#01Nature 自然
To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminate only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of manhood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. 说实话,没有几个成年人能真正看见自然。大多数人都看不见大阳;至少,他们眼里看出来的大阳是单一的。对于成人来说,大阳只是照亮了他的眼睛,但对孩子而言,阳光却渗入了他的眼睛和心灵。一个热爱自然的人,他外在的知觉和内心的感触是合而为一的,即使他长大成年以后,还依然保持着一颗童年的心。对他来说,与天地的交流,是日常生活中不可残缺的一部分。
In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. 面对大自然,哪怕生活中有再大的忧伤,他的内心也会涌起莫大的喜悦。大自然说,他乃我所生,尽管他有各种无端的忧伤,但他将和我一同快乐。自然带给我们的快乐不单单是阳光和夏日,每一个季节、每时每刻她都给我们带来欢乐和欣喜。这是因为,每一刻、每一个变化,从沉闷的中午到漆黑的午夜,都意味着一种全新的心情。在自然这个大舞台上,既能上演喜剧,也能烘托悲情。
In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child, in the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years, In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare, ground, my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of Gods. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.如果身心健康,那么,你会觉得空气中仿佛也充满了善意与美德。当我在黎明阴沉的天空下踏着积雪的水坑,穿过空旷的广场时,虽然明知道不会有什么特别的好运降临,内心却分明感到了极度的兴奋。我庆幸自己仿佛来到了恐惧的边缘。在森林中也是如此,人一年一年地老去,就如同蛇蜕去了身上的皮,但不管他处在生命的哪个阶段,他永远是一个孩子。在森林里,青春是永恒的主旋律。在这些上帝掌管的田园里,礼仪与圣洁高高在上,喜庆的节日四季不断,尊贵的客人沉醉其中、逍遥自在,千年都不醒。在森林里,我们复归理性与信仰。在那里,生活中所遭遇到的一切一耻辱、灾难(除非我的眼睛看不见)统统都会在自然的神力作用下消遁于无形。当我伫足旷野,头脑陶醉在宜人的空气中,身体只觉得飘飘然腾空而起,所有卑微的私心杂念都荡然无存了。我变成了一颗透明的眼球。我渺小至极,却洞悉一切。世间生灵汇成一股洪流,在我周身循环,我成了上帝或大或小的一个部分。在静谧的风景里,尤其在遥远的地平线上,人们看见了某种与他本性一般美好的事物。
#02The Choice of Companion 选择朋友
A good companion is better than a fortune, for a fortune cannot purchase those elements of character which make companionship a blessing. The best companion is one who is wiser and better than ourselves, for we are inspired by his wisdom and virtue to nobler deeds.一个好友胜过一笔财富,因为钱财买不到人的某些品德因素,而正是这些因素,使友情成为一种恩惠。最好的朋友是那些比我们更睿智、更出色的人,我们会受到他们的智慧和美德的激励,从而使我们的行为更加高尚。
"Keep good company, and you shall be one of the number," said George Herbert. "A man is known by the companion he keeps. " Character makes character in the associations of life faster than anything else. Purity begets purity, like begets like; and this fact makes the choice of companion in early life more important even than that of teachers and guardians.“与优秀者为伍,你也会成为优秀者中的一员。”乔治•赫伯特曾说,“从一个人所交的朋友可知其为人。”在社会交往中,品性对品性的塑造胜过其他任何因素。纯洁的品格会培养纯洁的品格,爱好会引发相同的爱好。这一事实使得在年少时选择朋友甚至比选择老师和监护人还要重要。
It is true that we cannot always choose all of our companions, some are thrust upon us by business or the social relations of life, we do not choose them, we do not enjoy them; and yet, we have to associate with them more or less. The experience is not altogether without compensation, if there be principle enough in us to bear the strain. Still, in the main, choice of companions can be made, and must be made. It is not best or necessary for a young person to associate with "Tom, Dick, and Harry" without forethought or purpose. Some fixed rules about the company he or she keeps must be observed. The subject should be uttermost in the thoughts, and canvassed often.事实上,并非所有的朋友都是我们选择的,有些是生意或社会关系强加于我们的。我们没有选择他们,也不喜欢他们,可是我们不得不或多或少地与他们交往。不过,在情势的压力之下,只要我们自有主张,这样的交往也并非全无益处。大多数情况下,我们还是可以而且必须要选择朋友的。一个年轻人无所考虑、无所目的地随意与张三李四交往是不好的,也是没必要的,他/她必须遵循一些交友的定例,择友时应首先考虑这些定例,并经常加以审视。
Companionship is education, good or not; it develops manhood or womanhood, high or low; it lifts the soul upward or drags it downward; it ministers to virtue or vice. Sow virtue, and the harvest will be virtue, Sow vice, and the harvest will be vice. Good companionships help us to sow virtue;evil companionships help us to sow vice.无论是有益还是有害,友谊就是一种教育。它可以培育高贵或卑微的品格;它可以升华灵魂,也可以使之沉沦;它可以滋生美德,也可以助长邪恶。播种美德,就会收获美德;播种邪恶,就会收获邪恶。有益的友谊帮助我们播种美德,而有害的友谊则使我们播种邪恶。
#03Application and Perseverance 实践与坚持
The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, affords ample opportunities for acquiring experience of the best kind.人生最大的收获往往是通过最简单的方法或对常识的准确应用而获得的。每一个平凡的日子都会为我们提供许多机会, 并使我们的阅历有所增强。
Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities are found the most useful,such as common sense, attention, application, and perseverance.人们常常认为:机会是可遇而不可求的。而那些懂得细心观察生活的人往往会发现:机会总是更偏向于勤勉的人,正如海风与波浪经常会与航海家做伴一样。哪怕是在对人类事业的最高追求上,实践也是最有效的途径之一。当然,顽强的毅力也是必不可少的。
Genius may not be necessary, though even genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these ordinary qualities. The very greatest men have been among the least believers in the power of genius, and as worldly wise and persevering as successful men of the commoner sort. Some have even defined genius to be only common sense intensified. A distinguished teacher and president of a college spoke of it as the power of making ef forts. John Foster held it to be the power of lighting one's own fire.天赋并不是获取成功的制胜法宝,即便是天才也同样会意识到常识的重要性。事实上,一些伟大人物往往是那些最不相信天赋的人。真正的智者和成功人士也并非在哪一方面特别出众,甚至他们曾被认为是缺少天赋的人。没错,他们之所以能够获得成功正是凭借着扎实的基本功,对基本常识的强化训练。一位校长兼优秀教师曾说过,他的成功源自不懈的努力。约翰•福斯特则把这种力量称之为“点燃生活的火焰”。
Newton's was unquestionably a mind of the very highest order, and yet, when asked by what means he had worked out his extraordinary discoveries, he modestly answered, "By always thinking unto them." At another time he thus expressed his method of study: "I keep the subject continually before me, and wait till the first dawnings open slowly by little and little into a full and clear light." It was in Newton's case, as in every other,only by diligent application and perseverance that his great reputation was achieved.无可争议,牛顿的头脑是最高才智的头脑,但当我们问及他是通过什么方法取得了如此重大的发现时,他非常谦虚地答道:“全靠对那些问题不断地深思。”另一次,他这样表述他的研究方法:“我从未停止探索的脚步,当我看到第一缕曙光后,坚定的新年支撑着我最终看到了清晰的世界。”正是通过勤奋和实践,牛顿才最终获得了不朽的名誉和伟大的成就。
Dalton, the chemist, repudiated the notion of his being "a genius," attributing everything which he had accomplished to simple industry and accumulation. John Hunter said of himself, "My mind is like a beehives; but full as it is of buzz and apparent confusion, it is yet full of order and regularity, and food collected with incessant industry from the choiceset stores of nature. "英国化学家道尔顿对世人称他为“天才”的做法进行了批判。他认为自己之所以能获得成功完全凭借自身的不懈努力和对知识的不断积累。约翰•亨特也曾说过:“我的思想如同一个蜂箱,常常嗡嗡作响,甚至还会出现混乱,但通过不懈的努力,嗡嗡声已经消失了,蜜蜂们也都恢复了正常的秩序,而且还学会了如何从大自 然的宝库中寻找食物。”
We have, indeed, but to glance at the biographies of great men to find that the most distinguished inventors, artists, thinkers, and workers of all kinds, owe their success, in a great measure, to their indefatigable industry and application.我们同样可以在诸多人物传记中看到:大多数杰出人物,无论是发明家、艺术家、思想家、工人,还是社会各界人士,都无一例外地将自己的成就归功于勤奋和实践。


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