To Kill a Mockingbird | Atticus Finch's Closing Argument

To begin with, this case should never have come to trial. The State has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime Tom Robinson is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. Now there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten savagely by someone who led, almost exclusively, with his left [hand]. And Tom Robinson now sits before you, having taken "The Oath" with the only good hand he possesses -- his right. 

 首先，這個案子不應該開庭審理。 國家沒有提供一丁點醫學證據證明湯姆羅賓遜被指控的罪行曾經發生過。 相反，它依賴於兩名證人的證詞，他們的證詞不僅在盤問中受到嚴重質疑，而且還被被告斷然反駁。 現在有間接證據表明，Mayella Ewell 被一個幾乎完全用左[手]領導的人野蠻毆打。 湯姆·羅賓遜現在坐在你面前，用他唯一的好手——他的右手——拿起了《誓言》。 

 I have nothing but pity in my heart for the Chief Witness for the State. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance. But, my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man's life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. Now I say "guilt," gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She's committed no crime. She has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. But, what was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder of what she did. 

 對於國家的首席見證人，我心中只有憐憫。 她是殘酷貧困和無知的受害者。 但是，我的憐憫並沒有延伸到她為了擺脫自己的罪惡感而將一個男人的生命置於危險之中。 現在我說“內疚”，先生們，因為是內疚激勵了她。 她沒有犯罪。 她只是打破了我們社會中一個嚴格而由來已久的準則，一個如此嚴厲的準則，以至於無論誰違反它，都會被趕出我們中間，因為不適合與之共處。 她必須銷毀她犯罪的證據。 但是，她犯罪的證據是什麼？ 湯姆羅賓遜，一個人。 她必須讓湯姆羅賓遜遠離她。 湯姆·羅賓遜每天都在提醒她自己的所作所為。

 Now what did she do? She tempted a negro. She was white and she tempted a negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong, young negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards. 

 現在她做了什麼？ 她勾引了一個黑人。 她是白人，卻勾引了一個黑人。 她做了一件在我們的社會中無法形容的事情：她親吻了一個黑人。 不是老叔叔，而是強壯的年輕黑人。 在她破解之前，代碼對她來說並不重要，但之後它就讓她崩潰了。 

 The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Lincoln County, have presented themselves to you gentlemen -- to this Court -- in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted; confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption, the evil assumption, that all negroes lie; all negroes are basically immoral beings; all negro men are not to be trusted around our women, an assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber, and which is in itself, gentlemen, a lie -- which I do not need to point out to you. 

 國家的證人，除了林肯縣的治安官，都以憤世嫉俗的自信向你們這些先生們——向本法庭——展示了自己的證詞，他們的證詞不會受到懷疑； 相信你們先生們會同意他們的假設，邪惡的假設，即所有黑人都在撒謊； 所有黑人基本上都是不道德的人； 在我們的女人身邊，所有的黑人男人都不值得信任，這是一種假設，人們會聯想到他們的才智，而這本身就是一個謊言，先生們，我不需要向你們指出這一點。 

And so, a quiet, humble, respectable negro, who has had the unmitigated TEMERITY to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white peoples. The defendant is not guilty. But somebody in this courtroom is. 

因此，一個安靜、謙虛、受人尊敬的黑人，曾毫不掩飾地為一個白人婦女感到難過，卻不得不對兩個白人發表他的言論。 被告人無罪。 但是這個法庭裡有人是。 

Now, gentlemen, in this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts, all men are created equal. I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury system. That's no ideal to me. That is a living, working reality! 

現在，先生們，在這個國家，我們的法院是偉大的平等者。 在我們的法庭上，人人生而平等。 我不是堅信我們法院和陪審團制度公正的理想主義者。 這對我來說並不理想。 那是一個活生生的工作現實！ 

Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this man to his family. 

現在我相信你們先生們會毫無激情地審查你們所聽到的證據，做出決定，並讓這個人回到他的家人身邊。 In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson. 以上帝的名義，履行你的職責。 以上帝的名義，相信湯姆羅賓遜。