-
Best of
times
最好的时代
It
was the best of times, it was the worst of times;
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness; it
was the epoch of
belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was
the season of light, it was the season of
darkness; it was the spring of hope, it
was the winter of despair; we had everything
before us, we had nothing
before us; we
were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going
direct the other way.
Excerpt from
A Tale of Two Cities
by
Charles Dickens
翻译：
< br>这是一个最好的时代，也是一个最坏的时代；这是明智的年代，这是愚昧的年代；这是信任的纪元，
这是怀疑的纪元；这是光明的季节，这是黑暗的季节；这是希望的春日，这是失望的冬日；我们
面前
应有尽有，我们面前一无所有；我们都将直上天堂，我们都将直下地狱
……
《双城记》
注释
wisdom[?
wizd
?
m]:
智慧，明智的行为，学识
epo
ch[?
i:p
?
k,
?
ep
?
k]:
新纪元，时代，时期
incredu
lity[?
inkri?
dju:liti]:
怀疑
despair:
to lose all
hope
绝望，失望
?
作者简介
Charles Dickens (1812-1870),
查尔斯
.
狄更斯，英国大名鼎鼎的作家，是
< br>19
世纪英国现实主义文学
的主要代表人物之一。他笔耕
一生，靠勤奋和汗水创造出《双城记》、《大卫
.
科波菲尔》等
世界
文学名著。其作品在艺术上以妙趣横生的幽默、细致入微的心理分析，以及现实主义
描写与浪漫
主义气氛的有机结合而著称。
英语名段背诵精华
Equality
and greatness
平等与伟大
Between persons of equal income there
is no social distinction except the distinction of
merit. Money is
nothing: character,
conduct, and capacity are everything. Instead of
all the workers being leveled down to
low wage standards and all the rich
leveled up to fashionable income standards,
everybody under a system of
equal
incomes would find her or his own natural level.
There would be great people and ordinary people
and
little people, but the great would
always be those who had done great things, and
never the idiot whose
mothers had
spoiled them and whose fathers had left a hundred
thousand a year; and the little would be
persons of small minds and mean
characters, and not poor persons who had never had
a chance. That is why
idiots are always
in favour of inequality of income (their only
chance of eminence), and the really great in
favour of equality.
By
George Bernard Shaw
翻译：
收入相当的人除了品性迥异以外没有社会差别。金钱不能说明
什么：性格、行为、能力才代表一切。
在收入平等制度下，每个人将会找到她或他正常的
地位，而不是所有的工人被划到应拿低工资阶层，
所有的富人被划到应得高收入的阶层。
人有卓著伟人，平庸之辈和碌碌小人之别，然伟人总是那些有
所建树之人，而非从小深受
母亲溺爱、父亲每年留下一大笔钱之人；碌碌小人总是那些心胸狭窄，品
德卑劣之人，而
不是那些从未获取机会的穷人。愚蠢之众总是赞成收入不平等（他们职能凭借这种机
会才
能为人所知），而真正伟大之人则主张平等相待，原因就在于此。
注释
distinction[dis?ti?k??
n]:
the condition or fact of being
dissimilar or distinct; difference
区别，差别
merit[?
merit]:
功绩，荣誉，价值
eminence
[?
emin
?
ns]:
a position of great distinction or
superiority
卓越
?
作者简介
George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
萧伯纳，
英国戏剧家，
1856
年
7
月
26
日生于爱尔兰都柏林。
1885
年萧伯纳开始戏剧创作。到
1949
年为止，共完成剧本
51
部。
1925
年获得诺贝尔文学奖。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
Great expectation
远大前程
下面这段文字选自查尔斯<
/p>
.
狄更斯的《远大前程》（
1860-1
861
）
As the night
was fast falling, and as the moon, being past the
full, would not rise early, we held a little
council: a short one, for clearly our
course was to lie by at the first lonely tavern we
could find. So, they plied
their oars
once more, and I looked out for anything like a
house. Thus we held on, speaking little, for four
or
five dull miles. It was very cold,
and, a collier coming by us, with her gallery-fire
smoking and flaring,
looked like a
comfortable home. The night was as dark by this
time as it would be until morning; and what
light we had, seemed to come more from
the river than the sky, as the oars in their
dipping stuck at a few
reflected stars.
Except from
Great
Expectations
by Charles Dickens
翻译：
天黑得很快，偏巧这天又是下
弦月，月亮不会很早升起。我们就稍稍商量了一下，可是也用不着多讨
论，因为情况是明
摆着的，再划下去我们一遇到冷落的酒店就得投宿。于是他们又使劲打起浆来，我
则用心
寻找岸上是否隐隐约约有什么房屋的模样。这样又赶了四五英里路，一路上好不气闷，大家简
直不说一句话。天气非常冷，一艘煤船从我们近旁驶过，船上厨房里生着火，炊烟缕缕，火光荧荧，
在我们看来简直就是个安乐家了。这时夜已透黑，看来就要这样一直黑到天明，我们仅有的一点光
亮
似乎不是来自天空，而是来自河上，一桨又一桨的，搅动着那寥寥几颗倒映在水里的寒
星。
注释
council[?
kaunsil]:
讨论，会议
tavern[?
t?v
?
(:)n]:
酒馆，客栈
piled their
oars:
使劲划起桨来
collier[?
k
?
li
?
]:
运煤船
gallery-fire:
厨房
Great expectations,
原意是指一笔遗产，中文译为《远大前程》（也有的译作《孤星血泪》）。
这个
译名给读者一种印象，即作品的主人翁是有远大前程的。而事实上，这个
“
远大前程
”
是带有
讽刺意义
的。这部作品的主题决非仅仅是写孤儿皮普想当上等人的理想幻灭的故事，如果这样理
解
，就领会错了狄更斯创作这部作品的意义。皮普生活在姐姐家里，生活艰苦，他的理想是当一
名像姐夫一样的铁匠，他没有想当上等人。后来他之所以想当上等人是因为环境的改变。狄更斯
的哲学思想之一是环境对人思想的影响。不同的环境可以造就不同的人。皮普的人生发展过程是
符合一般人性理论的。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
The Doer of Deeds
有作为的人
美国前总统尼克松在他的《领导者》（
Leader
）一书中
引用了如下的话：
It is not the
critic who counts, not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of
deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is
actually in the arena, whose face is marred by
dust and sweat and blood;
who strives
valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and
again; because there is not effort without error
and
shortcoming; but who does actually
strive to do the deeds; who knows the great
enthusiasms, the great
devotions; who
spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best
knows in the end the triumphs of high
achievement and who at the worst, if he
fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never
be with
those cold and timid souls who know neither
victory nor defeat.
Except from
The Honorable People
by
Theodore Roosevelt
真正令人尊敬的并非那些评论家和那些指出强
者是如何跌倒、实干家本该做得更好的人。
荣誉属于那些亲临
竞技场，满脸污泥、汗水和鲜血的人。他们不懈地努力，他们曾犯过过错，并一再
失败。
因为付出即意味着犯错和失败。他们满怀激情地努力做事，执着不懈，将生命奉献于崇高的事
业。他们为经过艰辛努力最终取得的伟大成就而自豪，如果失败，他们也败得荣耀。因而，这样的人
永远不应与那些不知道胜利、也从未失败过的冷淡而胆怯的灵魂相提并论
注释
arena[
< br>?
?
ri:n
?
]:
竞技场，舞台
valiantly:
勇猛地，英勇地
enthusiasm[in?θju:zi?z?
m]:
狂热，热心，积极性
作者简介
Theodore
Roosevelt (1858-1919),
西奥多
.<
/p>
罗斯福，政治家，经济学家，美国第
26
届总统。罗斯福
总统是一个热衷于户外生活的人，而在他的全部政策中，保护美国自然资
源的政策具有最持久的
意义。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
Thoughts in a grave yard
墓园沉思
面对墓园那各式各样的十字
架，总会使人思绪无尽。生与死，在永恒的两极相通：正因为人之难免一
死，我们才更感
受到那
“
生命中不可承受之轻
”
的沉重
……
When I look upon the tombs of the
great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I
read the epitaphs of the
beautiful,
even inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with
the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart
melts with compassion; when I see the
tomb of the parents of themselves, I consider the
vanity of grieving
for those whom we
must quickly follow: when I see kings lying by
those who deposed them, when I consider
rival wits placed side by side, or the
holy men that divided the world with their
contests and disputes, I reflect
with
sorrow and astonishment on the little
competitions, factions, and debates of mankind.
When I read the
several dates of the
tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six
hundred years ago, I consider that great
when we shall all of us be
contemporaries, and make our appearance together.
Excerpt from
Westminster
Abbey
by Joseph Addison
翻译：
当我瞻仰伟人的坟墓，心中所有的嫉妒顿时烟消云散；当我读到美人的悼文，所有的非分
之想顷刻
消失殆尽；当我遇见在墓碑旁悲痛欲绝的父母亲，我的心中也满怀同情；当我看
到那些父母亲自己的
坟墓，我不禁感慨：既然我们很快都要追随逝者的脚步，悲伤又有何
用。当我看到国王与那些将他们
废黜的人躺在一起，当我想到那些争斗一生的智者，或是
那些通过竞争和争执将世界分裂的圣人们被
后人并排葬在一起，我对人类的那些微不足道
的竞争、内讧和争论感到震惊和悲伤。当我看到一些坟
墓上的日期，有的死于昨日，而有
的死于六百年前，我不禁想到，有那么一天我们都会在同一个时代
同时出现在世人眼前。
注释
in
ordinate[in?
?
:dinit]:
exceeding reasonable limits;
immoderate
过分的，无节制的
depose[di?
p
?
uz]
: to remove from office or
power
免职；废黜
作者简介
Joseph
Addison (1672-1719)
约瑟夫
.
艾迪生，英国散文家、诗人、剧作家及政治家。艾迪生的名字
在文学史上
常常与他的好朋友理查德
.
斯蒂尔一起被提起，两人最重要的贡
献是创办两份著名的杂
志《闲谈者》与《旁观者》。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
I have
as much soul as you
我的心灵一样丰富
这段文字是无需多言的绝对经典。
nothing to you? Do you think
I am an automaton?--a machine without feelings?
and can bear to have my
morsel of bread snatched from my lips,
and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do
you think,
because I am poor, obscure,
plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless?
You think wrong!--I have as much
soul
as you,--and full as much heart! And if God had
gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I
should
have made it as hard for you to
leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am
not talking to you now
through the
medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of
mortal flesh;--it is my spirit that addresses your
spirit; just as if both has passed
through the grave, and we stood at God's feet,
equal,--as we are!
Excerpt from
Jane Eyre
by Charlotte
Bronte
翻译：
“
我告诉你我非走不可！
”
我回驳着，感情很有些冲动。
“
你难道认为，我会留下来甘愿
做一个对你来
说无足轻重的人？你以为我是一架机器
——
一架没有感情的机器？能够容忍别人把一口面包从我嘴
里抢走，
把一滴生命之水从我杯子里泼掉？难道就因为我一贫如洗、
默默无闻、
长相平庸、
个子瘦小，
就没有灵魂和心
肠了？你想错了！我的心灵跟你一样丰富，我的心胸跟你一样充实！要是上帝赐予我
一点
姿色和财富，我会使你难以离开我，就像现在我很难离开你一样。我不是根据习俗、常规，甚至
< br>也不是血肉之躯同你说话，而是我的灵魂同你的灵魂在对话，就仿佛我们两人穿过坟墓，站在上帝脚
下，彼此平等，本来就如此！
”
?
注释
<
/p>
retort[ri?
t
?
:t]:
to present a counterargument
to
反驳，反击
automaton[
?
:?
t
?
m
?
< br>t
?
n]:
机器人
morsel[?
m
?
:s
?
l]:
a small piece of
food
（食物）一口，少量
snatch[sn?t
?
]:
攫取
dash:
泼溅
mortal[?
m
?
:tl]:
人类的
obscu
re[
?
b?
skju
?
]:
of undistinguished
or humble station or reputation
身份卑微的
conventiona
lity[k
?
n?
ven
??
?
n?liti]:
the rules of conventional social
behavior
惯例，俗套，老一套
grave:
墓穴，坟墓
?
作者简介
Charlotte Bronte (1816-1854)
夏洛蒂
.
勃朗特的《简
.
爱》通过简
.
爱的自述，描绘了一个出身贫苦家<
/p>
庭、长相平凡、无依无靠的家庭女教师的曲折遭遇。简成为纯洁、热情、坦率、爱好真理、
敢于
追求幸福的女性的象征，因而形象鲜明。作品成功之处还在于作者对人性的描述中，
我们隐约看
到了自己或卑劣或美丽的人性，而觉得心有戚戚焉。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
Letter
to a Young Friend
给年轻朋友的一封信
婚姻就像个杯子，提供个容器，把男人和女人放在一起，依靠相互的渗透，让这本来很苦的生
活散出
点香味儿来。
My dear
friend
I know of no Medicine fit to
diminish the violent natural inclination you
mention; and if I did, I think I
should
not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper
Remedy. It is the most natural State of Man, and
therefore the state in which you will
find solid Happiness. Your Reason against entering
into it at present
appears to be not
well founded. The Circumstantial Advantages you
have in view by Postponing it, are not
only uncertain, but they are small in
comparison with the Thing itself, the being
married and settled. It is the
Man and
Woman united that makes the complete human Being,
Separate she wants his force of Body and
Strength of Reason; he her Softness,
Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they
are most likely to
succeed in the
World. A single man has not nearly the value he
would have in that State of Union. He is an
incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd
Half of a Pair of Scissors.
If you get
a prudent, health wife, your Industry in your
Profession, with her good Economy, will be a
Fortune
sufficient.
Your
Affectionate Friend
Except
from
Advice
to
a
Friend
on
Choosing
a
Mistress
by
Benjamin
Franklin
翻译：
亲爱的朋友：
我知道没有药物能够消
除你们所提到的那种疯狂的自然倾向；
即使我知道
,
我想我也不该告诉你。
婚姻
是适当的药物。它是人
类最本能的状态
,
因此是一种最幸福的生活状态。你拒绝现在
进入婚姻殿堂的
理由显的不够充分。你认为推迟婚姻可能存在好处，不仅不一定实现，而
且，那些利益跟婚姻本身以
及婚后的安定相比起来就微不足道了。男人和女人只有联合起
来才能组成完整的人。女人缺乏男人的
力量和周密的推理，而男人缺乏女人的温柔、感性
和敏锐的洞察力。因此当男人和女人联合起来，就
能够无往不胜。单身和离婚生活的男男
女女不可能具有婚姻生活中的价值，是一种不完善的动物。他
简直好比半把剪刀
--
孤掌难鸣。
如果
你拥有一位健康而谨慎的妻子，你的辛勤工作，加上她的勤俭节约，必定会创造充足的财富。
您真挚的朋友
注释
circumstantial advantages:
可能的利益
he her softness:
男人缺乏女人的温柔
作者简介
Benjamin
Franklin (1706-1790)
本杰明
.
富兰克林，资本主义精神最完美的代表，
18
世
纪美国最伟大
的科学家，著名的政治家和文学家。独立战争爆发后，他参加了第二届大陆
会议和《独立宣言》
的起草工作。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
The
meaning of life
生命的意义
生命的意义是什么？这似乎已成为千古的话题，每个人在无意间或寂寞时往往会想起这个永恒的话
题。这是许多人共有的心路历程。
Life
is never just being. It is becoming, a relentless
flowing on. Our parents live on through us, and we
will
live on through our children. The
institutions we build endure, and we will endure
through them. The beauty
we fashion
cannot be dimmed by death. Our flesh may perish,
our hands will wither, but that which they
create in beauty and goodness and truth
lives on for all time to come.
Don't
spend and waste your lives accumulating objects
that will only turn to dust and ashes. Pursue not
so
much the material as the ideal, for
ideals alone invest life with meaning and are of
enduring worth. Add love
to a house and
you have a home. Add righteousness to a city and
you have a community. Add truth to a pile
of red brick and you have a school. Add
religion to the humblest of edifices and you have
a sanctuary. Add
justice to the far-
flung round of human endeavor and you have
civilization. Put them all together, exalt them
above their present imperfections, add
to them the vision of humankind redeemed, forever
free of need and
strife and you have a
future lighted with the radiant colors of hope.
By J. B. Priestly
翻译：
生命从来不仅仅是存在。它是
一个逐渐变化发展的过程，它无情地流逝着。我们的父母通过我们
二延续生命，而我们则
通过我们的子女而延续它。我们建立的制度、习俗会延续下去，而我们也
会通过他们延续
。我们创造的美丽不会因死亡而变得暗淡。我们的肉体可能会消亡，我们的双手
将干枯，
但是人们用美丽、善良和正直所创造的一切将永葆生机。
不要
消耗并浪费你的生命去积累那些只会化作尘土与灰烬的东西。不要过分地追求物质，而是应
将理想作为目标，只有理想才能赋予生命以意义并具有历久不衰的价值。将爱赋予一座房子，你
便会拥有一个家。将正义赋予一座城市，你将赢得全城的居民。将真理赋予那一堆红砖，你便拥
有一所学校。给最简陋的大厦添加宗教信仰，你便拥有一座圣殿。将公正赋予久远而漫长的整个<
/p>
人类事业，你会拥有文明。把上面这些汇合成一个整体，改善他们目前尚不完善的方面，赋
予到
人类赎罪自新的憧憬里，使其永远地摆脱贫困和争斗的煎熬，这样，你会拥有一个被
绚丽希望点
亮的未来。
注释
relentless[ri?
lentlis]:
无情的，不宽容的
per
ish[?
peri
?
]:
t
使毁灭；摧毁
edifice[?
edifis]:
大厦，大建筑物
san
ctuary[?s??ktju?
ri]:
避难所
exalt[ig?
z
?
:lt,eg-]:
加强，增加
…
…
的效果或加强
……
，增高
作者简介
John
Boynton Priestley (1894-1984)
< br>约翰
.
博因顿
.
普里斯特利
（
1894-1984
）
，
英国剧作家、
小说家、
批评家，其作品广泛为英语国家所知。
1929
年出版代表作流浪汉小说《好伙伴》，
1931
年与诺布
洛克合作将其改编成同名剧本，后又拍成影片，并于
1974
年改编为音乐剧，于是成为当时最有吸
引力的剧作家之一。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
Did You Deal With Fortune Fairly
你对命运公平吗
你是否感叹过命运对
你不公？你是否从未想过
—
站在命运的立场上
< br>—
问问自己：你对命运公平吗？
Most people complain of fortune, few of
nature; and the kinder they think the latter has
been to them, the
more they murmur at
what they call the injustice of the former.
Why have not I the riches, the rank,
the power, of such and such, is the common
expostulation with fortune;
but why
have not I the merit, the talents, the wit, or the
beauty, of such and such others, is a reproach
rarely
or never made to nature.
The truth is, that nature, seldom
profuse, and seldom niggardly, has distributed her
gifts more equally than
she is
generally supposed to have done. Education and
situation make the great difference. Culture
improves,
and occasions elicit, natural
talents. I make no doubt but that there are
potentially, if I may use that pedantic
word, many Bacons, Lockes, Newtons,
Caesars, Cromwells, and Mariboroughs at the
ploughtail, behind
counters, and,
perhaps, even among the nobility; but the soil
must be cultivated, and the season favourable,
for the fruit to have all its spirit
and flavour.
If sometimes our common
parent has been a little partial, and not kept the
scales quite even; if one
preponderates
too much, we throw into the lighter a due
counterpoise of vanity, which never fails to set
all
right. Hence it happens, that
hardly any one man would, without reverse, and in
every particular, change with
any
other.
Though all are thus satisfied
with the dispensations of nature, how few listen
to her voice! How to follow her
as a
guide! In vain she points out to us the plain and
direct way to truth, vanity, fancy, affection, and
fashion
assume her shape, and wind us
through fairy-ground to folly and error.
Except from
Upon
Affectation
by Lord Chesterfield
翻译：很多人抱怨命运，却很少有人抱怨自然；人们越是认为自然对他们仁爱有加，便越是嘀咕命运<
/p>
对他们的所谓不公。
人们常常对命运发
出诘难：我为何没有财富、地位、权力以及诸如此类的东西；但人们却很少或从不
这样责
怪过自然：我为何没有长处、天赋、机智或美丽以及诸如此类的东西。
事实是，自然总是将天赋公平地分配给人们，比人们通常认为的还要不偏不倚，很少过分地慷慨，也
很少吝啬。人与人之间的巨大差异是由于教育和环境使然。文化修养改良了天赋，机遇环境诱
发了天
赋。如果允许我用
“
潜在的
”
这个学究味浓重的词的话，我们并不怀疑在农田耕作，在柜台后营
业，甚
至在豪门贵族中间有很多潜在的培根们、洛克们、牛顿们、凯撒们、克伦威尔们和
马尔伯勒们；但是
要使果实具有它全部的品质和风味，还必须有耕耘过的泥土，必须有适
宜的季节。
倘若大自然有时候有那么一点偏心，没有将天平摆
正；倘若有一头过重，我们就会在轻的一头投上一
枚大小适当的虚荣的砝码，它每次都会
将天平重新调平，从不出差错。因此就出现了这种情况：几乎
没有人会毫无保留地和另一
个人里里外外全部对换一下。虽然对于自然的分配，人人都感到满意；然
而肯听听她的忠
告的人却是如此之少
!
能将她当作向导而跟随其后的人又是如此
之少
!
她徒然地为我们
指出一条通向真
理的笔直的坦途；而虚荣、幻想、矫情、时髦却俨然以她的面貌出现，
By Winston Churchill
注释
niggardly
[?
nig
?
dli]:
吝啬的，小气的
pedantic
[pi?
d?ntik]:
迂腐的，学究式的
preponderate [pri?
p
?
nd
?
reit]:
占优势的，超过，胜过
counterpoise [?
k
aunt
?
p
?
iz]:
平均，平衡
dispensation [?
dispen?
sei
??
n]:
the
act of dispensing
分配
?
作者简介
Lord
Chesterfield (1694-1773),
切
斯特菲尔德勋爵，
英国著名政治家、
外交家及文学家。
他曾就读
于剑桥大学，并游学欧洲大陆，
172
6
年继承爵位，
1728
年出使荷兰，
曾任爱尔兰总督及国务大臣
等职位。并与他同时代的文学家波普、艾略特、爱迪生、斯威
夫特等国王甚密。切斯特菲尔德勋
爵留给世人最宝贵的财富，是他集几十年的心血，写个
儿子菲利普
.
斯坦霍普及教子的信。在他的
谆谆教诲下，其子也成为一名杰出的外交家。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
Three
passions
三种激情
三种激
情，质朴而又十分强烈，一直支配着我的人生，即对爱的渴望、对知识的求索和对人类苦难的
无限怜悯。当我读到这一句，我就深深为之吸引了。
Three passions, simple but
overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the
longing for love, the search
for
knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering
of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have
blown me hither and thither, in a
wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish,
reaching to the very verge
of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it
brings ecstasy -- ecstasy so great that I would
often have sacrificed all the
rest of
my life for a few hours for this joy. I have
sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness --
that terrible
loneliness in which one
shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the
world into the cold unfathomable
lifeless abyss. I have sought it,
finally, because in the union of love I have seen,
in a mystic miniature, the
prefiguring
vision of the heaven that saints and poets have
imagined. This is what I sought, and though it
might seem too good for human life,
this is what -- at last --I have found.
With equal passion I have sought
knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts
of men. I have wished to
know why the
stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the
Pythagorean power by which number holds
sway above the flux. A little of this,
but not much, I have achieved.
Love and
knowledge, so far as they were possible, led
upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought
me back to earth. Echoes of cries of
pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine,
victims tortured by
oppressors,
helpless old people a hated burden to their sons,
and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and
pain make a mockery of what human life
should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I
cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been
my life. I have found it worth living, and would
gladly live it again if the chance were offered
me.
Except from
What I Have Lived For
by
Bertrand Russell
翻译：
有三种质朴而又十分强烈的激情一直支配着我的人生，这就是对爱的渴望、对知识的求索和对人类苦
难的无限怜悯。这三种激情，有如狂飙挟我四海漂泊，游移不定，直至苦海的深渊，濒临绝望
的边缘。
我寻求爱，首先在于爱能带来狂喜
< br>—
它是如此令人心醉神迷，我愿舍弃余生来换取在片刻的欢乐；我
寻求爱，还因为爱你消除孤独
—
那种当一个颤抖的灵魂
从世界的边缘透视那冰冷、荒凉的无尽深渊时
感到的那种孤独；此外，我所以寻求爱，还
因为在爱的交融中，我看见了圣者和诗人所预想的天堂景
象的神秘缩影，这正是我心中之
所求，虽然人生似乎难臻此境，我最终却不负所求。
我怀着同
样的激情来探索知识。我希望能够理解众人之心，我渴望了解星星缘何闪光，我也曾努力领
会毕达哥拉斯赋予数的力量
—
主宰万物流变之力。我虽未创斐
然之绩，却也还算小有所成。
爱和知识竭力引导着我超凡入圣
，但怜悯又把我拉回了凡尘。声声悲号在我心中回响不绝。饥饿的孩
子、惨遭压迫的苦难
者、因依附儿子而被视为可憎重负的无助老人以及整个孤独、贫闲好痛苦的世界
是对人们
理想人生的嘲讽。我渴望减轻罪恶，却又无能为力，我也同样感到痛苦。
这就是我的人生。我觉得自己并未虚度此生，若有可能，我将欣然再一次度过如此人生。
注释
Unbearable
无法忍受的
hither and
thither
到处
wayward
人性的
anguish
痛苦，苦恼
verge
边缘
ecstasy
[?
ekst
?
si]:
intense joy or delight
欣喜若狂
unfathomable
[
?
n?
f??
?
m
?
bl]:
深不可测的
abyss
深渊
miniature [?
minj
?
t
??
]:
缩影，缩图
prefigure
预示，设想
alleviate
减轻
Pythagorean [pai?θ?g?
?
ri:
?
n]:
毕达哥拉斯式的
flux
[fl
?
ks]:
不断变化，波动
famine [?
f?min]:
极度饥饿；饥饿
reverberate
反响
oppressor
压迫者
mockery
嘲笑
?
作者简介
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
罗素，
20
世纪著名的数学家、逻辑学家和哲学家。无数人将
罗素视
为这个时代的先知，而与此同时罗素的许多政治立场却有是十分有争议性的。他出
生于
1872
年正值
巅峰的大英帝国，
逝于
1970
年，此时的英国已经历两次世界大战的摧残，帝国
已经土崩瓦解。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
Advice
to Youth
忠告年轻人
刚刚
走上社会的年轻人，
充满了蓄势待发的豪情、
青春的朝气、
前卫的思想，
梦想着轰轰烈烈的事业。
可是
，社会毕竟是一所包罗万象、喧嚣复杂的大学校，拒绝虚假和肤浅，更拒绝空想和庸碌。如何在
< br>涉世之初少走弯路，有一个好的开端，开始一番成功的事业》？
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
ru
n, 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
翻译：
被告知将要在此演讲，我询问
应该说哪种话才合适宜。他们说我演讲的内容应该适合年轻人
—
具
有教育意义，或者能提出些善意的忠告。正如，我脑中有一些想法，一直希望能表达出
来，对年
轻人进行教育；因为在年轻时，这些事情最能深扎心底，最为持久，最为珍贵。
首先，我要告诉
你们，我年轻的朋友
—
我恳切地说，当父母在世时，永远遵从他们的要求，从长远来看这是最佳
法则，因为你不
这样做，他们也会迫使你去做。大部分父母认为，他们比你了解得更多，一般来
说相信这
一点会比照自己的判断行事更奏效。
尊敬长辈（若家中有老人
），尊重陌生人，有时也要尊重他人。如果有人攻击你，你要考虑清楚
人家是有意还是无
意的，不要采取极端措施；仅仅看准时机，用砖头予以回击，这样足矣。如果
你发现他并
非有心攻击你，那么你坦率地承认自己打他是不应该的；像个男子汉承认自己并不是
有意
的。是的，应该避免诉诸暴力行为；在与人为善、厚道谦和的年代，为这种事情计较的同时，
时间也会慢慢流逝。让身份低贱、没有受过教育的人去动手动脚吧。
早睡早起
—
这是明智之举。有些权威人士说与日同起
，有些人说与这样事物同起，有些人说与那
样事物同起。但是百灵鸟真的是最佳的同起之
物。所有人知道你伴着百灵鸟起床，你会因此声名
鹊起：如果你得到合适的百灵鸟，用正
确的方法调教，那么可以轻易地训练它在九点半起床，每
次
—<
/p>
不骗你。
注释
beseechingly
[bi?
si:t
???li]:
恳求地
superstition [?
sju:p
?
?
sti
??
n]:
迷信
dynamite
[?
dain
?
mait]:
炸药，充满火药味的（东西）
lark [la:k]:
云雀，百灵鸟，
?
作者简介
Mark
Twain
(1835-1910),
马克<
/p>
.
吐温，美国批判现实主义文学的奠基人，世界著名的短篇小说大
师。他经历了美国从自由资本主义到帝国主义的发展过程，其思想和创作也表现为从轻快
调侃到
辛辣讽刺再到悲观厌世的发展阶段。其作品文字清新有力，审视角度自然而独特，
被视为美国文
学史上具划时代意义的现实主义著作。
英语名篇名段背诵精华
The joys of writing