Chappaquiddick -- Edward Moore Kennedy

Address to the People of Massachusetts on Chappaquiddick

查帕奎迪克向马萨诸塞州人民发表的讲话

broadcast nationally from Joseph P.

Joseph P. 向全国广播

Kennedy's home on 25 July 1969

1969 年 7 月 25 日，肯尼迪的家

[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio]

[真实性认证：以下文本版本直接从音频转录]

I have requested this opportunity to talk to the people of Massachusetts about the tragedy which happened last Friday evening.

我请求有机会与马萨诸塞州人民谈论上周五晚上发生的悲剧。

This morning I entered a plea of guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident.

今天早上，我对离开事故现场的指控认罪。

Prior to my appearance in court it would have been [im]proper for me to comment on these matters.

在我出庭之前，我不适合对这些问题发表评论。

But tonight I am free to tell you what happened and to say what it means to me.

但今晚我可以自由地告诉你们发生了什么事，并说出这对我意味着什么。

On the weekend of July 18th, I was on Martha's Vineyard Island participating with my nephew, Joe Kennedy -- as for thirty years my family has participated -- in the annual Edgartown Sailing Regatta .

7 月 18 日周末，我和我的侄子乔·肯尼迪 (Joe Kennedy) 在玛莎葡萄园岛上参加了一年一度的埃德加敦帆船赛（我的家人已经参加了三十年）。

Only reasons of health prevented my wife from accompanying me.

只是因为健康原因，我的妻子没有陪我一起去。

On Chappaquiddick Island, off Martha's Vineyard, I attended, on Friday evening, July 18th, a cook-out I had encouraged and helped sponsor for a devoted group of Kennedy campaign secretaries.

7 月 18 日星期五晚上，在玛莎葡萄园岛附近的查帕奎迪克岛上，我参加了一场由我鼓励并帮助赞助的一群忠诚的肯尼迪竞选秘书举办的野餐活动。

When I left the party, around 11:15pm, I was accompanied by one of these girls, Miss Mary Jo Kopechne .

晚上 11 点 15 分左右，当我离开聚会时，其中一位女孩玛丽·乔·科佩奇尼小姐 (Mary Jo Kopechne) 陪伴着我。

Mary Jo was one of the most devoted members of the staff of Senator Robert Kennedy.

玛丽·乔是参议员罗伯特·肯尼迪最忠诚的幕僚之一。

She worked for him for four years and was broken up over his death.

她为他工作了四年，并因他的去世而分手。

For this reason, and because she was such a gentle, kind, and idealistic person, all of us tried to help her feel that she still had a home with the Kennedy family.

出于这个原因，也因为她是一个如此温柔、善良和理想主义的人，我们所有人都试图帮助她感受到肯尼迪家族仍然是她的家。

There is no truth, no truth whatever, to the widely circulated suspicions of immoral conduct that have been leveled at my behavior and hers regarding that evening.

对于那天晚上我和她的行为所提出的广泛流传的不道德行为的怀疑，根本没有事实依据。

There has never been a private relationship between us of any kind.

我们之间从来没有任何形式的私人关系。

I know of nothing in Mary Jo's conduct on that or any other occasion -- and the same is true of the other girls at that party -- that would lend any substance to such ugly speculation about their character.

我不知道玛丽·乔在那个场合或任何其他场合的行为——聚会上的其他女孩也是如此——可以为对她们的性格进行如此丑陋的猜测提供任何依据。

Nor was I driving under the influence of liquor.

我也没有酒后驾车。

Little over one mile away, the car that I was driving on an unlit road went off a narrow bridge which had no guard rails and was built on a left angle to the road.

距离一英里多一点，我在一条没有灯光的道路上驾驶的汽车冲出了一座没有护栏且与道路成左角的狭窄桥梁。

The car overturned in a deep pond and immediately filled with water.

汽车翻倒在一个深池塘里，立刻就满了水。

I remember thinking as the cold water rushed in around my head that I was for certain drowning.

我记得当冷水冲过我的头时，我想我肯定会被淹死。

Then water entered my lungs and I actual felt the sensation of drowning.

然后水进入了我的肺部，我确实感受到了溺水的感觉。

But somehow I struggled to the surface alive.

但不知怎的，我还是活着挣扎到了水面。

I made immediate and repeated efforts to save Mary Jo by diving into the strong and murky current, but succeeded only in increasing my state of utter exhaustion and alarm.

我立即并多次努力跳入强大而浑浊的水流中来拯救玛丽·乔，但只成功地加剧了我的极度疲惫和惊慌。

My conduct and conversations during the next several hours, to the extent that I can remember them, make no sense to me at all.

在接下来的几个小时里，我的行为和谈话，就我所记得的而言，对我来说根本毫无意义。

Although my doctors informed me that I suffered a cerebral concussion, as well as shock, I do not seek to escape responsibility for my actions by placing the blame either on the physical and emotional trauma brought on by the accident, or on anyone else.

尽管我的医生告诉我，我遭受了脑震荡和休克，但我并不想通过将责任归咎于事故造成的身体和情感创伤或其他任何人来逃避对自己行为的责任。

I regard as indefensible the fact that I did not report the accident to the police immediately.

我认为我没有立即向警方报告这起事故是站不住脚的。

Instead of looking directly for a telephone after lying exhausted in the grass for an undetermined time, I walked back to the cottage where the party was being held and requested the help of two friends, my cousin, Joseph Gargan and Phil Markham, and directed them to return immediately to the scene with me -- this was sometime after midnight -- in order to undertake a new effort to dive down and locate Miss Kopechne.

在筋疲力尽地躺在草地上一段不确定的时间后，我没有直接去找电话，而是走回举行聚会的小屋，请求两个朋友，我的表弟约瑟夫·加根和菲尔·马卡姆的帮助，并指示他们立即和我一起返回现场——当时是午夜过后的某个时间——以便进行新的努力，潜入水中并找到科佩奇尼小姐。

Their strenuous efforts, undertaken at some risk to their own lives, also proved futile.

他们冒着生命危险所做的艰苦努力也被证明是徒劳的。

All kinds of scrambled thoughts -- all of them confused, some of them irrational, many of them which I cannot recall, and some of which I would not have seriously entertained under normal circumstances -- went through my mind during this period.

这段时间，各种杂乱的想法在我的脑海中闪过，有些是混乱的，有些是非理性的，有些是我记不起的，有些是在正常情况下我不会认真思考的。

They were reflected in the various inexplicable, inconsistent, and inconclusive things I said and did, including such questions as whether the girl might still be alive somewhere out of that immediate area, whether some awful curse did actually hang over all the Kennedys, whether there was some justifiable reason for me to doubt what had happened and to delay my report, whether somehow the awful weight of this incredible incident might in some way pass from my shoulders.

它们反映在我所说和所做的各种令人费解的、不一致的和不确定的事情中，包括这样的问题：那个女孩是否可能还活着在附近的某个地方，是否有某种可怕的诅咒确实笼罩在所有肯尼迪家族身上，是否有一些合理的理由让我怀疑所发生的事情并推迟我的报告，是否以某种方式从我的肩膀上转移了这一令人难以置信的事件的可怕重担。

I was overcome, I'm frank to say, by a jumble of emotions: grief, fear, doubt, exhaustion, panic, confusion, and shock.

坦率地说，我被各种复杂的情绪所征服：悲伤、恐惧、怀疑、疲惫、恐慌、困惑和震惊。

Instructing Gargan and Markham not to alarm Mary Jo's friends that night, I had them take me to the ferry crossing.

那天晚上，我指示加根和马卡姆不要惊动玛丽·乔的朋友，让他们带我去渡口。

The ferry having shut down for the night, I suddenly jumped into the water and impulsively swam across, nearly drowning once again in the effort, and returned to my hotel about 2:00am -- and collapsed in my room.

晚上轮渡停运，我突然跳入水中，冲动地游过去，险些再次溺水，凌晨 2:00 左右回到酒店，倒在房间里。

I remember going out at one point and saying something to the room clerk.

我记得有一次出去对客房服务员说了些什么。

In the morning, with my mind somewhat more lucid, I made an effort to call a family legal advisor, Burke Marshall, from a public telephone on the Chappaquiddick side of the ferry and then belatedly reported the accident to the Martha['s] Vineyard police.

早上，我的头脑稍微清醒了一些，我努力用渡轮查帕奎迪克一侧的公用电话给家庭法律顾问伯克·马歇尔打电话，然后才向玛莎葡萄园岛警方报告了这起事故。

Today, as I mentioned, I felt morally obligated to plead guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident.

今天，正如我提到的，我觉得在道德上有义务承认离开事故现场的指控。

No words on my part can possibly express the terrible pain and suffering I feel over this tragic incident.

我无法用言语来表达我对这一悲惨事件所感到的巨大痛苦和折磨。

This last week has been an agonizing one for me and for the members of my family.

上周对我和我的家人来说是痛苦的一周。

And the grief we feel over the loss of a wonderful friend will remain with us the rest of our lives.

失去一位好朋友所带来的悲痛将伴随我们一生。

These events, the publicity, innuendo, and whispers which have surrounded them and my admission of guilt this morning raises the question in my mind of whether my standing among the people of my State has been so impaired that I should resign my seat in the United States Senate.

这些事件、围绕这些事件的宣传、影射和窃窃私语，以及我今天早上的认罪，在我心中提出了一个问题：我在本州人民中的地位是否已受到严重损害，以至于我应该辞去美国参议院的席位。

If at any time the citizens of Massachusetts should lack confidence in their Senator's character, or his ability -- with or without justification -- he could not in my opinion adequately perform his duties and should not continue in office.

如果马萨诸塞州的公民在任何时候对他们的参议员的品格或能力缺乏信心——不管有没有正当理由——我认为他就无法充分履行自己的职责，也不应该继续任职。

The people of this State, the State which sent John Quincy Adams, and Daniel Webster, and Charles Sumner, and Henry Cabot Lodge, and John Kennedy to the United States Senate are entitled to representation in that body by men who inspire their utmost confidence.

这个州的人民，即派遣约翰·昆西·亚当斯、丹尼尔·韦伯斯特、查尔斯·萨姆纳、亨利·卡伯特·洛奇和约翰·肯尼迪进入美国参议院的州，有权在该机构中由那些激发他们最大信心的人代表。

For this reason, I would understand full well why some might think it right for me to resign.

因此，我非常理解为什么有些人认为我辞职是正确的。

For me, this will be a difficult decision to make.

对我来说，这将是一个艰难的决定。

It has been seven years since my first election to the Senate.

自从我第一次当选参议院以来已经七年了。

You and I share many memories -- some of them have been glorious, some have been very sad.

你和我有许多共同的回忆——有些是辉煌的，有些是非常悲伤的。

The opportunity to work with you and serve Massachusetts has made my life worthwhile.

与你们一起工作并为马萨诸塞州服务的机会让我的人生变得有价值。

And so I ask you tonight, the people of Massachusetts, to think this through with me.

所以今晚我请马萨诸塞州的人民和我一起思考这个问题。

In facing this decision, I seek your advice and opinion.

在面对这个决定时，我寻求您的建议和意见。

In making it, I seek your prayers -- for this is a decision that I will have finally to make on my own.

在做出这个决定时，我寻求你们的祈祷——因为这是我最终必须自己做出的决定。

A man does what he must -- in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles, and dangers, and pressures -- and that is the basis of all human morality.

一个人做他必须做的事——不顾个人后果，不顾障碍、危险和压力——这是所有人类道德的基础。

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...whatever may be the sacrifices he faces, if he follows his conscience -- the loss of his friends, his fortune, his contentment, even the esteem of his fellow man -- each man must decide for himself the course he will follow.

……无论他面临什么样的牺牲，如果他遵循自己的良心——失去朋友、失去财富、失去满足，甚至失去同胞的尊重——每个人都必须自己决定自己要走的道路。

The stories of the past courage cannot supply courage itself.

过去勇气的故事本身并不能提供勇气。

For this, each man must look into his own soul.

为此，每个人都必须审视自己的灵魂。

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I pray that I can have the courage to make the right decision.

我祈祷我能有勇气做出正确的决定。

Whatever is decided, whatever the future holds for me, I hope that I shall have -- be able to put this most recent tragedy behind me and make some further contribution to our state and mankind -- whether it be in public or private life.

无论做出什么决定，无论我的未来如何，我希望我能够将最近的这场悲剧抛在脑后，为我们的国家和人类做出进一步的贡献，无论是在公共生活还是私人生活中。

Book/CDs by Michael E.

Michael E. 的书籍/CD

Eidenmuller, Published by McGraw-Hill (2008) 1 Winston Churchill, source uncertain and pending confirmation; quotation also ascribed to John F.

Eidenmuller，麦格劳-希尔出版 (2008) 1 温斯顿·丘吉尔，来源不确定，有待确认；引用也被认为是约翰·F.

Kennedy (see below) 2 John F.

肯尼迪（见下文） 2 约翰·F.

Kennedy, Profiles in Courage Page Updated : 12/16/21 U.S. Copyright Status : Text and Audio = Uncertain.

肯尼迪，《勇气》页面的简介更新：21 年 12 月 16 日美国版权状态：文本和音频 = 不确定。

Image = Fair Use.

图片=合理使用。

� Copyright 2001-Present.

� 版权所有 2001 年至今。

American Rhetoric.

美国修辞学。

HTML transcription by Michael E.

HTML 转录由 Michael E.

Eidenmuller.

艾登米勒。