Teary Mourners in Singapore Remember Lee Kuan Yew
飲水思源,新加坡民眾悼念李光耀
SINGAPORE — The mourners who filed past the gates of the government building where the body of Lee Kuan Yew, who died on Monday, was being kept spoke about him with a zeal and adoration usually reserved for candidates for sainthood.
新加坡——悼念者列隊(duì)穿過(guò)存放著李光耀(Lee Kuan Yew)遺體的政府大樓的入口。他們說(shuō)起周一辭世的李光耀時(shí)顯露出的那種熱忱和崇敬,通常只會(huì)在談到有資格封圣的人選時(shí)才會(huì)有。
“We are deeply in debt to him,” said Irene Yeo, a saleswoman who brought a bouquet of flowers, listing the reasons for her gratitude to the man who founded modern Singapore: “My life, my housing, my family, the good environment, the good transportation and medical care.”
“我們虧欠他很多,”女銷(xiāo)售伊雷妮·楊(Irene Yeo)帶來(lái)了一束花,列舉了自己對(duì)這位創(chuàng)建了現(xiàn)代新加坡的人物心懷感激的原因:“我的生活、住房、家庭、良好的環(huán)境、出色的交通和醫(yī)療保健。”
Vasuki Thirupathi, an engineer from India who worked in Singapore two decades ago and was back on a visit, said he sobbed uncontrollably for two minutes when he heard the news.
二十年前,來(lái)自印度的工程師瓦蘇吉·蒂魯帕蒂(Vasuki Thirupathi)曾在新加坡工作。故地重游的他說(shuō),聽(tīng)到消息時(shí),自己控制不住地啜泣了兩分鐘。
“He is my idol, and not a day passes without my saying it,” Mr. Thirupathi said. “Security, law and order, truth, honesty — all of this requires vision and boils down to leadership.”
“他是我的偶像,我沒(méi)有哪天不這么說(shuō),”蒂魯帕蒂表示。“安全、法治、求真、誠(chéng)信——所有這些都需要領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人的遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)卓識(shí)。”
Mr. Lee led Singapore from 1959 until 1990, an era in which it rose “From Third World to First,” as he titled his 2000 book on the former British colony’s modern history.
從1959年到1990年,李光耀一直擔(dān)任新加坡領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人。在此時(shí)期,新加坡實(shí)現(xiàn)了“從第三世界到第一世界”的飛躍。這也是他在2000年出版的一本回憶錄的書(shū)名。該書(shū)講述了曾為英國(guó)殖民地的新加坡的近代史。
For older Singaporeans, the roots of the respect for Mr. Lee were intertwined with their rise from poverty.
對(duì)上了年紀(jì)的新加坡人來(lái)說(shuō),尊敬李光耀的根源,與他們擺脫貧困的軌跡交織在一起。
Zhuang Yaying, a 79-year-old who paid her respects on Monday, spoke of living in a thatched-roof house when she was young. “Singapore is like heaven now,” she said, citing “proper” sidewalks and the ubiquitous apartment complexes.
周一當(dāng)天,79歲的莊亞英(音)表達(dá)了自己的哀思。她自稱(chēng)小時(shí)候住在茅草房。“新加坡現(xiàn)在就像天堂,”她說(shuō),有“完善”的人行道,到處都是公寓樓。
Under Mr. Lee’s leadership, Singapore became a highly manicured metropolis, a magnet for the wealth of elites in neighboring countries and a financial hub in Southeast Asia. (To impress the parade of Western executives who came to meet him, Mr. Lee personally made sure that the roads from the airport to downtown hotels were neat and verdant.)
在李光耀的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下,新加坡變成了一座井井有條的大都市,吸引著鄰國(guó)精英階層的財(cái)富,成為了東南亞的金融中心。(為了打動(dòng)前來(lái)與他會(huì)面的眾多西方高管,李光耀親自過(guò)問(wèn),保證了從機(jī)場(chǎng)到市區(qū)酒店的公路整潔光鮮、綠樹(shù)成蔭。)
Mourners shrugged off the darker side of Mr. Lee’s tenure, especially the relentless prosecutions of his political opponents.
對(duì)于李光耀當(dāng)政期間不那么光彩的一面,特別是殘酷迫害政敵,悼念者并未理會(huì)。
Yeo Siew Siang, 65, a former Singaporean Army colonel who said he remembered pigs roaming in a neighborhood now filled with cafes, addressed the criticism of the stifling of political dissent, saying, “You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs.”
65歲的楊壽祥(音)是新加坡陸軍的一名退役上校。他說(shuō)自己記憶中曾經(jīng)到處是豬跑的一個(gè)地區(qū),現(xiàn)在開(kāi)滿(mǎn)了咖啡館。對(duì)于李光耀鎮(zhèn)壓政治異見(jiàn)人士的批評(píng),他說(shuō),“有得必有失。”
The grieving was by no means restricted to older Singaporeans.
這股悲痛之情決不僅限于上了年紀(jì)的新加坡人。
Curren Seow, 30, who works at Facebook, said that his parents had a picture of Mr. Lee hanging in their home and that he was “part of the family.”
30歲的柯倫·邵在Facebook工作。他說(shuō)自己的父母在家里掛著一幅李光耀的畫(huà)像,并稱(chēng)他是“家庭的一部分”。
Foo Ceyu, 35, a marketing manager, said he had been crying the whole day. “In Chinese, there’s an idiom saying we need to remember the source of our water, i.e., we have to be grateful,” he said.
35歲的營(yíng)銷(xiāo)經(jīng)理馮策瑜(音)表示,自己哭了一整天。“華語(yǔ)里有句話(huà)叫飲水思源,也就是說(shuō)我們要感恩,”他說(shuō)。
In a testament to the orderly city-state that Mr. Lee built, mourners in Singapore were shepherded through a meticulously organized grieving line. Ushers with black armbands screened flowers using metal-detecting wands and guided mourners to tables where pens and index cards were neatly laid out so they could write their condolences. White tents shielded them from the sun.
在新加坡,悼念者被引導(dǎo)著排成了一條無(wú)比整齊的致哀隊(duì)伍,這正是李光耀建立的這個(gè)井然有序的城市國(guó)家的寫(xiě)照。戴著黑袖章的引導(dǎo)員用金屬探測(cè)棒檢查花束,并將前來(lái)悼念的人引至桌旁。那里整齊地?cái)[放著筆和卡片,可以供人寫(xiě)下自己的慰唁。頭頂撐起了白色帳篷,讓人群免于太陽(yáng)的烤曬。
Yet amid the grief there was also a sense that Singapore was moving on, even as plans were being made for the funeral on Sunday. There were far more people browsing their smartphones at cafes and meeting friends in a nearby shopping mall than mourners in the grieving line.
然而,在周日的葬禮仍在籌備的同時(shí),在悲傷之余,可以感受到新加坡人的生活還在繼續(xù)。在咖啡館瀏覽手機(jī)和在附近的購(gòu)物中心會(huì)友的人,要比排隊(duì)的悼念者多出許多。
Singapore’s current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, one of Lee Kuan Yew’s sons, said during a televised address Monday morning that his father “gave of himself, in full measure, to Singapore.”
李光耀之子、新加坡現(xiàn)任總理李顯龍(Lee Hsien Loong)周一上午通過(guò)電視發(fā)表演講,表示父親“把自己毫無(wú)保留地奉獻(xiàn)給了新加坡”。
He continued: “As he himself put it towards the end of his life: ‘I have spent my life, so much of it, building up this country. There is nothing more that I need to do. At the end of the day, what have I got? A successful Singapore. What have I given up? My life.’ ”
他還表示:“正如他本人晚年所說(shuō):‘我把我的生命,如此多的時(shí)間,用來(lái)建設(shè)這個(gè)國(guó)家。除此之外,我不需要再做任何事。到了最后,我得到了什么?一個(gè)成功的新加坡。我又付出了什么?我的一生。’”
Praise for Mr. Lee, who was 91, poured in from around the globe. In a statement, President Obama called Mr. Lee “a true giant of history” and “a visionary who led his country from Singapore’s independence in 1965 to build one of the most prosperous countries in the world today.”
李光耀享年91歲,身后對(duì)他的贊美從世界各地涌來(lái)。奧巴馬總統(tǒng)發(fā)表聲明稱(chēng),李光耀是“一位真正的歷史巨人”,以及“一個(gè)有遠(yuǎn)見(jiàn)卓識(shí)的人,帶領(lǐng)自己的國(guó)家,從1965年新加坡獨(dú)立開(kāi)始,把它打造為當(dāng)今世界最繁榮的國(guó)家之一。”