《为奴十二年》(Twelve Years a Slave)是美籍黑人所罗门·诺萨普(Solomon Northup)根据自身经历的一部口述自传，再由作家大卫·威尔逊(David Wilson)编辑成书。2013年英国导演史蒂夫·麦奎(Steven McQueen)执导了同名电影。

本书故事发生在美国南北战争前，主人公所罗门是出生在美国纽约州的一个自由黑人。故事详细讲述了所罗门在去华盛顿的路上如何被诱拐，并且被非法贩卖到美国南部的蓄奴州。他在路易斯安那州做黑奴12年后，才得以秘密送信给远在纽约州的家人告知发生的一切。最后，在纽约州政府的帮助下，他重回自由身。

纵观所罗门这十二年的经历，我们不禁感叹，争取自由是一件多么不容易的事情。所罗门在种植园里所经历和看到的苦难使小编陷入思考：“如果无法为自己争取到自由，能否做到为了生存而苟且生活?”如果不是幸运之神的降临，所罗门并没有办法从种植园逃脱，甚至未经批准，不允许出种植园。

本书故事性很强，原著难度也不大，很适合作为泛读材料。小编也摘录了书中的部分精彩内容供大家品读，附上小编的翻译，若有不足，欢迎批评和指教。

So we passed, hand-cuffed and in silence, through the streets of Washington — through the Capital of a nation, whose theory of government, we were told, rests on the foundation of man's inalienable right to life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness!

当我们带着手铐，沉默地走在这个国家的首都华盛顿的街道上时，有人告诉我们，这个政府的理论是建立在公民不可剥夺的权利上——生活的权利，自由的权利，还有追求幸福的权利!

Days ago I was with my family, in my home. Now you tell me all is lost. "Tell no one who I really am" if I want to survive. I don't want to survive, I want to live.

几天前我仍与我的家人在一起。现在你却告诉我，我已经失去了他们。如果我想活下去，我必须隐藏自己的真实身份。我不仅仅只想活下去，我还想像正常人一样生活着。

Laws change, Epp. Universal truths are constant. It is a fact, a plain and simple fact, that what is true and right is true and right for all. White and black alike.

我的朋友，法律是变化的，真理是永恒的。真理和权利对每个人来说都是平等的，这是一个简单明了的事实。白人和黑人并没有什么不同。

The influences and associations that had always surrounded him, blinded him to the inherent wrong at the bottom of the system of Slavery. He never doubted the moral right of one man holding another in subjection.

周围的环境和现实中的影响，使他对奴隶制的本质错误视而不见。他从不怀疑，将他人作为奴隶据为己有是否有违道德。

Life is dear to every living thing; the worm that crawls upon the ground will struggle for it.

生命对每一个生物来说都是珍贵的，连爬在地上的蠕虫也会为之奋斗。

I expected to die. Though there was little in the prospect before me worth living for, the near approach of death appalled me.

我期待过死亡。虽然目前来说，并没有什么念想能让我继续活下去，但濒临死亡的感觉却让我震撼。

I have seen mothers kissing for the last time the faces of their dead offspring; I have seen them looking down into the grave, as the earth fell with a dull sound upon their coffins, hiding them from their eyes forever; but never have I seen such an exhibition of intense, unmeasured, and unbounded grief, as when Eliza was parted from her child.

我看过母亲们最后一次亲吻她们死去的后代的脸;当泥土在棺材上发出沉闷的声音，她们俯视着墓穴，因为她们再也见不到她们的孩子。但是，当伊丽莎与她的孩子分开的时候，是我第一次见到如此撕心裂肺，无法言喻的悲伤。

There have been hours in my unhappy life, many of them, when the contemplation of death as the end of earthly sorrow—of the grave as a resting place for the tired and worn out body—has been pleasant to dwell upon.

在我不幸的一生中，有很多时候我都在想，死亡会不会是终结忧愁的办法，坟墓是不是倦体残躯的休息之地。

My back is thick with scars for protesting my freedom.

我背上厚厚的伤疤见证了我为自由而战的始终。