第二十一届“韩素音青年翻译奖”竞赛初赛原文及参考译文（汉译英）
可贵的“他人意识”
Calling for an Awareness of Others
上世纪中叶的中国式“集体主义”，自从在世纪末之前，逐渐分解以及还原为对个人和个体的尊重，初步建立起个人的权益保障系统之后，“我们”——这个在计划经济时代使用频率极高的词，已被更为普遍的"我"所代替。我喜欢说“我”，也因此欣赏其他的那些“我”。如果没有“我”的确立，没有无数“我”的合作，“ 我们”必定是空洞、脆弱、空心化以至于不堪一击的。
Shortly before the turn of the new century, the collectivism that had been haunting China since the 1950s went bankrupt, giving way to respect for individuality, and the protection of individual rights was initially institutionalized. The plural form “we,” used ubiquitously in the era of planned economy, has been widely replaced by the singular form “me.” I love to talk about “myself,” and I have learnt to admire those other “selves.” Without the assertion of individuality, without the cooperation of a vast number of individuals, the idea of “we” is bound to be meaningless, fragile, and vulnerable.
然而，在“我”和“我们”之间，是以“他人”作为连接点的。“我”因“他人”而成为“我”；“我们”因“他人”而成为“我们”。当“我们”过度地强化、放大“我”，而舍弃“他人”的时候，“我”便处于四面受敌的孤立无援之中。在我们的传统习性中，“他人”这一概念，更多的情况下，只是一种被供奉的虚设牌位。我们的成语中曾有“以邻为壑”一词，可以佐证；有“只扫自家门前雪，哪管他人瓦上霜”的谚语，可以证言。
However, “others” form the nexus between “me” and “us.” It is through others that I become myself. It is through others that we become ourselves. When “we” over-emphasize and magnify “myself” at the expense of others, “I” will end up defenseless, exposed to all kinds of slings and arrows. Our tradition, more often than not, only plays lip service to the idea of “others.” For evidence, we can cite the idiom “Divert the flood to the neighbor’s courtyard,” as well as the proverb “Mind your business and pay no heed to the rest of the world.”
即便在集体主义理想教育最为鼎盛之时，“他人”不仅未能成为国人的自觉意识，“他人”反而意味着告密、背叛、异己、危险、离间等等。这种体制下的集体主义文化，终于导致了“他人即地狱”的严酷后果。闻“他人”而心颤，近“他人”而丧胆。也许正是由于对“他人”的恐惧，“文革”之后，“我们”迅速土崩瓦解，“我”自仰天长啸——而“他人”却不得不退出公众的视线，淡化为一个可有可无的虚词，成为公民道德的模糊地带。
Even when the indoctrination of collectivism approached its climax, respect for “others” never infiltrated into over awareness; instead, the word “others” often implied betrayal, alienation, danger, and estrangement. This institutionalized collectivism ushered in disastrous consequences, as expressed by the catch phrase “Hell is other people.” Therefore, we shudder and panic at the mere mention of “others.” It is probably due to this phobia of others that the hegemony of “us” collapsed overnight after the Cultural Revolution. Each one now asserts himself aggressively, while “others” step out of the limelight, reduced to being an empty word, an insignificant particle, at best of questionable moral value.
五十年代以来，人口的高速增长，造成生存空间的高密度化；人口压力长期形成经济发展与卫生保健的沉重负担；部分农村以及偏远地区的计划生育仍然阻力重重。 “我”生我的娃，关你什么样事？在人口问题上，可有“他人”的意识么？餐馆大肆收购、杀戮、烹煮野生动物为牟取暴利；食客面不改色食用野生动物以饱“口福 ”或炫耀财富；
Since the 1950s, the nation’s fast growing population has resulted in a further comprehension of our living space, imposing heavy burdens on the nation’s economic development and health care. In some rural areas and remote hinterlands, the birth-control policy is still hard to implement. “I” decide to give birth to “my” baby, and what’s all the fuss about that on “your” part? On this matter, do we have any awareness of “others”? Unscrupulous restaurant owns rush to procure and slaughter wild animals so as to serve them up as delicacies for exorbitant profit. With typical sangfroid, customers feast on wild animal meat to gratify their curious palate or to flaunt their wealth.
官吏不惜以野生珍稀动物作为最高规格的宴席；“贿赂”上级领导为自己铺设升官晋级的阶梯——在这个破坏自然生态的“人链”中，可有“他人” 的位置么？长期以来，城市与乡村的公共卫生系统始终没有得到真正重视：办公室的脏乱差、公共场所的日常消毒防护、公共厕所的洗手设备、污水处理、生活垃圾等等。
Government officials, to secure a quick promotion, typically choose to bribe their superiors with sumptuous banquets featuring wildlife meat. In this Great Chain of “Human” Beings designed to destroy our natural environment, can we find any consideration for “others”? For quite a long time, urban and rural public hygiene is much neglected: dirty, disorderly and ill-maintained offices become the norm rather than the exception. Everywhere we look, there is a lack of hygiene in public toilets, not to mention the decrepit sewage system and household waste scattered all about — the list can go much longer.
但公共卫生的管理者与被管理者的心态，却有着惊人的共识：这又不是我一个人的事情。在这些被忽略的公共卫生死角中，可有“他人”的概念？日积累月的民众生活卫生习惯中，沉淀下多少恶习陋性——随地吐痰、随地大小便、随地抛弃果皮塑料袋、就餐分餐制难以推行、酒后驾车、公共场所吸烟等等……“我们”的传统文化是“不患寡，患不均”——在这利益与灾祸均享均沾、“同甘共苦”的行为惯性中，可有愿为“他人”避免灾祸而自控自律的一份责任感？
However, both the administrators of public health and the general public share one view in common — that for such matters, personal effort makes no difference. In unvisited corners overlooked by public health workers, can we ever find a caring thought for “others”? Yet, how many bad habits are still embedded in our time-honored customs? Spitting randomly, urinating and defecating in public places — just name a few. Out tradition teaches us that “not paucity in provision, but unequal distribution, is the source of anxiety.” Does this blind faith in equal distribution, or feckless and torpid communitarianism alternatively, leave any room for self-discipline and a sense of responsibility towards others?
我们似乎一直在无意中铺设着迎接它到来的无障碍通道。然而，在公共领域里，“零距离”是有害的。距离便是“他人”，而“他人”即社会公德。因为在这个世界上，除了“你”和“我”之外，地球上更多存在的是陌生的“他”——“他人”，还有“它”——与人类共存的动物朋友们。正是为了“我”的安全与自由，请不要再“唯我独尊”，而多些对“他人”的关爱吧。“我”的自由是他人自由的终结。而他人的自由，最终才能成全“我”的自由。
In fact, we seem to have been building up, quite unwittingly, the royal road to the apocalypse. Nevertheless, “zero distance” is harmful in the public domain. Distance implies an awareness of others, which is the foundation of any public morality. In this world, besides “you” and “me,” there exist an infinite number of others, both human and nonhuman, including our animal neighbors. Therefore, for the sake of the security and freedom of all individuals, let us curb our egocentrism, and try to show your concern for others. Remember this sobering truth: the reckless freedom of one’s own leads to the destruction of the freedom of others, without which no real freedom is possible for all.
