美麗心靈晨讀英語美文23: On Resignation 論放棄
23 論放棄
Resignation is of two sorts, one rooted in despair, the other in unconquerable hope. The man who has suffered such fundamental defeat that he has given up hope of serious achievement may learn the resignation of despair, and if he does, he will abandon all serious activity. He may, camouflage his despair by religious phrases, or by the doctrine that contemplation is the true end of man, but whatever disguise he may adopt to conceal his inward defeat, he will remain essentially useless and fundamentally unhappy. The man whose resignation is based on unconquerable hope acts in quite a different way. Hope which is to be unconquerable must be large and impersonal. Whatever my personal activities, may be defeated by death, or by certain kinds of diseases; I may be overcome by my enemies; I may find that I have embarked upon an unwise course which cannot lead to success. In a thousand ways the failure of purely personal hopes may be unavoidable, but if personal aims have been part of larger hopes for humanity, there is not the same utter defeat when failure comes.
放棄有兩種，一種源于絕望，一種源于不可征服的希望。前者是不好的，后者是好的。一個(gè)人遭到重創(chuàng)，以致對(duì)重大的成就不抱希望時(shí)，也許會(huì)走向絕望的放棄，采真如此，他將中止一切重要的活動(dòng);他也許會(huì)用宗教上的詞句，或者用沉思默想，才是人類的真正的目標(biāo)的說教來掩飾他的絕望。但是無論他使用何種托辭來遮掩他內(nèi)心的失敗，他本質(zhì)上將是一個(gè)無用的和不快樂的人。把放棄建立在不可征服的希望之上的人，行動(dòng)則截然不同。不可征服的希望必定是很大的而且是非個(gè)人性質(zhì)的。無論我個(gè)人的活動(dòng)如何，我都可能被死亡或某種疾病擊敗;我可能被敵人打倒;我可能發(fā)現(xiàn)自己走上了一條不能成功的蠢路。 在成千上萬的形式中，純屬個(gè)人希望的破滅也許不可避免，但若個(gè)人的目標(biāo)已成為人類的大希望中的一部分，那么當(dāng)失敗到來時(shí)，就不至于被徹底擊倒了。
注釋：
fundamental ：adj. 基本的，根本的
例句：Our constitution embodies all the fundamental principles of democracy.
我們的憲法體現(xiàn)了民主的所有基本原則。
camouflage：vt. 偽裝，掩飾
例句：The entrance was camouflaged with bricks and dirt.
入口處用磚塊和泥土偽裝了起來。
utter：adj. 完全的;徹底的;無條件的
例句：This, of course, is utter nonsense.
這當(dāng)然純屬胡言亂語。
