七个城门的底比斯是谁建造的﹖
史册上记录的全是众王之名。
难道石头和砖块是国王们搬的吗﹖
还有巴比伦，屡次摧毁
是谁又一再将她重建﹖
利马城中，灿灿金光之下
那些建筑工人又住在何处﹖
砌了一天的城墙，
天黑之后，长城之下，
工匠们又在哪里过夜﹖
帝都罗马，处处耸立着凯旋门。
那是谁打造的﹖
那些罗马皇帝，战胜的又是谁﹖
大名鼎鼎的拜占庭，
它的居民都住在宫殿吗﹖
传说中的亚特兰提斯，
大海先淹没奴隶，然后
那些主子才漂浮在黑夜的汪洋中哀嚎。
年轻的亚历山大征服了印度，
仅凭一人？
凯撒打败了高卢人，
他该不会连个煮饭的都没带吧﹖
无敌舰队沉没的时候，
西班牙的腓力哭了。
没有别的人哭吗﹖
腓特烈大帝在七年战争中获胜。
除了他还有谁获胜﹖
页页有胜利。
由谁来准备庆功宴﹖
代代出伟人。
是谁构筑他们的辉煌﹖
一大堆史实。
一大堆疑问。
文：布莱希特Questions of a worker reading History
Who built seven-gated Thebes?
Books list the names of kings.
Did kings haul the blocks and bricks?
And Babylon, destroyed so many times
Who built her up so many times?
Where Are the houses where the construction- workers
Of gold-gleaming Lima lived?
Where did the masons go at nightfall
When they finished mortaring the Wall of China?
High Rome is full of victory arches.
Who put the up? Whom did the Casesars
triumph over?
Did chronicled Byzantium build only palces
for its inhabitants? In fabulous Atlantis
the drowned bellowed in the night when the sea
swallowed them up after their slaves.
Young Alexander conquered India
Just he?
Caesar beat the Gauls.
Didn't he at least have a cook with him?
Philip of Spain wept when his Armada
Went down. Did no one else?
Frederick the Great won out in the Seven Years War.
Who won besides?
A victory on every page.
Who cooked the victory feast?
A great man every decade.
Who paid the bills?
Lots of facts.
Lots of questions.
Bertolt Brecht
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