雙語(yǔ)對(duì)照 ● Advice to Youth　馬克·吐溫致青年人的忠告

Advice to Youth　馬克·吐溫致青年人的忠告

◎ Mark Twain

Being told I would be expected to talk here, I inquired what sort of talk I ought to make. They said it should be something suitable to youth—something didactic, instructive, or something in the nature of good advice. Very well. I have a few things in my mind which I have often longed to say for the instruction of the young; for it is in one’s tender early years that such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable, First, then. I will say to you my young friends—and I say it beseechingly, urgingly—

聽(tīng)說(shuō)期望我來(lái)談?wù)?，我便想要知道?yīng)該發(fā)表怎樣的談話。他們說(shuō)應(yīng)該是適合于青年人的話題，比如教育性的、啟發(fā)性的，或者是一些本質(zhì)上是金玉良言那類(lèi)的話題。好吧！關(guān)于指導(dǎo)青年人，我心里其實(shí)有幾件時(shí)常想要說(shuō)的事。因?yàn)榫褪窃谌说挠啄陼r(shí)期，這些事情才更容易扎根，更能持久和最有價(jià)值。那么，首先，我要對(duì)青年朋友們說(shuō)的是——我誠(chéng)懇地、迫切地想要說(shuō)的是——

Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don’t, they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition[81]than you can by acting on your own better judgment.

父母在場(chǎng)的時(shí)候，要永遠(yuǎn)服從他們。長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)看來(lái)這是上策，因?yàn)槿绻悴环乃麄兊脑?，他們也?huì)想方設(shè)法讓你服從。大多數(shù)父母覺(jué)得他們比你懂得多，一般來(lái)說(shuō)，你們相信這種迷信的說(shuō)法，要比根據(jù)自以為是的判斷行事來(lái)得好。

Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didn’t mean to. Yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined[82].

尊重你的上司，在你有了上司之后。尊重陌生人，有時(shí)也要尊重其他人。如果一個(gè)人冒犯了你，你要稍微懷疑一下，看看他們是存心的還是無(wú)心的，不要采取極端的方法。如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)他并無(wú)心要冒犯你，那就坦白承認(rèn)自己打他是不對(duì)的。像個(gè)男子漢那樣承認(rèn)錯(cuò)誤，并說(shuō)聲不是故意的。是的，永遠(yuǎn)都不要采用暴力。身在這個(gè)充滿仁慈善意的時(shí)代里，暴力的時(shí)代已然遠(yuǎn)去。把“炸藥”留給低俗又無(wú)教養(yǎng)的人吧！

Go to bed early, get up early—this is wise. Some authorities say get up with the sun; some say get up with one thing, others with another. But a lark is really the best thing to get up with. It gives you a splendid reputation with everybody to know that you get up with the lark; and if you get the right kind of lark, and work at him right, you can easily train him to get up at half past nine, every time—it’s no trick at all.

早睡早起——這是一種明智之舉。有些權(quán)威人士說(shuō)要跟著太陽(yáng)起床；而有些則說(shuō)跟著這個(gè)東西起床，其他人說(shuō)跟著那個(gè)東西起床。然而，跟著云雀起床是最好不過(guò)了。你因此獲得好名聲，人人都知道你跟著云雀起床。如果你有幸找到一只好的云雀，在它身上花點(diǎn)功夫，你能很容易地把它訓(xùn)練成每天九點(diǎn)半起床——這可不是騙人的把戲。

Now as to the matter of lying, you want to be very careful about lying; otherwise you are nearly sure to get caught. Once caught, you can never again be in the eyes to the good and the pure, what you were before. Many a young person has injured himself permanently through a single clumsy and ill finished lie, the result of carelessness born of incomplete training. Some authorities hold that the young out not to lie at all. That of course, is putting it rather stronger than necessary; still while I cannot go quite so far as that, I do maintain, and I believe I am right, that the young ought to be temperate in the use of this great art until practice and experience shall give them that confidence, elegance, and precision which alone can make the accomplishment graceful and profitable. Patience, diligence, painstaking attention to detail—these are requirements; these in time, will make the student perfect; upon these only, may he rely as the sure foundation for future eminence. Think what tedious years of study, thought, practice, experience, went to the equipment of that peerless old master who was able to impose upon the whole world the lofty and sounding maxim that “Truth is mighty and will prevail”—the most majestic[83]compound fracture of fact which any of woman born has yet achieved. For the history of our race, and each individual’s experience, are sewn thick with evidences that a truth is not hard to kill, and that a lie well told is immortal. There is in Boston a monument of the man who discovered anesthesia; many people are aware, in these latter days, that that man didn’t discover it at all, but stole the discovery from another man.

現(xiàn)在來(lái)談?wù)務(wù)f謊的問(wèn)題。你要小心應(yīng)付說(shuō)謊，否則你被揭穿的機(jī)會(huì)十有八九。一旦被揭穿，在善良和純潔的目光中，你再也不是以前的你了。許多青年人，由于接受的教育不完整而導(dǎo)致處事輕率，從而編造了一個(gè)難以自圓其說(shuō)的笨拙謊言，最后傷害了自己。一些權(quán)威人士認(rèn)為青年人根本不該說(shuō)謊。當(dāng)然，這種說(shuō)法有點(diǎn)過(guò)于偏激，或者說(shuō)情況并非真的如此。雖然我無(wú)法把話說(shuō)得太過(guò)，但我仍然堅(jiān)信自己的觀點(diǎn)是正確的。我認(rèn)為青年人應(yīng)該適當(dāng)?shù)剡\(yùn)用這門(mén)偉大的藝術(shù)，當(dāng)然前提條件是他們從實(shí)踐和經(jīng)驗(yàn)身上獲得了信心、高雅和嚴(yán)謹(jǐn)。因?yàn)檫@三點(diǎn)中的任何一點(diǎn)都能讓謊言變得高雅、有益。耐心、勤奮和細(xì)致入微——這些都是必要的素質(zhì)。隨著時(shí)間的推移，這些素質(zhì)能夠讓學(xué)生變得完美。有了這些，只要有了這些，他才能為以后的功成名就打下堅(jiān)實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)。試想一下，通過(guò)多年乏味的學(xué)習(xí)、思考、實(shí)踐、親身體驗(yàn)，那位蓋世無(wú)雙的大師才能擁有這些素質(zhì)，才能強(qiáng)迫整個(gè)世界接受“真理是強(qiáng)大的，而且終將取得勝利！”這句崇高而擲地有聲的格言——這句關(guān)于事實(shí)的復(fù)雜層面說(shuō)出的最崇高的話，任何一個(gè)女人都未曾獲得過(guò)。因?yàn)槿祟?lèi)的歷史和每個(gè)個(gè)人的經(jīng)驗(yàn)都深深地將這樣的證據(jù)埋藏起來(lái)：一個(gè)真理不難抹殺，可一個(gè)巧妙的謊言卻能經(jīng)久不衰。波士頓有個(gè)紀(jì)念碑，專(zhuān)門(mén)為發(fā)現(xiàn)麻醉法的人而立的。后來(lái)人們才知道，那個(gè)人根本就沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)麻醉法，他只是盜取了另一個(gè)人的發(fā)現(xiàn)。

Is this truth mighty, and will it prevail? Ah no, my hearers, the monument is made of hardy material, but the lie it tells will outlast it a million years. An awkward, feeble, leaky lie is a thing which you ought to make it your unceasing study to avoid; such a lie as that has no more real permanence than an average truth. Why, you might as well tell the truth at once and be done with it. A feeble, stupid, preposterous lie will not live two years—except it be a slander upon somebody. It is indestructible, then of course, but that is no merit of yours. A final word: begin your practice of this gracious and beautiful art early—begin now. If I had begun earlier, I could have learned how.

這個(gè)真理強(qiáng)大嗎？它能最終取得勝利嗎？唉，不會(huì)的。聽(tīng)眾們，紀(jì)念碑是用堅(jiān)硬的材料建成的，但它向世人說(shuō)的謊卻比它持久百萬(wàn)年。一個(gè)笨拙的、不攻自破的、漏洞百出的謊言是你應(yīng)該不斷學(xué)會(huì)避免的東西。這樣的謊言甚至不比一個(gè)普通的事實(shí)來(lái)得更具真實(shí)的永恒性。那你為何不既講真話又相信真理呢？一個(gè)不攻自破的、愚蠢的、荒謬的謊言持續(xù)不了兩年——除非是對(duì)某人的誹謗。因?yàn)槟欠N謊言是牢不可破的，當(dāng)然那也不是你值得夸耀的東西。最后說(shuō)一句：早點(diǎn)開(kāi)始實(shí)踐這門(mén)高雅美妙的藝術(shù)——立刻開(kāi)始吧！如果我能早點(diǎn)開(kāi)始實(shí)踐，我想我已經(jīng)學(xué)會(huì)這門(mén)藝術(shù)了。

美麗語(yǔ)錄

If you want to make your dreams come true, the first thing you have to do is wake up.

想要實(shí)現(xiàn)夢(mèng)想，就先從夢(mèng)中醒來(lái)。

超多雙語(yǔ)閱讀，盡在聽(tīng)力課堂