美國(guó)語(yǔ)文第六冊(cè) 第72期:欠債諷誦(1)

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在古代的風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣中，債是非常高級(jí)的東西。

The first debt in the history of man is the debt of nature, and the first instinct is to put off the payment of it to the last moment.

人類在歷史上第一筆欠債，就是對(duì)大自然欠下的，人類的第一天性就是拖到最后一刻才還債。

Many persons, it will be observed, following the natural procedure, would die before they would pay their debts.

不妨觀察一下，許多人都遵循這一自然程序，還沒(méi)有還債就撒手人寰了。

Society is composed of two classes, debtors and creditors.

社會(huì)是由兩個(gè)階層構(gòu)成的，借主和債主。

The creditor class has been erroneously supposed the more enviable.

債主階層被錯(cuò)誤地認(rèn)為更令人稱羨。

Never was there a greater misconception;

再也沒(méi)有比這更大的誤解了。

and the hold it yet maintains upon opinion is a remarkable example of the obstinacy of error, notwithstanding the plainest lessons of experience.

人們保有這種觀念是對(duì)錯(cuò)誤固執(zhí)己見(jiàn)的生動(dòng)例子，盡管經(jīng)驗(yàn)是最樸素的教訓(xùn)。

The debtor has the sympathies of mankind.

人們對(duì)借主抱有悲憫之心，

He is seldom spoken of but with expressions of tenderness and compassion—"the poor debtor!"—and "the unfortunate debtor!"

談到他時(shí)都是一副親切和同情的神情——“可憐的借主!”，還有“不幸的借主!”

On the other hand, "harsh" and "hard-hearted" are the epithets allotted to the creditor.

另一方面，“冷酷”和“鐵石心腸”這些詞語(yǔ)則一股腦安到債主頭上。

Who ever heard the "poor creditor," the "unfortunate creditor" spoken of?

誰(shuí)聽(tīng)到有人說(shuō)過(guò)“可憐的債主”和“不幸的債主”?

No, the creditor never becomes the object of pity, unless he passes into the debtor class.

沒(méi)有，債主從來(lái)不會(huì)成為悲憫的目標(biāo)，除非他淪落到借主階層。

A creditor may be ruined by the poor debtor, but it is not until he becomes unable to pay his own debts, that he begins to be compassionated.

一位債主也許會(huì)被可憐的借主給毀掉，除非他連自己的債務(wù)也無(wú)力償還了，他開(kāi)始受人同情了，否則是不會(huì)的。

A debtor is a man of mark.

借主是帶某種標(biāo)志的一類人。