弗兰克·M. 奥布赖恩(Frank M. O’Brien)
It is a great religious ceremony, this burial today. The exaltation of the nameless bones would not be possible except for Belief. Where were Duty and Honor, the wellsprings of Victory, if mankind feared that death drew a black curtain behind which lay nothing but the dark? So all in whom the spark of hope has not died can well believe that we, to whom the Soldier is a mystery, are not a mystery to him. They can believe that the watchers at Arlington today are not merely a few thousands of the living but the countless battalions of the departed. “Though he were dead, yet shall he live” — there is the promise to which men hold when everything of this earth has slipped away.
All the impressive ritual of today would be a mockery if we did not believe that, out in an infinity which astronomers cannot chart or mathematicians bound, the Unknown Soldier and all the glorious dead whom we honor in his dust are looking down upon this little spinning ball, conscious of our reverence . And when noon strikes, signal for the moment of silent prayer, few of those who stand with bared head will lack conviction that the rites at Arlington are viewed by other than mortal eyes. Only in that spirit may we honor the Unknown Soldier and those who, like him, died for this Republic.
Unknown, but not unknowing!
- exaltation [ˌeɡzɔːlˈteɪʃn] n. 兴奋，兴高采烈
- wellspring [ˈwelˌsprɪŋ] n. 源泉
- ritual [ˈrɪtʃʊəl] n. 仪式，典礼
- mockery [ˈmɒkərɪ] n. 嘲笑，愚弄
- reverence [ˈrevərəns] n. 崇敬，敬礼
今天的葬礼是盛大的宗教仪式。除非是信仰的缘故，否则对这位无名英雄的遗体的颂扬是不可能的。如果人们害怕死神拉上黑幕而担心黑幕的背后只有一片黑茫茫，别无他物，那么请问从哪里去寻找责任和荣耀，哪有胜利源泉冒出来？所以一切还没有熄灭希望的火星的人完全可以相信，我们对这位士兵的来历是不明的，这位士兵对我们却不是陌生神秘的。人们可以相信今天在阿灵顿国家公墓参加葬礼的不止成千上万的活着的人，还有整营整营不计其数的死者。“他们虽死，犹如长存。”当世间一切都悄然离去的时候，人们恪守的诺言还在。
如今所有给人印象深刻的仪式都是一种愚弄人的把戏，如果我们不相信这一点：我们在他这片尘土上给他致意的这位无名的士兵和所有光荣牺牲的死者，远在漫无天际的他方，天文学家标不出其位置，数学家算不出界限范围，都在居高临下看着这旋转着的地球，能够觉察到我们对他们的恭敬。而当正午钟敲响的时候，就发出信号，默默祷告的时间到了，很少有脱帽光头站立的人缺乏这样一个信念：阿灵顿举行的仪式，除了活人的眼睛看到之外，还有英灵在观看着。只是本着那种精神，我们向无名士兵致意，向所有那些跟他一样为共和国捐躯的人致意。
无名，不等于不为人知!