It was the unenviable task of the English lawyer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, to carve out the new frontiers of India and Pakistan. In a matter of weeks, he got to decide, with a few strokes of his pen, the destiny of some 400m people: his work casts a long shadow to this day. Deed done, Radcliffe burnt his papers and departed, never to return. WH Auden, in his poem, “Partition”, is scornful: “The next day he sailed for England, where he could quickly forget/The case, as a good lawyer must.”
西里爾•拉德克利夫爵士(Sir Cyril Radcliffe)的差事不值得羨慕，他要劃分印度和巴基斯坦的新國界線。在幾周之內，他要用寥寥數筆決定大約4億人的命運：他的工作給今天投下了長長的陰影。做完這件事以後，拉德克利夫燒掉他的底稿，然後離開，永遠沒有再回來。奧登(WH Auden)在他的詩作《分治》(Partition)中輕蔑地寫道：「第二天他坐船前往英格蘭，在那裏他會迅速忘掉/這件案子，就如一個好律師必須做的。」
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