综合教程三

I first began to wonder what I was doing on a college campus anyway when my parents drove off, leaving me standing pitifully in a parking lot, wanting nothing more than to find my way safely to my dorm room. The fact was that no matter how mature I liked to consider myself, I was feeling just a bit first-gradish. Adding to my distress was the distinct impression that everyone on campus was watching me. My plan was to keep my ears open and my mouth shut and hope no one would notice I was a freshman.

我第一次开始思考我的大学要做些什么，不管怎样我的父母把我送到大学校园便开车离开了，我一个人孤零零地站在停车场，此时此刻我只想平安地找到去我宿舍的道路。一个无法改变的事实是无论我认为自己多么成熟，我都觉得还是有点儿大一新生的稚气。此外我还有一个烦恼就是总觉得大学里的每一个人好像都在注意我。我只想张开耳朵闭起嘴巴希望这样就不会有人注意到我是一个大一新生。

With that thought in mind, I raised my head, squared my shoulders, and set out in the direction of my dorm, glancing (and then ever so discreetly) at the campus map clutched in my hand. It took everything I had not to stare when I caught my first glimpse of a real live college football player. What confidence, what reserve, what muscles! I only hoped his attention was drawn to my airs of assurance rather than to my shaking knees. I spent the afternoon seeking out each of my classrooms so that I could make a perfectly timed entrance before each lecture without having to ask dumb questions about its whereabouts.

基于这种想法，我抬起头，耸耸肩，于是一边看着手里的校园地图，一边朝着宿舍走去。当我第一眼看到一个真正的大学足球运动员时我情不自禁地盯着他看。那是是一个多么自信，多么淡定，肌肉多么有型的人啊。此时我只希望能引起他注意的是我的外貌而不是我颤抖的膝盖。我花了一下午的时间来找每一间教室的位置，这样以后上课时就可以准时赶到，而不用问我们教室在哪儿这样愚蠢的问题。

The next morning I found my first class and marched in. Once I was in the room, however, another problem awaited me. Where to sit? Freshmen manuals advised sitting near the front, showing the professor in intelligent and energetic demeanor. After deliberation, I chose a seat in the first row and to the side. I was in the foreground (as advised), but out of the professor’s direct line of vision.

第二天的早上我去上第一节课。然而我刚进教室，又遇到了另一件麻烦事。我该坐哪儿呢?新生手册上说我们最好尽量往前坐。这样就会给教授留下聪明好学又精力旺盛的印象。仔细考虑之后，我选择了第一排靠边的一个位置。虽然我坐在前排，但是没有在教授的视线范围之内。

I cracked my anthology of American literature and scribbled the date at the top of a crisp ruled page. “Welcome to Biology 101,” the professor began. A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I groped for my schedule and checked the room number. I was in the right room. Just the wrong building.

我打开了我的美国文学选集然后在排版整齐的书上随便地写上日期。“欢迎来到101教室的生物课堂，”教授开始了他的开场白。然而我的脖子后面却冷汗直冒，我摸到了我的时间表，然后校对了一下门牌号。我才发现我进对了教室却跑错了教学楼。

So now what? Get up and leave in the middle of the lecture? Wouldn’t the professor be angry? I knew everyone would stare. Forget it ,I settled into my chair and tried to assume the scientific pose of a biology major ,blending slightly forward, tensing my arms in preparation for furious notetaking, and cursing under my breath. The bottled snakes along the wall should have tipped me off.

现在怎么办呢?上课期间起身离开?这样教授难道不会生气吗?我知道如果这样每个人都会盯着我看。别胡思乱想了。我坐在椅子上装成生物专业的学生的样子，身体稍微地向前倾，我绷紧胳膊准备疯狂地做笔记，并悄悄地骂娘。墙上挂着的那些瓶装的蛇似乎也在暗示我应该认真点。

After class I decided my stomach (as well as my ego) needed a little nourishment, and I hurried to the cafeteria. I accidentally stepped in a large puddle of ketchup. Keeping myself upright and getting out of the mess was not going to be easy, and this flailing of my feet was doing not good. Just as I decided to try another maneuver, my food tray tipped and I lost my balance. As my rear end met the floor, I saw my entire life pass before my eyes: it ended with my first day of college classes. In the seconds after my fall I thought how nice it would be if no one had noticed. But as all the students in the cafeteria came to their feet, table by table, cheering and clapping, I knew they had not only noticed ,they were determined that I would never forget it. Slowly I kicked off my ketchup-soaked sandals and jumped clear of the toppled tray and spilled food. A cleanup brigade came charging out of the kitchen, mops in the hand. I sneaked out of the cafeteria as the cheers died down behind me.

下课后我饿的肚子直叫，于是我飞奔到自助餐厅。我的托盘上放着美味的三明治然后便走向了卖色拉的窗口，结果一不小心踩上了一堆番茄酱。此时想要站直并摆脱窘境一点也不容易，我也开始控制不住我的腿。正在我准备想别的办法时，我的托盘开始倾斜，我一下子失去了平衡。当我摔得四脚朝天时，我觉得我这辈子都完了，我在大学上课的第一天就这么结束了。 在我摔倒后的几秒钟我想要是没有人看到我的丑态该多好啊。可是餐厅里的同学们就站在眼前，一桌挨着一桌，他们在鼓掌，在欢呼。我知道他们不仅看到了，而且让我永远不会忘记这一刻。我慢慢地踢开被番茄酱浸透的凉鞋，跳过打翻的一干二净的托盘和洒出的饭菜。一群清洁工过来用拖把把垃圾冲出了餐厅。当我身后的掌声渐渐地平息的时候我偷偷地溜出了自助餐厅。

For three days I dined alone on nothing more than humiliation, shame, and an assortment of junk food from a machine strategically placed outside my room. On the fourth day I couldn’t take another crunchy-chewy-saltly-sweet bite. I needed some real food. Perhaps three days was long enough for the campus population to have forgotten me. So off to the cafeteria I went.

有三天的时间我都是一个人进餐，然而吃的只不过是从我们宿舍外面的一个处在一个抢眼位置的机器里取出的各种各样的垃圾食品。在第四天的时候，我实在受不了那些嘎吱嘎吱又不易嚼碎不仅甜而且咸的垃圾食品了。我需要的是真正能吃的东西。也许三天的时间让同学们忘记我应该足够的长了。所以我还是去了自助餐厅

I made my way through the food line and tiptoed to a table, where I collapsed in relief. Suddenly I heard a crash that sounded vaguely familiar. I looked up to see that another poor soul had met the fate I’d thought was reserved only for me. I was even more surprised when I saw who the poor soul was: the very composed,

very upper class football player I’d seen just days before (thought he didn’t look quite so composed wearing spaghetti on the front of his shirt). My heart went out to him as people began to cheer and clap as they had for me. He got up, hands held high above his head in a victory clasp , grinning from ear to ear. I expected him to slink out of the cafeteria as I had, but instead he turned around and began preparing another tray. And that’s when I realized I had been taking myself far too seriously.

我小心翼翼地穿过排队打饭的人群，安心地做了下来。突然间我听到了一声熟悉的破碎声。我抬头看到一个可怜的家伙遇到了原以为只有我才会遭遇的不幸。当我看到那个可怜的家伙时我更是感到吃惊，因为他竟然是我几天前看到的那个非常淡定而且超赞的足球运动员。（尽管现在洒了一身的意大利空心面他看起来并不镇静）。当别人冲着他像以前对待我一样欢呼雀跃，拍手称快时，我却对他充满了无限的同情。接着他站了起来，举起双手摆了一个胜利的姿势。我原以为他会像我当时一样偷偷地溜出自助餐厅，然而他却转身又打了一份自助餐。直到那时我才意识到是我太把自己当回事了。

What I had interpreted as a malicious attempt to embarrass a naïve freshman had been merely a moment of college fun. Probably everyone in the cafeteria had done something equally dumb when he or she was a freshman－and had lived to tell about it.

我刚才所解释的，比如故意让一个幼稚的大学新生难堪时光只不过是大学快乐生活的一瞬间而已。也许自助餐厅里的每一个学生都曾在他们大一的时候做过一些很无语的事情——并且都曾有过“现场直播”。

Who cared whether I dropped a tray, where I sat in class, or even whether I showed up in the wrong lecture? Nobody. This wasn’t like high school. Popularity was not so important: running with the crowd was no longer a law of survival. In college, it didn’t matter. This was my bid chance to do my own thing, be my own woman－if I could get past my preoccupation with doing everything perfectly.

谁会在乎我是否打翻了托盘，我会坐在教室的哪个地方，抑或是在那节进错了教室的文学课上我是否会出现。没有人会在意。这里跟高中完全不同。名声不再那么重要，追随大众也不再是生存的不二法则。在大学里，这些都是无所谓的。这里我有机会做我想做的事，如果我可以超越偏见并且凡事都做到最好，我愿意做真正的自己。

Once I recognized that I had no one’s expectations to live up to but my own, I relaxed. The shackles of self-consciousness fell away, and I began to view college as a wonderful experiment. I tried on new experiences like articles of clothing, checking their fit and judging their worth. I broke a few rules to test my conscience. I dressed a little differently until I found the Real Me. I discovered a taste for jazz, and I decided I like going barefoot .

当我意识到我除了要兑现自己的承诺而不用为了达到别人的期望值而费心时，我真的好轻松。当我甩开自我意识的脚镣时，我开始把大学生活当做一种完美的尝试。我试着拥有一些新的感觉比如在穿衣服上，看看它们是否合身并且物有所值。我破坏了一些规定以此来检验我的良知。我的打扮有点另类直到我找到了真正的自己。我发现了爵士舞的味道，并且我决心要光着脚来跳。

I gave up trying to act my way through college (this wasn’t drama school)

and began not acting at all. College, I decided, was probably the only time I would be completely forgiven for massive mistake (including stepping in puddles of ketchup and dropping food trays). So I used the opportunity to make all the ones I thought I’d never make.

我放弃了大学的表演之路，并决定以后再也不表演了（我们学校并不是影视学校）。大学的时光也许是我决定要彻底忘记曾经犯过的错误的最好时间（包括我踩在那堆番茄酱并打翻了托盘）。因此我竭尽所能犯了一些我觉得以后绝不会再犯的错误。

Three years after graduation, I’m still making mistakes. And I’m even being forgiven for a few.

毕业三年后，我仍然在犯错。然而我的一些小错误甚至可以得到别人的原谅。

2、 The Company Man工作狂

1 He worked himself to death, finally and precisely, at 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning.

最终，他于星期天凌晨3点工作致死。

2 The obituary didn’t say that, of course. It said that he died of a coronary thrombosis — I think that was it — but everyone among his friends and acquaintances knew it instantly. He was a perfect Type A2, a workaholic, a classic, they said to each other and shook their heads — and thought for five or ten

minutes about the way they lived.

当然，讣告上没有这样写。讣告上写的是死于冠状动脉血栓证，但他的好友和熟识的人都心知肚明。他们互相握着手，摇头叹息地说他是一个追求完美的A型血人，一个典型的工作狂，然后用几分钟时间来反思自己的生活方式。

3 This man who worked himself to death finally and precisely at 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning — on his day off — was fifty-one years old and a vice-president. He was, however, one of six vice-presidents, and one of three who might conceivably — if the president died or retired soon enough — have moved to the top spot. Phil knew that.

这个男人最终在星期天凌晨三点整工作致死。星期天的早上，这天刚好是这个51岁的副总裁的休息日。 他是公司六位副总裁之一，也是副总裁中三位最让人信任的人之一，如果总裁已经逝世或者退休的话，他已经成为了最高职位。菲尔清楚这一点。

4 He worked six days a week, five of them until eight or nine at night, during a time when his own company had begun the four-day week for everyone but the executives. He worked like the Important People3. He had no outside “extracurricular interests,” unless, of course, you think about a monthly golf game that way. To Phil, it was work. He always ate egg salad sandwiches at his desk. He was, of course, overweight, by 20 or 25 pounds. He thought it was okay, though, because he didn’t smoke.

他一周工作六天，其中五天工作到夜里点，他的公司里除了高级，其他人都

已经开始四天工作制。 他工作起来像一个重要人物。 当然，就像你想象中那样，他每月打一次高尔夫球，他没有其他的爱好。对菲尔而言，高尔夫是工作。他总是在他的桌前吃着吃鸡蛋沙拉三明治，他难免有点发福，超重了20-25磅。他想这没什么关系，因为他从不抽烟。

5 On Saturdays, Phil wore a sports jacket to the office instead of a suit, because it was the weekend.

星期六，菲尔换下西服，穿着运动衫去上班，因为这是周末。

6 He had a lot of people working for him, maybe sixty, and most of them liked him most of the time. Three of them will be seriously considered for his job. The obituary didn’t mention that.

他有大约60个人为他效力，大部分人在大部分时候觉得他很不错。其中三位紧盯着他的职位。讣告上没有提及这些。

7 But it did list his “survivors” quite accurately. He is survived by his wife, Helen, forty-eight years old, a good woman of no particular marketable skills, who worked in an office before marrying and mothering. She had, according to her daughter, given up trying to compete with his work years ago, when the children were small. A company friend said, “I know how much you will miss him.” And she answered, “I already have.”

但是讣告详细地介绍了他的遗孀。他的妻子，海伦，一个48岁的好女人，没有什么

特别的市场能力，在结婚生子之前在一家公司上班。 她说，在女儿的记忆里，她很多年前，当孩子们还很小的时候，就放弃了和他工作的抗争。一个工作伙伴说，“我知道你将对他有多思念”，她回答到，“我一直都很想他。”

8 “Missing him all these years,” she must have given up part of herself which had cared too much for the man. She would be “well taken care of.”

“想了他这么多年了，”她如此在乎的这个男人，必须放弃她，以后她将会被“好好的照顾”。

9 His “dearly beloved” eldest of the “dearly beloved” children is a hard-working executive in a manufacturing firm down South. In the day and a half before the funeral, he went around the neighborhood researching his father, asking the neighbors what he was like. They were embarrassed.

他的“最爱的”孩子们中“最爱的”长子是南方某制造公司努力工作的经理。在葬礼前的一天半里，他走访邻居询问邻居们询问邻居对他的印象。他们很尴尬。

10 His second child is a girl, who is twenty-four and newly married. She lives near her mother and they are close, but whenever she was alone with her father, in a car driving somewhere, they had nothing to say to each other.

他的第二个孩子是一个女孩，24岁了，刚刚结婚。她和妈妈住的很近，很亲密，但是无论什么时候，当她和爸爸独处的时候，哪怕是在一辆车中，他们互相没有什么言语。

11 The youngest is twenty, a boy, a high-school graduate who has spent the last couple of years, like a lot of his friends, doing enough odd jobs to stay in grass and food4. He was the one who tried to grab at his father, and tried to mean enough to him to keep the man at home. He was his father’s favorite. Over the last two years, Phil stayed up nights worrying about the boy.

最小的是一个男孩，20岁，高中毕业生，像很多他的朋友一样，做一些零工，吃喝玩乐。他是唯一一个能够抓住父亲的人，尝试把父亲留到家里。 他是他父亲最喜欢的儿子，在生命的最后两年里，菲尔整夜担心这个孩子。

12 The boy once said, “My father and I only board here5.”

他曾说过，“父亲和我只是在这里寄宿”

13 At the funeral, the sixty-year-old company president told the forty-eight-year-old widow that the fifty-one-year-old deceased had meant much to the company and would be missed and would be hard to replace. The widow didn’t look him in the eye. She was afraid he would read her bitterness and, after all, she would need him to straighten out the finances — the stock options6 and all that.

在葬礼上，60岁的总裁安慰48岁的遗孀说，这位51岁的死者对公司的贡献巨大，没有人可以替代他的位置。这位遗孀不敢直视他眼睛。她害怕他可以读出她的苦痛，毕竟，她需要他帮忙清理丈夫的财政—股票什么的。

14 Phil was overweight and nervous and worked too hard. If he wasn’t at the office he was worried about it. Phil was a Type A, a heart-attack natural. You could have picked him out in a minute from a lineup.

菲尔超重、焦虑、工作强度太大。如果他不在公司，就会担心公司的工作。菲尔是一个A型血，先天易发心脏病。在人群中，你可以一眼就把他认出来。

15 So when he finally worked himself to death, at precisely 3:00 a.m. Sunday morning, no one was really surprised.

所以当他最终因工作死于星期天凌晨三点整，没人感到意外。16 By 5:00 p.m. the afternoon of the funeral, the company president had begun, discreetly of course, with care and taste, to make inquiries about his replacement. One of three men. He asked around: “Who’s been working the hardest?”

葬礼过后的下午5点，公司总裁已经开始谨慎地，带着小心和鉴赏，审视着三位可以代替他职位的人。他问到“谁工作最努力？”

3、 Out of step不合拍

1 After living in England for 20 years, my wife and I decided to move back to the United States. We wanted to live in a town small enough that we could walk to the business district, and settled on Hanover, N.H., a typical New England town — pleasant, sedate and compact. It has a broad central green surrounded by the venerable buildings of Dartmouth College, an old-fashioned Main Street and leafy

residential neighborhoods.

1．在英格兰住了20年之后，我和妻子决定搬回美国。因为想住在．二-个可以步行到商业区的小城镇，所以我们决定定居在新罕布什尔州的汉诺威，一个典型的新英格兰城镇，令人愉快、宁静而紧凑。城镇中心有一大块宽阔的绿地，周围是达特茅斯学院那庄严的建筑、一条老式的主干道和绿树成荫的住宅区。

2 It is, in short, an agreeable, easy place to go about one’s business on foot, and yet as far as I can tell, virtually no one does.

2．总之，这是一个怡人、舒适的地方，适合步行去上班。不过据我所知，实际上没有什么人这样做。

3 Nearly every day, I walk to the post office or library or bookstore, and sometimes, if I am feeling particularly debonair, I stop at Rosey Jekes Café for a cappuccino. Occasionally, in the evenings, my wife and I stroll up to the Nugget Theatre for a movie or to Murphy’s on the Green for a beer, I wouldn’t dream of going to any of these places by car. People have gotten used to my eccentric behavior, but in the early days acquaintances would often pull up to the curb and ask if I wanted a ride.

3．我几乎每天都步行去邮局、图书馆或书店，有时，如果心情极好，我会在罗斯杰克斯咖啡店喝上一杯卡布奇诺咖啡。有时，我会和妻子在晚上漫步到纳吉特剧院看上一场电影，或是到格林街的莫菲店喝杯啤酒。我做梦都没想过开车去这些地方。人们对我的古怪行为已经习以为常，但是开始的时候，熟人们会将车停在路边，问我是否要搭车。

4 “I’m going your way,” they would insist when I politely declined. “Really, it’s no bother.”

4．“我和你同路，”他们坚持道，“真的，一点也不麻烦。”而我婉言谢绝。

5 “Honestly, I enjoy walking.”

5．“说实话，我喜欢步行。”

6 “Well, if you’re sure,” they would say and depart reluctantly, even guiltily, as if leaving the scene of an accident without giving their name.

6．“哦，那随你吧，”他们这么说着然后不情愿地离开了，甚至带着点负罪感，就好像离开了事故现场却没有留下姓名。

7 In the United States we have become so habituated to using the car for everything that it doesn’t occur to us to unfurl our legs and see what those lower limbs can do. We have reached an age where college students expect to drive between classes, where parents will drive three blocks to pick up their children from a friend’s house, where the letter carrier takes his van up and down every driveway on a street.

7．在美国，我们已经习惯于事事用车，时时开车，我们都没想过伸展双腿，看看自己的下肢到底能做些什么。我们已经进入了这样一个时代，大学生希望课间开车去上课，父母会开车去三个街区外的朋友家接孩子，邮递员在街上开车在每一条私人车道上进进出出。

8 We will go through the most extraordinary contortions to save ourselves from walking. Sometimes it’s almost ludicrous. The other day I was waiting to bring home one of my children from a piano lesson when a car stopped outside a post office, and a man about my age popped out and dashed inside. He was in the post office for about three or four minutes, and then came out, got in the car and drove exactly 16 feet (I had nothing better to do, so I paced it off) to the general store6 next door.

8．为了不走路，我们愿意忍受最可怕的身体扭曲。有时甚至到了愚蠢可笑的地步。一天，我正在等着接上钢琴课的孩子回家，这时一辆汽车停在了邮局I\"1口，车门砰地一声打开了，一位男士和我年龄相仿，他走下车冲进邮局。只在邮局里呆了三四分钟，他就出了邮局，钻进汽车，开了16英尺(我也没什么事可干，正好用步子量了量)到隔壁的百货商店。

9 And the thing is, this man looked really fit. I’m sure he jogs extravagant distances and plays squash and does all kinds of healthful things, but I am just as sure that he drives to each of these undertakings.

9．情况是这样的，这个人看上去身体健康。我相信他会长跑、会打壁球，参与其他各种有益于健康的运动，但是我也相信他会开车前往这些运动场所。

10 An acquaintance of ours was complaining the other day about the difficulty of finding a place to park outside the local gymnasium. She goes there several times a week to walk on a treadmill. The gymnasium is, at most, a six-minute walk from her front door.

10．某日我们的一位熟人抱怨本地健身会所外很难找到停车的地方，她一周有几次会去那里在走步机上锻炼身体。从这个健身会所走路到她家前门最多6分钟。

11 I asked her why she didn’t walk to the gym and do six minutes less on the treadmill.

11．我问她为什么不步行到健身房，这样在走步机上少走6分钟就行了。

12 She looked at me as if I were tragically simple-minded and said, “But I have a program for the treadmill. It records my distance and speed and calorie burn rate, and I can adjust it for degree of difficulty.”

12．她看着我，好像我是个可怜的傻瓜似的，然后说，“但是步行机上有我的锻炼程序。它记录我锻炼的距离、时间和卡路里的消耗量，我还可以利用它调整锻炼的难易程度。”

13 I confess it had not occurred to me how thoughtlessly deficient nature is in this regard.

13．我承认，过去我从来没有意识到我对这个问题是多么地思虑不周。

14 According to a concerned and faintly horrified 1997 editorial in the Boston Globe, the United States spent less than one percent of its transportation budget on facilities for pedestrians. Actually, I’m surprised it was that much. Go to almost any suburb developed in the last 30 years, and you will not find a sidewalk anywhere. Often you won’t find a single pedestrian crossing.

14．1997年《波士顿环球报》刊载的一篇有点骇人听闻的相关社论说，美国在专为行人做出的交通设施预算不到全部交通预算的百分之一。事实上，让我惊讶的是预算数目还挺高的。到几乎所有近30年来发展形成的市郊走走看看，你会发现那里没有一条人行道，很多时候连人行横道都找不到。

15 I had this brought home to me one summer when we were driving across Maine and stopped for coffee in one of those endless zones of shopping malls, motels, gas stations and fast-food places. I noticed there was a bookstore across the street, so I decided to skip coffee and head over.

15．发现这个问题是在某个夏天，我开车经过缅因州，在一个购物中心、汽车旅馆、快餐店林立的地方我想停车喝杯咖啡。看到街对面有家书店，我决定不喝咖啡直接去书店。

16 Although the bookshop was no more than 70 or 80 feet away, I discovered that there was no way to cross on foot without dodging over six lanes of swiftly moving traffic. In the end, I had to get in our car and drive across.

16．尽管书店仅在七八十英尺之遥，我却发现没有任何办法可以步行过街，除非你能在汽车急驰的六个车道上左闪右避。最后，我不得不回到车里开车过马路。

17 At the time, it seemed ridiculous and exasperating, but afterward I realized that I was possibly the only person ever to have entertained the notion of negotiating that intersection on foot.

17．那时，我觉得荒唐至极并且气急败坏。但是，事后我想到，自己可能是惟一一个

想到要步行穿过那个十字路口的人。

18 The fact is, we not only don’t walk anywhere anymore in this country, we won’t walk anywhere, and woe to anyone who tries to make us, as the city of Laconia, N.H., discovered. In the early 1970s, Laconia spent millions on a comprehensive urban renewal project, which included building a pedestrian mall to make shopping more pleasant. Esthetically it was a triumph— urban planners came from all over to coo and take photos--but commercially it was a disaster. Forced to walk one whole block from a parking garage, shoppers abandoned downtown Laconia for suburban malls.

18．事实在于，在这个国家我们不但现在不会步行前往任何地方，将来也不会步行前往任何地方。而且正如在新罕布什尔州的拉哥尼亚市所发生的事情那样，谁要让我们走路谁就会倒霉。在20世纪70年代早期，拉哥尼亚市耗资数百万进行全面的市区重建计划，其中包括一个让购物更加愉快的步行购物广场。在美学上这是一次成功之举——众多城市规划者从各地赶来，相互交换意见并拍照留念——但是从商业上讲，这是一个巨大的失败。由于从停车场不得不步行整整一个街区，购物者们放弃了拉哥尼亚的中心城区而转向市郊购物。

19 In 1994 Laconia dug up its pretty paving blocks, took away the tubs of geraniums and decorative trees, and brought back the cars. Now people can park right in front of the stores again, and downtown Laconia thrives anew.

19．1994年拉哥尼亚刨掉了漂亮的路面，移走了一盆盆的天竺葵和用来美化环境的树木，带回了一辆辆汽车。现在人们又可以直接在商场门口停车了，拉哥尼亚的市中心地

区又恢复了往昔的繁荣。

20 And if that isn’t sad. I don’t know what is.

20．如果那不是悲哀的话，我都不知道什么是悲哀了。

4、Fun, Oh Boy. Fun. You Could Die from it乐趣，啊，乐趣。乐趣会要了你的命

1 Fun is hard to have.

2 Fun is a rare jewel.

3 Somewhere along the line people got the modern idea that fun was there for the asking, that people deserved fun, that if we didn’t have a little fun every day we would turn into (sakes alive!) puritans.

1．乐趣不易得。

2．乐趣是珍宝。

3．不知从何时起，人们有了这样一种时髦的想法：乐趣唾手可得，人们应该拥有乐趣，如果我们每天不给自己找点乐子，就会变成清教徒。(天哪!)

4 “Was it fun?” became the question that overshadowed all other questions: good questions like: Was it moral? Was it kind? Was it honest? Was it beneficial? Was it generous? Was it necessary? And (my favorite) was it selfless?

4．“有趣吗?”这个问题让其他所有的好问题黯然失色。这些好问题包括：道德吗?友好吗?诚实吗?有益吗?大方吗?必要吗?无私吗?(这是我最喜欢的问题。)

5 When the pleasures got to be the main thing, the fun fetish was sure to follow. Everything was supposed to be fun. If it wasn’t fun, then by Jove, we were going to make it fun, or else.

5．一旦欢愉成为主要的事情，对乐趣的迷恋必将紧随而至。凡事皆应有趣。如果无趣的话，哎呀，要不然，我们就让它们变得有趣吧。

6 Think of all the things that got the reputation of being fun. Family outings were supposed to be fun. Sex was supposed to be fun. Education was supposed to be fun. Work was supposed to be fun. Walt Disney was supposed to be fun. Church was supposed to be fun. Staying fit was supposed to be fun.

6. 想想那些称之为有趣的事情吧。全家出游应该有趣。做爱应该有趣。教育应该有趣。工作应该有趣。迪斯尼乐园应该有趣。教堂应该有趣。身体健康应该有趣。

7 Just to make sure that everybody knew how much fun we were having, we put happy faces on flunking test papers, dirty bumpers, sticky refrigerator doors, bathroom mirrors.

7．正是为了保证让大家知道我们是多么快乐，即使面对不及格的考卷、脏兮兮的汽车保险杠、粘乎于的冰箱门和厕所里的镜子，我们仍然笑容满面。

8 If a kid, looking at his very happy parents traipsing through that very happy Disney World, said, “This ain’t fun, ma,” his ma’s heart sank. She wondered where she had gone wrong. Everybody told her what fun family outings to Disney World would be. Golly gee, what was the matter?

8．如果一个孩子看着自己的父母快乐地漫步在满是欢声笑语的迪斯尼乐园，突然说：\"妈妈, 这儿不好玩儿。”妈妈的心会顿时沉了下去。她不明白到底哪儿做错了。所有人都告诉她全家人一起去迪斯尼乐园是多么有趣。哦，天哪，这到底是怎么回事?

9 Fun got to be such a big thing that everybody started to look for more and more thrilling ways to supply it. One way was to step up the level of danger or licentiousness or alcohol or drug consumption so that you could be sure that, no matter what, you would manage to have a little fun.

9．找乐子成了生活中的一件大事，以至于每个人都开始用越来越刺激的方式寻求乐趣。方法之一便是提高危险、放荡、酗酒和吸毒的程度。这样一来，人们就可以确信，无论如何都可以设法获得一点儿乐趣。

10 Television commercials brought a lot of fun and fun-loving folks into the picture. Everything that people in those commercials did looked like fun: taking Polaroid snapshots, swilling beer, buying insurance, mopping the floor, bowling, taking aspirin. We all wished, I’m sure, that we could have half as much fun as those rough-and-ready guys around the locker room, flicking each other with towels and pouring champagne.The more commercials people watched, the more they wondered when the fun would start in their own lives. It was pretty

depressing.

10. 电视广告把许多乐趣和喜爱乐趣的人搬上荧屏：在那些广告中，人们所做的每一件事看起来确实有趣：用宝丽莱相机拍照、豪饮啤酒、买保险、拖地板、打保龄球还有服用阿司匹林。我确定，我们都希望自己能像那些在更衣室里用毛巾相互嬉闹、泼洒香槟的粗俗家伙一样，哪怕只有他们一半的快乐就足够了。人们看的广告越多，越爱琢磨自己什么时候才会得到乐趣。这是。何等悲哀啊。

11 Big occasions were supposed to be fun. Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter were obviously supposed to be fun. Your wedding day was supposed to be fun. Your wedding night was supposed to be a whole lot of fun. Your honeymoon was supposed to be the epitome of fundom. And so we ended up going through every Big Event we ever celebrated, waiting for the fun to start.

11. 重大时刻应该是充满乐趣的。很明显，圣诞节、感恩节和复活节应该有趣。婚礼应该有趣。新婚之夜应该有趣，蜜月更应该是快乐的典范。因此，我们发现自己一次又一次地庆祝所有重要的日子，等待乐趣的到来。

12 It occurred to me, while I was sitting around waiting for the fun to start, that not much is, and that I should tell you just in case you’re worried about your fun capacity. 、

12. 我坐着等待乐趣的到来，突然明白乐趣其实很少，而且我应该把自己的感受告诉你，以免你担心自己获得乐趣的能力不够强。

13 I don’t mean to put a damper on things. I just mean we ought to treat fun reverently. It is a mystery. It cannot be caught like a virus. It cannot be trapped like an animal. The god of mirth is paying us back for all those years of thinking fun was everywhere by refusing to come to our party. I don’t want to blaspheme fun anymore. When fun comes in on little dancing feet, you probably won’t be expecting it. In fact, I bet it comes when you’re doing your duty, your job, or your work. It may even come on a Tuesday.

13. 我不是故意泼冷水，我只是说我们应该虔诚地对待乐趣。它很神秘。获得乐趣并不像感染病毒或设陷阱猎捕动物一样容易。这些年来，人们认为乐趣俯拾皆是，结果，欢乐之神为了惩罚我们拒绝我们的聚会。我不想再亵渎乐趣了。可能在你还没有想到乐趣的时候，它却已经迈着轻盈的舞步来到你身边。事实上，我敢打赌乐趣会在你值班、劳动、工作的时候到来。它甚至能在一个普通的星期二到来。

14 I remember one day, long ago, on which I had an especially good time. Pam Davis and I walked to the College Village drug store one Saturday morning to buy some candy. We were about 12 years old (fun ages). She got her Bit-O-Honey. I got my malted milk balls, chocolate stars, Chunkys, and a small bag of M & M’s. We started back to her house. I was going to spend the night. We had the whole day to look forward to. We had plenty of candy. It was a long way to Pam’s house but every time we got weary Pam would put her hand over her eyes, scan the horizon like a sailor and say, “Oughta reach home by nightfall,” at which point the two of us would laugh until we thought we couldn’t stand it another minute. Then after we got calm, she’d say it again. You should have been there. It was the kind of day and friendship and occasion that made me deeply regretful that I had to grow up.

14. 记得很久以前的一天，我玩儿得特别开心。那是一个星期六的早晨，我和帕姆．戴维斯一起去大学城的杂货店买糖果。那时，我们大概12岁(正是开心的年纪)。她买了自己喜欢的Bit-O-Honey牌糖果，我买了麦乳糖球儿、星形巧克力、大块糖和一小包M&M巧克力豆。我们开始往她家走。我要在那儿住一个晚上。一整天我们都在盼望着这件事。而且我们有很多糖果。帕姆家很远，每次我累得走不动时，帕姆就会把一只手搭在眼睛上方，像水手一样仔细观察一下地平线，然后说：“天黑之前应该可以到家了。”每当这个时候，我们俩就开始放声大笑，直到笑得一分钟也坚持不了才停下来。我们平静以后，她又会那样说一遍。当时你在那儿就好了。那样的日子，那样的友谊，那样的情景让我非常后悔自己必须长大。

15 It was fun.

15．那就是乐趣。

5、The Real Truth About Lies谎言的

At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, psychology professor Bella DePaulo got 77 students and 70 townspeople to volunteer for an unusual project. All kept diaries for a week, recording the numbers and details of the lies they told.

1. 在夏洛特斯维尔的弗吉尼亚大学里，心理学教授贝拉·德保罗组织了77名学生和70名市民志愿参加一个特别的项目。所有参加者写了一周的日记，记录下自己撒谎的次数和细节。

One student and six Charlottesville residents professed to have told no

falsehoods. The other 140 participants told 1,535.

2. 1名学生和6名夏洛特斯维尔的居民声称没有撒过谎。其他140名参加者共计撒谎1535次。

The lies were most often not what most of us would call earth-shattering. Someone would pretend to be more positive or supportive of a spouse or friend than he or she really was, or feign agreement with a relative's opinion. According to DePaulo, women in their interactions with other women lied mostly to spare the other's feelings. Men lied to other men generally for self-promoting reasons.

3. 他们说的谎言里绝大多数在大众眼中都不属惊天动地的那一类。其中有人假装对自己的另一半或朋友表示肯定或支持，或对某位亲戚的观点佯装赞同。依德保罗之见，女性在相互交往中说谎主要是为了不伤对方感情，而男性间撒谎则多半属于自吹自擂。

Most strikingly, these tellers-of-a-thousand-lies reported that their deceptions caused them \"little preoccupation or regret\". Might that, too, be a lie? Perhaps. But there is evidence that this attitude toward casual use of prevarication is common.

4. 最惊人的是，这些撒了数以千计谎言的人声称，欺骗行为并没有让他们十分“纠结或愧疚”。这会不会也是谎言？有可能。不过，确有证据表明，这种撒谎也不眨眼的态度是很常见的。

For example, 20,000 middle- and high-schoolers were surveyed by the Josephson Institute of Ethics--a nonprofit organization in Marina del Rey,

California, devoted to character education. Ninety-two percent of the teenagers admitted having lied to their parents in the previous year, and 73 percent characterized themselves as \"serial liarshese admissions, 91 percent of all respondents said they were \"satisfied with my own ethics and character\".

5. 例如，加州马里纳-戴尔雷有一个致力于性格教育的非营利性组织——约瑟夫森伦理道德研究所曾对两万名初、高中学生进行过调查。92％的青少年承认在过去一年中对父母撒过谎，73%将自己描述为“连续撒谎的人”，意即每星期都撒谎。尽管如此，91％的参加者称“对自己的道德和人品还是感到满意”。

Think how often we hear the expressions \"I'll call you\" or \"The check is in the mail” or \"I'm sorry, but he stepped out\". And then there are professions-- lawyers, pundits, PR consultants--whose members seem to specialize in shaping or spinning the truth to suit clients' needs.

6. 想想我们是多么经常地听到这些话：“我会打电话给你”、“支票已寄出”、“对不起，他不在。”还有一些职业——律师、专家和公关咨询师——其成员似乎专门歪曲或编造事实以满足客户的需要。

Little white lies have become ubiquitous, and the reasons we give each other for telling fibs are familiar. Consider, for example, a Southern California corporate executive whom I'll call Tom. He goes with his wife and son to his mother-in-law's home for Thanksgiving dinner every year. Tom dislikes her “special” pumpkin pie intensely. Invariably he tells her how wonderful it is, to avoid hurting her feelings.

7. 无伤大雅的小谎言无处不在，而我们撒谎的理由也大同小异。看看这个例子，是关于一个公司经理的，我就叫他汤姆吧。他每年都和妻儿到岳母家参加圣诞晚宴。汤姆非常不喜欢岳母做的“特色”南瓜馅饼。不过，他每次总是对岳母说南瓜馅饼多么好吃，免得伤了她的心。

\"What's wrong with that?\" Tom asked Michael Josephson, president of the Josephson Institute. It's a question we might all ask.

8. “这有什么不对？”汤姆问约瑟夫森研究所所长迈克尔·约瑟夫森。这个问题我们都有可能会问。

Josephson replied by asking Tom to consider the lie from his mother-in-law's pointof view. Suppose that one day Tom's child blurts out the truth, and she discovers the deceit. Will she tell her son-in-law, \"Thank you for caring so much?\" Or is she more likely to feel hurt and say, \"How could you have misled me all these years? And what else have you lied to me about?\"

9. 约瑟夫森的回答是要汤姆站在岳母的立场上考虑一下他的谎言。假设有一天，汤姆的孩子一不小心说漏了嘴，使她了解了实情。她是会对女婿说“谢谢你考虑得这么周到”呢？还是更有可能地，觉得受了伤害，说“你怎么能骗我这么多年? 你还对我撒过哪些谎?”

And what might Tom's mother-in-law now suspect about her own daughter? And will Tom's boy lie to his parents and yet be satisfied with his own character?

10. 汤姆的岳母现在对她自己的女儿又会起些什么疑心呢? 汤姆的儿子会不会也对父母撒谎的同时满意于自己的品行呢?

How often do we compliment people on how well they look, or express our appreciation for gifts, when we don't really mean it? Surely, these \"nice\" lies are harmless and well intended, a necessary social lubricant. But, like Tom, we should remember the words of English novelist Sir Walter Scott, who wrote, \"What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.\"

11. 我们违心地恭维他人如何漂亮，对收到的礼物表示感激，这种情况是不是早已司空见惯？毫无疑问，这些“善意的谎言”于他人无害且初衷良好，是不可缺少的社交润滑剂。但是，像汤姆一样，我们应该记住英国小说家沃尔特·司各特爵士曾写下的句子：“一朝开口编谎言，此生安宁便无缘。”

Even seemingly harmless falsehoods can have unforeseen consequences. Philosopher Sissela Bok warns us that they can put us on a slippery slope. \"After the first lies, others can come more easily,” she wrote in her book Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life. “Psychological barriers wear down; the ability to make more distinctions can coarsen; the liar's perception of his chances of being caught may warp.\"

12. 即使一些看似无害的谎言也会导致无法预料的后果。哲学家希塞拉·博克警告我们，谎言会使我们一错再错，无法收手。“撒过头几次谎后，后面的谎言就会来得更容易了，”她在《撒谎——公众场合和私人生活中的道德选择》一书中写道，“心理障碍渐渐克服；分辨是非曲直的能力会变得迟钝；撒谎人对谎言可能被揭穿这一常识的认知也会扭曲。”

Take the pumpkin pie lies. In the first place, it wasn't just that he wanted his mother-in-law to feel good. Whether he realized it or not, he really wanted her to think highly of him. And after the initial deceit he needed to tell more lies to cover up the first one.

13. 再以南瓜馅饼的谎言为例。首先，汤姆撒谎不仅仅是想让岳母感觉良好。无论自己是否意识到，汤姆其实是希望岳母对他有好感。撒了第一个谎之后，他需要用更多的谎言来掩盖第一个谎言。

Who believes it anymore when they're told that the person they want to reach by phone is \"in a meeting\"? By itself, that kind of lie is of no great consequence. Still, the endless proliferation of these little prevarications does matter.

14. 现在有谁还相信他们打电话要找的人“在开会”？就其本身而言，那种谎话无伤大雅。然而，这种小谎言无休无止地扩散的确会引起严重的问题。

Once they've become common enough, even the small untruths that are not meant to hurt encourage a certain cynicism and loss of trust. \"When (trust) is damaged,” warns Bok, “the community as a whole suffers; and when it is destroyed, societies falter and collapse.\"

15. 谎言一旦泛滥，即使并无恶意的谎话也会使人们变得多少有些悲观怀疑，不再彼此信任。博克告诫说：“一旦信任被破坏，整个社区就会受害；一旦信任被摧毁，社会就会动摇并崩溃。”

Are all white lies to be avoided at all costs? Not necessarily. The most understandable and forgivable lies are an exchange of what ethicists refer to as the principle of trust for the principle of caring, \"like telling children about the tooth fairy, or deceiving someone to set them up for a surprise party,\" Josephson says. \"Still, we must ask ourselves if we are willing to give our friends and associates the authority to lie to us whenever they think it is for our own good.\"

16. 那是不是连善意的谎言都不能说，哪怕要付出极大的代价？那倒未必。那些最能令人谅解的谎话是将道德学家们所谓的信任原则替换为关怀原则，“比如给孩子们讲牙仙女的故事，或是瞒骗某人以便给他一个惊喜聚会。”约瑟夫森说，“即使这样，我们也必须扪心自问，是否乐意给朋友和同事向我们说谎的权利，只要他们自己认为是为我们好就可以？”

Josephson suggests a simple test. If someone you lie to finds out the truth, will he thank you for caring? Or will he feel his long-term trust in you has been under-mined?

17. 约瑟夫森推荐了一个简单的测试方法。如果别人发现你对他撒谎，他是会感激你为他着想呢，还是会觉得长期以来他对你的信任遭到了破坏呢?

And if you're not sure, Mark Twain has given us a good rule of thumb. \"When in doubt, tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends.\"

18. 如果你没有把握，马克·吐温给过我们一条经验法则：“拿不准的时候，就实话实说。实话会迷惑敌人，震惊朋友。”

7、The Chaser解酒水

1 Alan Austen, as nervous as a kitten, went up certain dark and creaky stairs in the neighborhood of Pell Street, and peered about for a long time on the dim hallway before he found the name he wanted written obscurely on one of the doors.

2 He pushed open this door, as he had been told to do, and found himself in a tiny room, which contained no furniture but a plain kitchen table, a rocking-chair, and an ordinary chair. On one of the dirty buff-coloured walls were a couple of shelves, containing in all perhaps a dozen bottles and jars.

艾伦·奥斯丁，紧张得像只小猫，心里七上八下、忐忑不安的进了裴尔街区的一个楼道，黑乎乎的楼梯咯吱咯吱直响。他在昏暗的平台上停了下来，仔细张望了许久，才看到了那扇门，门上那个模糊不清的名字正是他要找的。

按别人说的，他推开了门，门里面是一间很小的屋子，屋里几乎没什么家具，除了一张餐桌，一把摇椅，还有一把普普通通的椅子。一面脏乎乎的暗黄色的墙上搁着两个架子，架子上陈列着十几个瓶瓶罐罐。一位老人正坐在摇椅上，看着报纸。艾伦一言不发把别人给的那张卡片递给了老人。

3 An old man sat in the rocking-chair, reading a newspaper. Alan, without a word, handed him the card he had been given. “Sit down, Mr. Austen,” said the old man very politely. “I am glad to make your acquaintance.”

4 “Is it true,” asked Alan, “that you have a certain mixture that has … er … quite extraordinary effects?”

5 “My dear sir,” replied the old man, “my stock in trade is not very large — I don’t deal in laxatives and teething mixtures — but such as it is, it is varied. I think nothing I sell has effects which could be precisely described as ordinary.”

6 “Well, the fact is …” began Alan.

7 “Here, for example,” interrupted the old man, reaching for a bottle from the shelf. “Here is a liquid as colourless as water, almost tasteless, quite imperceptible in coffee, wine, or any other beverage. It is also quite imperceptible to any known method of autopsy.”

8 “Do you mean it is a poison?” cried Alan, very much horrified.

9 “Call it a glove-cleaner if you like,” said the old man indifferently. “Maybe it will clean gloves. I have never tried. One might call it a life-cleaner. Lives need cleaning sometimes.”

“请坐，艾伦先生，”老人礼貌地说。“很高兴认识你。”

“是真的吗？”艾伦问，“你真有那种药吗，有--嗯—很神奇效果的哪种药吗？”

“我亲爱的先生，”老人回答到，“我这儿的货不是很多—泻药、长牙药我可没有—不过，我的东西虽不多，品种可也不少。而且我的这些药，它的药效，严格来说，可没一

样可以说是普普通通的。”

“嗯，实际上…….”艾伦开口说。

“像这一瓶，” 老人打断艾伦，指着架子上的一瓶药水说，“这瓶药水跟水一样没颜色，也几乎没有味道，掺在水，葡萄酒，或者其它饮料中很难被察觉。就算是进行尸体解剖，就现在所知的方法来说，要发现也很难。”

“你的意思，它是毒药吗？”艾伦惊恐的喊道。

“你要是愿意，称它手套清除剂也可，”老人漠然回答，“也许它可以清除掉手套，我没试过。或者称它生命清除剂也未尝不可，生命有时也需要清除，人类才能得以净化。”

10 “I want nothing of that sort,” said Alan.

11 “Probably it is just as well,” said the old man. “Do you know the price of this? For one teaspoonful, which is sufficient, I ask five thousand dollars. Never less. Not a penny less.”

12 “I hope all your mixtures are not as expensive,” said Alan apprehensively.

13 “Oh dear, no,” said the old man. “It would be no good charging that sort of price for a love potion, for example. Young people who need a love potion very seldom have five thousand dollars. Otherwise they would not need a love potion.”

14 “I am glad to hear that,” said Alan.

15 “I look at it like this,” said the old man. “Please a customer with one article, and he will come back when he needs another. Even if it is more costly. He will save up for it, if necessary.”

16 “So,” said Alan, “you really do sell love potions?”

17 “If I did not sell love potions,” said the old man, reaching for another bottle, “I should not have mentioned the other matter to you. It is only when one is in a position to oblige that one can afford to be so confidential. “

18 “And these potions,” said Alan. “They are not just … just … er …”

“这东西我可一点都不想要，”艾伦说。

“不要更好，”老人说，“你可知道这东西的价格？一茶匙的量，也够用了，我卖五千美元，绝对不能少，一分也不能少。”

“你的药不会都这么贵吧，”艾伦忧心忡忡。

“噢，亲爱的，不全这么贵，”老人说，“像这爱情水，如果我开这么个价，那可不是个好标价。买爱情水的年轻人很少有五千美元的，要不，他们也不会需要爱情水了。”

“听起来真是让人高兴，”艾伦说。

“我这么想来着，”老人说，“要是一样东西让顾客满意了，当他需要其它东西时，就会再回来，即便是更贵的货物，只要是有必要，省吃俭用他也会凑足了钱来买的。”

“那，”艾伦说，“你真有爱情水卖？”

“没爱情水，”老人说，“我会跟你罗嗦那些吗。一个人要是没点能耐，别人怎会这么信任他。”

“那这些药水，”艾伦说，“他们不会只是--只是—嗯—”

19 “Oh, no,” said the old man. “Their effects are permanent, and extend far beyond the mere casual impulse. But they include it. Oh, yes they include it. Bountifully, insistently. Everlastingly.”

20 “Dear me!” said Alan, attempting a look of scientific detachment. “How very interesting!”

21 “But consider the spiritual side,” said the old man.

22 “I do, indeed,” said Alan.

23 “For indifference,” said the old man, “they substitute devotion. For scorn, adoration. Give one tiny measure of this to the young lady — its flavour is imperceptible in orange juice, soup, or cocktails — and however gay and giddy she is, she will change altogether. She will want nothing but solitude and you.”

24 “I can hardly believe it,” said Alan. “She is so fond of parties.”

25 “She will not like them anymore,” said the old man. “She will be afraid of the pretty girls you may meet.”

26 “She will actually be jealous?” cried Alan in a rapture. “Of me?”

27 “Yes, she will want to be everything to you.”

28 “She is, already. Only she doesn’t care about it.”

29 “She will, when she has taken this. She will care intensely. You will be her sole interest in life.”

30 “Wonderful!” cried Alan.

31 “She will want to know all you do,” said the old man. “All that has happened to you during the day. Every word of it. She will want to know what you are thinking about, why you smile suddenly, why you are looking sad.”

32 “That is love!” cried Alan.

“哦，不会，”老人说，“药效会持久存在，服了这药水，他的爱情之水将会绵绵不断如滔滔江水，偶尔心头掠过的那爱的小浪花，只会是那其中的沧海一粟，当然这种偶尔的爱的浪花自然也有，哦，是，当然包括在内。但他们会源源不断，持之以恒，经久不衰的。”

“哦，天哪！”艾伦说，竭力摆出一副置身之外的神态，“那真太有趣了！”

“你再想想精神方面！”老人说。

“好，我会。“艾伦说。

“她对你不会再漠不关心，”老人说，“却是忠心耿耿。也不会再吹毛求疵而是柔情蜜意。年轻的姑娘只要吃过这么一小点儿爱情水---掺在橙汁、汤汁或是鸡尾酒中，丝毫闻不出味道---不管她之前多会寻欢作乐，吃过后，就会像变了个人似的。什么都不会想，什么都不会要，只会想一个人跟你呆着。”

“真让人难以相信，”艾伦说，“她可喜欢呼朋唤友了。”

“以后她不会喜欢了，”老人说，“她会担心，你在聚会上会碰到漂亮姑娘。”

“她真会嫉妒吗？”艾伦欣喜若狂，“会为我吗？”

“会的，她会希望，对于你来说，她就是你的一切。”

“她已经是我的一切了，早就是了，只是她不在乎而已。”

“服了爱情水后，她会在乎的你，会非非常常在乎你的。你将会是她生命中唯一的乐趣。” “太棒了！”艾伦叫道。

“她会想知道你所做的一切，”老人说，“当天你所发生的一切，字字句句都想知道。她会想知道你在想些什么，为什么你突然笑了，为什么你会看上去很伤心。”

“这就是爱情！”艾伦叫道。

33 “Yes,” said the old man. “How carefully she will look after you! She will never allow you to be tired, to sit in a draught, to neglect your food. If you are an hour late, she will be terrified. She will think you are killed, or that some siren has caught you.”

34 “I can hardly imagine Diana like that!” cried Alan, overwhelmed with joy.

35 “You will not have to use your imagination,” said the old man. “And, by the way, since there are always sirens, if by any chance you should, later on, slip a little, you need not worry. She will forgive you, in the end. She will be terribly hurt, of course, but she will forgive you — in the end.”

36 “That will not happen,” said Alan fervently.

37 “Of course not,” said the old man. “But, if it did, you need not worry. She would never divorce you. Oh, no! And, of course, she will never give you the least, the very least, grounds for —uneasiness.”

38 “And how much,” said Alan, “is this wonderful mixture?”

39 “It is not as dear,” said the old man, “as the glove-cleaner, or life-cleaner, as I sometimes call it. No. That is five thousand dollars, never a penny less. One has to be older than you are, to indulge in that sort of thing. One has to save up for

it.”

“对，是爱情，”老人答，“她对你的照顾将会是那样的无微不至！她绝不会让你累着，绝不会让你在风口坐着，对你的饮食她也丝毫不会有疏忽。如果你迟到半小时，她会惶恐不安，担心你是不是被杀了，是不是被哪个狐狸精给迷住了。”

“真难想像戴安娜会成哪样！”艾伦喜不自禁。

“你不需要发挥你的想象力，”老人说，“另外，还有，因为这世上总是不乏狐媚妖艳的女子，万一你以后稍有放纵，也不用担心，最终她会原谅你的。当然，那是会带给她很大的伤害，但最后她还是会原谅你。”

“不会发生那样的事，”艾伦激动地说。

“当然不会，”老人说，“不过，即便发生了，你也用不着担心。她永远不会背弃你，噢，绝对不会！而且，她也绝对不会给你造成一点，一点点的不快。”

“那要多少钱，”艾伦问，“你这神奇的药水。“

“没那个贵，”老人答，“那个手套清除剂，或者我有时会叫它，生命清除剂。没它贵，那要五千美元，绝不能少给一分钱。能奢侈一下买这种药水的，年龄肯定比你大。得存上点钱才买得起这个。”

“那爱情水呢？”艾伦问。

40 “But the love potion?” said Alan.

41 “Oh, that,” said the old man, opening the drawer in the kitchen table, and taking out a tiny, rather dirty-looking phial. “That is just a dollar.”

42 “I can’t tell you how grateful I am,” said Alan, watching him fill it.

43 “I like to oblige,” said the old man. “Then customers come back, later in life, when they are better off, and want more expensive things. Here you are. You will find it very effective.”

44 “Thank you again,” said Alan. “Good-bye.”

45 “Au revoir,” said the man.

“哦，这个，”老人答到，一边拉开餐桌抽屉，拿出一个看上去又脏又小的药水瓶，“这只要一美元。”

“真不知道该怎么感谢你，”艾伦，看着老人把药水灌进小瓶，说。

“我非常乐意为你们效劳，”老人回道，“那么，如果你们以后生活宽裕点了，才会再回来购卖一些更贵的东西。拿好了，它的药效非常好，这点你以后会知道的。”

“谢谢你，”艾伦说，“再见。”

“Au revoir，（再见）”老人说。

8、Knowledge and Wisdom论知识与智慧

1 Most people would agree that, although our age far surpasses all previous ages in knowledge, there has been no correlative increase in wisdom. But agreement ceases as soon as we attempt to define “wisdom” and consider means of promoting it. I want to ask first what wisdom is, and then what can be done to teach it.

我们的时代在知识方面远远超过过去所有时代，在智慧方面却没有得到相应的增加，这是大多数人都会同意的看法。但一旦我试图定义“智慧”并思考增进它的方法，人们就会有不同意见了。我想问的问题首先是何为智慧，其次是传授智慧的方法。

2 There are, I think, several factors that contribute to wisdom. Of these I should put first a sense of proportion: the capacity to take account of all the important factors in a problem and to attach to each its due weight. This has become more difficult than it used to be owing to the extent and complexity of the specialized knowledge required of various kinds of technicians. Suppose, for example, that you are engaged in research in scientific medicine. The work is difficult and is likely to absorb the whole of your intellectual energy. You have not time to consider the effect which your discoveries or inventions may have outside the field of medicine. You succeed (let us say), as modern medicine has succeeded, in enormously lowering the infant death-rate, not only in Europe and America, but also in Asia and Africa. This has the entirely unintended result of making the food supply inadequate and lowering the standard of life in the most populous parts of the world. To take an even more spectacular example, which is in everybody's mind at the present time: You study the composition of the atom from a disinterested desire for knowledge, and incidentally place in the hands of powerful lunatics the

means of destroying the human race3. In such ways the pursuit of knowledge may become harmful unless it is combined with wisdom; and wisdom in the sense of comprehensive vision is not necessarily present in specialists in the pursuit of knowledge.

我想，构成智慧有几种要素，其中须置于首位的是比例感：将问题的所有重要因素都考虑进去并掂量每个因素应有的分量的能力。鉴于各类技术员所需的专门知识的范围和复杂程度，这种能力变得比过去更难具备。比如，假设你从事医科，这份工作本身很难做，可能会耗费你的全部智能。你没有时间去考虑你的发现或发明可能带来的医学领域以外的影响。你成功了（我们假设），正如现代医学所做到的：婴儿死亡率不仅在欧美而且在亚非也大大降低了。但完全非你所愿的结果产生了：在世界人口最为稠密的地区，食物供应匮乏，生活水平下降。再举一个甚至更为引人注目的例子，当前人们都在关注此事：你渴望探求知识，不带功利性地去研究原子结构，却意外地将摧毁人类的手段置于狂人手中。因此，知识如果不与智慧同在，对知识的追求就能变得有危害性；就全方位来看，追求知识的专家们并不一定具备智慧。

3 Comprehensiveness alone, however, is not enough to constitute wisdom. There must be, also, a certain awareness of the ends of human life. This may be illustrated by the study of history. Many eminent historians have done more harm than good because they viewed facts through the distorting medium of their own passions. Hegel had a philosophy of history which did not suffer from any lack of comprehensiveness, since it started from the earliest times and continued into an indefinite future. But the chief lesson of history which he sought to inculcate was that from the year 400AD down to his own time Germany had been the most important nation and the standard-bearer of progress in the world. Perhaps one

could stretch the comprehensiveness that constitutes wisdom to include not only intellect but also feeling. It is by no means uncommon to find men whose knowledge is wide but whose feelings are narrow. Such men lack what I call wisdom.

然而，仅有综合能力还不足以构成智慧，还必须加上对人生目的的某种意识。这一点可以在历史研究中得到说明。许多杰出的历史学家干的坏事多于好事，因为他们是通过自己的热情这种扭曲性媒介观察事实的。黑格尔的历史哲学始于亘古，止于无穷未来，也不是不缺乏综合观，但他努力想要说明的历史教义主要是从公元400年到自己的年代，德国一直都是最为重要的民族以及世界进步的标准榜样。或许构成智慧的综合概念可以延伸，它不仅涵盖智力而且还包括感情。知识面宽但感觉迟钝的人不是不常见。这样的人缺少我认为的智慧。

4 It is not only in public ways, but in private life equally, that wisdom is needed. It is needed in the choice of ends to be pursued and in emancipation from personal prejudice. Even an end which it would be noble to pursue if it were attainable may be pursued unwisely if it is inherently impossible of achievement. Many men in past ages devoted their lives to a search for the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life. No doubt, if they could have found them, they would have conferred great benefits upon mankind, but as it was their lives were wasted. To descend to less heroic matters, consider the case of two men, Mr. A and Mr. B, who hate each other and, through mutual hatred, bring each other to destruction. Suppose you go to Mr. A and say, “Why do you hate Mr. B?” He will no doubt give you an appalling list of Mr. B's vices, partly true, partly false. And now suppose you go to Mr. B. He will give you an exactly similar list of Mr. A's vices with an equal

admixture of truth and falsehood. Suppose you now come back to Mr. A and say, “You will be surprised to learn that Mr. B says the same things about you as you say about him”, and you go to Mr. B and make a similar speech. The first effect, no doubt, will be to increase their mutual hatred, since each will be so horrified by the other's injustice. But perhaps, if you have sufficient patience and sufficient persuasiveness, you may succeed in convincing each that the other has only the normal share of human wickedness, and that their enmity is harmful to both. If you can do this, you will have instilled some fragments of wisdom.

智慧不仅为公共生活所需，也同样为私人生活所需。选择追求目标，以及从个人偏见中出来，都需要智慧。如果一个目标本身不可能被达到，既便如果它可以被达到的话，追求它的行为一定是高贵的，对这个目标的追求也可能不是明智的，在过去，许多人毕其一生搜寻哲学家的点金石和长生不老药。毫无疑问，如果他们找到了这些东西，他们就为人类谋取了巨大福祉，但事实上，他们浪费了生命。退而说不那么伟大的事情，想想两个人，A先生B先生，他们相互憎恨并通过相互憎恨而相互摧毁。假设你到A先生那里说：“你为什么不喜欢B先生？”他一定会向你数落一大堆B先生的，部分真实、部分虚假。现在，假设你到B先生那里，他会向你数落一大堆A先生的，内容完全一样，真实和虚假的混合程度也完全一样。假设你现在回到A先生那里说：“你会很吃惊，要知道，B先生说你的话跟你说B先生的话是一样的，” 然后, 你到B先生那里发表同样言论。毫无疑问，直接的结果就是他们的相互仇恨程度增加，因为他们每人都为对方的偏颇感到震惊，但或许，如果你有足够的耐心和足够的说服力，你会成功说服他们：对方只不过是有人类的通病，他们的敌意对双方都有损害。如果你能够这样做，你就向他人灌输了点滴的智慧。

5 I think the essence of wisdom is emancipation, as far as possible, from the

tyranny of the here and now. We cannot help the egoism of our senses. Sight and sound and touch are bound up with our own bodies and cannot be impersonal. Our emotions start similarly from ourselves. An infant feels hunger or discomfort, 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 impartiality; and if anyone could, he would hardly be able to remain alive. But it is possible to make a continual approach towards impartiality, 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 impartiality that constitutes growth in wisdom.

我认为智慧的本质就是逃离此时此地的藩篱，越远越好。我们无法遏制感觉的自我性。视力、声音和触觉都捆绑在我们自己的身体上，不可能不被私人化。我们的感情同样始于我们自己。婴儿感觉饥饿和不舒服，他只受自己身体条件的影响。渐渐地，随着年龄的增长，他的视野增加，他的思想和感情变得不那么私人性、更少与自己的身体状况相关，他不断获取智慧。这当然有个程度问题。没有人对世界的看法能够完全客观；即便有这样的人，他也很难存活。但不断接近客观是有可能的，办法是：一方面，了解在时空上多少有些遥远的事物；另一方面，让这些事物在我们的感情中占据应有的分量。就是这种对客观的接近，构成智慧的增加。