.巨大的；压倒性的；无法抗拒的
liquidated ['lɪkwɪ.deɪt] • v.清算；清算(破产的公司等)；了结；清偿(债务等)

你不能从表象判断事情的走向。有时凭空想象会使事情变得更为糟糕；但是缺少想象力的话又会一事无成。那些富有想象力的人们察觉到的危险要多于现实中存在的危险，不可否认，这些危险很多都会发生；然而，他们又必须祈祷被赋予更多的勇气来担负这不切实际的想象。诚然，对每一个人来说，我们在这个阶段所经历的—我现在对这所学校来说—当然是从这十个月中得到的教训；永不言弃，永不言弃，永远，永远，永远，永远不会—在任何事情上，无论崇高或卑微，伟大或渺小—永不言弃，对荣誉和判断力的信念除外。绝不屈服于武力；绝不屈服于敌人表面上的强大。一年前我们非常孤立无援，对于很多国家而言，我们似乎被打垮了，我们完蛋了。所有我们的传统，我们的歌曲，我们学校的历史，这个国家的这部分历史都消失了，完结了，不复存在了。

Very different is the mood today. Britain, other nations thought, had drawn a sponge across her slate. But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, thought we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say that we can be sure that we have only to persevere to conquer.

mood [mud] • n.情绪；心情；气氛；氛围
moon [mun] • n.月亮；月球；卫星 • v.闲逛；发呆；〈俚〉光屁股示人
drawn a sponge across one’s slate 暗喻的修辞，将某人的名字从石板上抹去，指其他国家认为英国已经被打垮
stood in the gap 挺身而出
flinch [flɪntʃ] • n.退缩 • v.畏缩；（突然）退缩
persevere [.pɜsə’vɪr] • v.坚持；孜孜以求
今天的心情非常不同。别的国家认为英国被打垮了。恰恰相反的是我们的国家挺身而出。没有丝毫畏缩或放弃的念头；而这对其他国家来说是个奇迹，尽管我们从没怀疑过会有奇迹出现，我们发现我们正处在只要我们坚持就一定能取得胜利。

You sang here a verse of a School Song: you sang that extra verse written in my honor, which I was very greatly complimented by and which you have repeated today. But there is one word in it I want to alter—I wanted to do so last year, but I did not venture to. It is the line—“Not less we praise in darker days”.

a verse of 一节
compliment ['kɑmplɪmənt] • v.夸奖；祝贺；向…问候[致敬]；赠呈
• n.恭维话；礼仪；慰劳品；贺词

你们在这儿唱了一段校歌：也是为我特意创作的那部分，我在此段中受到了赞扬，今天你们又再次唱起。但是我想改一个词—去年我就想这么做了，但我没有冒昧行事，是那句：“我们同样要赞颂更加黑暗的日子”。

I have obtained the Head Master’s permission to alter darker to sterner. “Not less we praise in sterner days.”
Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days—the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race.

sterner [stɜrn] • n.船尾；后部；英语男子名；船尾；后部；英语男子名 • adj.严厉的；不动摇的；严厉的；不动摇的\

我已经得到了校长的同意把黑暗一词改为严峻。“我们同样要赞颂更加严峻的日子”。现在是伟大的日子—我们国家不曾经历过的伟大日子。我们必须感谢上帝，是上帝允许我们每个人都根据自己的社会地位，为我们民族的光辉历史作出贡献。