The 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war in Europe will this week be commemorated in towns and cities across the continent. On this occasion, the celebration will be especially poignant. It will probably be the last important Victory Day anniversary involving veterans and survivors of the conflict, men and women who bear direct witness to its horror. What will also be unsettling is that it arises at a moment of acute diplomatic tension between Russia and the west.
本周，欧洲大陆的各个城镇将举行二战结束70周年纪念活动。这一次的庆祝活动将尤为令人心碎。它很可能将成为有那场冲突的老兵与幸存者、直接目睹了二战之恐怖的男女参加的最后一个重大的胜利日周年庆典。另外，此次庆祝发生在俄罗斯与西方外交紧张颇为尖锐的时刻，也将令人不安。
Nowhere will east-west divisions be more apparent than in Moscow itself. Ten years ago, at the 60th anniversary of the end of the Great Patriotic War, as it is known in Russia, the leaders of the US, France and Germany joined President Vladimir Putin for the May 9 victory parade in Red Square.
莫斯科本身将最明显地展现东西方的分裂。10年前，在俄罗斯所称的伟大卫国战争(Great Patriotic War)结束60周年纪念之际，美国、法国和德国的领导人跟弗拉基米尔•普京(Vladimir Putin)一起参加了5月9日的红场(Red Square)胜利阅兵式。This year, they and other western leaders will be absent. Mr Putin is likely to use the occasion to aggrandise his regime after its seizure of Crimea and its incursion into eastern Ukraine. Western leaders have made clear that they do not want to be part of the show.
今年，他们和其他西方领导人将缺席红场。在吞并克里米亚和入侵乌克兰东部之后，普京很可能利用这一机会夸耀他的政权。西方领导人已明确表示，他们不想参与这场表演。
Anyone contemplating the scale of suffering in the second world war is bound to regret their absence from Moscow on Saturday.
任何思量二战造成多大苦难的人，注定会对他们周六不去莫斯科感到遗憾。The Soviet Union lost more than 20m citizens and its role in defeating Nazi Germany was greater than that of any other state. The number who died in the siege of Leningrad exceeded the total losses of British and US forces combined in the entire war.
苏联在二战期间失去了逾2000万公民，苏军在击败纳粹德国方面发挥的作用大于其他任何国家。列宁格勒围城战中的阵亡人数超过了英美军队在整个二战期间的阵亡总人数。The battles of Stalingrad and Kursk were turning points of the conflict. Russia’s role was central and critical and this should never be forgotten by historians.
斯大林格勒战役及库尔斯克战役是第二次世界大战的转折点。俄罗斯在这场战争中扮演了核心且至关重要的角色，历史学家们永远不应该遗忘这一点。The 70th anniversary ought also to be a moment when the world comes together — not only to honour those who gave their lives to defeat Nazi tyranny but to recognise the difficult moral lessons of the conflict. The world did not prevent the Holocaust of European Jewry. The saturation bombing of Hamburg and Dresden was excessive. The Red Army committed hideous war crimes, notably the destruction of the Polish officer corps at Katyn. The second world war was not the simple tale of good defeating evil that is often served up.
二战结束70周年也应该是全世界聚在一起的时刻——不仅是为了缅怀那些为打败纳粹暴政而献出生命的人，也是为了重温这场战争期间艰难的道德教训。世界没有阻止欧洲犹太人遭遇大屠杀。盟军对汉堡(Hamburg)和德累斯顿(Dresden)的饱和轰炸过分了。苏联红军犯下了可怕的战争罪行，特别是在卡廷(Katyn)大规模屠杀波兰军官。二战并不像经常被叙述的那样，是一个正义战胜邪恶的简单故事。Yet the absence of western leaders from Moscow, while regrettable, is understandable. Mr Putin’s annexation of Crimea and his incursions into Ukraine are the first redrawing of the map of Europe by force since the end of the cold war.
不过，西方国家领袖缺席莫斯科，尽管令人遗憾，但也是可以理解的。普京吞并克里米亚及入侵乌克兰的行为，是自冷战结束以来首次有人用武力改写欧洲版图。Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine has been contained but it has not been stopped. This makes any show of western solidarity with Mr Putin impossible at present.
俄罗斯对乌克兰东部地区的侵略迄今遭到遏制，但并未被完全阻止。这使西方目前不可能展露出任何与普京团结的迹象。The likely tone of next week’s celebration in Moscow would also make western leaders uncomfortable. Russian state propaganda repeatedly links the victory against Nazism with recent events in Ukraine, describing the pro-European Ukrainians who toppled President Viktor Yanukovich as fascists and Nazi collaborators. The May 9 commemoration in Red Square is unlikely to show restraint in using history as a propaganda weapon.
下周在莫斯科举行的庆祝活动，也很可能带有让西方领导人不爽的基调。俄罗斯国家宣传机构一再将打败纳粹的胜利与乌克兰最近发生的事件联系在一起，将推翻乌克兰前总统维克多•亚努科维奇(Viktor Yanukovich)的亲欧洲乌克兰人描述为法西斯分子和纳粹帮凶。在5月9日的红场纪念活动中，俄罗斯把历史当做宣传武器方面的行径也不太可能有所克制。At this solemn moment, the west’s leaders should take the opportunity to declare that whatever differences they have with Mr Putin, they have none with the people of Russia.
在这个庄严的时刻，欧洲领导人应该借此机会宣告，无论他们与普京的分歧有多大，他们与俄罗斯人民是一致的。Mr Putin may wish to use Victory Day as an exercise in militaristic posturing that puffs up his regime. But the millions of Russians and other former Soviet peoples who fought heroically to rid the world of Nazism deserve better.
军国主义的装腔作势使普京政权摆出强悍姿态，他或许希望把胜利日当做又一个这样的机会。但是，当年英勇战斗、帮助世界摆脱纳粹魔掌的数以百万计的俄罗斯人和其他前苏联人民，理应得到更好的纪念。In Russia and beyond, they should be honoured for the extraordinary sacrifices they made — and for no other purpose.
在俄罗斯和其它地方，人们应该在没有其它目的的前提下，对他们做出的巨大牺牲致敬。