雙語智慧書·做個(gè)實(shí)在的人

175．做個(gè)實(shí)在的人
　　做個(gè)實(shí)在的人。如果你是個(gè)實(shí)在人，就不會(huì)喜歡不實(shí)之人。聲名顯赫而無根基，是可憐的。看上去實(shí)在的人并非都實(shí)在。有些人是欺詐的源頭--虛妄的妖精(1)播下孽種于其大腦，滋生出種種欺詐。另一些人與此類似，喜歡謊言，不喜歡真實(shí)，因?yàn)橹e言的承諾很多，但是真實(shí)卻表現(xiàn)很一般。但最終這些妄想沒有好的結(jié)局，因?yàn)樗鼈內(nèi)狈?jiān)實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)。只有真正的功績才能帶來真正的名譽(yù)，只有實(shí)在的資產(chǎn)才能帶來真正的利潤。一個(gè)欺詐需要更多欺詐來彌補(bǔ)，這種空中樓閣必然會(huì)很快土崩瓦解。沒有根基的事物就沒有長久的生命力。承諾太多，令人質(zhì)疑，就像證明過多反而有假一樣。


175．A solid man
　A solid man. One who is finds no satisfaction in those that are not. It is a pitiable eminence that is not well founded. Not all are men that seem to be so. Some are sources of deceit: impregnated by chimeras they give birth to impositions. Others are like them so far that they take more pleasure in a lie, because it promises much, than in the truth, because it performs little. But in the end these caprices come to a bad end, for they have no solid foundation. Only truth can give true reputation; only reality can be of real profit. One deceit needs many others, and so the whole house is built in the air and must soon come to the ground. Unfounded things never reach old age. They promise too much to be much trusted, just as that cannot be true which proves too much.
　　
(1) 指凱米拉，希臘神話中吐火的怪物，是獅子、山羊和蛇的組合體，代表妄想。