不時和朋友嘻笑之間會提到當我們都還是"少年仔"時的日子
其中一個就是我們一然很懷念的專科生活
我從小就不是一個那種所謂勤奮好學的小孩
所有有關功課的事情都是以得過且過的態度就算到了專科還是一樣
請公假請到教官來關懷一下 社團也是玩到不知天高地厚
想當然爾...我的成績都好不到哪去
雖然對自己的成績並不在意但我總是對其中一門課感到頭痛...那就是英文課
專一到專三都是由同一位老師教
他大概也知道我的學習心並不是像其他同學強
就算不小心點到我念課文時也不會太刁難
但到專四的時候我們換了一位"老"老師
他總是會用一些奇怪的方式來引起我們對英文的興趣
無奈的是在怎麼有興趣都抵不過他要求我們被課文的厭煩感
其中一篇課文一直讓我印象深刻...就是金恩博士的那篇演講稿...I have a dream
那時在背的時候可是天殺般的難...可能是因為自己沒興趣也有可能是因為那時覺得背課文是無聊至極的事
總而言之...最後考出來的結果就是很悽慘...就算到現在我也只還記得I have a dream這一句
出國了幾年英文變好了(這是當然的囉！不然怎麼畢業呀！)
但I have a dream的那一篇演講稿一直是我心目中最難的一篇英文課文
就算我現在已拿到IT碩士學位、讀過了N本的原文書外加N次的專題報告
這一篇短短的演講稿還是我心中的一個英文夢魘
就在幾天前看到History Channel撥有關美國歷史
突然有一個人在電視畫面中出現並用很震撼的聲音對一大群人做演講
在螢幕的左下方出現了那個人名字...Martin Luther King, Jr. Washington, DC, on August 28, 1963
我才恍然大悟...原來他就是金恩博士！那時的震撼是無與倫比
今天我把這一段我在專科時怎麼背都被不起來的那一段貼上來和大家分享一下
I Have a Dream
...
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, When we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
