(单词翻译:单击)
美文阅读
编者按：
人与人之间没什么大的区别。他们皆是伟大与渺小、善良与邪恶、高贵与低贱的混合体。
On Motes and Beams
It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much lessheinousthan the offenses of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced byuntowardevents to consider them, find it easy tocondonethem. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves fro which we have left out everything that offends ourvanityor woulddiscreditus in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial instance: howscornfulwe are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he has never told not one, but a hundred?
There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and littleness, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness.Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but potentially they are the same. For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster ofdepravity. The knowledge that thesereveriesare common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others. It is well also if they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most eminent and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.
读完这篇哲理短文，你有什么感受呢？欢迎在下面的留言框内说出你的想法，也欢迎您给我们的栏目提出宝贵的意见和建议。
编辑推荐：
参考译文
微尘与栋梁
让人奇怪的是，和别人的过错比起来，我们自身的过错往往不是那样的可恶。我想，其原因应该是我们知晓一切导致自己犯错的情况，因此能够设法谅解自己的错误，而别人的错误却不能谅解。我们对自己的缺点不甚关注，即便是深陷困境而不得不正视它们的时候，我们也会很容易就宽恕自己。据我所知，我们这样做是正确的。缺点是我们自身的一部分，我们必须接纳自己的好和坏。
但是当我们评判别人的时候，情况就不同了。我们不是通过真实的自我来评判别人，而是用一种自我形象来评判，这种自我形象完全摒弃了在任何世人眼中会伤害到自己的虚荣或者体面的东西。举一个小例子来说：当觉察到别人说谎时，我们是多么地蔑视他啊！但是，谁能够说自从未说过谎？可能还不止一百次呢。
人和人之间没什么大的差别。他们皆是伟大与渺小，善良与邪恶，高尚与低俗的混合体。有的人性格比较坚毅，机会也比较多，因而达个或那个方面，能够更自由地发挥自己的禀赋，但是人类的潜能却都是相同的。至于我自己，我认为自己并不比大多数人更好或者更差，但是我知道，假如我记下我生命中每一次举动和每一个掠过我脑海的想法的话，世界就会将我视为一个邪恶的怪物。每个人都会有这样的怪念头，这样的认识应当能够启发我们宽容自己，也宽容他人。同时，假如因此我们得以用幽默的态度看待他人，即使是天下最优秀最令人尊敬的人，而且假如我们也因此不把自己看得过于重要，那是很有裨益的。
读完这篇哲理短文，你有什么感受呢？欢迎在下面的留言框内说出你的想法，也欢迎您给我们的栏目提出宝贵的意见和建议。
词汇释义
1.heinous adj. 可憎的,十恶不赦的
例句：
His brother is a heinous boy.
他弟弟是个讨厌的孩子。
2.untoward adj. 麻烦的,困难的,不幸的
例句：
Indeed, anything untoward was now kept from James.
的确，现在一切不顺心的事都小心瞒着詹姆士。
3.condone v. 赦,宽,恕赎
例句：
I cannot condone such a crime.
我不能宽恕如此的罪行。
4.vanity n.虚荣心, 浮华; 自负, 浮夸,空虚;无益, 无用; 无价值的东西
例句：
Her success feeds her vanity.
她的成功填补了她的空虚。
5.discredit n. 不用,疑惑,不名誉 v. 不信用,怀疑,损害...的信用
例句：
The government was discredited by the scandal.
政府因这桩丑闻而名声败坏。
6.scornful adj. 轻蔑的
例句：
He gave a scornful laugh at my proposal.
他对我的建议轻蔑地一笑。
7.hotchpotch n. 杂烩
例句：
His essay was a hotchpotch of other people's ideas.
他的文章是把别人的想法拼凑在一起的大杂烩.
8.vice n. 恶习,恶行,罪恶,缺陷,恶癖,老虎钳
例句：
Virtue and vice are two different things: the former one leads to peace, the latter to misery.
美德与邪恶是不同的，前者带来和平，后者导致痛苦。
9.baseness n. 卑鄙,下贱
例句：
Baseness of mind or character.
邪恶思想或性格的邪恶
10.depravity n. 堕落,腐败,邪恶
例句：
It is a mark of depravity to make a mock of good advice and kind rebuke.
嘲笑别人的忠告和善意指责是堕落的标志。
11.revery n. 幻想
例句：
He is indulging in reveries about the future.
他正沉浸于对未来的幻想之中。
难句解析
1.I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others.
【参考译文】我想，其原因应该是我们知晓一切导致自己犯错的情况，因此能够设法谅解自己的错误，而别人的错误却不能谅解。
【结构解析】suppose意思是“推想、料想”，"them"指上文中的“our own offenses ”，occasion在这里做动词，是“致使,惹起,引起”的意思。
2.how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he has never told not one, but a hundred?
【参考译文】当觉察到别人说谎时，我们是多么地蔑视他啊！但是，谁能够说自从未说过谎？可能还不止一百次呢。
【结构解析】catch sb. doing sth.意思是“撞见某人做某事”。
3.For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity.
【参考译文】至于我自己，我认为自己并不比大多数人更好或者更差，但是我知道，假如我记下我生命中每一次举动和每一个掠过我脑海的想法的话，世界就会将我视为一个邪恶的怪物。
【结构解析】for sb's part意思是“就某人来说”，set down意思是“写下，记下”，cross one's mind 是“无意中想到、偶然想起”，区别于经过思索才得到的想法。主语经常是 idea，thought，possiblity，比如：The thought of escape crossed my mind but immediately I dismissed it as being unrealistic. 逃跑的念头一闪而过，但我立刻打消了这一念头，因为太不现实。How did that fantastic idea cross your mind? 你是怎么想到那个妙计的？
