芭芭拉：我就是美人魚
美國前總統(tǒng)老布什夫人芭芭拉·布什
芭芭拉·布什的葬禮當(dāng)?shù)貢r(shí)間
93歲的老布什乘坐輪椅和陪伴他73年的妻子做最后道別。老布什當(dāng)天選擇穿著一雙印有書本圖案的襪子，以紀(jì)念妻子一生為普及教育所做的努力。在亡妻棺木前，坐在輪椅上的老布什凝望靈柩長達(dá)15分鐘。
儀式結(jié)束后，芭芭拉·布什的遺體被送上靈車，前往得克薩斯農(nóng)工大學(xué)校園內(nèi)的喬治·布什總統(tǒng)圖書館安葬，與她早夭的女兒比鄰長眠。
芭芭拉的喪禮共出現(xiàn)了四位前總統(tǒng)，除了老布什和小布什外，前總統(tǒng)克林頓夫婦和奧巴馬夫婦也都出席。
為悼念芭芭拉·布什的辭世，下面轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)劉植榮翻譯的二戰(zhàn)期間美國海軍最年輕的飛行員喬治·布什寫給芭芭拉·布什的一封情書以及芭芭拉·布什的一篇演講稿。
你愛我意味著我的生命
（喬治·布什寫給芭芭拉·布什的情書）
我親愛的芭：
這應(yīng)該是一封很容易寫的信——詞句很容易寫出，總之，當(dāng)我從報(bào)紙上看到我們的訂婚公告后，告訴你我感到是多么幸福，這很簡單，但不知何故，我竟不能在一封信里說出我想說的一切。
寶貝，我用整個(gè)身心來愛你，同時(shí)知道你愛我意味著我的生命。我經(jīng)常展望我們未來生活的無限快樂。我們的孩子有像你這樣的母親，該是多么幸運(yùn)呀——
隨著時(shí)光的流逝，重逢的日子離我們也越來越近了。一直以來，我期待著早日登上輪船駛向大洋彼岸。我這段時(shí)間的惟一渴望，似乎就是要到達(dá)那個(gè)目標(biāo)。但是，芭，你改變了這一切。如果我說不想出征，那是撒謊。我們很久以來的努力就是為了一個(gè)目的：武裝起來迎擊并擊敗我們的敵人。我確實(shí)想出征，因?yàn)槟鞘俏业牧x務(wù)?，F(xiàn)在看來，分離并非意味著一次冒險(xiǎn)，倒像一項(xiàng)我希望很快就會(huì)結(jié)束的任務(wù)。甚至現(xiàn)在，我們長期被大海分離，我在想回家。這聽上去有些傷感，但倘若如此，這也只是說出我心里話而已。芭，你讓我的生命充滿了我所夢(mèng)想的一切——我愛你意味著我的所有幸福。
星期三舉行授銜儀式，我多么希望你會(huì)到場(chǎng)。我明天就給媽媽打電話，告訴她我的打算。我的很多伙伴沒讓他們的父母或妻子來，所以，你可以冒充一位夫人。就說你丟了邀請(qǐng)函，報(bào)上你的名字，他們就會(huì)核對(duì)名單，這樣你就能來了。如果你能到場(chǎng)，我該是多么自豪呀。
以后我會(huì)告訴你我們最近的一次飛行訓(xùn)練。我們有很多工作要做，這些工作要在很短的時(shí)間內(nèi)完成，這雖有時(shí)讓人感到為難，但對(duì)這些工作的認(rèn)真態(tài)度收到了效果。我被任命為炮擊指揮官助理，當(dāng)霍爾少尉離開后，我就任炮擊指揮官。盡管我擔(dān)心自己不能勝任，但我還是對(duì)能擔(dān)任此職感到興奮。關(guān)于此事的詳情，我以后會(huì)告訴你的。
這里最近一直狂風(fēng)怒吼，我們的飛行不得不減少到了最低限度。我的飛機(jī)，現(xiàn)在是2號(hào)，正在機(jī)庫里裝照相機(jī)。我給它命名為“芭2號(hào)”，但這只是我心目中的命名，因?yàn)榇笪餮笈炾?duì)允許在我們的飛機(jī)上標(biāo)注名字。
晚安，我的美人。每次我都說你的美麗幾乎要征服我，但你必須接受我這樣說——
我有望星期四休息。親愛的，把我所有的愛獻(xiàn)給你——
罌粟花（指軍人）
從
（摘自《美國總統(tǒng)情書精選50封（英漢對(duì)照）》第236-240頁）
Dec. 12， 1943
My darling Bar，
This should be a very easy letter to write—words should come easily and in short it should be simple for me to tell you how desperately happy I was to open the paper and see the announcement of our engagement， but somehow I can’t possibly say all in a letter I should like to.
I love you， precious， with all my heart and to know that you love me means my life. How often I have thought about the immeasurable joy that will be ours some day. How lucky our children will be to have a mother like you—
As the days go by the time of our departure draws nearer. For a long time I had anxiously looked forward to the day when we would go aboard and set to sea. It seemed that obtaining that goal would be all I could desire for some time， but， Bar， you have changed all that. I cannot say that I do not want to go—for that would be a lie. We have been working for a long time with a single purpose in mind， to be so equipped that we could meet and defeat our enemy. I do want to go because it is my part， but now leaving presents itself not as an adventure but as a job which I hope will be over before long. Even now， with a good while between us and the sea， I am thinking of getting back. This may sound melodramatic， but if it does it is only my inadequacy to say what I mean. Bar， you have made my life full of everything I could ever dream of—my complete happiness should be a token of my love for you.
Wednesday is definitely the commissioning and I do hope you’ll be there. I’ll call Mum tomorrow about my plan. A lot of fellows put down their parents or wives and they aren’t going so you could pass as a Mrs.—Just say you lost the invite and give your name. They’ll check the list and you’ll be in. How proud I’ll be if you can come.
I’ll tell you all about the latest flying developments later. We have so much to do and so little time to do it in. It is frightening at times. The seriousness of this thing is beginning to strike home. I have been made asst. gunnery officer and when Lt. Houle leaves I will be gunnery officer. I’m afraid I know very little about it but I am excited at having such a job. I’ll tell you all about this later too.
The wind of late has been blowing like mad and our flying has been cut to a minimum. My plane， #2 now， is up at Quonset， having a camera installed. It is Bar #2 but purely in spirit since the
Goodnite， my beautiful. Everytime I say beautiful you about kill me but you’ll have to accept it—
I hope I get Thursday off—there’s still a chance. All my love darling—
Poppy
Public fiancé as of
我就是美人魚
演 講 者：芭芭拉·布什（1925.6.8—2018.04.17，第一夫人）
時(shí)間地點(diǎn)：
演講背景：在韋爾斯利女子學(xué)院畢業(yè)典禮上的演講
我今天感到非常激動(dòng)和興奮，我知道，你們也一定和我一樣激動(dòng)和興奮，因?yàn)楦隊(duì)柊蛦谭蚍蛉耍ㄇ疤K聯(lián)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人戈?duì)柊蛦谭蚝头蛉苏诿绹L問）光臨今天的畢業(yè)典禮。
當(dāng)今局勢(shì)另人興奮不已（指冷戰(zhàn)結(jié)束），他們?cè)谌A盛頓興奮（指戈?duì)柊蛦谭蚝筒际苍谌A盛頓舉行蘇美首腦會(huì)談）我卻一直渴望來韋爾斯利興奮，因?yàn)槲艺J(rèn)為這會(huì)很快樂，但我從未夢(mèng)想會(huì)如此快樂，這要感謝你們對(duì)我的邀請(qǐng)。
十年以前，當(dāng)我應(yīng)邀來這里談?wù)撐覀冊(cè)谥腥A人民共和國的感受時(shí)，我對(duì)你們風(fēng)景如畫的校園和表現(xiàn)出來的精神贊嘆不已。韋爾斯利，不僅是一個(gè)地方，更是一種理念，那就是精益求精、兼收并蓄。去年，你們一個(gè)姊妹學(xué)院的學(xué)生會(huì)主席在演講中把這種精神實(shí)質(zhì)闡述得淋漓盡致，那是她一次感人至深的關(guān)于寬容的演講，她在演講中引述了作家羅伯特·福爾格姆關(guān)于一個(gè)年輕牧師的故事：他自己在照看幾個(gè)活潑可愛的孩子，忽然想起一個(gè)叫“巨怪、男巫和侏儒”的游戲。牧師對(duì)孩子們說：“你們必須現(xiàn)在就作出決定，一個(gè)巨怪、一個(gè)男巫、一個(gè)侏儒，你們要扮演哪個(gè)角色？”一個(gè)女孩拉著他的褲腿問道：“美人魚應(yīng)該站在什么地方呀？”牧師告訴她：“游戲里沒有美人魚。”女孩說：“有的，有美人魚，我就是美人魚?！?span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.5em !important;">
這個(gè)小姑娘知道自己是什么，她既不想放棄自己的個(gè)性，也不想放棄那個(gè)游戲。她想讓自己在適合美人魚的環(huán)境中扮演一個(gè)角色?！懊廊唆~應(yīng)該站在什么地方？還有所有那些不適合游戲里的盒子和鴿棚的孩子呢？”福爾格姆寫道：“知道如何回答那些問題，你就可以創(chuàng)建一個(gè)學(xué)校，一個(gè)國家，或一個(gè)世界?！闭衲莻€(gè)聰明的年輕姑娘在演講中所說：“多樣性，就像任何值得擁有的東西一樣，需要努力，努力去理解和尊重不同的觀念，彼此仁慈友愛，在珍惜我們自己個(gè)性的同時(shí)，無條件地接受別人的個(gè)性?！?span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 1.5em !important;">
這就是韋爾斯利精神，你們應(yīng)該為之而驕傲。我知道，你們今天的第一選擇是愛麗絲·沃克（1944.2.9—，美國著名作家，曾獲普立茲獎(jiǎng)）。猜猜我是怎么知道的！我是從紫顏色里知道的。這可不是我頭發(fā)的顏色，而是愛麗絲的書（指愛麗絲的代表作《紫色姊妹花》）在這里引起了共鳴。在韋爾斯利，每個(gè)班級(jí)都有自己的顏色，1990屆的學(xué)生在4年的大學(xué)生活里一直用紫色，今天，你們就要告別母校，和紫色說再見，在屬于自己的新的征程上，去尋找屬于自己的顏色。
在等待著你們的世界里，在華班湖畔，沒有人能告訴你們?nèi)松念伾珪?huì)是怎樣的。但我對(duì)這一點(diǎn)深信不疑：由于你們?cè)谝涣髟盒＠锝邮芰艘涣鞯慕逃銈兊娜松貙⒇S富多彩。一個(gè)決定并非覆水難收，人生總有時(shí)來運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)。當(dāng)你們就要從韋爾斯利啟程的時(shí)候，我希望你們考慮作出一下三項(xiàng)重要的選擇。
首先要超越自我，投身于我們時(shí)代的偉大信念之中。我選擇掃盲事業(yè)，因?yàn)槲蚁嘈?，如果有更多的人能夠閱讀、書寫和理解，我們彼此就更容易互相理解，解決我們國家和社會(huì)所面臨的許多問題。
在較早的時(shí)候，我還作了另一項(xiàng)選擇，我希望你們也作出這樣的選擇。不管你們談?wù)摻逃⒙殬I(yè)，還是談?wù)摲?wù)，你們都在談?wù)撋?。生活是愉快的，必須讓生活充滿樂趣。我嫁給喬治·布什是我一生中最重要的選擇，我之所以要嫁給他，是因?yàn)樗芏何倚?。這是真的，我們有的時(shí)候都笑出眼淚來。共同的笑聲是我們緊密結(jié)合的最牢固的紐帶。我們要在生活中尋找樂趣，正如弗瑞斯·巴勒（美國電影《春天不是讀書天》中男主角）在逃學(xué)的那天所說：“世界如此精彩，人生又如此短暫，如果你不懂得停下來欣賞一下，那么你就會(huì)錯(cuò)過很多風(fēng)景。”（我不會(huì)告訴喬治，你們給弗瑞斯的掌聲要比給喬治的多。）
第三項(xiàng)必須作的選擇就是要珍惜你們的各種人際關(guān)系：和家庭及朋友的關(guān)系。幾年來，你們已把奉獻(xiàn)和勤奮對(duì)人生的重要性銘記在心，那當(dāng)然是正確的。但即使你們的責(zé)任像醫(yī)生、律師和企業(yè)家那樣重大，可你們首先是一個(gè)人，與配偶、孩子和朋友的關(guān)系將是你們未來最重要的投資。當(dāng)你們走到人生盡頭，你們不會(huì)為沒通過一次考試、沒贏一場(chǎng)官司、沒多作一筆交易而后悔，但你們會(huì)為沒陪伴丈夫、孩子、朋友和父母而懊喪。
我們現(xiàn)在正處于歷史的轉(zhuǎn)折時(shí)期，現(xiàn)在是另人心曠神怡的時(shí)刻，我們?cè)趯W(xué)著如何去適應(yīng)這種改變，我們也學(xué)著怎樣面對(duì)選擇。一次，我的一個(gè)女友告訴我，當(dāng)她聽到她丈夫抱怨他不得不當(dāng)保姆時(shí)，她立即糾正他說：“孩子是你自己的，那怎么叫保姆？”
我們也許適應(yīng)得快些，也許適應(yīng)得慢些。但不管是在20世紀(jì)，還是在什么年代，有一件事情亙古不變，那就是任何一個(gè)父母都舐犢情深。如果你們有自己的孩子，也會(huì)把他們放在第一位。你們必須給孩子多讀些東西聽，抱抱他們，當(dāng)然，你們必須要愛他們。你們家庭的成功，我們社會(huì)的成功，不是取決于白宮里發(fā)生了什么，而是取決于你們家里發(fā)生了什么。
人們說，在過去50多年期間，韋爾斯利學(xué)院一年一度的呼啦圈比賽冠軍總是最早結(jié)婚。現(xiàn)在他們說，呼啦圈比賽冠軍將是最早成為總執(zhí)行官的。對(duì)那些想知道美人魚站在什么地方的人來說，這兩種說法都不夠?qū)捜荨Ｋ?，我要給大家一個(gè)新的說法：呼啦圈比賽冠軍將第一個(gè)實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的夢(mèng)，不是社會(huì)的夢(mèng)，而是她自己的夢(mèng)。誰能實(shí)現(xiàn)自己的夢(mèng)？在聽眾席上也許就有一位，在將來的某一天和我一樣，成為白宮的女主人，我祝愿她走運(yùn)。
我的演講雖然就要結(jié)束了，但我們的對(duì)話剛剛開始，這是一個(gè)很有價(jià)值的對(duì)話。所以，當(dāng)你們今天離開韋爾斯利的時(shí)候，請(qǐng)深刻思考一下我和戈?duì)柊蛦谭蚍蛉藢?duì)你們的殷切希望和美好的祝愿。
謝謝大家。愿上帝保佑你們。祝愿你們有一個(gè)值得夢(mèng)想的未來。
（摘自《美國20世紀(jì)經(jīng)典演講100篇·社會(huì)卷》第141-143頁）
Thank you very， very much， President Keohane. Mrs. Gorbachev， Trustees， faculty， parents， and I should say， Julia Porter， class president， and certainly my new best friend， Christine Bicknell -- and， of course， the Class of 1990.
I am really thrilled to be here today， and very excited， as I know all of you must be， that Mrs. Gorbachev could join us.
These -- These are exciting times. They're exciting in
More than ten years ago， when I was invited here to talk about our experiences in the People's Republic of
Now this little girl knew what she was， and she was not about to give up on either her identity， or the game. She intended to take her place wherever mermaids fit into the scheme of things. "Where do the mermaids stand? All of those who are different， those who do not fit the boxes and the pigeonholes?" "Answer that question，" wrote Fulghum， "And you can build a school， a nation， or a whole world." As that very wise young woman said， "Diversity， like anything worth having， requires effort -- effort to learn about and respect difference， to be compassionate with one another， to cherish our own identity， and to accept unconditionally the same in others.
You should all be very proud that this is the
In the world that awaits you， beyond the shores of Waban --
The first is to believe in something larger than yourself， to get involved in some of the big ideas of our time. I chose literacy because I honestly believe that if more people could read， write， and comprehend， we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems that plague our nation and our society.
And early on I made another choice， which I hope you'll make as well. Whether you are talking about education， career， or service， you're talking about life -- and life really must have joy. It's supposed to be fun.
One of the reasons I made the most important decision of my life， to marry George Bush， is because he made me laugh. It's true， sometimes we've laughed through our tears， but that shared laughter has been one of our strongest bonds. Find the joy in life， because as Ferris Bueller said on his day off， "Life moves pretty fast; and ya don't stop and look around once in a while， ya gonna miss it." （I'm not going to tell George ya clapped more for Ferris than ya clapped for George.）
The third choice that must not be missed is to cherish your human connections: your relationships with family and friends. For several years， you've had impressed upon you the importance to your career of dedication and hard work. And， of course， that's true. But as important as your obligations as a doctor， a lawyer， a business leader will be， you are a human being first. And those human connections --- with spouses， with children， with friends -- are the most important investments you will ever make. At the end of your life， you will never regret not having passed one more test， winning one more verdict， or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband， a child， a friend， or a parent.
We are in a transitional period right now -- We are in a transitional period right now， fascinating and exhilarating times， learning to adjust to changes and the choices we， men and women， are facing. As an example， I remember what a friend said， on hearing her husband complain to his buddies that he had to babysit. Quickly setting him straight， my friend told her husband that when it's your own kids， it's not called babysitting.
Now maybe we should adjust faster; maybe we should adjust slower. But whatever the era twenty -- whatever the era， whatever the times， one thing will never change: fathers and mothers， if you have children， they must come first. You must read to your children， and you must hug your children， and you must love your children. Your success as a family， our success as a society， depends not on what happens in the White House， but on what happens inside your house.
For over fifty years， it was said that the winner of
Well， the controversy ends here. But our conversation is only beginning. And a worthwhile conversation it has been. So as you leave
Thank you. God bless you. And may your future be worthy of your dreams.
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