A gaggle of students are driving at high speed to Berlin. “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, / But to be young was very heaven,” wrote Wordsworth about the French Revolution. The year is 1989, not 1789, but the poet’s sentiments capture our mood. Having grown up under the Cold War’s nuclear shadow, the temptation to catch a glimpse of its physical demise was irresistible. The instant we heard East Germany had opened Checkpoint Charlie, uniting Berlin, we were on our way. Within 18 hours we were chipping at that wall alongside tens of thousands of others, young and old, German and foreign. With chisels and pickaxes we made our tiny contributions. Two days later we returned to England, hungover, astonished to have avoided any speeding tickets, each carrying a small chunk of the wall.
一群学生驾车高速向柏林驶去。“幸福啊，活在那个黎明之中，年轻人更是如进天堂，”华兹华斯(Wordsworth)对法国大革命有感而发地写道。虽然那一年是1989年，而不是1789年，但诗人华兹华斯表达的情绪正契合我们的心情。对于在冷战核阴影下长大的我们而言，亲眼目睹冷战结束标志性一幕的诱惑是不可抗拒的。一听说东德打开了东、西柏林之间的查理检查哨(Checkpoint Charlie)，我们就上路了。不到18个小时之后，我们就和成千上万的民众（有老有少，有德国人也有外国人）一起凿着那堵墙。我们用凿子和镐做出了绵薄的贡献。两天后，我们返回英格兰，酒还没醒，却惊讶地发现没有收到超速罚单，每个人都带回了墙上的一小块砖头。