06. What I have Livedfor BertrandRussell
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingstrong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search forknowledge, and unbearable1) pity for the suffering of mankind.These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither andthither2), in a wayward3) course, over a deep ocean of anguish4),reaching to the very verge5) of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it bringsecstasy6)----ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificedall the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have soughtit, next, because it relieves loneliness-----that terribleloneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rimof the world into the cold unfathomable7) lifeless abyss8). I havesought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in amystic miniature9), the prefiguring10) vision of the heaven thatsaints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and thoughit might seem too good for human life, this is what---at last---Ihave found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. Ihave wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to knowwhy the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagoreanpower 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 werepossible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought meback to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate11) in my heart.Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors12), helpless oldpeople a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world ofloneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human lifeshould be. I long to alleviate13) the evil, but I can’t, and I toosuffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worthliving, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offeredme.
[Annotation:]
1) unbearable adj.无法忍受的
2) hither and thither 到处
3) wayward adj. 人性的
4) anguish n. 痛苦，苦恼
5) verge n. 边缘
6) ecstasy n. 入迷
7) unfathomable adj.莫测高深的
8) abyss n. 深渊
9) miniature n. 缩影，缩图
10) prefigure vt.预示，设想
11) reverberate vi. 反响
12) oppressor n. 压迫者
13) mockery n. 嘲笑
14) alleviate vt.使易于接受，减轻
我为何而生
我的一生被三种简单却又无比强烈的激情所控制：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难难以抑制的同情。这些激情像狂风，把我的恣情吹向四方，掠过苦难的大海，迫使我濒临绝望的边缘。
我寻求爱，首先因为它使我心为之着迷，这种难以名状的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去换取哪怕几个小时这样的幸福。我寻求爱，还因为它能缓解我心理上的孤独，在这种可怕的孤独中，我觉得心灵的战栗，仿如站在世界的边缘而前是冰冷，无底的死亡深渊。我寻求爱，因为在我所目睹的爱的结合中，我仿佛看到了圣贤和诗人们所向往的天堂之景。这就是我所寻找的，虽然对人的一生而言似乎有些遥不可及，但至少是用尽一生所领悟到的。
我用同样的激情去寻找知识。我希望能够理解人类的心灵，希望能够知道群星闪烁的缘由。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的“数即万物”思想。我已经悟出了其中的一点点道理，尽管并不是很多。
爱和知识，用它们的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情却总是又拽回到尘世中来。痛苦的呼喊声回荡在我的内心。饥饿的孩子、受压迫的难民、被儿女们当作负担的无助的老人，还有整个充满了孤独、贫穷和痛苦的世界，都是对人类所憧憬的美好生活无情的嘲弄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，我也难逃其折磨。
这就是我的一生，我已经找到了它的价值。而且如果有机会，我很愿意能再活它一次。
07. When Love BeckonsYou Kahlil Gibran
When love beckons1) to you, follow him, though his ways are hardand steep. And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, though thesword hidden among his pinions2) may wound you. And when he speaksto you, believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams asthe north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify3) you. Even ashe is for your growth so is he for your pruning4). Even as heascends to your height and caresses5) your tenderest branches thatquiver6) in the sun, so shall he descend to your roots and shakethem in their clinging to the earth.
But if, in your fear, you would seek only love’s peace andlove’s pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover yournakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor7), into theseasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of yourlaughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught8)but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not,nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you loveand must have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to thenight.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another dayof loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide9) with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and asong of praise upon your lips.
[Annotation:]
1) Beckon v. 召唤
2) Pinion n. 羽翼
3) Crucify vt. 折磨
4) Pruning n. 修剪
5) Caress v. 抚爱
6) Quiver v. 震动，颤抖
7) threshing-floor打谷场
8) Naught n. 零
9) Eventide n. 黄昏
爱的召唤
当爱召唤你时，请追随她，尽管爱的道路艰难险峻。当爱的羽翼拥抱你时，请顺从她，尽管隐藏在其羽翼之下的剑可能会伤到你。当爱向你诉说时，请相信她，尽管她的声音可能会打破你的梦想，就如同北风吹落花园里所有的花瓣。
爱会给你戴上桂冠，也会折磨你。爱会助你成长，也会给你修枝。爱会上升到枝头，抚爱你在阳光下颤动的嫩枝，也会下潜至根部，撼动你紧抓泥土的根基。
但是，如果你在恐惧之中只想寻求爱的平和与快乐，那就最好掩盖住真实的自我，避开爱的考验，进入不分季节的世界，在那里你将欢笑，但并非开怀大笑，你将哭泣，但并非尽情地哭。爱只将自己付出，也只得到自己。爱一无所有，也不会为谁所有，因为爱本身就已自足。
爱除了实现自我别无他求。但是如果你爱而又不得不有所求，那就请期望：
明了过多的温柔所带来的苦痛。
被自己对爱的理解所伤害；
并情愿快乐地悲伤。
在黎明带着轻快的心醒来并感谢又一个有爱的日子；
在中午休息并品位爱的喜悦；
在黄昏怀着感恩之心回家；
然后对内心所爱之人祈祷，吟唱赞美之歌，并带着祈告和歌声入眠。
8. The Road toSuccess Andrew Carnegie
It is well that young men should begin at the beginning andoccupy the most subordinate1) positions. Many of the leadingbusinessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust2)upon them at the very threshold3) of their career. They wereintroduced to the broom, and spent the first hours of theirbusiness lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors4)and janitresses now in offices, and our young men unfortunatelymiss that salutary5) branch of a business education. But if bychance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy whohas the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate totry his hand at the broom. It does not hurt the newest comer tosweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepersmyself.
Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairlystarted, my advice to you is “aim high”. I would not give a figfor6) the young man who does not already see himself the partner orthe head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment inyour thoughts as head clerk, or foreman, or general manager in anyconcern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself, “My place is atthe top.” Be king in your dreams.
And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret:concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively upon thebusiness in which you are engaged. Having begun in one line,resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt everyimprovement, have the best machinery, and know the most aboutit.
The concerns which fail are those which have scattered theircapital, which means that they have scattered their brains also.They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here, there,and everywhere. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” is allwrong. I tell you “put all your eggs in one basket, and then watchthat basket.” Look round you and take notice, men who do that notoften fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It istrying to carry too many baskets that breaks most eggs in thiscountry. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head,which is apt to tumble7) and trip him up8). One fault of theAmerican businessman is lack of concentration.
To summarize what I havesaid: aim for the highest; never enter a bar room; do not touchliquor, or if at all only at meals; never speculate9); neverindorse10) beyond your surplus cash fund; make the firm’s interestyours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put allyour eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure11)always within revenue; lastly, be not impatient, for as Emersonsays, “No one can cheat you out of ultimate success butyourselves.”
[Annotation:]
1) subordinate adj. 从属的，下级的
2) thrust vt. 强加
3) threshold n. 开始，开端
4) janitor n.大楼管理员，清洁工
5) salutary adj. 有益的
6) not give a fig for sth:（对某事）好不在乎
7) tumble vi. 翻倒，摔倒
8) trip up: 绊倒，使失败
9) speculate vi. 投机
10) indorse vi.（支票等的）背书
11) expenditure n.花费，支出
成功之道
年轻人创业之初，应该从最底层干起，这是好事。匹兹堡有很多商业巨头，在他们创业之初，有肩负过“重任”：他们于扫帚相伴，以打扫办公室的方式度过了他们商业生涯中最初的时光。我注意到我们现在办公室里都有工友，于是年轻人就不幸错过了商业教育中这个有益的环节。如果碰巧哪天上午，专职扫地的工友没有来，某个具有未来合伙人气质的年轻人会毫不犹豫地试着拿起扫帚。在必要时新来的员工扫扫地也无妨，不会因此而有什么损失。我自己就曾经扫过地。
假如你已经被录用，并且有了一个良好的开端，我对你的建议是：要志存高远。一个年轻人，如果不把自己想象成一家大公司未来的老板或是合伙人，那我会对他不屑一顾。不论职位有多高，你的内心都不要满足于做一个总管、领班或者总经理。要对自己说：我要迈向顶尖！要做就做你梦想中的国王！
成功的首要条件和最大秘诀就是：把你的精力、思想和资本全都集中在你正从事的事业上。一旦开始从事某种职业，就有下定决心在那一领域闯出一片天地来；做这一行的领导人物，采纳每一点改进之处，采用最优良的设备，对专业知识熟谙于心。
一些公司的失败就在于他们分散了资金，因为这就意味着分散了他们的精力。他们向这方面投资，又向那方面投资；在这里投资，在那里投资，到处都投资。“不要把所有的鸡蛋放在一个篮子里”的说法大错特错。我要对你说：“把所有的鸡蛋放在一个篮子里，然后小心地看好那个篮子。”看看你周围，你会注意到：这么做的人其实很少失败。看管和携带一个篮子并不太难。人们总是试图提很多篮子，所以才打破这个国家的大部分鸡蛋。提三个篮子的人，必须把一个顶在头上，而这个篮子很可能倒下来，把他自己绊倒。美国商人的一个缺点就是不够专注。
把我的话归纳一下：要志存高远；不要出入酒吧；要滴酒不沾，或者喝也只在用餐时喝少许；不要做投机买卖；不要寅吃卯粮；要把公司的利益当作自己的利益；取消订货的目的永远是为了挽救货主；要专注；把所有的鸡蛋放在一个篮子里，然后小心地看好它；要量入为出；最后，要有耐心，正如爱默生所言，“谁都无法阻止你最终成功，除非你承认自己失败。”
09. On Meeting theCelebrated William Somerset Maugham
I have always wondered at the passion many people have to meetthe celebrated. The prestige you acquire by being able to tell yourfriends that you know famous men proves only that you are yourselfof small account. The celebrated develop a technique to deal withthe persons they come across. They show the world a mask, often animpressive one, but take care to conceal their real selves. Theyplay the part that is expected from them, and with practice learnto play it very well, but you are stupid if you think that thispublic performance of theirs corresponds with the man within.
I have been attached,deeply attached, to a few people; but I have been interested in menin general not for their own sakes, but for the sake of my work. Ihave not, as Kant1) enjoined, regarded each man as an end inhimself, but as material that might be useful to me as a writer. Ihave been more concerned with the obscure than with the famous.They are more often themselves. They have had no need to create afigure to protect themselves from the world or to impress it. Theiridiosyncrasies2) have had more chance to develop in the limitedcircle of their activity, and since they have never been in thepublic eye it has never occurred to them that they have any thingto conceal. They display their oddities3) because it has neverstruck them that they are odd. And after all it is with the commonrun of men that we writers have to deal; kings, dictators,commercial magnates are from our point of view very unsatisfactory.To write about them is a venture that has often tempted writers,but the failure that has attended their efforts shows that suchbeings are too exceptional to form a proper ground for a work ofart. They cannot be made real. The ordinary is the writer’s richerfield. Its unexpectedness, its singularity, its infinite varietyafford unending material. The great man is too often all of apiece; it is the little man that is a bundle of contradictoryelements. He is inexhaustible. You never come to the end of thesurprises he has in store for you. For my part I would much soonerspend a month on a desert island with a veterinary surgeon thanwith a prime minister.
[Annotation:]
1) Kant: 即Immanuel Kant（伊曼努尔?康德1724-1804），德国古典哲学创始人
2) idiosyncrasy n.特质，特性
3) oddity n.奇异，古怪，怪癖
论见名人
许多人热衷于见名人，我始终不得其解。在朋友面前吹嘘自己认识某某名人，由此而来的声望只能证明自己的微不足道。名人个个练就了一套处世高招，无论遇上谁，都能应对自如。他们给世人展示的是一副面具，常常是美好难忘的面具，但他们会小心翼翼地掩盖自己的真相。他们扮演的是大家期待的角色，演的多了，最后都能演的惟妙惟肖。如果你以为他们在公众面前的表演就是他们的真是自我，那你就傻了。
我自己就喜欢这些人，非常喜欢他们。但我对人感兴趣一般不是因为他们自身的缘故，而是出于我工作的需求。正如康德劝告的那样，我从来没有把认识某人作为目的，而是将其当作对一个作家有用的创作素材。比之名流显士，我更加关注无名小卒。他们常常显得较为自然真实，他们无须再创造另一个人物形象，用他来保护自己不受世人干扰，或者用他去感动世人。他们的社交圈子有限，自己的种种癖性也就越有可能得到滋长。因为他们从来没有引起公众的关注，也就从来没有想到过要隐瞒什么。他们会表露他们古怪的一面，因为他们从来就没有觉得有何古怪。总之，作家要写的是普通人。在我们看来，国王、独裁者和商界大亨等都是不符合条件的。去撰写这些人物经常是作家们难以抗拒的冒险之举，可为此付出的努力不免以失败告终，这就说明这些人物都过于特殊，无法成为一件艺术作品的创造根基，作家也不可能把他们写得真真切切。老百姓才是作家得创作沃土，他们或变幻无常，或难觅其二，各式人物应有尽有，这些都给作家提供了无限的创造素材。大人物经常是千人一面，小人物身上才有一组组矛盾元素，是取之不尽的创造源泉，让你惊喜不断。就我而言，如果在孤岛度过一个月，我宁愿和一名兽医相守，也不愿同一位首相做伴。
10. The 50-Percent Theory ofLife Steve Porter
I believe in the 50-percent theory. Half the time things arebetter than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe lifeis a pendulum1) swing. It takes time and experience to understandwhat normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with thesurprises of the future.
Let's benchmark2) the parameters3): Yes, I will die. I've dealtwith the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss andcherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before myeyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff, and it belongs at thebottom of the scale.
Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to theright person; having a child and doing those Dad things likecoaching my son's baseball team, paddling around the creek in theboat while he's swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassionso deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, hisimagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered pile ofLegos4).
But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the badand the good flip-flop5) acrobatically. This is what convinces meto believe in the 50-percent theory.
One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland soflood-prone that neighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the wastedeffort. Summer turned brutal -- the worst heat wave and drought inmy lifetime. The air-conditioner died, the well went dry, themarriage ended, the job lost, the money gone. I was living lyricsfrom a country tune -- music I loathed7). Only a surging KansasCity Royals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed8) myspirits.
Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that allsucceeding good things merely offset9) the bad. Worse than normalwouldn't last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon10) times. Theyreinvigorate11) me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurancethat I can thrive. The 50 percent theory even helps me see hopebeyond my Royals' recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sownso that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.
Oh, yeah, the corn crop? For that one blistering12) summer, theground moisture was just right, planting early allowedpollination13) before heat withered the tops, and the lack of rainspared the standing corn from floods. That winter my criboverflowed with corn --fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filledwith kernels from heel to tip -- while my neighbors' fields yieldedonly brown, empty husks.
Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percentexpectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am stillsustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.
[Annotation:]
1) pendulum n. 钟摆，摆锤
2) benchmark vt. 标准检查
3) parameter n. 参数，参量
4) Lego: 乐高牌拼装玩具（商标名称）
5) flip-flop vi. 后滚翻
6) chagrined adj. 懊恼的
7) loathe vt. 厌恶
8) buoy vt. 鼓励，支持
9) offset vt. 抵消，弥补
10) halcyon adj.平静的，太平的
11) reinvigorate vt.使再振作
12) blistering adj. 酷热的
13) pollination n. 授粉
生活理论半对半
我信奉对半理论。生活时而无比顺畅，时而倒霉透顶。我觉得生活旧乡来回摆动的钟摆。读懂生活的常态需要时间和阅历。而读懂它也练就了我面对未来的生活态度。
让我们来确定一下好坏的基准：是的，我注定会死去。我已经经历了双亲、一位好友、一位敬爱的老板和心爱的宠物的死亡。有些突如其来，近在眼前，有些却缓慢痛苦。这些都是糟糕的事情，它们属于最坏的部分。
生活中也不乏高潮：坠入爱河缔结良缘；身为人父养育幼子，诸如训练指导儿子的棒球队，当他和狗在小河中嬉戏时摇桨划船，感受如此强烈的同情心——即使对蜗牛也善待有加，发现他如此丰富的想象力——即使用零散的乐高玩具积木也能堆起太空飞船。
但在生活最好和最坏部分之间有一片巨大的中间地带，其间各种好事坏事像耍杂技一样上下翻滚，轮番出现。这就是让我信服的对半理论的原因。
有一年春天，我在一块洼地上过早地种上了玉米。那块地极易遭到水淹，所以邻居们都嘲笑我。我为浪费了精力而感到懊恼。没想到春天更为残酷——我经历了最糟糕的热浪和干旱。空调坏了，井干了，婚姻破裂了，工作丢了，钱也没了。我正经历着某首乡村歌曲中描绘的情节，我讨厌这种音乐，只有刚出道不久的堪萨斯皇家棒球队能鼓舞我的精神。
回首那个糟糕的夏天，我很快就明白了，所有后来出现的好事只不过与坏事相互抵消。比一般情况糟糕的境遇不会延续太久；而太平时光是我应得到的，我要尽情享受，它们为我注入活力以应对下一个险情，并确保我可以兴旺发达。对半理论甚至帮助我在堪萨斯皇家棒球队最近的低潮中看到希望——这是一块艰难行进的新手们耕耘的土地，只有播种了，假以时日我们就可以收获十月的金秋。
那个夏天酷热，地面温度适宜，提早播种就可以在热浪打萎植尖之前完成授粉，由于干旱更没有爆发洪水，立在田里的玉米得以保存。因此那个冬天我的粮仓里堆满了玉米——丰满、健康、医科三穗且从头到脚都是饱满的玉米粒的玉米穗——而我的邻居们收获的真是晒黑的空壳。
尽管过去的播种可能没有达到50％的收获期望，而且将来也可能是这样，但我仍然能靠着在旱季繁茂生长的庄稼而生存下去。
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