美文欣赏

Roll Away the Stone

I enjoy life because I am endlessly interested in people and their growth. My interest leads me to widen my knowledge of people, and this in turn compels me to believe in the common goodness of mankind. I believe that the normal human heart is born good. That is, it’s born sensitive and feeling, eager to be approved and to approve, hungry for simple happiness and the chance to live. It neither wishes to be killed, nor to kill. If through circumstances, it is overcome by evil, it never becomes entirely evil. There remain in it elements of good, however recessive, which continue to hold the possibility of restoration.

I believe in human beings, but my faith is without sentimentality. I know that in environments of uncertainty, fear, and hunger, the human being is dwarfed and shaped without his being aware of it, just as the plant struggling under a stone does not know its own condition. Only when the stone is removed can it spring up freely into the light. But the power to spring up is inherent, and only death puts an end to it. I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in human beings.

Life Confucius of old, I am absorbed in the wonder of earth, and the life upon it, and I cannot think of heaven and the angels. I have enough for this life. If there is no other life, than this one has been enough to make it worth being born, myself a human being. With so profound a faith in the human heart and its power to grow toward the light, I find here reason and cause enough for hope and confidence in the future of mankind. The common sense of people will surely prove to them someday that mutual support and cooperation are only sensible for the security and happiness of all. Such faith keeps me continually ready and purposeful with energy to do what one person can towards shaping the environment in which the human being can grow with freedom. This environment, I believe, is based upon the necessity for security and friendship.

I take heart in a promising fact that the world contains food supplies sufficient for the entire earth population. Our knowledge of medical science is already sufficient to improve the health of the whole human race. Our resources and education, if administered on a world scale, can lift the intelligence of the race. All that remains is to discover how to administer upon a world scale, the benefits which some of us already have. In other words, to return to my simile, the stone must be rolled away. This too can be done, as a sufficient number of human beings come to have faith in themselves and in each other. Not all will have such faith at the same moment, but there is a growing number who have the faith.

Half a century ago, no one had thought of world food, world health, world education. Many are thinking today of these things. In the midst of possible world war, of wholesale destruction, I find my only question this: are there enough people now who believe? Is there time enough left for the wise to act? It is a contest between ignorance and death, or wisdom and life. My faith in humanity stands firm.

参考译文

推开石头

生活让我感到快乐，因为我对人、对人类的发展有无穷无尽的兴趣。这一兴趣使我不停地了解更多的人，而对人的深入了解则促使我相信人之初，性本善。也就是说人生来就善解人意，有同情心，热望被人认同，也认同他人，渴望单纯的幸福和生存的机会。人不希望被人杀害也不希望去杀害被人。即使邪念因境而生，人也不会完全被邪念所左右。人总有其美好的一面，无论如何退化变质，总有弃恶从善的可能。

　　我相信人类，但我的信念绝非是滥施情感。我知道，处于饥饿、恐惧、无法预测未来的环境中，人类没有意识到他们的发展遇到了很大的阻力，正如石头下的植物挣扎着生长却不知道自己被石头压住了一样。只有推开了石头，植物才能自由地、蓬勃地在阳光下生长。但是，蓬勃生长的力量是植物固有的，只有死亡才能夺去它们的这种力量。

　　如同古代的孔夫子一样，我深深地沉醉于奇妙的大地和美好的尘世生活之中，不可能再去畅想什么天堂和天使。此生我活得充实。如果没有来世，今世也足以值得我为它诞生，不枉为一世人。

　　对人心之善及其向往光明之力的坚定信念使我对人类的未来充满希望和信心。人类的常识一定在未来的某一天向他们证明，互相支持与合作只会对全人类的安全和幸福有实际意义。
　
　这种信念使我精力充沛、尽我所能去营造人类能自由发展的环境且乐此不疲。营造这个环境，我相信，是以安全和友谊为必要前提的。

　　我对未来充满信心：世界的食物能供养人类；我们的医学知识足以改善人类的健康状况；我们的教育资源，若在世界范围内统一管理，能提高各种族的智力；我们只需去发现如何在世界范围内管理我们已经拥有的资源。换言之，用我刚提到的明喻来表示，石头必须推开。

　　这也是能做到的。因为我们相当多的人已逐渐树立了对自己的信念，彼此也相互信任。虽然并不是所有的人在同一时刻具备这种信念，但具备这种信念的人数在不断增加。半个世纪以前，没有人关注世界的食品问题、健康问题和教育问题。今天就有许多人想到这些了。在可能发生的世界战争中，在大规模的毁灭过程中，我发现我唯一的疑问是：有足够多的人树立了信仰吗？有足够的时间让智者采取行动吗？这是无知与死亡之间或是智慧与生命之间的较量。我对人类的这种信念坚定不移。

　　作者简介：赛珍珠生于美国，在中国生活了40年之久。1938年获诺贝尔文学奖后回到美国，作为人道主义者，其成就与其小说家的成就相媲美。

词汇释义

1. recessive 退行的,逆行的,劣性的

An organism having a recessive trait.
具隐性性状有机体

Brown eyes are dominant and blue eyes are recessive.
棕色眼睛是显性的，蓝色眼睛是隐性的。

2. restoration 恢复,归还,复位

Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.
但是，复兴不仅仅只要改变伦理观念。

The restoration of data to a previously known or defined state.
将数据恢复到先前已知或规定的状态。


3. dwarf (使)变矮小

The wizard's evil curse dwarfed the poor beautiful princess.

巫师的咒语把可怜的公主变小了。

4. inherent 内在的,固有的

Inherent quality of character and temperament.
内在的气质性格、脾气的内在气质。

难句讲解

1. My interest leads me to widen my knowledge of people, and this in turn compels me to believe in the common goodness of mankind.

【难句释义】这一兴趣使我不停地了解更多的人，而对人的深入了解则促使我相信人之初，性本善。

【难句解析】本句是一般的并列句，句中 widen my knowledge 是意思为“扩大知识面”。

2. I know that in environments of uncertainty, fear, and hunger, the human being is dwarfed and shaped without his being aware of it, just as the plant struggling under a stone does not know its own condition.

【难句释义】 我知道，处于饥饿、恐惧、无法预测未来的环境中，人类没有意识到他们的发展遇到了很大的阻力，正如石头下的植物挣扎着生长却不知道自己被石头压住了一样。

【难句解析】本句主干是个宾语从句，主要结构为I know that...，其中“in environments of uncertainty, fear, and hunger”做从句的状语，从句的主干为“ the human being is dwarfed and shaped without his being aware of it”，而“just as the plant struggling under a stone does not know its own condition”则为比较状语。

3. Such faith keeps me continually ready and purposeful with energy to do what one person can towards shaping the environment in which the human being can grow with freedom.

【难句释义】 这种信念使我精力充沛、尽我所能去营造人类能自由发展的环境且乐此不疲。

【难句解析】 本句的主干为Such faith keeps me ...，其中， continually ready and purposeful with energy 作keeps的表语，而to do what one person can towards shaping the environment...为energy的后置定语起补充说明作用，另外，定语从句in which the human being can grow with freedom用于修饰environment。