美国一个车牌引发的“血案”

A licence plate displaying the Confederate flag has sparked a US Supreme Court battle over the right to free speech. Have "novelty" plates gone too far?
一张展示南部联盟旗帜的车牌点燃了一场美国最高法院关于言论自由权的论辩。“新奇的”车牌闹得太过火了吗？

Take a road trip across the US - anywhere - and you won't even need to stop or talk to the locals to know exactly what they most care about.
在美国境内自驾游的时候，无论去哪，你都不用停车或者和当地人攀谈，就能知道他们最关注什么。

Americans wear their hearts on their bumpers. Colourful licence plates celebrating everything from the Boy Scouts to the soft drink Dr Pepper appear in the rear view mirror.
因为美国人已经把他们的想法挂在车的保险杠上了。五花八门的车牌上什么都可能出现：童子军，胡椒博士软饮等等都会出现在后视镜上。

For outsiders it is fascinating and bizarre to see the range of issues by which the proud motorist separates themselves from the crowd.
对于旁观者而言，看到这些标新立异与众不同的人们自豪于他们的想法会觉得这是一件非常酷非常奇异的事情。

Anti-abortion slogans like "Choose Life" compete with "Trees are cool" and "Mighty Fine Burgers".
反对堕胎者们的车牌口号是：选择生命，用来和环保者的“树就是酷”以及和吃货们的“汉堡第一赞”一较高下。

Goofy personalised registrations like DUUUDE and BOO81ES park side-by-side with sombre memorials to 9/11 victims and cries to save the environment.
当然也有像“本大公子”和“我爱大胸”这种彰显二缺的个性标语同沉痛悼念911事件遇难者或者保护环境的标语车牌并列停放的情况。

But among this odd parade - there is one plate which has provoked a controversy like no other.
但是这些稀奇古怪的车牌们并没有像那张国旗车牌一样引发什么论战。

The design features the Confederate Flag and the words "Sons of Confederate Veterans 1896".
因为这张车牌上是一面南部联盟国旗和一段文字“1896年南部联盟士兵遗孤组织”。

It was rejected, twice, by the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, who ruled that "a significant portion of the public" find the flag offensive, due to its historical association with slavery.
这张车牌被德克萨斯州机动车辆管理部门两次拒批，被裁决为“由于旗帜涉及奴隶制历史问题，对大部分公众而言是一种冒犯。”

"Why should we as Texans want to be reminded of a legalised system of involuntary servitude, dehumanisation, rape, mass murder?" asked state Senator Royce West at a public hearing about the plates in 2011.
2011年，德克萨斯州议员罗伊斯·韦斯特在一次听证会上提到这些车牌时说：“为什么我们德克萨斯州人要被迫想起那个充斥着奴役、反人类行为、强奸、大屠杀的法律制度呢？”

This could easily have been the end of the matter - rude and abusive slogans are vetoed every day by the 50 state motoring departments, each of whom has slightly different criteria for acceptability.
这本该让这件事简单地画上句号了——50个州的机动车辆管理部门每天驳回很多粗俗的和具有侮辱性质标语的车牌，尽管各自的界定标准略有不同。

But what happened next drove the issue of "novelty" licence plates straight up the highway out of Texas and into the highest court in the land.
但是接下来的事让“新奇的”车牌问题从德克萨斯州的高速公路上下来，进入了美国最高法院。

The Sons of Confederate Veterans, sponsors of the controversial plate - went to the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, where they successfully argued that to reject their design was to restrict their right to free speech - protected by the First Amendment.
这是因为该车牌的赞助者——南部联盟士兵遗孤组织到美国第五巡回上诉法院起诉，称根据美国宪法第一修正案，不准他们使用这个设计限制了他们的自由言论权，随后胜诉。

The case now stands before the nine Supreme Court justices - who must consider how the rights of constitution apply within these 12in-by-6in (30.48cm-by-15.24cm) metal plates.
如今，这个案子摆在了最高法院的九大法官面前，他们必须考虑宪法赋予的权力如何应用到这块长12英寸宽6英寸（长30.48cm宽15.24cm）的铁皮上。

How did it come to this? How did an object so utterly dull as a vehicle registration plate become a battleground for the rights of Americans?
事情是如何发展到现今这个地步的？为什么这么一块无聊透顶的车牌演变成了美国人权的战场？

"What began as reasonable self-expression has become divisive and confrontational," says Dan Neil, automotive columnist at the Wall Street Journal.
《华尔街日报》汽车专栏作家丹·尼尔说：“这是因为合理的自我表达演变得具有分裂意义和对抗性。”

Emblazoning the Confederate flag on your car "is like waving a red rag to a bull - they're daring you to be offended by their politics", he says.
把南部联盟的国旗绘制在车牌上无异于“在公牛面前抖动红布，这是一种政治挑衅”。

The story of licence plates begins at the turn of the 20th Century, when the first "horseless carriages" began careering around towns - frightening children and causing anxiety for authorities.
车牌的历史起源于20世纪初——当时第一辆“没有马的马车”开始在城里横冲直撞，吓坏了儿童也让当局紧张。

In 1907, the state of Texas decreed that all motorised vehicles must be registered - and drivers must display their digits.
1907年，德克萨斯州规定：所有机动车辆一律需要登记，司机必须展示车牌号。

Many of the first plates were entirely personalised - crude homemade efforts, cobbled together from wood, roof tiles and even leather.
很多第一批车牌都是完全个性化的——它们是粗糙的手工制品，用木头、瓦片甚至是皮革拼在一起。

Jump forward to 2014 and license plates brought in $17.6m in revenue for the Texas state authorities - drawn from two distinct types of plates.
时间转到2014年时，两种类型的车牌每年给德克萨斯州创收1760万美元。

Personalised "vanity" plates allow drivers to select a configuration of up to seven characters - typically spelling out a nickname, or humorous slogan - often something on the cheeky side.
个性化的“浮夸”车牌允许司机们最多选择七个字母进行组合——比较典型的有昵称绰号和幽默标语——通常都没什么下限。

These are not the subject of the dispute in the Supreme Court. The case relates to the other type - "specialty plates" - which carry pictures, symbols and slogans supporting a cause or an organisation - often a charity campaign, a university, or a sports team.
这些不在这次最高法院论战的范围。这个案子涉及的是另外一种车牌——特色车牌——上面带有一些图片、符号以及支持一些事件或者组织的标语等，通常这些组织都是慈善团体、大学或者是运动队。

These groups apply to the state to have their specialty plate authorised to be licensed to motorists for an additional fee - which raises funds for the state and the organisation.
这些组织向州政府支付额外费用，申请制作自己的特色车牌给司机使用，为该州和组织筹集资金。

Texas offers 385 varieties of these specialty plates - among which the most popular topic is the US military and its veterans - 92 of these plates pay tribute to them.
德克萨斯州提供385种特色车牌，其中最受欢迎的主题是美国军方和退伍老兵，92种车牌是歌颂他们的。

But while Texas authorities were happy to issue plates commemorating US soldiers who have fallen in modern wars, they are not willing to stamp their badge on a plate which honours soldiers who fought for the Confederacy.
德克萨斯州政府乐于纪念那些在投身于现代战争中的美国军人，但并不想为一个表彰南方联盟士兵的车牌放行。

The state argues it is "fully within its rights to exclude swastikas, sacrilege, and overt racism from state-issued license plates that bear the state's name and imprimatur."
该州称自己“有权不发行与纳粹党十字记号、亵渎宗教和种族歧视有关的车牌。”

Opponents say this violates the free speech of the drivers who would select the license plate - a view upheld by the Court of Appeals.
反对者称，该规定违反了驾驶员们在选择车牌时的言论自由权，而上诉法院认同这种观点。

But the state counters that license plates are government property, on which the government can decide its own message - which would not breach the First Amendment.
但该州则反驳说车牌属于政府财产，政府有权决定车牌传递的信息，且这并不违反第一修正案。

At the heart of this case, then, is a simple question for the Supreme Court justices.
那么，对于最高法院的法官们来说，这个案子的核心就是一个简单的问题：

"Does my licence plate speak for me, or my state?"
“我的车牌是代表我，还是代表我的州？”

Vocabulary

bumper：保险杠

career：全速前进，猛冲

imprimatur：认可