英語經(jīng)典美文：玩牌游戲

英語經(jīng)典美文：玩牌游戲

　　自由意志和宿命論就像玩紙牌游戲，宿命論就是發(fā)牌的手，而自由意志就是打牌的方式。下面是學習啦小編為大家?guī)碛⒄Z經(jīng)典美文：玩牌游戲，希望大家喜歡!

　　Ever since I was old enough to read books on philosophy, I have been intrigued by the discussions on the nature of man. The philosophers have been debating for years about whether man is primarily good or primarily evil, whether he is primarily altruistic or selfish, cooperative or combative, gregarious or self-centered, whether he enjoys free will or whether everything is predetermined.

　　自從能夠看懂哲學書開始，有關(guān)人性的討論就激起了我濃厚的興趣。人性是善還是惡、是利他還是利己、是合作還是競爭、是群居還是以自我為中心、是相信自由意志還是相信宿命，這些是哲學家們多少年來一直爭論不休的話題。

　　As far back as the Socratic dialogues in Plato, and even before that, man has been baffled about himself. He knows he is capable of great and noble deeds, but then he is oppressed by the evidence of great wrongdoing.

　　人類一直對自身感到困惑，這可以追溯到柏拉圖與蘇格拉底的對活，甚至更早時期。人類知道自己擁有做出偉大而高尚的事情的能力，然而卻又被犯下大罪的證據(jù)所壓迫。

　　And so he wonders. I don’t presume to be able to resolve the contradictions. In fact, I don’t think we have to. It seems to me that the debate over good and evil in man, over free will and determinism, and over all the other contradictions—it seems to me that this debate is a futile one.

　　因此，他困惑不已。對于這種矛盾是否能夠解決，我并不敢斷言。然而，事實上，人們沒有必要非要化解這種矛盾。人是兩面性的動物，因此，我認為爭論人性善或惡、意志自由或宿命以及其他一切矛盾都是徒勞無益的。

　　For man is a creature of dualism. He is both good and evil, both altruistic and selfish. He enjoys free will to the extent that he can make decisions in life, but he can’t change his chemistry or his relatives or his physical endowments—all of which were determined for him at birth.

　　人既有善良的一面，也有邪惡的一面;既有利他的一面，也有利己的一面。人們享受著能夠在生活中做出決定的自由意志，然而卻無法改變與生俱來的基因、親屬或體征。

　　And rather than speculate over which side of him is dominant, he might do well to consider what the contradictions and circumstances are that tend to bring out the good or evil, that enable him to be a nobler and responsible member of the human race.

　　與其思索哪一方面主導著人性，還不如思索人之所以善良或邪惡的矛盾和環(huán)境，從而讓人成為人類群體中具有高尚品質(zhì)和責任感的人。

　　And so far as free will and determinism are concerned, something I heard in India on a recent visit might be worth passing along. Free will and determinism, I was told, are like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism. The way you play your hand represent free will.

　　在近期訪問次大陸期間，我在印度聽到了一些事情，它們在自由意志和宿命論方面的價值是值得一提的。當?shù)厝烁嬖V我，自由意志和宿命論就像玩紙牌游戲，宿命論就是發(fā)牌的手，而自由意志就是打牌的方式。

　　Now where does all this leave us? It seems to me that we ought to attempt to bring about and safeguard those conditions that tend to develop the best in man. We know, for example, that the existence of fear and man’s inability to cope with fear bring about the worst in him.

　　而今，這一切把我們帶到了什么地方?我認為，那些能夠培養(yǎng)人類最優(yōu)秀品質(zhì)的環(huán)境，是我們應(yīng)該努力去創(chuàng)造和保護的。例如，我們知道恐懼感和無法克服恐懼的意識能夠?qū)е氯诵援a(chǎn)生最邪惡的東西

　　We know that what is true of man on a small scale can be true of society on a large scale. And today the conditions of fear in the world are, I’m afraid, affecting men everywhere.

　　我們同樣知道，個人的真實狀況經(jīng)過放大就會成為社會的真實狀況。如今，世界各個地方的人仍然遭受著恐懼因素的影響。

　　More than twenty-three hundred years ago, the Greek world, which had attained tremendous heights of creative intelligence and achievement, disintegrated under the pressure of fear. Today, too, if we read the signs correctly, there is fear everywhere.

　　恐懼瓦解了希臘文明，然而在兩千三百多年前，它具有創(chuàng)造性的智慧和成就已經(jīng)達到了非凡的高度。同樣，如果我在環(huán)球旅行時的所見不虛的話

　　There is fear that the human race has exhausted its margin for error and that we are sliding into another great conflict that will cancel out thousands of years of human progress. And people are fearful because they don’t want to lose the things that are more important than peace itself—moral, democratic, and spiritual values.

　　人類正在滑向一場大戰(zhàn)，這場戰(zhàn)爭將會把人類數(shù)千年取得的進步毀之一旦，這是由人類犯錯底線被突破而導致的恐懼所引起的。這是因為，對于人類而言，道德、民主和精神比和平更重要。

　　The problem confronting us today is far more serious than the destiny of any political system or even of any nation.

　　人類的命運是我們今天所面臨的問題，這比任何政治體制和任何民族的命運更為重要。

　　The problem is the destiny of man: first, whether we can make this planet safe for man; second, whether we can make it fit for man.

　　首先，我們是否能夠把地球建人類的安全之所;其次，我們是否能夠把地球建成適宜人類居住的地方。

　　This I believe—that man today has all the resources to shatter his fears and go on to the greatest golden age in history, an age which will provide the conditions for human growth and for the development of the good that resides within man, whether in his individual or his collective being.

　　我相信，對于消除恐懼并走向歷史上最偉大的黃金時代，人類擁有各種各樣的辦法。不管人是作為個體還是人類群體的一員，這個時代都將會為人類的進步和善良本性的形成提供條跡然后，人類只需要理性地調(diào)動智慧和良知，就可以運用這些辦法了。真理滲透在我們的生活中。站在海岸上，觀看顛簸于大海之上的船帆，是一種樂趣;站在城堡垛口，觀看激戰(zhàn)中的戰(zhàn)場，也是一種樂趣;

　　And he has only to mobilize his rational intelligence and his conscience to put these resources to work.

　　然而，什么也比不上站在真理的前哨，洞察山谷中的謬誤、彷徨、迷霧與風暴，這更令人歡欣。