考研英語作文：On Wisdom

On Wisdom

 
                                                  B. A. RusseU

I think the essence of wisdom is emancipation, as far as possible, from the tyranny of the here and the now. We cannot help the egoism of our senses. Sight and sound and touch are bound up with our own bodies and cannot be made impersonal. Our emotions start similarly from ourselves. An infant feels hunger or distress, and is unaffected except by his own physical condition. Gradually with the years, his horizon widens, and, in proportion as his thoughts and feelings become less personal and less concerned with his own physical states, he achieves growing wisdom. This is of course a matter of degree. No one can view the world with complete justice, and if anyone could, he would hardly be able to remain alive. But it is possible to make a continual approach towards justice, on the one hand, by knowing things somewhat remote in time or space, and, on the other hand,by giving to such things their due weight in our feelings. It is this approach towards justice that constitutes growth in wisdom.
Can wisdom be taught? And, if it can, should the teaching of it be one of the aims of education? I should answer both these questions in the affirmative. I do not think that knowledge and morals ought to be too much separated. Even the best technicians should also be good citizens: and when I say "citizens," I mean citizens of the world and not of this or that sect or nation. With every increase of knowledge and skill,wisdom becomes more necessary, for every such increase strengthens our capacity of realizing our purposes, and therefore strengthens our capacity for evil, if our purposes are unwise. The world needs wisdom as it has never needed it before: and if knowledge continues to increase, the world will need wisdom in the future even more than it does now.

論智慧

    我認為智慧的實質在于解放，它要盡可能地把人們從目前的獨裁統(tǒng)治中解放出來。我們禁不住要陷入感官的自我主義之中。視覺、聽覺和觸覺與我們的身體密不可分；不能拋開個體而存在。同樣，我們的感情差不多在我們出生時就開始有了。一個嬰兒感到饑餓或不適，除了受到自身條件的影響外，別無其他原因。隨著年紀的增長，他的視野開闊了，與此相適應，他的思想感情變得不再個人化，與其自身的身體狀況的聯(lián)系也了，此時，他開始增長智慧。當然，這只是一定程度的增長。沒有人能夠以毫無偏見的眼光來觀察世界；假若有人能做到這一點，則他幾乎不可能存在于這世界上。但是，朝公正的方向不斷努力是有可能的，一方面，人們可以了解距今較遠時空的事情，另一方面，在我們的情感中給予它們應有的份量。正是這種朝著公正努力的方法才促使智慧的增長。

    智慧是否可以傳授?若可以，傳授如何獲得智慧是否應成為教育的目的之一?我對于這兩個問題的回答是肯定的。我認為知識和道德不應被完全分開。即使是最好的技工也應是個好公民：而我所指的“公民”是指世界公民，而不是一個國家或地區(qū)的公民。隨著技術和知識的每一次增長，智慧變得越來越重要，因為知識和技術的每一次增長都能增強我們實現(xiàn)目標的能力，因此，若我們的目標不明智，它就能增加我們作惡的能力。當今的世界比以往任何時候都需要智慧。若知識繼續(xù)增長，則在未來，世界比現(xiàn)在更需