Frederick Douglass Forever Free

Frederick Douglass. Forever Free. Written by Jennifer McStotts.

弗雷德里克·道格拉斯。 永远自由。 作者：珍妮弗·麦斯托茨。

Bread for Lessons Eight -year -old Frederick Douglass took a loaf of bread from the kitchen and slipped out the back door to run errands. Frederick was a slave, but he knew he had more to eat than some boys in his neighborhood. So he traded them bread for something he wanted even more, an education.

面包换课程 八岁 弗雷德里克·道格拉斯从厨房拿了一条面包，溜出后门出门跑腿。 弗雷德里克是奴隶，但他知道，自己比邻居家有些男孩吃得更饱。 所以他用面包换了一样他更想要的东西：接受教育。

For slaves in the 1820s, learning how to read and write was against the law. Frederick had a trick, though. He'd show off by writing a few letters in the dirt. The poor white boys would write other letters, and before long Frederick knew the alphabet. Soon he started trading food for lessons in reading and writing. Frederick would give up his lunch every day to learn.

在19世纪20年代，奴隶学习读写是违法的。 不过弗雷德里克有个小妙招。 他会在泥土里写几个字母，故意让别人看见。 贫穷的白人男孩会写出别的字母，没过多久弗雷德里克就学会了字母表。 很快他开始用食物交换读写课程。 弗雷德里克每天都愿意不吃午饭，也要坚持学习。

Born a Slave Frederick was born a slave in February of 1817 or 1818. He never knew the date of his birth. And though he knew his father was white, he never knew who he was. His mother was Harriet Bailey, but Frederick was raised by his grandmother, Betsy Bailey.

生来为奴 弗雷德里克出生在1817或1818年的二月，生来就是奴隶。 他从不知道自己准确的出生日期。 他虽然知道父亲是白人，却从来不知道父亲是谁。 他的母亲是哈丽特·贝利，但弗雷德里克是由祖母贝琪·贝利养大的。

When he was eight years old, Frederick was sent to work for the Auld family in Baltimore, Maryland. When Frederick first arrived, Mrs. Auld helped teach him the alphabet. Then her husband stopped her. An educated slave would just want to be free, he said. So Frederick read the newspaper in secret to practice his skills. For some time Frederick struggled to understand the word abolition. Whenever a slave ran away or did something a slave holder didn't like, abolition was blamed. Frederick tried looking up the word in the dictionary, but it just said, the act of abolishing. What was being abolished? In 1831, Frederick read in the newspaper about the abolition movement and the people trying to end slavery. Now he understood. Some white people wanted to abolish slavery, too. Frederick also learned that blacks were free in some states, and he began dreaming of escape. Once you learn to read, Douglas wrote later in life, you will be forever free.

八岁那年，弗雷德里克被送去马里兰州巴尔的摩的奥尔德家干活。 弗雷德里克刚到的时候，奥尔德夫人还教他认字母。 之后奥尔德先生阻止了她。 他说，受过教育的奴隶只会想要自由。 所以弗雷德里克偷偷读报纸练习读写。 很长一段时间里，弗雷德里克都弄不懂「废奴」这个词。 每次有奴隶逃跑，或是做了奴隶主不喜欢的事，都会怪罪废奴运动。 弗雷德里克去查字典，可字典只说，废奴就是废除某项事物的行动。 到底要废除什么呢？ 1831年，弗雷德里克在报纸上读到了废奴运动，还有人想要终结奴隶制。 这下他懂了。 原来也有白人想要废除奴隶制。 弗雷德里克还了解到，有些州的黑人是自由的，他开始憧憬逃跑获得自由。 道格拉斯后来在晚年写道：「一旦你学会阅读，你就会永远自由。」

escape. For years Frederick had lived the easier life of a slave in the city. At fifteen he was sent to work on a farm as a field hand for Edward Covey, a man known as a slave breaker. Covey beat slaves, including Frederick. For six months, Frederick took Covey's beatings until one day Frederick fought back. The fight lasted for nearly two hours. Once Covey let him go, he never tried to beat him again. Still, Frederick continued to dream of freedom. Frederick worked on his literacy, too. He even joined a debate club where he met Anna Murray, a free black woman. Together, Anna and Frederick planned his escape. Dressed in a sailor's uniform and carrying a free man's passport, Frederick traveled by train to New York. The escape took a little less than twenty -four hours, but as Frederick later wrote, I lived more in one day than in a year of my slave life.

逃跑。 多年来，弗雷德里克在城里当奴隶，日子相对轻松。 十五岁那年，他被送到爱德华·科维的农场当佃工，科维是有名的「驯奴者」。 科维会殴打奴隶，包括弗雷德里克在内。 整整六个月，弗雷德里克都忍受着科维的殴打，直到一天他奋起反抗。 这场打斗持续了将近两个小时。 科维放了他之后，再也没试过打他了。 尽管如此，弗雷德里克依旧梦想着自由。 弗雷德里克也一直在练习读写能力。 他甚至加入了辩论俱乐部，在那里认识了自由黑人女子安娜·默里。 安娜和弗雷德里克一起计划了逃跑。 弗雷德里克穿上水手服，带着自由人的通行证，坐火车前往纽约。 这次逃跑花了不到二十四小时，可正如弗雷德里克后来写的：「我这一天活得，比当奴隶的一整年都更像活着。」