雙語勵志美文：爲了自由，冒險又何妨

摘錄：人們的生存在過去很長一段時間都不曾像現在這樣遭到威脅。但如果我們能夠避開這些混亂的侵擾，爲人類創造性的智慧創造空間，我們就能感到自己已經爲推動人類前進的步伐盡了綿薄之力。

The philosopher George Santayana, at the age of eighty-eight, admitted that things no longer seemed so simple to him as they did fifty years ago.

Even those of us who have not reached Mr. Santayana’s age must share that feeling; but we must act by the best light we have, hoping that the light will grow brighter- and we have reason to hope it will, so long as men remain free to think. The most important thing in the world, I believe, is the freedom of the mind. All progress, and all other freedoms, spring from that.、

哲學家喬治·桑塔亞那在八十八歲高齡時坦言在他眼裏事物不再像五十年前那麼簡單。

我們當中那些即使未到桑塔亞那先生那個年紀的人一定也有同感，但我們必須在最充足的光線下活動，並且希望光線會更明亮——只要人類仍然有思想的自由，我們有理由希望它會更明亮。我相信世上最重要的事情是思想的自由，所有的進步及其他一切自由皆源於此。

It is a dangerous freedom, but this is a dangerous world. You cannot think right without running the risk of thinking wrong; but for any evils that may come from thinking, the cure is more thinking. Over much of the world, at present, the freedom of the mind is suppressed.

We have got to preserve it here, despite the efforts of very earnest men to suppress it—men who say, and perhaps believe, that they are actuated by patriotism, but who are doing their best to destroy the liberties which above all are what the United States of America has meant, to its people and to humanity.

這種自由是危險的，但這個世界本身就危險。不冒犯錯誤的風險就無法正確地思考，但是對於任何思想可能帶來的邪惡，治療的藥方是進一步思考。目前世界上許多地方思想的自由受到壓制。

我們必須在這裏保留思想的自由，即使有些一本正經的人竭力遏制它——這些人口口聲聲說他們這樣做是基於愛國，也許他們真這樣想，但他們卻在竭盡所能摧毀自由，而擁有自由正是美利堅合衆國對它的民衆和整個人類的首要意義之所在。

This is perhaps a less personal statement than most of those in " This I believe". If so, it is because a man of my age, in his relation to himself, runs mostly on momentum; and it is a little difficult to look back and figure out what give him the push, or the various pushes.

這種觀點也許不像這個節目大多數觀點那樣帶個人感情色彩，如果真是如此，則是因爲一個人到我這個年紀大多靠衝動處理與自己的關係，讓他回過頭來想清楚是什麼激勵了他是有點困難的。

What he has to consider now is what he can contribute to the present, or the future, as a member of a very peculiar species—possibly even a unique species—which has immense capacities for both good and evil, as it has amply demonstrated during its recorded history.

現在他要考慮的是作爲一個非常特殊的種羣(也許甚至是獨一無二的種羣)的一員，能爲現在或將來做出什麼貢獻。歷史記載已充分證明這一種羣無論行善還是作惡，能力都很強。

That history to date is ---barring some unpredictable cosmic disaster---the barest beginning of what may lie ahead of us. But we happen to live in one of the turning points of history—by no means the first, as it will not be the last; and the future of mankind will be more than usually affected by what we do in this generation.

那需要標註日期的歷史阻止了一些不可預知的宇宙災難，也許是擺在我們眼前的最原初的開端，而我們碰巧身處歷史轉折點之一——絕不是第一個也不會是最後一個;我們這一代的所作所爲將對人類的未來造成較大的影響。

What should we do? Well, first of all and above all, preserve freedom, and extend it if we can. Beyond that I don’t know how better to define our business than to say we should try to promote an increase of decency. Decency in the sense of respect for other people; of taking no advantage; of never saying.

我們該怎麼辦?嗯，首先也是最重要的是保留自由，盡我們所能拓展自由。除此之外，除了說我們應該努力促使人們不斷端正行爲之外，我不知道該如何更好地說明我們的這一事業。行爲端正意味着尊重他人、不利用人、永遠不說：得讓這個人吃些苦頭我心裏才舒服。

This man must be miserable in order that I may be comfortable. This is not as easy as it looks; it’s impossible to exist without hurting somebody, however unintentionally. But there are limits. I do not believe that human life is accurately represented by Viggeland’s famous sculptured column in Oslo, of people climbing over one another and trampling one anther down. The Nazis, when they occupied Norway, greatly admired that sculpture.

這看起來容易，做起來難，因爲我們不可能在生活中不傷害他人，無論這種傷害多麼無心，但是傷害是有限度的。我不相信挪威奧斯陸市維格蘭雕塑公園著名的“生命之柱”上人們從別人身上爬過去再把人往下踩的情景準確地表現了人類的生活。納粹在佔領挪威時對那根石柱頂禮膜拜。

They would. But the rest of us can do better than that; many men and women in every age have done better, and are doing it still.

他們會照此行事，可我們其他人的行爲可以比他們有人性，每個時代的衆多男男女女都是如此，現在仍然如此。

The Scottish scientist ane once said that the people who can make a positive contribution to human progress are few; that most of us have to be satisfied with merely staving off the inroads of chaos.

蘇格蘭科學家約翰·伯登·桑德斯·霍爾丹曾說能爲人類發展做出積極貢獻的人寥寥無幾，大多數人只能滿足於避開亂世的侵擾。能那樣已經夠難了，尤其是當今這個動盪不安的時代。

That is a hard enough job—especially in these times, when those inroads are more threatening that they have been for a long time past. But if we can stave them off, and keep the field clear for the creative intelligence, we can feel that we have done our part toward helping the human race get ahead.

人們的生存在過去很長一段時間都不曾像現在這樣遭到威脅。但如果我們能夠避開這些混亂的侵擾，爲人類創造性的智慧創造空間，我們就能感到自己已經爲推動人類前進的步伐盡了綿薄之力。