英语名篇名段背诵精华

英语名篇名段背诵精华 1.The chess-board is the world:the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. By Thomas Henry Huxley 参考译文 棋盘宛如世界:一个个棋子仿佛世间的种种现象:游戏规则就是我们 所称的自然法则。竞争对手藏于暗处～不为我们所见。我们知晓～这 位对手向来处事公平～正义凛然～极富耐心。然而～我们也明白～这 位对手从不忽视任何错误～或者因为我们的无知而做出一丝让步～所 以我们也必须为此付出代价。 2. Best of times It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing befor 1 / 42 e us; we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. Excerpt from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 参考译文 这是一个最好的时代～也是一个最坏的时代,这是明智的年代～这是 愚昧的年代,这是信任的纪元～这是怀疑的纪元,这是光明的季节～ 这是黑暗的季节,这是希望的春日～这是失望的冬日,我们面前应有 尽有～我们面前一无所有,我们都将直下地狱…… 3.Equality and Greatness Between persons of equal income there is no social distinction except the distinction of merit. Money is nothing;character,conduct,and capacity are everything.Instead of all the workers being leveled down to low wage standards and all the rich leveled up to fashionbale income standards,everybody under a system of equal incomes would find his or her own natural level.There would be great people and ordinary people and little peolpe,but the great would always be those who had done great things,and never the idiot whose mother had spoiled them and whose father had left a hunred thousand a year;and the little would be persons of small minds and mean characters,and not poor persons who had never had a chance.That is why idiots are always in favour of inequality of income(their only chance of eminence),and the really great in favour of equality. 2 / 42 收入相当的人除了品性迥异以外没有社会差别。金钱不能说明什么, 性格～行为～能力才代表一切。在收入平等制度下～每个人将会找到 他或她正常的地位～而不是所有的工人被划到应拿低工资阶层～所有 的富人被划到应得高收入的阶层。人有卓著伟人～平庸之辈和碌碌小 人之别～然伟人总是那些有所建树之人～而非从小深受母亲溺爱～父 亲每年留下一大笔钱之人,碌碌小人总是那些心胸狭窄～品德卑劣之 人～而不是那些从未获取机会的穷人。愚蠢之众总是赞成收入不平等 ,他们职能凭借这种机会才能为人所知,～而真正伟大之人则主张平 等相待～原因就在于此。 4. Great Expectations As the night was fast falling,and as the moon,being past the full,would not rise early,we held a little council:a short one,for clearly our course was to lie by at the first lonely tavern we could find.So,they plied their oars once more,and I looked out for anything like a house.Thus we held on,speaking little,for four or five dull miles.It was very cold,and,a collier coming by us,with her gallery-fire smoking and flaring,looked like a comfortable home.The night was as dark by this time as it would be until morning;and what light we had,seemed to come more from the river than the sky,as the oars in their dipping stuck at a few reflected stars. 天黑得很快～偏巧这天又是下弦月～月亮不会很早升起。我们就稍稍 3 / 42 商量了一下～可是也用不着多讨论～因为情况是明摆着的～再划下去 我们一遇到冷落的酒店就得投宿。于是他们又使劲打起浆来～我则用 心寻找岸上是否隐隐约约有什么房屋的模样。这样又赶了四五英里 路～一路上好不气闷～大家简直不说一句话。天气非常冷～一艘煤船 从我们近旁驶过～船上厨房里生着火～炊烟缕缕～火光荧荧～在我们 看来简直就是个安乐家了。这时夜已透黑～看来就要这样一直黑到天 明～我们仅有的一点光亮似乎不是来自天空～而是来自河上～一浆又 一浆的～搅动着那寥寥几颗倒映在水里的寒星。 5. The doer of Deeds It is not the critic who counts,not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arens,whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;who stives valiantly;who errs,and comes short again and again;because there is not effort without error and shortcoming;but who does actually strive to do the deeds;who knows the great enthusiasms,the great devotions;who spends himself in a worthy cause,who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievement and who at the worst,if he fails,at least fails whiledaring greatly,so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. 真正令人尊敬的并非那些评论家和那些指出强者是如何跌倒～实干家 4 / 42 本该做得更好的人。 荣誉属于那些亲临竞技场～满脸污泥～汗水和鲜血的人。他们不懈努 力～他们曾犯过过错～并一再失败。因为付出即意味着犯错和失败。 他们满怀激情地努力做事～执着不懈～将生命奉献于崇高的事业。他 们为经过艰辛努力最终取得的伟大成就而自豪～如果失败～他们夜败 的荣耀。因而～这样的人永远不应与那些不知道胜利～也从未失败过 的冷淡而胆怯的灵魂相提并论。 6. American dream To Americans, industriousness, thrift and ambition are possitive values. We encourage our children to be competitive, to get ahead, to make money, to acquire possassion. In games and in business alike, the aim is to win the game, the trorphy, the contract. We go in for laboursaving devices, gadgets, speed and shortcuts. We think every young couple should set up a home of their own. And we pity the couple who must share their home with their parent, let alone with other relatives. Actually, of course, not all Americans hold all these values. And those who do may hold other, and at times controdictary values that affect their ways of behaving. In the main, however,the collective expectation of our society is that these are desirable goals, and the individual, whatever his personal inclination, is under considerable pressure to conform. 5 / 42 参考译文:美国梦 对于我们美国人～勤劳、节俭和志气都是积极的价值观。我们鼓励孩 子们进取、成功、赚钱、富有。在竞赛和商业活动中也是一样～我们 追求的是赢取比赛、获得奖杯、拿到 合同 劳动合同范本免费下载装修合同范本免费下载租赁合同免费下载房屋买卖合同下载劳务合同范本下载 。我们致力于节省劳力的工 具、速度和捷径。我们提倡所有的小两口都能靠自己的双手构建家园。 我们为那些必须依靠父母或亲戚生活的夫妇感到遗憾:其实～并不是 所有的美国人都拥有这样的价值观～甚至有些人或许会拥有相反的价 值观～这样的价值观会影响他们的行为。不过～我们的社会的主流意 识/期望还是这种积极的目标～不论个人的倾好如何～他的行为也是 被规范在一定的范围之内的。 7. Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life. His characters are not modified by the customs of particular places, unpractised by the rest of the world; by the peculiarities of studies or professions, which can operate but upon small numbers; or by the accidents of transient fashions or temporary opinions: they are the genuine progeny of common humanity, such as the world will always supply, and observation will always find. His persons act and speak by the influnce of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of other poets a character is too often an individual; in those of Shakespeare it is commonly a species. 6 / 42 Except from The Major Works by Sammuel Johnson 参考译文 莎士比亚的才华高于一切作家～至少高于当今的所有作家。他是一位 自然的诗人～他的作品将人间百态真实地展现在读者眼前。他的人物 塑造并不拘泥于只为一部分人所遵循的某个特定地区的习俗～也不局 限于一小部分人所从事的特定的研究或职业～也不追随短暂的潮流或 暂时的思想观点:他们据有人们一贯具备的、普遍的人性特点。就像 世界能永不竭地供应～眼睛能永不停地发现。他笔下人物的一言一行 都受那些能够触动所有人的大众化的情感和能使整个生命体系得以 延续的普遍原则所影响。在其他诗人的作品中～一个人物往往就是一 个个体～而莎翁笔下的人物通常代表着一类人。 8. The most loved place, for me, in this country has in fact been many places. It has changed throughout the years, as I and my circumstances have changed. I haven't really lost any of the best places from the past, though. I may no longer inhabit them, but they inhabit me, portions of memory, presences in the mind...My best place at the moment is very different, although I guess it has some of the attributes of that long-ago place. It is a small cedar cabin on the Otonabee river in southern Ontario. I've lived three summers there, writing, birdwatching, riverwatching. I sometimes feel sorry for the people in speedboats who spend their weekends zinging up and down the river at about a million miles an hour. For all they're able to see, the riverbanks might just as well be green 7 / 42 concrete and the river itself flowing with molten plastic. By Margaret Laurence 参考译文 在这个国家里我最喜欢的地方其实一直有很多。这些年来～由于我们 自己和情况的变迁～我最爱的地方也随着改变。虽然如此～过去我喜 爱过的任何一个地方我并没有真正地失去它们。我或许不再居住在那 儿～但它们却存在于我的心里～成为我记忆中的片段～时常浮现在脑 海中……此刻我最喜爱的地方相当不同～但我想它仍具有和老早的那 个地方,即明湖～Clear Lake,相同的某些特质。这个地方是安大略 省南方奥托拿比河边的一间松木小屋。我在那儿居住了三个夏天:写 作、赏鸟、观河。有时候我为那些来此地度周末～却驾着快艇以极速 在河上往来呼啸的人感到难过～因为这些人看见的河岸只不过是绿色 的混凝土岸～而河流本身也仿佛只是条闪亮的流动塑料。 9. When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, even inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents of themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, 8 / 42 and some six hunderd years ago, I consider that great when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together. Excerpt from Westminster Abbey by Joseph Addison 参考译文 当我瞻仰伟人的坟墓～心中所有的嫉妒顿时烟消云散,当我读到伟人 的悼文～所有的非分之想顷刻消失殆尽,当我遇见在墓碑旁悲痛欲绝 的父母亲～我的心中也满怀同情,当我看到那些父母亲自己的坟墓～ 我不禁感慨:既然我们很快都要追随逝者的脚步～悲伤又有何用。当 我看到国王与那些将他们废黜的人躺在一起～当我想到那些争斗一生 的智者～或是那些通过竞争和争执将世界分裂的圣人们被后人并排葬 在一起～我对人类的那些微不足道的竞争、内讧和争论感到震惊和悲 伤。当我看到一些坟墓上的日期～有的死于昨日～而有的死于六百年 前～我不禁想到～有那么一天我们都会在同一个时代同时出现在世人 眼前。 10. I tell you I must go!" I retorted, roused to something like passion. "Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?--a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am souless and heartless? You think wrong!--I have as much soul as you,--and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it 9 / 42 is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor evern of mortal flesh;--it is my spirit that adresses your spirit; just as if both has passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal,--as we are!" Excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte 参考译文 “我告诉你我非走不可:”我回驳着～感情很有些冲动。“你难道认为～ 我会留下来甘愿做一个对你来说无足轻重的人,你以为我是一架机 器——一架没有感情的机器,能够容忍别人把一口面包从我嘴里抢 走～把一滴生命之水从我杯子里泼掉,难道就因为我一贫如洗、默默 无闻、长相平庸、个子瘦小～就没有灵魂和心肠了,你想错了:我的 心灵跟你一样丰富～我的心胸跟你一样充实:要是上帝赐予我一点姿 色和财富～我会使你难以离开我～就像现在我很难离开你一样。我不 是根据习俗、常规～甚至也不是血肉之躯同你说话～而是我的灵魂同 你的灵魂在对话～就仿佛我们两人穿过坟墓～站在上帝脚下～彼此平 等～本来就如此:” 11. You must study to be frank with the world:frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do, on every occasion. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable; if not, tell him plainly why you cannot. You would wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind. Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one. The man who 10 / 42 requires you to do so is dearly purchased at a sacrifice. Deal kindly but firmly with all your classmates. You will find it the policy which wears best. Above all, do not appear to others what you are not. If you have any fault to find with any one, tell him, not others, of what you complain. There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to do one thing before a man's face and another behind his back. We should say and do nothing to the injury of any one. It is not only a matter of principle, but also the path of peace and hornor. By Robert E. Lee 参考译文 在世间必须学会以真诚示人:率真乃是诚实与勇敢之子。无论在何种 场合～都应该道出自己的真实想法。如果朋友对你有所求～对于合情 合理之请～应该欣然同意,不然～应该明明白白地告诉朋友拒绝的理 由。任何模棱两可的话语将会让别人误解～也会使自己蒙受冤屈。 千万不要为了结交朋友或者挽留友情而做错一事。对你有这种要求的 人也会付出沉重的代价。与同学真心相对～绝不背叛。你将发现这是 最有效用的准则。总之～要以真实面目示人。 如果发现某人身有瑕疵～直接告诉他你的意见～而不是诉之他人。人 前一套～背后又是一套～没有什么比这更加危机四伏。任何有损他人 的言语或者事情我们都应该避免。这不仅是一种做人的原则～而且也 是通向平和的人际关系、获得他人尊敬之道。 11 / 42 12. Letter to a Young Friend Benjamin Franklin My dear friend I know of no Medicine fit to diminish the violent natural inclination you mention; and if I did, I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper Remedy. It is the most natural State of man, and therefore the state in which you will find solid Happiness.Your Reason against entering into it at present appears to be not well founded. The Circumstantial Advantages you have in view by Postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with the Thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the Man and Woman united that makes the complete human Being, Separate she wants his force of Body and Strength of Reason; he her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they are most likely to succeed in the World. A single man has not nearly the value he would have in that State of Union. He is an incomplete Animal.He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissors. If you get a prudent, health wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortune sufficient. Your Affectionate Friend 参考译文 给年轻朋友的一封信 本杰明?富兰克林 12 / 42 我知道没有药物能够消除你们所提到的那种疯狂的自然倾向;即使我 知道,我想我也不该告诉你.婚姻是适当的药物。它是人类最本能的状 态, 因此是一种最幸福的生活状态。你拒绝现在进入婚姻殿堂的理由 显的不够充分.你认为推迟婚姻可能存在好处,不仅不一定实现～而且, 那些利益跟婚姻本身以及婚后的安定相比起来就微不足道了。男人和 女人只有联合起来才能组成完整的人.女人缺乏男人的力量和周密的 推理,而男人缺乏女人的温柔、感性和敏锐的洞察力。因此当男人和 女人联合起来。就能够无往不胜。单身和离婚生活的男男女女不可能 具有婚姻生活中的价值～是一种不完善的动物。他简直好比半把剪刀 --孤掌难鸣。 如果你拥有一位健康而谨慎的妻子～你的辛勤工作～加上她的勤俭节 约～必定会创造充足的财富。 您真挚的朋友 13. Life is never just being.It is becoming a relentless, flowing on.Our parents live on through us,and we will live on through our children.The institutions we build endure,and we will endure through them.The beauty we fashion cannot be dimmed by death.Our flesh may perish,our hands will wither,but that which they creat in beauty and goodness and truth lives on for all time to come. Don't spend and waste your lives accumulating objects that will only turn to dust and ashes.Pusue not so much the material as the ideal,for ideals 13 / 42 alone invest life with meaning and are of enduring worth. Add love to a house and you have a home.Add righteousness to a city and you have a community.Add truth to a pile of red brick and you have a school.Add religion to the hublest of edifices and you have a sanctuary.Add justice to the far-flung round of human endeavor and you have civilization.Put them all together,exalt them above their present imperfections, add to them the vision of humankind redeemed,forever free of need and strife and you have a future lighted with the radiant colors of hope. 14. Henry David Thoreau/享利.大卫.梭罗 However mean your life is,meet it and live it ;do not shun it and call it hard names.It is not so bad as you are.It looks poorest when you are richest.The fault-finder will find faults in paradise.Love your life,poor as it is.You may perhaps have some pleasant,thrilling,glorious hourss,even in a poor-house.The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there,and have as cheering thoughts,as in a palace.The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any.May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.Most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means.which should be more disreputable.Cultivate poverty 14 / 42 like a garden herb,like sage.Do not trouble yourself much to get new things,whether clothes or friends,Turn the old,return to them.Things do not change;we change.Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. 不论你的生活如何卑贱～你要面对它生活～不要躲避它～更别用恶言 咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候～倒是看似最穷。爱找缺 点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活～尽管它贫穷。 甚至在一个济贫院里～你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射 在济贫院的窗上～像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮,在那门前～积雪同 在早春融化。我只看到～一个从容的人～在哪里也像在皇宫中一样～ 生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人～我看～倒往往是 过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大～所以受之无愧。大多 数人以为他们是超然的～不靠城镇来支援他们,可是事实上他们是往 往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活～他们是毫不超脱的～毋宁是不体 面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧:不要找新的花样～ 无论是新的朋友或新的衣服～来麻烦你自己。找旧的～回到那里去。 万物不变～是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉～但要保留你的思想。 15. Build Me a Son General Douglas A. MacArthur Build me a son, Lord, who will be strong enough to know when he is weak, and brave enough to face himself when he is afraid; one who will be proud and unbending in honest defeat, and humble and gentle in 15 / 42 victory. 啊～上帝～请请我造就这样一个儿子～他将坚强足以认识自己的弱点～ 勇敢得足以面对恐惧～在遇到正当的挫折时能够昂首而不卑躬屈膝～ 在胜利时能谦逊而不趾高气扬。 Build me a son whose wishbone will not be where his backbone should be; a son who will know Thee and that to know himself is the foundation stone of knowledge. 请给我造就这样一个儿子～他不会用愿望代替行动～将牢记你的教 诲――认识自己是认识世界的奠基石。 Lead him I pray, not in the path of ease and comfort, but under the stress and spur of difficulties and challenge. Here let him learn to stand up in the storm; here let him learn compassion for those who fail. 我祈求～请不要把他引上平静安逸的道路～而要把他臵于困难和挑战 的考验和激励之下～让他学会在暴风雨中挺立～让他学会对那些失败 者富于怜悯。 ll be clear, whose goal will be high; a son who will master himself before he seeks to master other men; one who will learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; one who will reach into the future, yet never forget the past. 请给我造就这样一个儿子～他将心地洁净～目标高尚,他将在征服别 人之前先征服自己～他将拥有未来～但永远不忘记过去。 And after all these things are his, add, I pray, enough of a sense of humor, 16 / 42 so that he may always be serious, yet never take himself too seriously. Give him humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength. Then, I, his father, will dare to whisper "I have not lived in vain". 我祈求～除了上述的一切～请赐他足够的幽默感～这样他可以永远庄 重～但不至于盛气凌人,赋他以谦卑的品质～这样他可能永远铭记在 心:真正的伟人也要真诚率直～真正的贤人也要虚怀若谷～真正的强 者也要温文尔雅。那么～作为他父亲的我就将敢于对人低语:“我这 一生没有白过。” 16. The pleasant family When in an hour they crowded into a cab to go home～ I strolled idly to my club. I was perhaps a little lonely～ and it was with a touch of envy that I thought of the pleasant family life of which I had had a glimpse. They seemed devoted to one another. They had little private jokes of their own which～ unintelligible to the outsider～ amused them enormously. Perhaps Charles Strickland was dull judged by a standard that demanded above all things verbal scintillation, but his intelligence was adequate to his surroundings～ and that is a passport～ not only to reasonable success～ but still more to happiness. Mrs. Strickland was a charming woman～ and she loved him. I pictured their lives～ troubled by no untoward adventure～ honest～ decent～ and～ by reason of those two upstanding～ pleasant children～ so obviously destined to carry on the normal traditions 17 / 42 of their race and station～ not without significance. They would grow old insensibly, they would see their son and daughter come to years of reason～ marry in due course —— the one a pretty girl～ future mother of healthy children, the other a handsome～ manly fellow～ obviously a soldier, and at last～ prosperous in their dignified retirement～ beloved by their descendants～ after a happy～ not unuseful life～ in the fullness of their age they would sink into the grave. ——Excerpt from the Moon and Sixpennce by W. Somerset Maugham 一个钟头以后～这一家挤上一辆马车回家去了～我也一个人懒散地往 俱乐部踱去。我也许感到有一点寂寞～回想我刚才瞥见的这种幸福家 庭生活～心里不无艳羡之感。这一家人感情似乎非常融洽。他们说一 些外人无从理解的小笑话～笑得要命。如果纯粹从善于辞令这一角度 衡量一个人的智慧～也许查理斯。思特里克兰德算不得聪明～但是在 他自己的那个环境里～他的智慧还是绰绰有余的～这不仅是事业成功 的敲门砖～而且是生活幸福的保障。思特里克兰德太太是一个招人喜 爱的女人～她很爱她的丈夫。我想象着这一对夫妻的生活～不受任何 灾殃祸变的干扰～诚实、体面～两个孩子更是规矩可爱～肯定会继承 和发扬这一家人的地位和传统。在不知不觉间～他们俩的年纪越来越 老～儿女却逐渐长大成人～到了一定的年龄～就会结婚成家——一个 已经出息成美丽的姑娘～将来还会生育活泼健康的孩子,另一个则是 仪表堂堂的男子汉～显然会成为一名军人。最后这一对夫妻告老引退～ 18 / 42 受到子孙敬爱～过着富足、体面的晚年。他们幸福的一生并未虚度～ 直到年寿已经很高～才告别了人世。 ——摘自《月亮与六便士》威廉•萨默塞特•毛姆 17. Imagine that you spent your whole life at a single house.Each day at the same hour you entered an artificially-lit room,undressed and took up the same position in front of a motion picture camera.It photographed one frame of you per day,every day of your life. On your seventy-second birthday,the reel of film was shown.You saw yourself growing and aging over seventy-two years in less than half an hour(27.4minites at sixteen frames per second). Images of this sort ,though terrifying, are helpful in suggesting unfamiliar but useful perspectives of time. They may ,for example ,symbolize the telescoped ,almost momentary charater of the past as seen through the eyes of an anxious or disa-ffected individual. Or they may suggest the remarkable brevity of our lifes in the cosmic scale of time. If the estimated age of the cosmos were shorted to seventy-two years, a human life would take about ten seconds. But look at time the other way. Each day is a minor eternity of over 86000 seconds. During each second, the number of distinct molecular functions going on with the human body is comparable to the mumber of seconds in the estimated age of the cosmos, A few seconds are long enough for a revolutionary idea, a startling communication, a baby's conception, a wounding insult, a sudden death. Depending on how we 19 / 42 think of them, our lives can be infinitely long or infinitely short. 18. Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter ofrosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, aquality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of theappetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust. Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being?s heart the lure of wonder,the unfailing childlike appetite of what?s next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young. When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is 20 / 42 hope you may die young at 80. 青春 塞缪尔?厄尔曼 青春不是年华～而是心境,青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝～而是深沉的 意志～恢宏的想象～炙热的恋情,青春是生命的深泉在涌流。 青春气贯长虹～勇锐盖过怯弱～进取压倒苟安。如此锐气～二十后生 而有之～六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加～并非垂老～理想丢弃～方堕 暮年。 岁月悠悠～衰微只及肌肤,热忱抛却～颓废必致灵魂。忧烦～惶恐～ 丧失自信～定使心灵扭曲～意气如灰。 无论年届花甲～拟或二八芳龄～心中皆有生命之欢乐～奇迹之诱惑～ 孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线～只要你从天上人间接 受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号～你就青春永驻～风华常存。 一旦天线下降～锐气便被冰雪覆盖～玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生～ 即使年方二十～实已垂垂老矣,然则只要树起天线～捕捉乐观信号～ 你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。 19. Remember, my son, you have to work. Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheel-barrow or a set of books, digging ditches or editing a paper, ringing an auction bell or writing funny things, you must work. If you look around you will see the men who are the most able to live the rest of their days without work are the men who work the hardest. Don't be 21 / 42 afraid of killing yourself with overwork. It is beyond your power to do that on the sunny side of thirty. They die sometimes, but it is because they quit work at six in the evening, and do not go home until two in the morning. It?s the interval that kills, my son. The work gives you an appetite for your meals; it lends solidity to your slumbers, it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday. There are young men who do not work, but the world is not proud of them. It does not know their names, even it simply speaks of them as “old So-and-So?s boy”. Nobody likes them; the great, busy world doesn?t know that they are there. So find out what you want to be and do, and take off your coat and make a dust in the world. The busier you are, the less harm you will be apt to get into, the sweeter will be your sleep, the brighter and happier your holidays, and the better satisfied will the world be with you. By Robert Jones Burdette 谨记～我的年轻人～你们必须工作(不管你是使锄头还是用笔～也不 管是推手推车还是编记账簿～也不管你是种地还是编辑报纸～是拍卖 师亦或是作家～都必须有一份工作～并为之努力奋斗(如果仔细观察 周围的人～你就会发现～那些工作最努力的人最有可能安享晚年而无 须去工作(不要害怕超负荷的工作会缩短你的寿命～不足三十岁的年 龄～你的承受能力远不止如此(如果说真的有人过早送命～那完全是 22 / 42 因为他们在晚上六点结束工作～却要在外流连到凌晨两点才归家(我 的年轻人～正是晚上六点到凌晨两点的这段时间的生活毁了他们自 己(工作会增加你的食欲～工作会使你安然入睡～工作将会使你心满 意足地享受假日( 有的年轻人不工作～但世界并不会因他们自豪。它不知道他们的姓名～ 甚至简单地将他们概括为“老令人讨厌者的男孩 ” 。没有人喜欢他们; 伟大～繁忙的世界不知道他们在那里。因此～找出哪些你想成为和做 的～脱下你的外衣～把粉尘抛在世界上。越是繁忙的你越是少受伤害～ 甜蜜将成为您的睡眠～光明和幸福着您的假期～更好地满足你的意志 世界。 20. What is immortal TO see the golden sun and the azure sky, the outstretched ocean, to walk upon the green earth , and to be a lord of a thousand creatures to look down giddy precipices or over distant flowery vales, to see the world spread out under one's finger in a map, to bring the stars near, to view the smallest insects in a microscope, to read history and witness the revolutions of empirees and the succession of generations ,to hear the gloryof Sidon and Tyre of Babylon and Susa,as of a fade pegeant,anf ti say all these wereand are now nothing. to think that we exist in such a point of time, and in such a corner of space,to be at once spectators and a part of the moving scene to watch the return of the seasons, of spring and autumn, 23 / 42 to hear--- The stock dove plain amid the forest deep, That drowsy rustles to the sighing gale. ---to traverse desert wildness, to listen to thedungeon's gloom,or sit in crowded theatres and see life itself mocked, to feel heat and cold,pleasure and pain right and wrong,truth and falsehood, to study the works of art and refine the sense of beauty to agony, to worship fame and to dream ofimmortality, to have read Shakespeare and Beloit to the same species as Sir isaac Newton to be and to do all this and then in a moment to be nothing to have it all snatched from one like a juggler's ball or a phantasmagoria..... 我们看到金色的太阳～蔚蓝的天空～广阔的海洋,我们漫步在绿油油 的大地上～做万物的主人,我们俯视令人目眩心悸的悬崖峭壁～远眺 鲜花盛开的山谷,我们把地图摊开～任意指点全球,我们把星辰移到 眼前观看～还在显微镜下观察极其微小的生物～我们学历史～亲自目 睹帝国的兴亡～时代的交替,我们听人谈论西顿、推罗、巴比伦和苏 撒的勋业～如同听一番往昔的盛会～听了以后～我们说这些事确实发 生过～但现在却是过眼云烟了,我们思考着自己生活的时代～生活的 地区,我们在人生的活动舞台上既当观众～又当演员,我们观察四季 更迭～春秋代序～我们听见了___ 野鸽在浓密的树林中哀诉～ 24 / 42 树林随微风的叹息而低语。 ___ 我们横绝大漠,我们倾听了子夜的歌声,我们光顾灯火辉煌的厅 堂～走下阴森森的地牢～或者坐在万头攒动的剧院里观看生活本身受 到的摩拟,我们亲身感受炎热和寒冷～快乐和痛苦～正义和邪恶～真 理和谬误,我们钻研艺术作品～把自己的美感提高到极其敏锐的程度, 我们崇拜荣誉～梦想不朽,我们阅读莎士比亚～或者把自己和牛顿爵 士视为同一族类～正当我们面临这一切～从事这一切的时候～自己却 在一刹那之间化为虚无～眼前的一切像是魔术师手中的圆球～像是一 场幻影～一下子全都消失得无影无踪...... 24. Did you deal with fortune fairly Most people complain of fortune, few of nature; and the kinder they think the latter has been to them, the more they murmur at what they call the injustice of the former. Why have not I the riches, the rank, the power, of such and such, is the common expostulation with fortune; but why have not I the merit, the talents, the wit, or the beauty, of such and such others, is a reproach rarely or never made to nature. The truth is, that nature, seldom profuse, and seldom niggardly, has distributed her gifts more equally than she is generally supposed to have done. Education and situation make the great difference. Culture improves, and occasions elicit, natural talents I make no doubt but that there are potentially, if I may use that pedantic word, many Bacons, 25 / 42 Lockes, Newtons, Caesars, Cromwells, and Mariboroughs at the ploughtail behind counters, and, perhaps, even among the nobility; but the soil must be cultivated, and the season favourable, for the fruit to have all its spirit and flavour. If sometimes our common parent has been a little partial, and not kept the scales quite even; if one preponderates too much, we throw into the lighter a due counterpoise of vanity, which never fails to set all right. Hence it happens, that hardly any one man would, without reverse, and in every particular, change with any other. Though all are thus satisfied with the dispensations of nature, how few listen to her voice! How to follow her as a guide! In vain she points out to us the plain and direct way to truth, vanity, fancy, affection, and fashion assume her shape and wind us through fairy-ground to folly and error. 很多人抱怨命运～却很少有人抱怨自然,人们越是认为自然对他们仁 爱有加～便越是嘀咕命运对他们的所谓不公。 人们常常对命运发出诘难:我为何没有财富、地位、权力以及诸如此 类的东西,但人们却很少或从不这样责怪过自然:我为何没有长处、 天赋、机智或美丽以及诸如此类的东西。 事实是～自然总是将天赋公平地分配给人们～比人们通常认为的还要 不偏不倚～很少过分地慷慨!也很少吝啬。人与人之间的巨大差异是 由于教育和环境使然。文化修养改良了天赋～机遇环境诱发了天赋。 26 / 42 我们并不怀疑在农田耕作～在柜台后营业～甚至在豪门贵族中间有很 多潜在的培根们、洛克们、牛顿们、凯撒们、克伦威尔们和马尔伯勒 们～如果允许我用“潜在的”这个学究味浓重的词的话,但是要使果实 具有它全部的品质和风味～还必须有耕耘过的泥土～必须有适宜的季 节。 倘若大自然有时候有那么一点偏心～没有将天平摆正,倘若有一头过 重～我们就会在轻的一头投上一枚大小适当的虚荣的砝码～它每次都 会将天平重新调平～从不出差错。因此就出现了这种情况:几乎没有 人会毫无保留地和另一个人里里外外全部对换一下。 虽然对于自然的分配～人人都感到满意,然而肯听听她的忠告的人却 是如此之少!能将她当作向导而跟随其后的人又是如此之少!她徒然 地为我们指出一条通向真理的笔直的坦途,而虚荣、幻想、矫情、时 髦却俨然以她的面貌出现～暗中将我们引向虚幻的歧途～走向愚笨和 谬误。 Excerpt: from Upon Affectation By Lord Chesterfield(切斯特菲尔德勋爵) 28. The Americans Americans are a peculiar people. They work like mad, then give away much of what they earn. They play until they are exhausted, and call this a vacation. They live to think of themselves as tough-minded business men, yet they are push-overs for any hard luck story. They have the biggest of nearly everything including government, motor cars and debts, 27 / 42 yet they are afraid of bigness. They are always trying to chip away at big government, big business, big unions, big influence. They like to think of themselves as little people, average men, and they would like to cut everything down to their own size. Yet they boast of their tall buildings, high mountains, long rivers, big state, the best country, the best world, the best heaven. They also have the most traffic deaths, the most waste, the most racketeering. When they meet, they are always telling each other, "Take it easy," then they rush off like crazy in opposite directions. They play games as if they were fighting a war, and fight wars as if playing a game. They marry more, go broke more often, and make more money than any other people. They love children, animals, gadgets, mother, work, excitement, noise, nature, television shows, comedy, installment buying, fast motion, spectator sports, the underdog, the flag, Christmas, jazz, shapely women and muscular men, classical recordings, crowds, comics, cigarettes, warm houses in winter and cool ones in summer, thick beefsteaks, coffee, ice cream, informal dress, plenty of running water, do-it-yourself, and a working week trimmed to forty hours or less. They crowd their highways with cars while complaining about the traffic, flock to movies and television while griping about the quality and the commercials, go to church but don't care much for sermons, and drink too much in the hope of relaxing , only to find themselves stimulated to 28 / 42 even bigger dreams. There is of course, no typical American. But if you added them all together and then divided by 226 000 000 they would look something like what this chapter has tried to portray. excerpt:from Why We Behave Like Americans By Bradford Smith 美国人是一个与众不同的民族。他们拼命地工作～然后花掉了大量辛 苦赚来的钱。他们玩得筋疲力尽～并称之为度假。他们向来把自己想 成硬心肠的商人～可是任何不幸的故事都会使他们受骗。几乎所有最 大的东西他们都有 :政府～汽车和债务～可他们害怕庞大。所以他 们总是要想办法除去大的政府～大的买卖～大的团体～大的影响力。 他们愿意把自己看成是小人物～平平常常的人～喜欢一切都是平等的。 他们吹嘘自己的高楼大厦～高山～大河～吹嘘自己是大国～是最好的 国家～是最好的世界～最好的天堂。 同时～他们的车祸最多～浪费 最多～骗子也最多。 美国人一见面就对彼此说:“放轻松点～”然后就向相反的方向狂奔。 他们做游戏象打仗一样～打起仗来象做游戏。跟任何人相比～他们结 婚次数更多～离婚的频率更高～赚的钱更多。他们爱孩子～爱动物～ 爱小玩艺～爱母亲～爱工作～爱激动～爱吵吵嚷嚷～爱大自然～爱看 电视节目～爱看喜剧～买东西喜欢分期付款～喜欢快节奏～爱买票看 体育比赛～同情弱者～热爱国旗～爱过圣诞节～听爵士乐～爱看身材 29 / 42 好的女子和肌肉发达的男人～爱收藏经典唱片～爱凑热闹～看连环画～ 抽烟～喜欢房子冬暖夏凉～爱吃切得厚厚的牛排～爱喝咖啡～吃冰淇 淋～穿着随便～喜欢自来水一直淌着～一切自己动手～一周工作时间 限制在40小时以内。 当然没有典型的美国人。但是如果你把他们加在一起～然后用226 000 000来除～他们的样子就象这一章要描述的。 节选自布拉德福德所著《为什么我们的举止象美国人》 43. Art and Life My parents owned six books between them. Two of those were Bibles and the third was a concordance to the Old and New Testaments. The fourth was The House At Pooh Corner. The fifth～The Chatterbox Annual 1923 and the sixth, Malory?s Morte d?Artliur. I found it necessary to smuggle books in and of the house and I cannot claim too much for the provision of an outside toilet when there is no room of one?s own. It was on the toilet that I first read Freud and D. H. Lawrence, and perhaps that was the best place, after all. We kept a rubber torch hung on the cistern, and I had to divide my money from a Saturday job, between buying books and buying batteries. My mother knew exactly how long her Ever Readys would last if used only to illuminate the hap that separated the toilet paper from its . Once I had tucked the book back down my knickers to get it indoors again, I find somewhere to hide it, and anyone with a single bed, standard 30 / 42 size, and paperbacks, standard size, will discover that seventy seven can be accommodated per layer under the mattress. But as my collection grew, I began to worry that my mother might notice that her daughter?s bed was rising visibly. One day she did. She burned everything. I had been brought up to memorize very long Bible passages, and when I left home and was supporting myself so that I could continue my education, I fought off loneliness and fear by reciting. In the funeral parlor I whispered Donne to the embalming fluids and Marvell to the corpses. Later, I found that Tennyson? s „Lady of Shalott? had a soothing, because rhythmic, effect on the mentally disturbed. Among the disturbed I numbered myself at that time. The healing power of art is not a rhetorical fantasy. Fighting to keep language, language became my sanity and my strength. It still is, and I know of no pain that art cannot assuage. For some, music, for some, pictures, for me, primarily, poetry, whether found in poems or in prose, cuts through noise and hurt, opens the wound to clean it, and then gradually teaches it to heal itself. Wounds need to be taught to heal themselves. The psyche and the spirit do not share the instinct of damaged body. Healing is automatically triggered nor is danger usually avoided. Since we put ourselves in the way of hurt it seems logical to put ourselves in the way of healing. Art has more work to do than ever before but it can do 31 / 42 that work. In a self-destructive society like our own, it is unsurprising that art as a healing force is despised. For myself, when I returned to my to my borrowed room night after night, and there were my books, I felt relief and exuberance, not hardship and exhaustion. I intended to avoid the fate of Jude the Obscure, although a reading of that book was a useful warning. What I wanted did not belong to me by right and whilst it could not be refused tome in quite same way, we still have subtle punishments for anyone who insists on what they are and what they want. Walled inside the little space marked out for by family and class, it was the limitless world of imagination that it possible for me to scale the sheer face of other people?s assumptions. Inside books there is perfect space and it is that space which allows the reader to escape from the problems of gravity. By Jeanette Winterson 艺术与生命 我父母两人共有六本书。其中两本是圣经、第三本是新旧约用语索引、 第四本是《噗噗熊街角的屋子》,The House at Pooh Corner,、第五本 是《1923年话匣子年鉴》,The Chatterbox 1923 Annual,～而第六本是 马洛礼,Malory,的《阿瑟王之死》,Mortd?Arthur,。 我发现有必要把书偷运进出家里～而且没有属于自己的房间时～对于 于屋外厕所的供应品～我不能要求太多。我第一次读到弗洛依德和 D. H. 劳伦斯～是坐在马桶上的～而或许～那终究是最佳之处。我们 32 / 42 在马桶水箱上悬吊了一个橡胶手电筒～而我必须将周六那份工作赚来的钱～平分花在买书和买电池上面。我母亲清楚知道～她那些永备牌电池～如果光是用来照明区分卫生纸和其功能的空隙～可以维持多久。 有一回我又把书塞在内裤里～好带进屋里。我必须找个地方把书藏起来～而任何人～若拥有一张单人床～标准尺寸的～以及平装书籍～标准尺寸的～就会发现～床垫底下每一层可容纳七十七本。可是当我的收集品增加时～便开始担心母亲会注意到～用眼睛就看得出女儿的床正逐渐升高。有一天她真的发现了。她全给烧了…。 ……我成长过程中～必须背下很长的圣经段落。到我离开家庭～自己赚钱以便继续求学时～便靠背诵来抵挡寂寞和恐惧。在殡仪馆里～我稍稍对着防腐香料液念约翰 ?多恩,Donne,、对着尸体念安德鲁?马维尔,Marvel,。后来～我发现丁尼生,Tennyson,的〈夏洛特〉,“Lady of Shalott”,～因为有节焰感～对于心智失衡者具有一种安抚作用。在那个时候我把自己也算在失衡者之列。 艺术的疗愈力量并非夸大其词的幻想。我奋力留住语言～语言因而让我心智正常～具有力量。到现在仍是如此～而且我所知道的痛苦～无一不透过艺术而得到舒缓。对某此人来说～是音乐～另一些人～是绘画～对我来说～是主要的是～不论出现在诗歌或散文中～诗能够切穿嘈杂和伤痛～将伤口打开以清理之～然后逐渐教导它自我疗愈。 心灵和精神不像受损了的身体具有一种本能。疗愈不会自动给引发～而危险也通常无以避免。既然我们会让自己受伤～那么让自己得到疗愈也是合乎逻辑的。比起以往任何时候～艺术要做更多的工作～但是 33 / 42 这份工作它是做得来的。像我们这样一个自我毁灭的社会里～艺术之 为一种疗愈的力量～会受到鄙视～并不令人感到讶异。 对我自己而言～夜复一夜回到借来的房里时～我感到放心且满溢～而 非困苦和疲惫～我意图避免《无名裘德》,Jude the Obscure,的命运～ 虽然阅读那本书是很有用的警告。我所想要的～并不理当属于我～而 虽然它也不能以完全同样的方式拒我于外～但是任何人若坚持要做某 种人或是想要某些东西～我们仍然会给他很微妙的惩罚。当我被关在 家庭和阶级为我所划定的小小空间里～是想象力那片无限的天地～让 我得以刮除他人那些假设的表层。书中自有完美的空间～就是这个空 间～让读者能够逃避地心引力的诸般问题。 詹涅特(温特森 著 48. At the Edge of the Sea The shore is an ancient world, for as long as there has been an earth and se a there has been this place of the meeting of land and water. Yet it is a world that keeps alive the sense of continuing creation and of the relentless drive of life. Each time that I enter it, I gain some new awareness of its beauty and it sdeeper meanings, sensing that intricate fabric of life by which one creature is linked with another, and each with its surroundings. In my thoughts of the shore, one place stands apart for its revelation of exquisite beauty. It is a pool hidden within a cave that one can visit only rarely and briefly when the lowest of the year's low tides fall below it, 34 / 42 and perhaps from that very fact it acquires some of its special beauty. Choosing such a tide , I hoped for a glimpse of the pool. The ebb was to fall early in the morning. I knew that if the wind held from the northwest and no interfering swell ran in f rom a distant storm the level of the sea should drop below the entrance to the pool. There had been sudden ominous showers in the night, with rain like handfuls of gravel flung on the roof. When I looked out into the early morning the sky was full of a gray dawn light but the sun had not yet risen. Water and air were pallid. Across the bay the moon was a luminous disc in the western sky, suspended above the dim line of distant shore — the full August moon, drawing the tide to the low, low levels of the threshold of the alien sea world. As I watched, a gull flew by, above the spruces. Its breast was rosy with the light of the unrisen sun. The day was, after all, to be fair. Later, as I stood above the tide near the entrance to the pool, the promise of that rosy light was sustained. From the base of the steep wall of rock on which I stood, a moss covered ledge jutted seaward into deep water. In the surge at the rim of the ledge the dark fronds of oarweeds swayed smooth and gleaming as leather. The projecting ledge was the path to the small hidden cave and its pool. Occasionally a swell, stronger than the rest, rolled smoothly over the rim and broke in foam against the cliff. But the intervals between such swells were lo ng enough to admit me to the ledge and long enough for a glimpse of that fairy pool, so seldom and so 35 / 42 briefly exposed. And so I knelt on the wet carpet of sea moss and looked back into the dark cavern that held the pool in a shallow basin. The floor of the cave was only a fewinches below the roof, and a mirror had been created in which all that grew on the ceiling was reflected in the still water below. Under water that was clear as glass the pool was carpeted with green sponge. Gray patches of sea squirts glistened on the ceiling and colonies of raft coral were a pale apricot color. In the moment when I looked into the cave a little e lfin starfish hung down, suspended by the merest thread, perhaps by only a single tube foot. It reached down to touch its own reflection, so perfectly delineated that there might have been, not one starfish, but two. The beauty of the refle cted images and of the limpid pool itself was the poignant beauty of things that are ephemeral, existing only until the sea should return to fill the little cave. By Rachel Carson 在海边 海岸是一个古老的世界。自从有地球和大海以来～就有这个水陆相接 的地方。但人们却感觉它是一个总在进行创造、生命力顽强而又充沛 的世界。每当我踏入这个世界～感觉到生物彼此之间以及每一生物与 它周围环境之间～通过错综复杂的生命结构彼此相连的时候～我对它 的美～对它的深层意蕴～都产生某种新的认识。 每当我想起海岸～就有一个地方因为它所表现出的独特美妙而占有突 36 / 42 出的地位。那就是一个隐匿于洞中的水潭。平时～这个洞被海水所淹没～一年当中只有海潮降落到最低～以至低于水潭时～人们才能在这难得的短时间内看见它。也许正应如此～它获得了某种特殊的美。我选好这样一个低潮的时机～希望能看一眼水潭。根据推算～潮水将在清晨退下去。我知道～如果不刮西北风～远处的风暴不再掀起惊涛骇浪进行干扰～海平面就会落得比水潭的入口还低。夜里突然下了几场预示不祥的阵雨～一把把碎石般的雨点被抛到屋顶上。清晨我向外眺望～只见天空笼罩着灰蒙蒙的曙光～只是太阳还没有升起。水和空气一片暗淡。一轮明月挂在海湾对面的西天上～月下灰暗的一线就是远方的海岸——8月的望月把海潮吸得很低～直到那与人世隔离的海的世界的门槛。在我观望的时候～一只海鸥飞过云杉。呼之欲出的太阳把它的腹部映成粉色。天终于晴了。 后来～当我在高于海潮的水潭入口处附近站着时～四周已是瑰红色的晨光。从我立脚的峭岩底部～一块被青苔覆盖的礁石伸向大海的最深处。海水拍击着礁石周围～水藻上下左右地飘动～像皮面般滑溜发亮。通往隐藏的小洞和洞中水潭的路径是那些凸现的礁石。间或一阵强于一阵的波涛悠然地漫过礁石的边缘并在岩壁上击成水沫。这种波涛间歇的时间足以让我踏上礁石～足以让我探视那仙境般的水潭～那平时不露面、露面也只是一瞬间的水潭。 我就跪在那海苔藓铺成的湿漉漉的地毯上～向那些黑洞里窥探～就是这些黑洞把水潭环抱成浅盆模样～只见洞的底部距离顶部只有几英寸。真是一面天造明镜。洞顶上的一切生物都倒映在底下纹丝不动的 37 / 42 水中。 在清明如镜的水底铺着一层碧绿的海绵。洞顶上一片片灰色的海蛸闪 闪发光～一堆堆软珊瑚披着淡淡的杏黄色衣裳。就在我朝洞里探望时～ 从洞顶上挂下一只小海星～仅仅悬在一条线上～或许就在它的一只管 足上。它向下接触到自己的倒影。多么完美的画面!仿佛不是一只海 星～而是一对海星。水中倒影的美～清澈的水潭本身的美～这都是些 转眼即逝的事物所体现的强烈而动人心扉的美——海水一旦漫过小 洞～这种美便不复存在了。 雷切尔?卡森 50. Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, 38 / 42 but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 可是～就更深一层意义而言～我们是无从奉献这片土地的,, 无从 使它成为圣地,,也不可能把它变为人们景仰之所。那些在这里战斗 的勇士～活着的和死去的～已使这块土地神圣化了～远非我们的菲薄 能力所能左右。世人会不大注意～更不会长久记得我们在此地所说的 话～然而他们将永远忘不了这些人在这里所做的事。相反～我们活着 的人应该献身于那些曾在此作战的人们所英勇推动而尚未完成的工 作。我们应该在此献身于我们面前所留存的伟大工作,,由于他们的 光荣牺牲～我们要更坚定地致力于他们曾作最后全部贡献的那个事业 ,,我们在此立志誓愿～不能让他们白白死去,,要使这个国家在上 帝庇佑之下～得到新生的自由,,要使那民有、民治、民享的政府不 致从地球上消失。 八十七年以前～我们的祖先在这大陆上建立了一个新的国家～它孕育 39 / 42 于自由～并且献身给一种理念～即所有人都是生来平等的。 当前～我们正在从事一次伟大的内战～我们在考验～究竟这个国家～ 或任何一个有这种主张和这种信仰的国家～是否能长久存在。我们在 那次战争的一个伟大的战场上集合。我们来到这里～奉献那个战场上 的一部分土地～作为在此地为那个国家的生存而牺牲了自己生命的人 永久眠息之所。我们这样做～是十分合情合理的 51. President Bush addresses Nation on space shuttle Columbia tragedy My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news and great sadness to our country. At 9:00 a.m. this morning, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia. A short time later, debris was seen falling from the skies above Texas. The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors. On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; and Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force. These men and women assumed great risk in the service to all humanity. In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth. These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, 40 / 42 we will miss them all the more. 美国同胞们～今天我们接到噩耗～全国沉浸在巨大的悲痛中。今天早上九点～休斯顿控制中心失去了同我们的「哥伦比亚号」航天飞机的联系。此后不久～人们看到残骸从得克萨斯州上空落下。「哥伦比亚号」失事了,无一人生还。 机上的七名机组成员是:里克?赫斯本德(Rick Husband)空军上校,迈克尔?安德森(Michael Anderson)空军中校,劳雷尔?克拉克(Laurel Clark) 海军中校,戴维?布朗(David Brown)海军上校,威廉?麦库尔(William McCool)海军中校,卡尔帕纳?舒拉(Kalpana Chawla)博士和以色列空军上校伊兰?拉蒙(Ilan Ramon)。这些男女宇航员为造福全人类而承担了巨大的风险。 在太空飞行似乎已基本成为常规作业的时代～人们易于忽视乘坐火箭飞行的危险和在险恶的地球外层空间飞行的难度。这些宇航员懂得这些危险～而且甘心情愿地面对这些危险～因为他们知道生命中有着远大而崇高的目标。正是因为他们的勇气、胆识和理想主义精神～我们会更加怀念他们。 今天～所有美国人的思绪也都伸向经受了这种突如其来的震惊和悲伤的宇航员的家人。你们不是孤独的。我们整个国家和你们一同哀悼。你们所爱的人将永远得到美国的尊敬和感激。 他们为之献身的事业将继续下去。人类是在探索精神和求知欲望的引导下～超越我们的世界～进入黑暗的未知空间。我们的太空之旅将继 41 / 42 续下去。 今天～我们在空中看到的是毁灭和悲剧。但在我们的视野之外存在着安慰和希望。先知以赛亚说:"你们向上举目～看谁创造这万象,他逐一领出烁烁繁星～一一称其名。因为他的大力全能～一个都不缺。" 这位唱名群星的造物主也知道我们今天悼念的七个亡灵的名字。「哥伦比亚号」航天飞机的机组人员未能平安地返回地球,但我们可为他们的安息而祈祷。 愿上帝保佑悲伤的家人～愿上帝继续保佑美国。 56. “My candle burns at both ends; It will not last the night; But ah,my foes, and oh,my friends- It gives a lovely light!" -----Edna St. Vincent Millay 我的蜡烛两头燃烧～ 天亮之前就要熄灭, 可是呵～我的敌人～我的朋友 ?? 烛光闪烁多麽可爱: ---------埃德娜.文森特.默蕾 42 / 42