August 13
1961 Berlin is divided 柏林被分隔为东西两部分
Shortly after midnight on August 13, 1961, East German soldiers begin laying down barbed wire and bricks as a barrier between Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the democratic western section of the city.
1961 年 8 月 13 日凌晨刚过，东德士兵就开始铺设铁丝网和砖块，作为苏联控制的东柏林和该市民主的西柏林之间的屏障。
After World War II, defeated Germany was divided into Soviet, American, British and French zones of occupation. The city of Berlin, though technically part of the Soviet zone, was also split, with the Soviets taking the eastern part of the city. After a massive Allied airlift in June 1948 foiled a Soviet attempt to blockade West Berlin, the eastern section was drawn even more tightly into the Soviet fold. Over the next 12 years, cut off from its western counterpart and basically reduced to a Soviet satellite, East Germany saw between 2.5 million and 3 million of its citizens head to West Germany in search of better opportunities. By 1961, some 1,000 East Germans—including many skilled laborers, professionals and intellectuals—were leaving every day.
二战后 ，战败的德国被划分为苏联、美国、英国和法国的占领区。柏林虽然名义上属于苏联占领区，但也同样被分割，苏联占领了柏林的东部。1948 年 6 月，盟军的大规模空运挫败了苏联封锁西柏林的企图，东柏林进一步被苏联控制。在接下来的 12 年里，东德与西德隔绝，实际上沦为苏联的卫星国，约有 250 万至 300 万东德公民前往西德寻求更好的发展机会。到 1961 年，每天约有 1000 名东德人——其中包括许多技术工人、专业人士和知识分子——离开东德。
In August, Walter Ulbricht, leader of East Germany, got the go-ahead from Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev to begin the sealing off of all access between East and West Berlin. Soldiers began the work over the night of August 12-13, laying more than 100 miles of barbed wire slightly inside the East Berlin border. The wire was soon replaced by a six-foot-high, 96-mile-long wall of concrete blocks, complete with guard towers, machine gun posts and searchlights. East German officers known as Volkspolizei (“Volpos”) patrolled the Berlin Wall day and night.
8 月，东德瓦尔特·乌布利希得到苏联最高领导人尼基塔·赫鲁晓夫的批准，开始封锁东西柏林之间的所有通道。士兵们于 8 月 12 日至 13 日夜间开始施工，在东柏林边界内侧铺设了超过 100 英里的铁丝网。不久，铁丝网被一道高 6 英尺、长 96 英里的混凝土墙所取代，墙上设有瞭望塔、机枪阵地和探照灯。被称为“人民警察”（Volkspolizei，简称“Volpos”）的东德警察日夜巡逻柏林墙 。
Many Berlin residents on that first morning found themselves suddenly cut off from friends or family members in the other half of the city. Led by their mayor, Willi Brandt, West Berliners demonstrated against the wall, as Brandt criticized Western democracies, particularly the United States, for failing to take a stand against it. President John F. Kennedy had earlier said publicly that the United States could only really help West Berliners and West Germans, and that any kind of action on behalf of East Germans would only result in failure.
在柏林墙倒塌的第一个清晨，许多柏林居民突然发现自己与身处城市另一半的亲朋好友失去了联系。在市长威利·勃兰特的带领下，西柏林人走上街头，抗议柏林墙。勃兰特批评西方民主国家，尤其是美国，未能对柏林墙采取反对立场。此前，美国总统约翰·F·肯尼迪曾公开表示，美国只能真正帮助西柏林人和西德人，任何帮助东德人的行动都只会以失败告终。
The Berlin Wall was one of the most powerful and iconic symbols of the Cold War. In June 1963, Kennedy gave his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” (“I am a Berliner”) speech in front of the Wall, celebrating the city as a symbol of freedom and democracy in its resistance to tyranny and oppression. The height of the Wall was raised to 10 feet in 1970 in an effort to stop escape attempts, which at that time came almost daily. From 1961 to 1989, a total of 5,000 East Germans escaped; many more tried and failed. High profile shootings of some would-be defectors only intensified the Western world’s hatred of the Wall.
柏林墙是冷战时期最具影响力和标志性的象征之一。1963 年 6 月，肯尼迪在柏林墙前发表了著名的 “我是柏林人”（Ich bin ein Berliner）演讲 ，赞扬柏林这座城市在抵抗暴政和压迫方面所展现出的自由和民主象征意义。1970 年，为了阻止几乎每天都有的逃亡尝试，柏林墙的高度被提高到 10 英尺（约 3 米）。从 1961 年到 1989 年，共有 5000 名东德人成功逃离柏林墙；更多的人尝试过但失败了。一些试图叛逃者的遭枪击事件更加激起了西方世界对柏林墙的憎恨。
Finally, in the late 1980s, East Germany, fueled by the decline of the Soviet Union, began to implement a number of liberal reforms. On November 9, 1989, masses of East and West Germans alike gathered at the Berlin Wall and began to climb over and dismantle it. As this symbol of Cold War repression was destroyed, East and West Germany became one nation again, signing a formal treaty of unification on October 3, 1990.
最终，在 20 世纪 80 年代末，随着苏联的解体，东德开始推行一系列自由化改革。1989 年 11 月 9 日，大批东西德民众聚集在柏林墙前，开始翻越并拆除它。随着这座冷战时期压迫象征的崩塌，东西德再次成为一个国家，并于 1990 年 10 月 3 日签署了正式的统一条约。
Key Words
foil: v. prevent (something considered wrong or undesirable) from succeeding 挫败，阻挠（错误，令人不快的事）
• a brave policewoman foiled the armed robbery. 一勇敢女警挫败了这起持械抢劫。
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