讀點好英文:However Mean Your Life Is 無論你的生活如何卑微

However Mean Your Life Is 無論你的生活如何卑微

Henry David Thoreau

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shirk it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise.

Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. Maybe they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving. Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it oftener happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which should be more disreputable. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn the old; return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. God will see that you do not want society. If I were confined to a corner of a garret all my days, like a spider, the world would be just as large to me while I had my thoughts about me. The philosopher said, "From an army of three divisions one can take away its general, and put it in disorder; from the man the most abject and vulgar one cannot take away his thought." Do not seek so anxiously to be developed, to subject yourself to many influences to be played on; it is all dissipation. Humility like darkness reveals the heavenly lights. The shadows of poverty and meanness gather around us, "and lo! creation widens to our view." We are often reminded that if there were bestowed on us the wealth of Croesus, our aims must still be the same, and our means essentially the same. Moreover, if you are restricted in your range by poverty, if you cannot buy books and newspapers, for instance, you are but confined to the most significant and vital experiences; you are compelled to deal with the material which yields the most sugar and the most starch. It is life near the bone where it is sweetest. You are defended from being a trifler. No man loses ever on a lower level by magnanimity on a higher. Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul.

I live in the angle of a leaden wall, into whose composition was poured a little alloy of bell-metal. Often, in the repose of my mid-day, there reaches my ears a confused tintinnabulum from without. It is the noise of my contemporaries. My neighbors tell me of their adventures with famous gentlemen and ladies, what notabilities they met at the dinner-table; but I am no more interested in such tilings than in the contents of the Daily Times. The interest and the conversation are about costume and manners chiefly; but a goose is a goose still, dress it as you will. They tell me of California and Texas, of England and the Indies, of the Hon. Mr. — of Georgia or of Massachusetts, all transient and fleeting phenomena, till I am ready to leap from their courtyard like the Mameluke bey.

I delight to come to my bearings—not walk in procession with pomp and parade, in a conspicuous place, but to walk even with the Builder of the universe, if I may—not to live in this restless, nervous, bustling, trivial Nineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by. What are men celebrating? They are all on a committee of arrangements, and hourly expect a speech from somebody. God is only the president of the day, and Webster is his orator. I love to weigh, to settle, to gravitate toward that which most strongly and rightfully attracts me—not hang by the beam of the scale and try to weigh less — not suppose a case, but take the case that is; to travel the only path I can, and that on which no power can resist me. It affords me no satisfaction to commence to spring an arch before I have got a solid foundation. There is a solid bottom everywhere. We read that the traveler asked the boy if the swamp before him had a hard bottom. The boy replied that it had. But presently the traveler's horse sank in up to the girths, and he observed to the boy, "I thought you said that this bog had a hard bottom". "So it has," answered the latter, "but you have not got half way to it yet." So it is with the bogs and quicksands of society; but he is an old boy that knows it. Only what is thought, said, or done at a certain rare coincidence is good. I would not be one of those who will foolishly drive a nail into mere lath and plastering; such a deed would keep me awake nights. Give me a hammer, and let me feel for the furring. Do not depend on the putty. Drive a nail home and clinch it so faithfully that you can wake up in the night and think of your work with satisfactory — a work at which you would not be ashamed to invoke the Muse. So will help you God, and so only. Every nail driven should be as another rivet in the machine of the universe, you carrying on the work.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, and obsequious attendance, but sincerity and truth were not; and I went away hungry from the inhospitable board. The hospitality was as cold as the ices. I thought that there was no need of ice to freeze them. They talked to me of the age of the wine and the fame of the vintage; but I thought of an older, a newer, and purer wine, of a more glorious vintage, which they had not got, and could not buy. The style, the house and grounds and "entertainment" pass for nothing with me. I called on the king, but he made me wait in his hall, and conducted like a man incapacitated for hospitality. There was a man in my neighborhood who lived in a hollow tree. His manners were truly regal. I should have done better had I called on him.

無論你的生活如何卑微

［美］亨利·大衛(wèi)·梭羅

不管你的生活如何卑微，你都要正視它，生活下去；不要逃避生活，也不要惡語相加。你的生活不像你自己想象得那么糟糕。當(dāng)你最富有的時候，生活看上去反倒是最貧窮的。故意挑毛病的人即使在天堂也能挑出瑕疵。

雖然生活清貧，但你要對生活付出熱情。即便身處貧民院，你也可能會分享到一段快樂、激動、燦爛的時光。西下的落日灑在貧民院窗戶上的光芒，與照在富貴人家豪宅上的一樣光彩奪目；到了早春的時候，門前的積雪同樣會融化。我唯一能看到的是：一個心態(tài)平靜的人在那里可以心滿意足地生活，懷著樂觀向上的思想，仿佛居住在皇宮里一般。在我看來，城鎮(zhèn)貧民的生活反倒常常是最獨立的。也許他們很偉大，可以坦然地對待世間的事情。大部分人對于城鎮(zhèn)的恩惠不屑一顧，可在現(xiàn)實生活中，他們維持生活的手段反而經(jīng)常是不誠實的，這讓他們更為聲名狼藉。像圣賢一樣，如同培育花園中的花草一樣來培育貧困吧。沒必要不辭辛苦地去獲取新東西，不管是衣服還是朋友，讓舊的翻新，回到它們的懷抱。世間萬物不會變化，變的是我們。賣掉衣服時，你要保留自己的思想。上帝會見證，你并不想融入社會。如果我整天被局限在閣樓的角落，如同一只蜘蛛，可只要我還有自己的思想，那么世界還是原來那樣大。一位哲人曾說過：“三軍可奪帥也，匹夫不可奪志也?！辈灰惹兄\求自己的發(fā)展，不要讓各種影響干擾自己，這一切都是浪費。因為謙卑如同黑暗，揭露出天國之光。貧窮與卑賤的陰云糾纏著我們，“看??！天地萬物在我們的眼界中擴大了?！蔽覀兂３５玫骄荆绻咸熨x予我們克洛索斯相同的財富，我們的目標(biāo)一定不會改變，我們的方式也將不會改變。此外，如果貧困束縛了你，例如，你沒錢買書和報紙，你的經(jīng)驗只是局限于最有意義、最為重要的那一部分；你被迫與那些糖和淀粉含量最高的物質(zhì)應(yīng)付。越靠近骨頭的地方就越甜美，你不可能再成為一個不務(wù)正業(yè)的人。寬宏大量，不會讓曾在較低層次的人在較高層次失去什么。過多的財富只能買到過多的物品，而人所必需的靈魂是用金錢買不到的。

我住在一堵鉛墻的角落里，而且鉛墻里還灌注了一點銀銅的合金。每當(dāng)我正午休息時，經(jīng)常能聽到陣陣雜亂無章的喧鬧聲。這噪音源自我的同代人，我的鄰居向我所講述的他的奇遇，都是和那些知名的紳士淑女有關(guān)的，如他們在宴會桌上遇到了哪些重要人物。但是我對這些事情根本沒有興趣，這如同《每日時報》的內(nèi)容一樣乏味，主要圍繞服飾打扮和禮節(jié)舉止是興趣和談話的主題。但是任你怎么去刻意裝扮，呆頭鵝總歸是呆頭鵝。他們向我不厭其煩地講起加利福尼亞和得克薩斯，英格蘭和東西印度群島，來自佐治亞或馬薩諸塞的尊敬的某某先生——全是瞬間即逝、不能長存的事情，我終于無法忍受，差點要像馬穆魯克大人一樣從他們的庭院中偷偷溜走。

我喜歡處在我自己的世界——不愿招人耳目地走在盛大的游行慶祝隊伍中，而想與宇宙的創(chuàng)造者平等地一起同行，假如可以的話，我不想生活在這個輕浮急躁、神經(jīng)兮兮、熙熙攘攘、舉止隨便的19世紀，而想伴著19世紀一天天地流逝，或立或坐，思考著。人們在慶祝什么呢？他們都成了某個籌備委員會成員，時刻期待著某個大人物的演說。上帝不過是今天的輪值主席，而韋伯斯特才是他的演說家。對于那些強烈地、正確地讓我感興趣的事物，我喜愛估量它們的重量，解決它們，讓它們吸引——決不想放在秤桿上，嘗試減輕重量——不妄加推測任何事情，而是完全根據(jù)其實際情況來解決；在那條我能走的必經(jīng)之路上繼續(xù)前行。在這條路上，我可以戰(zhàn)勝任何力量。在擁有堅實穩(wěn)固的基礎(chǔ)之前，就開始著手建造起一座拱門，我不會因為這樣的行為，感到絲毫滿足。所有地方的底部都是結(jié)實的。我們從書中得知這樣一個故事：一個旅行者問一個男孩，前方的這塊沼澤底部是不是堅固。男孩回答道：“是堅固的?！笨墒锹眯姓邲]走多遠，他的馬便深陷沼澤，不一會兒就到了馬的腰部，他對男孩說，“我本以為你說的是這塊沼澤底部是堅固的……”“是堅固的啊，”男孩說道，“可是你還沒有觸到它的底部一半深呢?！鄙鐣哪嗾雍土魃骋彩沁@個道理，但是只有少年老成的人才知曉這一點。只有在一些少有的巧合中，人們的所想、所言、所為才是正確的。有一些人愚蠢地只知道是將釘子釘入板條和灰泥中，我可不想與這樣的人為伍；要是那么做，我會徹夜難眠。給我一把錘子，讓我感受一下釘板條的感覺。不要依靠油灰狀的黏性材料。釘入一只釘子，就釘?shù)媒Y(jié)結(jié)實實，就算是在半夜醒來，一想到自己的工作，你也會心滿意足——即便請來繆斯女神，你對這件工作也沒有愧疚。這么做，而且只有這么做，上帝才會伸出援助之手。釘入的每顆釘子，都應(yīng)像宇宙機器中的鉚釘一樣固定，你的工作才能繼續(xù)下去。

?我不在乎愛、金錢、名譽，我只要真理。我坐在擺滿佳肴美酒的桌旁，身邊有諂媚的侍從，但是卻少了真誠和誓言。我餓著肚子轉(zhuǎn)身離開這冷漠的餐桌。這種盛情如冰一樣冰冷，我想無需再用冰塊來凍結(jié)它們。他們告訴我葡萄美酒的年份和產(chǎn)地的歷史，這讓我想起了一種更年深月久且更新更純、更光榮的佳釀，可他們手上沒有，也無法買到。我把他們的風(fēng)格、豪宅、庭園和“娛樂”當(dāng)做草芥。我去拜見國王，他卻讓我在客廳等候，他的行為如同喪失了好客能力似的。我的一個鄰居住在樹洞里，他的舉止才是真正的王者。我要是去拜訪他，待遇肯定會好得多。

實戰(zhàn)提升

Practising & Exercise

導(dǎo)讀

亨利·大衛(wèi)·梭羅（Henry David Thoreau），美國作家及自然主義者。他的作品主張對不公正的政府進行非暴力抵抗運動，并產(chǎn)生了廣泛的影響。他的論文《論公民的不服從權(quán)利》，就曾影響了托爾斯泰和圣雄甘地。

亨利·大衛(wèi)·梭羅在文中闡述了他對人生的見解，他喜歡清貧，對愛、金錢和榮譽不屑一顧，追求理想的人生。文中的佳句比比皆是，令人回味無窮。

核心單詞

almshouse [?ɑ?mzhaus] n. 貧民所，救濟院

garret [?ɡ?r?t] n. 閣樓

vital [?vaitl] adj. 極其重要的，必不可少的

starch [stɑ?t?] n. 淀粉

transient [?tr?nzi?nt] adj. 短暫的；一時的

invoke [in?v?uk] v. 懇求，祈求，乞求

obsequious [?b?si?kwi?s] adj. 諂媚的，奉承的

vintage [?vinti?] n. 葡萄酒

翻譯

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shirk it and call it hard names.

Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth.