BBC：上帝如何造就英国人（2012）

英国人一直为自己的
身份危机而感到苦恼
The English are suffering
an identity crisis.
看看我们的国旗吧
Just look at the national flag.
一项重大的体育赛事将要举♥行♥
It's there for big
sporting events...
国旗飘扬在教堂塔楼的顶端
..it flies from the top
of church towers.
不过有一些人虽然
也举着这面旗,但他们心里
But there are others with their
own ideas about Englishness
却对英国人的作风另眼相看
who also use it.
为我们的国家而战
Keep the fight up for our country.
这面古老的旗帜和它的民众
面临着艰难的抉择
This ancient flag and its people
face some hard choices.
每当社会,宗教,政♥治♥日益多元化
At a time when society, religion and
politics are increasingly diverse,
在这么一个宗教信仰纷繁复杂的国家里
in a nation of many faiths and none,
这对英国人来说意味着什么呢?
what's it mean to be English?
在这个系列里,我一直在探寻
英国人的身份特性
In this series, I've been
looking at English identity,
想知道他们优越感的来源
at the idea that the English
are somehow superior,
特别是这个上帝的选民是如何
在世界舞台上扮演重要角色的
specially chosen by God to play
a big part on the world stage...
因为毕竟英国人都很清楚
作为上帝的选民
Because after all, the English knew
that they were God's chosen people
英国人就像远古的以色列人那样
只会比他们更优秀
just like ancient Israel,
only better.
人们也知道,是英国人的宗教信仰
..and at the idea that
the faith of the English
造就了一个格外具有宽容心的民族
created a specially tolerant people.
你想象不到这事会发生在英格兰吧?
You can't imagine this happening
in England, can you?
在本系列的最后一集里
我要剖析其中
In my final programme,
I'll be examining
更加根本的原理
和难以理解的争论
an even more basic
and difficult debate.
我的观点之一就是
英国文化有它民族特色的核心
One point of view is that
Englishness has an ethnic core.
追根溯源,真正的英国男女的祖先
True Englishmen and women
take their roots
都来自黑暗时代的盎格鲁-萨克森人
from the people of the Dark Ages -
the Anglo-Saxons.
到如今,还有一件明摆着的事就是
And until recently
it also seemed obvious
一个真正的英国人
必定是个基♥督♥徒
that to be truly English
was to be Christian,
他不可以信仰别的派别
而只能信仰英国国教
and maybe not just any Christian
but Church of England.
有些人还是会觉得
此类程式化的景象很有吸引力
Some people still find
such settled images compelling.
你大可无须与人商讨
就将其置之不理
You might just dismiss them
without discussion.
看看你周围迥然不同的人种
Look around at the sheer variety
of ethnic faces
是他们融汇成了今天的英国人
that make up the English today.
不过我想问的问题更深一步
But I want to ask a deeper question.
这到底是不是真的?
Was this EVER true?
在这个系列中,我一直在讨论
上帝是如何塑造英国人的
In this series, I've been arguing
that God made the English.
但是让他们成为白人
和基♥督♥徒的也是他吗?
But did he also make them
white and Christian?
第三集:白人和基♥督♥徒民族?
曼彻斯特
怎样才算是英国人
What it means to be English
这个话题能激起人们强烈的情感
is something that
arouses strong emotion.
- 种族主义者的傀儡
- 圣乔治对抗种族主义
- 右翼仇恨的泛滥
正如那场狂怒的大爆发
Like the outburst of fury
它针对的是曼彻斯特大教堂的神学教士
directed at Manchester Cathedral's
Canon Theologian.
三个月以来,我们会定期收到大量的
For three months,
we received a regular flow
电子邮件,信件,电♥话♥...
of e-mails, letters,
telephone messages...
他们什么意思?
What did they say?
他们说我坏到极点
是个背信弃义的家伙
I have been told that I am
a very evil man, a traitor,
说我应该辞职,从他们眼前消失
that I should resign,
that I should disappear...
这都是因为教士对一尊
12英尺高的模型
It was all because
the canon blessed
祈求上帝的祝福
而它代表的是英格兰的守护神
a 12ft model of England's
patron saint.
但它并不是人们心目中的
手持利剑的白人十字军战士
But this is not your stereotype
white crusader, sword in hand.
这位圣乔治却是个黑人
This Saint George is black.
这起事件向英国人在民族特性
What this figure does is to
challenge some basic notions
种族及文化特征方面
某些根深蒂固的观念发起了挑战
about English identity,
about the racial and cultural traits
我们将其称作"民族根源"
we call someone's "ethnic roots".
对某些人来讲
圣乔治就是一个强有力的象征
For some, Saint George
is a powerful symbol
他代表了英国人的民族特征
of what it means
to be ethnically English.
他是自信的爱国主义者的偶像
He's an icon of patriotic
self-confidence.
但是圣乔治的历史很复杂
But the history of Saint George
is complicated
从中我们可以学到很多知识
and it can tell us a great deal
里面就蕴含着成为英国人
究竟意味着什么的道理
about what it really means
to be English.
圣乔治常在我心中
我要永远是英国人
我祈求圣乔治常在我心中
以色列 卢德镇
(位于特拉维夫和耶路撒冷之间的小镇)
你可能没有指望我去以色列
重新开始我的探寻之旅
You might not expect me
to go to Israel to start my search,
但是根据当地的传统
这座名为阿-立德的小镇
but according to local tradition,
this town of al-Ludd -
现在以色列人叫它卢德 -
就是这位英国圣人的家乡
which the Israelis now call Lod -
was the home of the English saint.
圣乔治教堂
传说,圣乔治是罗马军队中的一名士兵
The story of George is that
he was a soldier in the Roman army,
那时的罗马皇帝戴克里先开始迫♥害♥基♥督♥徒
but when the Emperor, Diocletian,
began persecuting Christians,
乔治奋起反抗
George objected.
他因反抗皇帝的谕旨而入狱
最终被残忍♥杀害
He was imprisoned for his defiance
and eventually killed.
这座教堂就建在传说中他的墓地之上
This church is on the spot
where he's said to be buried.
所以在这个中东的教堂地下室
你就能和这位英国圣人近距离接触
So it's in a Middle-Eastern crypt
that you'll find the English saint.
关于圣乔治,我们立刻就能想起
And straightaway you see what we
all remember about Saint George -
他是名士兵,是个圣人
the soldier-saint -
这对13世纪英格兰的国王们很有吸引力
and that's what appealed to Kings
of England from the 13th century.
很快,王室的代言人就将他
塑造成了国家的象征
Soon the royal spin doctors were
making him the symbol of the nation.
他们让乔治改头换面了一番
脱下他身上罗马式的甲胄
They gave George a make-over.
Out went the Roman armour
取而代之的是身披链甲
还有英国十字军战士的战袍
and instead he donned the chain-mail
and tabard of an English crusader.
不过,这些并非我们记起他的原因
But that's not
how he's remembered here.
他是个非常中东化的圣人
He's very much
a Middle-Eastern saint.
神父,跟我说说卢德这个地方
有关圣乔治的事情吧
Well, Father, tell me a little about
the place of Saint George in Lod.
这里的基♥督♥徒团体都非常
Here, Saint George
is widely venerated
崇敬圣乔治这个人
among the Christian community.
我们的很多信众都让他们的小孩
The members of our congregation
dedicate their children
穿上圣乔治式的服装