英語名篇名段背誦精華 30 Advice to Youth
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Advice to Youth
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—
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 than you can by acting on your own better judgment.
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.
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.
by Mark Twain
聽說期望我來談?wù)劊冶阍儐枒?yīng)該發(fā)表什么樣的談話。他們說應(yīng)當(dāng)宜于青年的話題──教誨性的、啟發(fā)性的話題，或者實(shí)質(zhì)上是良言忠告之類的話題。好吧。關(guān)于開導(dǎo)青年人，我心里倒是有幾件事時(shí)常想說的；因?yàn)檎窃谌擞仔r(shí)，這些事最適合扎根，而且最持久、最有價(jià)值。那么，首先呢，我要對(duì)你們、我的年輕朋友們說的是──我懇切地、迫切地要說的是──
永遠(yuǎn)服從你們的父母，只要他們?cè)谔玫臅r(shí)候。長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)看來這是上策，因?yàn)槟銈円遣环牡脑挘麄円卜且銈兎?。大多?shù)家長(zhǎng)認(rèn)為比你們懂得多，一般說來你們遷就那種迷信的話，比起你們根據(jù)自以為是的判斷行事，你們會(huì)建樹大些。
對(duì)待上司要尊重，要是你們有了上司；對(duì)待陌生人，有時(shí)還有別人，也要尊重。如果有人得罪了你們，你們要猶豫一番，看看是存心的還是無意的，不要采取極端的做法；只要看好機(jī)會(huì)用磚塊打他一下，那就足夠了。如果你們發(fā)現(xiàn)他并非故意冒犯，那就坦然走出來，承認(rèn)自己打他不對(duì)；像個(gè)男子漢認(rèn)個(gè)錯(cuò)，說聲不是故意的。況且，永遠(yuǎn)要避免動(dòng)武；處于這個(gè)仁慈和睦的時(shí)代，此類舉動(dòng)的年代已經(jīng)過去了。“炸藥”留給卑下而無教養(yǎng)的人吧。
早睡早起──這是聰明的。有的權(quán)威講，跟著太陽起床；還有的講，跟著這樣?xùn)|西起床，又有的講，跟著那樣?xùn)|西起床。其實(shí)跟著云雀起床才是再好不過的。這樣你就落個(gè)好名聲，人人都知道你跟著云雀起床；如果弄到一只那種適當(dāng)?shù)脑迫福谒砩匣ㄐ┕Ψ?，你就很容易把它調(diào)教到九點(diǎn)半起來，每次都是──這可決不是欺人之談。
