I am disposed to agree with Captain Dolbey that the man who knows no fear exists only in the imagination of the lady novelist or those who fight their battles at the base. He is invented because these naïve people suppose that a hero who is conscious of fear ceases to be a hero. But the truth surely is that there would be no merit in being brave if you had no fear. The real victory of the hero is not over outward circumstance， but over himself. One of the bravest men of our time is a man who was born timid and nervous and suffered tortures of apprehension， and who set himself to the deliberate conquest of his fears by challenging every danger that crossed his path and even going out of his way to meet the things he dreaded. By sheer will he beat down the enemy within， and to the external world he seemed like a man who knew no fear. But the very essence of his heroism was that he had fought fear and won.

我倾向于同意道尔比上尉的观点，他表示，不知恐惧为何物的人只存在于女性小说家的想象或在作战基地打仗的人之中。这样的人之所以被塑造出来，是因为天真的人们认为，一个英雄感觉到了恐惧便不再是英雄了。但真相肯定是，如果没有恐惧，那么你就算是很勇敢也没什么了不起。英雄真正的胜利不在于克服外在的困难，而是能战胜自我。我们这个时代最勇敢的人之一，是一位生来就很胆怯的人，他深受忧惧之害。为了有意识地克服恐惧，他挑战自己碰上的每一个危险，甚至还特意去接触自己惧怕之事。他全凭意志力打败了内心的敌人，在世人眼中仿若不知恐惧为何物。然而其英雄气概的本质在于与恐惧搏斗并最终取胜。

It is time we got rid of the notion that there is anything discreditable in knowing fear. You might as well say that there is something discreditable in being tempted to tell a falsehood. The virtue is not in having no temptation to lie， but in being tempted to lie and yet telling the truth. And the more you are tempted the more splendid is the resistance. Without temptation you may make a plaster saint， but not a human hero. That is why the familiar story of Nelson when a boy—”Fear！ grandmother. I never saw fear. What is it？”—is so essentially false. Nelson did some of the bravest things ever done by man. They were brave to the brink of recklessness. The whole episode of the battle of Copenhagen was a breathless challenge to all the dictates of prudence. On the facts one would be compelled to admit that it was an act of uncalculating recklessness， except for one incident which flashes a sudden light on the mind of Nelson and reveals his astonishing command of himself and of circumstance. When the issue was trembling in the balance1 and every moment lost might mean disaster， he prepared his audacious message of terms to the Crown Prince ashore. It was a magnificent piece of what， in these days， we should call camouflage. When he had written it， a wafer was given him， but he ordered a candle to be brought from the cockpit and sealed the letter with wax2， affixing a larger seal than he ordinarily used. “This，” said he， “is no time to appear hurried and informal.” With such triumphant self-possession could he trample on3 fear when he had a great end in view. But when there was nothing at stake he could be as fearful as anybody， as in the accident to his carriage， recorded， I think， in Southey’s “Life of Nelson.”

“心怀恐惧是不光彩的”——现在是时候摆脱这样的观念了。