美國語文第五冊 第265期：人類與動物（03）

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The third distinction is that animals make no improvements;

人類與動物的第三點差異在于：動物本身絕不存在任何改進(jìn)或進(jìn)步；

while the knowledge, and skill, and the success of man are perpetually on the increase.

而人類知識、技能以及成功終將不斷地推進(jìn)自己完善。

Animals, in all their operations, follow the first impulse of nature or that instinct which God has implanted in them.

大凡動物的行為舉止，不過遵循生物的最初欲望或上帝嵌入生物的不同本能需求。

In all they do undertake, therefore, their works are more perfect and regular than those of man.

因此，不管它們從事任何事情，其結(jié)果總會比人類所做的更為有序完美。

But man, having been endowed with the faculty of thinking or reasoning about what he does,

然而，由于其行為舉止被賦予思考與推理的能力,

is enabled by patience and industry to correct the mistakes into which he at first falls, and to go on constantly improving.

人類通過耐心勤奮可以糾正最初錯誤，并且不斷地加以調(diào)整。

A bird's nest is, indeed, a perfect structure;

的確，一只鳥窩構(gòu)造完美，

yet the nest of a swallow of the nineteenth century is not at all more commodious or elegant than those that were built amid the rafters of Noah's ark.

但十九世紀(jì)燕子的巢穴完全不會比用椽木建造的諾亞方舟更為舒適漂亮。

But if we compare the wigwam of the savage with the temples and palaces of ancient Greece and Rome,

不過，當(dāng)我們將原始人窩棚與古希臘或古羅馬的廟宇宮殿進(jìn)行比較，

we then shall see to what man's mistakes, rectified and improved upon, conduct him.

我們不難看出，一個持續(xù)綿延的糾偏改進(jìn)過程，引導(dǎo)人類走向完美。

When the vast sun shall veil his golden light

當(dāng)龐大太陽收斂金色陽光，

Deep in the gloom of everlasting night;

世界進(jìn)入永恒無邊的黑夜，

When wild, destructive flames shall wrap the skies,

毀滅火焰呼嘯著卷過天空，

When ruin triumphs, and when nature dies;

到處在坍塌，自然走向瀕亡，

Man shall alone the wreck of worlds survive;

目睹無數(shù)星體紛紛墜落消逝，

'Mid falling spheres, immortal man shall live.

人類在宇宙殘骸中孤獨佇立。