種族歧視？愛因斯坦日記曝光，稱中國人遲鈍骯髒
Einstein the Anti-Racist? Not in His Travel Diaries
YONETTE JOSEPH, TIFFANY MAY
2018年6月15日
LONDON — In 1922, the same year he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, Albert Einstein set out with his wife, Elsa, on a five-and-a-half-month odyssey of discovery of a new world: the Far East and Middle East.
倫敦——1922年，阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦(Albert Einstein)獲得了諾貝爾物理學獎，同年，他與妻子艾爾莎(Elsa)開啟了長達五個半月的長途旅程，探索新的世界：遠東和中東。
Along the way, he was feted by a Japanese empress and had an audience with the king of Spain. He also kept a travel diary, noting in stark, often racist terms his impressions of the people he encountered on stops in Hong Kong and Singapore, China, Japan, India and Palestine.
沿途，他得到了日本皇后的款待，謁見了西班牙國王。他還寫了一本旅行日記，使用了時有歧視的極端詞彙記下了他對停留香港、新加坡、中國、日本、印度和巴勒斯坦時所見之人的印象。
The personal writings do not only reveal the musings of a man grappling with a jolt to his view of the world. They also expose “Einstein’s stereotyping of members of various nations and raise questions about his attitudes on race,” according to Princeton University Press, which has published the first full English-language edition.
根據出版了首部英文完整版的普林斯頓大學出版社(Princeton University Press)，這樣私人的文字不僅揭露了一個人的世界觀受到震撼時會如何思索應對，還暴露出了“愛因斯坦對不同國家民眾的成見，並讓人對他的種族態度產生質疑”。
The first volume in a planned series — his writings were previously available in German — is now available under the title “The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein.” It complicates the portrait of a man often described as the most brilliant physicist of the modern era.
此前，他的作品只有德文版本。現在，在規劃的系列中已出版了第一冊題為《The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein》（阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦的旅行日記）的英文版本。這位常被譽為現代最傑出物理學家的人物的形象，由此顯得複雜起來。
Einstein was a German-born Jewish scientist who was targeted by the Nazis and became known as an advocate for human rights. He once said in an interview, “Being a Jew myself, perhaps I can understand and empathize with how black people feel as victims of discrimination.”
愛因斯坦是一名出生於德國的猶太科學家，曾遭納粹迫害，後成為知名的人權倡導者。他曾在一次採訪中說，“黑人作為被歧視者的處境，我作為一名猶太人或許是可以理解的，並且感同身受。”
But in his private writings on that journey from October 1922 to March 1923, “other peoples are portrayed as being biologically inferior, a clear hallmark of racism,” wrote Ze’ev Rosenkranz, assistant director of the Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology and the editor of the book.
“I think a lot of comments strike us as pretty unpleasant — what he says about the Chinese in particular,” he also told The Guardian. “They’re kind of in contrast to the public image of the great humanitarian icon. I think it’s quite a shock to read those and contrast them with his more public statements,” he added.
“我想，很多言論都會讓我們感到十分不快——尤其是他對中國人的評論，”他還告訴《衛報》(The Guardian)說。“這似乎與他作為偉大人道主義楷模的公眾形象形成了反差。將本書與他較公開的言論對比，我覺得是十分驚人的，”他補充說。
When Einstein set out on his journey, he was in his 40s, already renowned for his work on the photoelectric effect and on relativity, and developing a second reputation as a progressive public figure.
愛因斯坦開始這段旅程時已經40多歲了，已經因為有關光電效應和相對論的著作聞名，此外，還在樹立他作為一名進步人士的另一種名聲。
The travel diaries, however, lay bare a different side of a remarkable mind.
但是，這本旅行日記將這個非凡思想者的另外一面展現無餘。
In Hong Kong
在香港
• He expresses sympathy for the “stricken people, men and women, who beat stones daily and must heave them for 5 cents a day.” He adds, “The Chinese are severely punished for the fecundity by the insensitive economic machine.”
• 他對“勞苦眾生——這些每天為了掙5分錢敲打、搬運石頭的男男女女”表達了同情。他還說，“中國人正因為他們的生育能力而受到無情經濟機器的嚴酷處罰。”
• He quotes Portuguese teachers who say, “The Chinese are incapable of being trained to think logically and that they specifically have no talent for mathematics.”
• 他引用葡萄牙語老師的話說：“沒法兒培訓中國人進行邏輯思考，他們特別沒有數學天賦。”
• He adds: “I noticed how little difference there is between men and women; I don’t understand what kind of fatal attraction Chinese women possess which enthralls the corresponding men to such an extent that they are incapable of defending themselves against the formidable blessing of offspring.”
• 他還寫道：“我發現這裡的男人和女人幾乎沒什麼差別，我不明白中國女性有什麼致命吸引力，能讓中國男性如此著迷，以至於他們無力抵抗繁衍後代的強大力量。”
Around Mainland China
在中國大陸各地
• He writes of observing “industrious, filthy, obtuse people.”
• 他寫道，他看到了“勤勞、骯髒、遲鈍的人”。
• “Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.”
• “中國人吃飯時不坐在長凳上，而是像歐洲人在茂密的樹林裡大小便時那樣蹲著。一切都安靜、肅穆。連孩子也無精打采，看起來很遲鈍。”
• “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us, the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.”
• “如果中國人取代所有其他種族，那就太遺憾了。對我們這樣的人來說，光是這樣想想，就覺得特別沮喪。”
In Shanghai
在上海
• A Chinese funeral is described as “barbaric for our taste,” the streets “swarming with pedestrians.”
• 中國的葬禮“在我們看來很野蠻”，街上“擠滿了行人”。
• “In the air there is a stench of never-ending manifold variety.”
• “空氣中永遠瀰漫著各種惡臭。”
• “Even those reduced to working like horses never give the impression of conscious suffering. A peculiar herd-like nation,” he writes, “often more like automatons than people.”
• “就連那些淪落到像馬一樣工作的人似乎也沒有意識到自己的痛苦。特別像畜群的民族，”他寫道，“他們往往更像機器人，而不像人。”
In Japan
在日本
• “Japanese unostentatious, decent, altogether very appealing,” Einstein writes, adopting a more flattering tone, though in some instances it veers into eugenic territory.
• “日本人樸實、得體，總的來說很有吸引力，”愛因斯坦寫道。他採用了一種更欣賞的口吻，儘管在某些情況下，帶有人種改良的色彩。
• “Pure souls as nowhere else among people. One has to love and admire this country.”
• “這裡的人有著其他地方的人所沒有的純淨靈魂。這個國家值得喜愛和欽佩。”
• “Intellectual needs of this nation seem to be weaker than their artistic ones — natural disposition?”
• “這個國家對智識的需求似乎沒有對藝術的需求強烈——天生的性情？”
While many may insist on dismissing the diary entries as merely reflecting the attitudes of the era, Mr. Rosenkranz told The Guardian, the xenophobia and prejudice they revealed had been far from universal. “That’s usually the reaction I get: ‘We have to understand, he was of the zeitgeist, part of the time,’” he said. “But I think I tried here and there to give a broader context. There were other views out there, more tolerant views.”
羅森克蘭茨在接受《衛報》採訪時表示，儘管許多人可能堅持認為，這些日記僅僅反映了那個時代的態度，但它們暴露的仇外情緒和偏見遠非普遍。“我得到的反應通常是這樣的：‘我們必須明白，他是時代思潮的一部分，是那個時代的一部分，’”他說。“但我在想，我盡力四處尋找到了更廣闊的背景。當時還有其他更寬容的觀點。”
In China, however, many social media users seemed willing to give Einstein the benefit of the doubt, or even to agree with him.
不過，在中國，許多社交媒體用戶似乎更願意把愛因斯坦往好處想，甚至同意他的觀點。
“That was the impression China gave to the world back then,” wrote one user of Weibo, a Twitter-like social network. “If it were now, Einstein wouldn’t say such things.”
“那時的中國人，給世界就是這樣的印象，”一位微博（類似Twitter的社交網絡）用戶寫道。“要是現在，愛因斯坦也不會說這樣的話。”
“Diaries are extension of private thought, and there’s no sin in thought,” a Weibo user said. “No matter what he thinks, as long as he doesn’t speak or act in a racist way, then you cannot implicate him. Not to mention the racial climate back then and the limitations of his own youth.”
“私人日記是個人思想的延伸，思想是無罪的，”一位微博用戶寫道，“無論他怎麼想的，只要沒有種族歧視的行為和言論，就不能推及有罪，更不要說當時的歷史環境和他年輕時的個人侷限了。”
A few pushed back. “With what you’re saying, you’re acknowledging Einstein’s racism toward the Chinese and making excuses for him,” one person wrote in a blog post.
也有些人進行了反駁。“你這麼說等於你已經承認愛因斯坦歧視了中國人，現在用別的理由找補呢，”有個人在自己的博客中寫道。
Einstein’s shifting views may be most powerfully illustrated by the way he put his scientific fame at the service of the American civil rights movement. According to Smithsonian Magazine, in 1931 he joined a committee to protest the injustice of the Scottsboro Boys trial in Alabama, in which nine African-American youths were falsely accused of raping two white women.
愛因斯坦觀點的轉變可能最有力地反映在他利用自己的科學聲譽為美國的民權運動服務。據《史密森雜誌》(Smithsonian Magazine)稱，1931年，他加入了一個委員會，抗議亞拉巴馬州斯科茨伯勒男孩案(Scottsboro Boys)的不公正審判。在該案中，有九名非裔美國青年被錯誤地指控強姦了兩名白人女性。
And in a 1946 commencement speech at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, he declared: “There is separation of colored people from white people in the United States. It is a disease of white people. I do not intend to be quiet about it.”
1946年，愛因斯坦在賓夕法尼亞州林肯大學(Lincoln University)的畢業典禮上發表演講時稱：“在美國，有色人種和白人是隔離的。這是白人的一種病。我不打算對此保持沉默。”
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