(中英)现代散文:忘了过去就是犯罪 Forgetting the Past Is a Crime

Forgetting the Past Is a Crime

忘了过去就是犯罪

◎ Feng Yidai

◎　冯亦代

Today remnants of the Japanese militarists still refuse to admit the aggression against China and other Asian countries by Japanese imperialism. As a Chinese, however, I can never forget the blood debts owed by the Japanese military to the Chinese people. During the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japan, Japanese troops killed a total of more than 20 million Chinese. In the Rape of Nanking alone, they slaughtered as many as 300,000, most of them old and weak and women and children. The monstrous crimes of the Japanese military have been evidenced by hard facts. And what's more, some Japanese ex-soldiers who took part in massacres, brutal acts of burying people alive, rapes or murders, have now been aroused by conscience to confess their crimes and show repentance. Could all that be covered up or blotted out by remnants of the Japanese militarists and a handful of Japanese politicians?

日本军国主义的残余到今天还拒不承认日本帝国主义侵略中国和亚洲的事实，但作为一个中国人的我，却不能忘却日本军人对中国人民犯下的血债。抗战八年，中国人死了二千多万，单是南京屠城①就杀害了三十万，而且大都是老弱妇孺②，日本军人犯下的弥天大罪有事实为证③，特别是那些亲身参加杀戮、活埋、奸污、残害的凶犯，时至今日，他们天良发现承认了自己的罪行并表示忏悔，这又岂是那些军国主义残余分子和政客所能掩盖抹杀的。

During the eight years when the Japanese invaders were running amok in China, they took the lives of three of my relatives. Today, in my declining years, I can still occasionally recall their features distinctly. No matter how hard the Japanese butchers may try to gloss over their wartime savagery in the name of patriotism or loyalty to the Mikado, the people of China will never forget their past crimes.

在此八年日帝的铁蹄在中国大陆横行的时候，我的亲属在日帝的轰炸、占领下死掉的就有三人之多。今天我已进入耄耋之年，但是偶一合眼，还能见到他们的容颜④。日本的刽子手可以拿忠君爱国作挡箭牌⑤，遮掩他们的兽行，但受日本侵略的中国人民却是永远不会忘记的。

My uncle Feng Qiangshi, a returned student from Japan, was by profession a doctor. At first, while working at Zhejiang Hospital in Hangzhou, he took great pride in doing a job aimed at healing the wounded and rescuing the dying, and regarded the medical profession as transcending national boundaries. Later, through recommendation of a Japanese teacher of his, he became a physician in charge at Qingdao Sifang Hospital affiliated to the Qingdao-Jinan Railway until after the outbreak of the July 7 Incident of 1937, an incident staged by the Japanese imperialists in initiating their all-out war of aggression against China. After the Japanese navy occupied our territory along the Qingdao-Jinan Railway, he had no choice but to resign on a pretext and return to Shanghai because he could no longer put up with the arrogance of Japanese ronin and armymen. At that time, my father happened to have been evacuated to Shanghai from Hankou, so he and uncle now both made a home in the then foreign settlement. My uncle, however, was unwilling to be a "docile subject" under foreign rule, so he set out with an old friend for Chongqing via Zhejiang and Jiangxi Provinces. But, unfortunately, while on the way through Jiangxi, he died of serious wounds during a Japanese bombing raid. I was then in Chongqing and, after receiving a letter from him, had been eagerly awaiting his arrival only to be stunned by the sad news of his tragic death. Up to now, I still don't know the details of his death, nor do I know where his bones were laid. Often a feeling of sadness will come over me when I think of him. He was among one of the early groups of returned students from Japan, but he bitterly resented the Japanese invasion of China and never expected himself to end up in a tragic death in the hands of the Japanese militarists.

我的二叔冯强士是个留学日本的医生，起先在杭州浙江病院行医，他为自己救死扶伤的工作自豪，认为医药事业没有国界之分。后来他的一个日本老师介绍他到青岛胶济铁路四方医院做主治医生，一直到1937年七七事变以后⑥，日本海军占领了青岛到济南的铁路沿线一带，他因为不能忍受日本浪人⑦和军人的气焰，便托故辞职回到上海。那时我父亲也由汉口疏散回沪，两老弟兄便在上海租界做寓公。大概到了1943年，二叔身体恢复健康后，他不愿在上海做“顺民”，便约了他的一位老友取道浙赣到重庆来，但就在江西路上一次日机轰炸中，二叔不幸被炸重伤去世。那时我在重庆得到他的来信，便日日夜夜盼望他的到来，但等到的是他遇难的噩耗。到今天我也不知他死亡的详情，也不知他埋骨的地方。我有时还会想到他不免凄然⑧。他是个早期的日本留学生，可他对于日帝的侵华却感到痛心疾首。想不到最后还是死在日本军国主义分子的魔手里。

My uncle had a mentally retarded daughter by his former wife. Unfortunately, she fell a victim to the bestiality of Japanese soldiers when they ransacked the city of Hangzhou. The whereabouts of the poor little girl have since remained unknown. She disappeared at the age of barely over twenty.

二叔有个女儿，是他前妻的遗孤，生来有些弱智，日帝部队进入杭州，在一次抢劫中，她不幸落入这些兽类的手里，从此人世里就失掉了这个可怜弱女的踪迹；她失踪的年龄不过二十多岁。

Another relative of mine missing in the war was Cousin Ren Yu, my aunt's only son. Having lost his father in his childhood and being physically handicapped, he had long been living in my home. After the outbreak of the war, he crossed the Qiantang River with some of his friends to join the East Zhejiang Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Detachment organized by the Communist Party of China. Since then, we have never heard from him. Presumably he has laid down his young life for his motherland.

另一个战时失踪的是我的大姑母的独生子、我的大表哥任堉，因为幼年失怙，身有残疾，所以一直住在我家里。抗战军兴，他和一些同伴跨过钱塘江去参加中国共产党组织的浙东抗日游击队，以后失掉了消息，也许他已为自己的祖国献出了年轻的生命⑨。

The remanent Japanese militarists and a handful of shameless Japanese politicians have been bent on making believe that Japan was the victim of World War Ⅱ and the liberator of Asia. What a pack of lies! The death of 20 million Chinese is irrefutable evidence of barbaric atrocities committed by Japanese militarism. The remanent Japanese militarists and a handful of Japanese politicians have been trying in every possible way to deny their crimes, but the people of China and other Asian countries will never forget the untold sufferings they went through during the war. We will unremittingly condemn the brutalities of the Japanese imperialists, and, meanwhile, call on the Japanese people to see through their deceptions and keep a vigilant watch on their clamour. All that is crucial for the peace-loving people of Japan.

日本军国主义的残余分子⑩和无耻的政客，一心要装出日本是第二次世界大战中的受害者和以亚洲的解放者自居，真是天大的谎话；而二千多万中国人的死亡，却是日本军国主义残酷暴行的最好佐证。日本军国主义残余分子和政客百般抵赖他们的罪行，但是中国和亚洲的人民却永远不会忘掉他们经历过的苦难。我们将会一次复一次地重提日帝带给我们的暴行⑪，同时也要求日本人民起来正视日本军国主义分子对他们的欺骗行为，对他们的叫嚣有所警惕，这对于热爱和平的日本人民也是十分必要的。

冯亦代（1913—2005），浙江杭州人，中国翻译协会常务理事及北京翻译协会副会长，是我国著名作家、翻译家、报人。《忘了过去就是犯罪》一文选自1999年出版的《冯亦代文集》。