How to send a message to Garcia怎样把信送给加西亚

How to send a message to Garcia

怎样把信送给加西亚

When war broke out between Spain and the United States it was very necessary to communicate quickly with the leader of the insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the mountain vastness of Cuba- no one knew where. No mail nor telegraph message could reach him. The president must secure his cooperation, and quickly.

美西战争爆发时，美国总统必须立即与古巴的起义军首领加西亚取得联系。加西亚在古巴广阔的山脉里- 没有人确切地知道他在哪里，也没有任何邮件或电报能够送到他手上。而美国总统麦金莱又必须尽快的得到他的合作。

What to do!

怎么办吧？

Some one said to the president, “there’s a fellow by the name of rowan will find Garcia for you, if anybody can.”

有人对总统说，“如果有人知道加西亚的话，那么这个人就是罗文。”

Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to Garcia. How “the fellow by the name of rowan” took the letter, sealed it up in an oil-skin pouch, strapped it over his heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three weeks came out on the other side of the island, having traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter to Garcia-are things I have no special desire now to tell in detail. The point that I wish to make is this: McKinley gave rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia; rowan took the letter and did not ask: “where is he at?”

于是总统把罗文找来，交给他一封写给加西亚的信。至于那个叫罗文的人，如何拿了信，用油纸包装好，打封，放在胸口藏好；如何经过四天的船路在夜里到达古巴海岸，消失在丛林中，在经过三个星期，出现在这个岛屿的另一端，徒步穿过这个危险的岛国，终于把那封信送给加西亚—这些细节都不是我想说的。我要强调的重点是：美国总统把一封写给加西亚的信交给罗文：而罗文接过信之后，并没有问：“他在什么地方？”

There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies: do the thing- “carry a message to Garcia!”

想罗文这样的人我们应该给他塑造铜像，放在所有的大学里，以表彰他的精神。年轻人所需要的不仅仅是从书本上学习来的知识，也不仅仅是他人的种种教诲，而是要塑造一种精神：忠于上级的托付，迅速的采取行动，全力以赴的完成任务---“把信送给加西亚”。

General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Garcias. No man who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise where many hands were needed, but has been well-nigh appalled at times by the imbecility of the average man-the inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do it.

加西亚将军已经不在人世，但现在还有其他的加西亚。没有人能够经营好这样的企业----在那里虽然有众多人手，但是令人惊讶的是，其中充满了许多碌碌无为的人，这些人要么没有能力，要么不情愿去集中精力做好一件事。

Slipshod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indifference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man succeeds, unless by hook or crook or threat he forces or bribes other men to assist him; or mayhap, god in his goodness performs s miracle, and sends him an angel of light for an assistant.

工作山拖拖拉拉，漫不经心，无足轻重，三心二意似乎已成常态;没有人能够成功，除非威逼利诱地强迫他人帮忙；或者，请上帝大发慈悲创造奇迹，派一名天使相助。

You put this matter to a test:

你可以就此做个实验：

You are sitting now in your office- six clerks are all within call. Summon any one and make this request: “please look in the encyclopedia and make a brief memorandum for me concerning the life of Correggio.” Will the clerk quietly say, “yes, sir,” and go do the task?

你正坐在办公室里—你可以随时给六名职员安排任务。你把其中任何一名叫过来，对他说：“请帮我查一查百科全书，把克里吉奥的生平做成一篇摘要。”他会静静的说：“好的，先生！”然后就去执行吗？

On your life, he will not. He will look at you out of a fishy eye and ask one or more of the following questions:

我敢说他绝对不会，他会用死鱼般的眼睛盯着你，然后满脸疑惑地提出一个或者数个问题：

Who was he? Which encyclopedia? Where is the encyclopedia? Was I hired for that? What’s the matter with George doing it? Is he dead? Is there any hurry? Shan’t I bring you the book and let you look it up yourself? What do you want to know for?

他是谁？哪套百科全书？这是我的工作吗？为什么不叫乔治去做呢？他死了吗？急不急？需不需要我拿过书莱你自己查？你为什么要查他？

And I will lay you ten to one that after you have answered the questions, and explained how to find the information, and why you want it, the clerk will go off and get one of the other clerks to help him try to find Garcia- and then come back and tell you there is no such man. Of course I may lose the bet, but according to the law of average, I will not.

我敢以十比一的赌注跟你打赌，在你回答了他提出的所有问题，解释了怎样去查那些资料以及你为什么要查的理由之后，那个职员会走开，吩咐另一个职员去帮他“寻找加西亚”，然后回来告诉你，没有这样一个人。当然，我可能会输掉赌注，但是根据平均概率法则，我不会输。

This incapacity for independent action, this moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness to cheerfully catch hold and lift – these are the things that put pure socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort is for all?

这种自主行动的无能，这种道德上的愚行，这种意志上的脆弱和惰性，就是未来社会被带到崩溃境地的根源。如果人们不能为了自己而自主行动，人们又怎么可能心甘情愿地为他人服务呢？

My heart goes out to the man who does his work when the “boss” is away, as well as when he is at home. And the man who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the mission, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets “laid off” nor has to go on a strike for higher wages.

我敬佩的是那些不论老板在还是不在都会坚持工作的人。当你交给他一封致加西亚的信时，他会迅速的接受任务，不会问任何愚蠢的问题，更不会把信随手扔到水坑里，或是做一些其他的事情，而是全力以赴的把信送到。这样的人永远不会被解雇，也永远不会为加薪而罢工。

Anything such a man asks shall be granted. He is wanted in every city, town and village and in every office, shop, store and factory. The world cries out for such: he is needed and needed badly- the man who can “carry a message to Garcia”.

这样的人无论有什么愿望都能够得以实现。每个城市乡镇村庄，以及每个办公室，商店，工厂，都需要他参与其中。世界呼唤这种人才---非常需要并且急需---这种能够把信送给加西亚的人