旅程:我的政治生涯 A Journey:My Political Life

在政治家當中，英國前首相布萊爾屬於能塑造時代的那一類型。他畢業於牛津大學，1994年成爲英國工黨領袖，1997年帶領工黨結束了保守黨此前18年的執政期，也成爲英國自1812年以來最年輕的首相。2007年，布萊爾黯然卸任，並於2010年推出了回憶錄《A Journey: My Political Life》，記述了英國自黛安娜王妃去世到發起反恐戰爭這數年間的歷史。書中充滿了坦率無畏並且不乏嘲諷的細節，記錄了布萊爾執政生涯的起起落落，讓讀者不僅窺見一位政治家，也走近一個普通人。

2011年8月，這本關於英國政治權力本質及其運用的書推出中文版。布萊爾親臨該書的首發式，還邀來知名女星李冰冰朗誦了書中的精彩片段。

本節選描寫了黛安娜王妃車禍後作爲首相的布萊爾的應對以及想法。一位出色的政治人物，如何面對重大的歷史事件，如何在緊要關頭髮揮作用，從中或許可見一斑。

At about 2 a.m., something most peculiar happened. 1)Cherie is difficult to wake once asleep, but I woke to find a policeman standing by the bed, which as you can imagine was quite a surprise. As I struggled into consciousness he told me that he had tried the bell but I hadn’t heard it; that Princess Diana had been seriously injured in a car crash; and that I should immediately telephone Sir Michael Jay, the British ambassador in Paris.

凌晨兩點左右，最非比尋常的事情發生了。切麗一旦睡着就很難醒來，而我卻驚醒了，當時發現牀邊站着一個警察。你可以想象，那多麼的嚇人。當我竭力清醒過來後，他告訴我，他按過門鈴，可我沒有聽見；他又說，黛安娜王妃遭遇車禍，受了重傷；他還說，我應該立刻給身在巴黎的英國大使邁克爾·傑伊爵士打電話。

At 4 a.m. I was phoned again, however, to be told that she had died.

然而，到了凌晨四點，我又接到一個電話，說王妃已經去世了。

I know that sounds 2)callous. I was genuinely in grief. I liked her and I felt desperately sorry for her two boys, but I also knew that this was going to be a major national, in fact global event like no other. How Britain emerged was important for the country internally and externally.

我知道，這聽起來很無情。我悲痛萬分。我喜歡她，我爲她的兩個兒子深感痛心，可是我也明白，這事非同小可，它會轟動全國，事實上還會震驚全球。不論對國內還是國外，英國的表現都非常重要。

As I 3)contemplated her death and what I would say, I felt a sense of obligation as well as sadness. I felt I owed it to her to try to capture something of what she was. I sat in my study in Trimdon as the dawn light streamed through the windows, and thought about how she would have liked me to talk about her.

當思忖她去世的事以及自己應該如何發言時，我心裏不但有悲傷，還有責任感。我覺得，自己應該盡力表達出最真實的她，這是我欠她的情。我坐在特里姆登的書房裏，曙光透過窗戶射進屋內，我心中想着：她會希望我如何談論她呢？

The Palace had, of course, put out a statement, but there was no intention for the Queen to speak.

王室當然已經發布了聲明，可是，女王並不打算髮表講話。

By then I had worked out what I wanted to say. I 4)scribbled it on the back of an envelope, and discussed it with 5)Alastair. The last thing you need at a time like that is a back-coverer, 6)vacillator or 7)sycophant.

那時的我已經想好自己要說的話。我在一隻信封的背面草草寫下這些話，並跟阿拉斯泰爾討論起來。在這種形勢下，最要不得的就是推託、猶疑和逢迎。

The phrase “people’s princess” now seems like something from another age. And corny. And over the top. And all the rest of it. But at the time it felt natural and I thought, particularly, that she would have approved. It was how she saw herself, and it was how she should be remembered. What they loved was precisely that she was a princess but still vulnerable, still 8)buffeted by life’s ups and downs, capable of healing their wounds because she herself knew what it was like to be wounded.

現在聽來，“人民的王妃”這個詞彷彿來自另一個時代，俗氣、過火，諸如此類。不過，這在當時感覺很自然，而且我尤其認爲黛安娜會喜歡這個稱號。那是她對自己的定位，而且人們也應該以此記住她。人們愛戴她，正是因爲她雖然貴爲王妃，卻仍然容易受到傷害，仍然會受到人生起起落落的打擊；她能夠治療人們的傷痛，因爲她明白受傷的感覺。

We drove the couple of miles to the green in the centre of Trimdon where the old church stands. Alastair had arranged for a pooled press group to be present. I got out of the car and just walked up and spoke. It was odd, standing there in this little village in County Durham, on the grass in front of an ancient small church, speaking words that I knew would be carried around the country and the world. They would be a major part of how people thought of me. Even today people talk to me about it. You think of the great speeches, prepared over days and weeks, the 9)momentous events that shape modern history and in which I played a part, the political battles, the crises, the times of 10)elation, and despair; yet those few words scribbled on the back of an envelope probably had as much coverage as anything I ever did.

我們開車走了幾英里，來到特里姆登的草地。那所古老的教堂就聳立在村子中間的草坪上。阿拉斯泰爾已經安排了一羣新聞記者到場。我下車，走上前，開始講話。身處達勒姆郡的這個小村莊，站在一座古老的小教堂前面的草地上，說着一些我心知將會傳遍英國和世界的話，感覺很奇異。這番話將會成爲人們對我的印象的一個重要組成部分，即使到了今天，還會有人跟我提起。也許你會想到花上數天、數週準備的重要演講，想到我參與其中的塑造現代歷史的重大事件，想到政治鬥爭、危機、得勢的時刻、絕望的時刻；然而，草草寫在信封背後的那幾句話，其傳播範圍也許比我做過的任何事情都要廣。

The national mood was exactly what we thought: an outpouring of sadness. But already it was tinged with anger that she had been taken away. At first, the rage was turned on the paparazzi who had been following her. It is perhaps hard to convey what it is like to be a public figure and feel hounded. And for perfectly understandable reasons, many people don’t feel sorry for the famous, most of whom have willingly taken that path. They take the upside, so the argument goes, and should jolly well put up with the downside. Anyway, small price to pay, isn’t it?

國內的情緒正如我們所料：悲傷之情傾瀉而出。但是，其中已經夾帶了一種對她死於非命而感到憤怒的情緒。起初，怒火燒向跟蹤她的狗仔隊。常人也許難以理解公衆人物受人追蹤時的感受，而且，出於完全可以理解的理由，大多數人並不會爲名人感到悲哀，因爲其中很多人還很願意走上那條路。人們如此爭辯道：他們佔據了社會的上層，就該哄下層的人開心——此爭論一直不休。無論如何，代價很小，不是嗎？

Except in Diana’s case it had gone way beyond a small price. She was literally hunted down. She was a gold mine that was constantly 11)plundered. The digging was deep and unusually desperate because the gains were so immense. Of course, media people say she was happy to pursue the media when it suited her, but this is a far less 12)compelling argument than it seems. The truth is, in the full glare of media attention, you have no option but to engage with them, to try to mould their view of you, to try to prevent a different and often unflattering and unfair view from taking hold. In other words, sometimes there is no choice: either you attempt to feed the beast or the beast eats you. Now, at points she fed them more than was necessary, but that doesn’t alter the basic fact: she was subject to a degree of persistent, intrusive and 13)dehumanising harassment that on occasions was frightening, excessive and wrong.

只不過就黛安娜事件來說，代價遠遠超出了小的範圍。她被切切實實地“獵殺”了。她是一座頻繁遭到洗劫的金礦。他們挖得很深、不顧一切，因爲收穫是如此豐厚。當然，媒體說，如果媒體報道符合她的心意，她是很喜歡跟媒體打交道的。這話聽起來很對，然而，真相卻遠非如此。真相是，完全暴露在媒體的關注下，除了跟它們交手，你別無選擇，你得竭力讓它們支持你的觀點，儘量阻止不一樣的而且通常是反對你的、不公平的言論佔據主導地位。換句話說，有時候，別無選擇：你要麼設法餵飽野獸，要麼被野獸吃掉。於是，她喂野獸，有時候還喂得太飽，卻無法改變基本事實：她長期受到騷擾，備受非人性的折磨，這些折磨有時候還是那麼的可怕、過分和錯誤。