美國語文第五冊 第260期：宗教 社會的唯一基石（02）
that the weak have no guardian, and the injured no avenger;
弱者沒有監(jiān)護人，傷者無法討還公道，
that there is no recompense for saCRIfices to uprightness and the public good;
為正義與公眾事業(yè)奉獻犧牲的人無法獲取補償。
that an oath is unheard in heaven; that secret CRImes have no witness but the perpetrator;
天空不再聽到鏗鏘誓言，作惡多端者無人為其犯罪指證，
that human existence has no purpose, and human virtue no unfailing friend;
人類生存沒有目標，人類美德沒有始終如一的支持，
that this brief life is everything to us, and death is total, everlasting extinction;
有信仰的生活對我們來說意味一切，然而死亡最終來臨，象征永恒的萬劫不歸，
once let them thoroughly abandon religion, and who can conceive or desCRIbe the extent of the desolation which would follow?
一旦徹底放棄宗教，誰能想象抑或描述接踵而來孤獨寂滅的人類精神荒原？
We hope, perhaps, that human laws and natural sympathy would hold society together.
我們寄望，或許，人類法則和本性悲憫可以促進整個社會凝聚抱團。
As reasonably might we believe that were the sun quenched in the heavens, our torches would illuminate,
不妨合乎情理地設想一下，如果天空中太陽最終熄滅，
and our fires quicken and fertilize the creation.
人類火炬能否持久發(fā)光？
What is there in human nature to awaken respect and tenderness,
人類光明能否孕育世間萬物生長？
if man is the uNPRotected insect of a day? And what is he more, if atheism be true?
如果，無神論確實可信，或者人類淪為不受保護的一介蟲豸，那么，究竟什么可以喚醒人類本性或心底蟄伏的生命尊重與脈脈溫情？
Erase all thought and fear of God from a community, and selfishness and sensuality would absorb the whole man.
泯滅所有思想，消除社會群體對上帝的敬畏，沉溺于聲色犬馬的物質享受，整個人類離徹底墮落亦就為期不遠。
Appetite, knowing no restraint, and suffering, having no solace or hope, would trample in scorn on the restraints of human laws.
不知自我約束的貪婪欲望，毫無安慰祈盼的逆來順受，勢必輕蔑地踐踏人類法律的底線。
Virtue, duty, principle, would be mocked and spurned as unmeaning sounds.
良好美德、責任擔當以及普世原則將任由嘲弄蔑視并隨意拋棄，
A sordid self-interest would supplant every feeling;and man would become,
骯臟卑劣地追求自身利益更是肆意剔除每一個體的真實情感，
in fact, what the theory in atheism declares him to be,—a companion for brutes.
事實上，正如無神論理論公開宣稱的，人類無疑終將淪與禽獸為伍。
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