1.6 A good knight's sleep 骑士的酣眠（在线收听）

There was a tavern①, located somewhere in the State of Apathy②, where knights and damsels, wizards and monks, could all eat and drink together and escape the evil outside, which was depressing and bewildering, to say the least. No one had the desire to do anything about anything in the State of Apathy, except escape the reality that they lived day after day and the only place to do that was the tavern.

　　The tavern was owned and operated by the government and the drinks were free. The government did not want the people to concern themselves with the unjust wars they were fighting, the innocent civilians that were being killed. With the townspeople so focused on their own lives, the government of the State of Apathy could do all of its evil works under the cloak of darkness, while the people made merry.

　　The townspeople were mesmerized③ by the steady flow of lies they were receiving from their dark government and the tedium of their own lives.

　　The knights, who could have uprooted④ the evil government, were living it up in the tavern, drinking, laughing and making merry and no one seemed to care, until the day.

　　The day came like any other day. The evil government, attacked one foreign land too many, which outraged the world, who gathered their forces and made war with the State of Apathy, invading their land, killing it’s people and treating them the way they had treated captives of other nations.

　　As the people of the State of Apathy cried out for a champion to rise up and defend them, there was only silence. Most of the townspeople were now captives themselves and now cared for the first time, in a long time about something other than their merriment. Now that they were awakened from their slumber⑤, they could begin planning how they were going to escape from their oppressors. But they had to plan at night, because during the day they were slaves.

　　① tavern n. 酒馆

　　② apathy n. 冷漠

　　③ mesmerize v. 施催眠术

　　④ uproot v. 根除

　　⑤ slumber n. 睡眠

　　在冷漠之国的某个地方，有一家酒馆。在那里，骑士和少女，术士和僧侣，都可以在一起尽情地大吃大喝，如此至少可以躲避外边那令人沮丧又令人困惑的罪恶世界。在冷漠之国，除了逃避日复一日的现实生活，人们不想做任何事情。而逃避现实的唯一去处就是这家酒馆。

　　这家酒馆归政府所有并且由政府经营，里面酒水全部免费。政府不希望人民关注他们正在参与的不道义的战争，关心那些被杀害的无辜平民。因为人们的注意力都集中在自己的生活上，所以当他们在尽情欢愉之时，冷漠之国的政府却在暗地里干尽了伤天害理之事。

　　黑暗政府连篇累牍的谎言和生活的枯燥无味迷惑了人们。

　　本来可以将邪恶的政府铲除的骑士们，却在酒馆里声色犬马——酗酒、嬉闹和玩乐。似乎没有人在意政府的所作所为，直到有一天……

　　这一天的到来就如往常的每天一样。邪恶的政府多次出兵攻打他国，激起了天下的公愤。大家联合兵力对付冷漠之国，攻城略地，屠杀人民，用他们对待别国俘虏的同样方式来对待他们。

　　当冷漠之国的人民呼吁一名英雄揭竿而起保护他们的时候，全国却是万马齐喑。如今大部分的国民都成了俘虏。此前很长一段时间里，除了享乐，他们从来不在意任何事情，现在却不得不去关心了。既然从逃避的沉睡中苏醒过来了，他们便开始筹划如何从他们的压迫者手里逃出去。但是，他们不得不在晚上暗中谋划，因为在白天，他们是奴隶。

　　反思：面前是残酷的现实，也不要逃避去沉睡，勇敢地面对，创造和守护属于你的自由。