连接亚洲与美洲的大陆桥没有被地壳大变动断开之前,印第安人的祖先就经过大陆桥到达了美洲,从此,他们便成为了那块广袤的土地上自由的儿女。但是十八世纪后随着大量白人的涌入,他们却遭到了近乎种族灭绝的厄运,昔日古老而灿烂的文明也饱受摧残,几近灭绝。世事沧桑,很长一段时间里,由于白人中心和至上的偏见宣传,人们对于印第安人的印象除了在美国西部文学、拓荒时代影片中出现的那些骑马呼啸、虐杀白人的红色土人杀手之外,似乎没有留下更多的东西。但是近几十年来,这种被歪曲的印象正在逐渐得到纠正。不但古代印第安人文明的价值被人们重新认识,而且现代印第安人的文化也日益被承认为美国多元文化中一支活跃而生动的力量。在现代文明面前,印第安文化远没有被同化或消亡,而是保持着自己鲜明的特色和活力,印第安人现代诗歌就是证明。人们不应忘记,这些诗歌是由一些现代印第安知识分子写作的,但是人们不难看出这些知识分子在精神上与那种古老文明的继承关系,人们能够体会到现代印第安民族精神的深处依然充满了那种对于自由,对于生命,对于自己世代生息繁衍的土地的由衷热爱,这是千百年来不变的东西。印第安文学,绝不是一种衰朽的文明的孑遗,而是一种生命力异常强韧的力量,是一种虽被摧残但仍焕发出青春的力量。它的朴素的语言,它的鲜明而独特的意象,它与大自然、与生命原始动力的深切联系……它的一切,会引起读者对它的喜爱。以下诗篇选译自美国俄克拉荷马大学出版社1979年出版的《美国印第安文学选集》。 Before the continental bridges connecting Asia and the Americas were severed by the great crustal changes, the ancestors of Indians reached the Americas through the Continental Bridge, and from then on they became the free children of that vast land. However, with the influx of a large number of whites after the eighteenth century, they were subjected to near-genocidal fate. The ancient and splendid civilization of the past was also destroyed and almost extinct. The vicissitudes of life, for a long time because of the white center and the supremacy of prejudice publicity, people’s impression of the Indian In addition to those in the western United States literature, pioneering films appeared in those riding whistling, killing white red killer villain, There seems to be no more left. However, this distorted impression has been gradually corrected in recent decades. Not only has the value of ancient Indian civilization been re-recognized, but modern Indian culture has also been increasingly recognized as an active and vivid force in American multiculturalism. In the face of modern civilization, Indian culture has not been assimilated or extinct, but maintains its own distinctive features and vitality, as evidenced by the modern Indian poetry. People should not forget that these poems were written by some modern Indian intellectuals. However, it is not hard to see the spiritual inheritance of these ancient civilizations by these intellectuals. People can understand that the depths of the modern Indian national spirit are still full The heartfelt love of freedom, of life, of the land that thrives in its own generation, is the same thing for thousands of years. Indian literature is by no means a relic of a decaying civilization. It is an unusually strong force of vitality and a force that is still brutally glorified. Its simple language, its distinctive and unique image, its deep connection with nature and the primitive motive force of life ... all of which will arouse readers’ love of it. The following poems translated from the United States University of Oklahoma published in 1979, “American Indian Literature anthology.”