关于人的尊严的演说.doc

关于人的尊严的演说（节选）日期：2009-08-27来源：网络 作者：未知字体：大 中 小 免费测试你的英语水平 Oration on the Dignity of ManPico della Mirandola：皮科德拉米朗多拉（14631494）是意大利文艺复兴时期的着名思想家，他的关于人的尊严的演说被称为“人文主义宣言”。在这篇节选的简短演说词中，米朗多拉热情洋溢地宣告，人是世间的奇迹与宇宙的精华；人的命运完全掌握在自己手中，不受任何外在之物的制约；人拥有理性、自由意志与高贵品质，通过自身的努力不仅可以超越万物，而且可以进入神的境界，与上帝融为一体。和其他人文主义者一样，米朗多拉也并未否定上帝的存在。但具有划时代意义的是，与中世纪的世界观形成鲜明对照，人文主义者肯定了人在宇宙的中心地位以及现世人生的美好和意义。因此，从某种意义上可以说，米朗多拉的人文主义宣言拉开了西方现代文明的序幕。.At last it seems to me I have come to understand why man is the most fortunate of creatures and consequently worthy of all admiration and what precisely is that rank which is his lot in the universal chain of Being -a rank to be envied not only by brutes but even by the stars and by minds beyond this world. It is a matter past faith and a wondrous one. Why should it not be? For it is on this very account that man is rightly called and judged a great miracle and a wonderful creature indeed.God the Father, the supreme Architect, had already built this cosmic home we behold, the most sacred temple of His godhead, by the laws of His mysterious wisdom. The region above the heavens He had adorned with Intelligences, the heavenly spheres He had quickened with eternal souls, and the excrementary and filthy parts of the lower world He had filled with a multitude of animals of every kind. But, when the work was finished, the Craftsman kept wishing that there were someone to ponder the plan of so great a work, to love its beauty, and to wonder at its vastness. Therefore, when everything was done(.), He finally took thought concerning the creation of man. But there was not among His archetypes that from which He could fashion a new offspring, nor was there in His treasure-houses anything which He might bestow on His new son as an inheritance, nor was there in the seats of all the world a place where the latter might sit to contemplate the universe. All was now complete; all things had been assigned to the highest, the middle, and the lowest orders. But in its final creation it was not the part of the Fathers power to fail as though exhausted. It was not the part of His wisdom to waver in a needful matter through poverty of counsel. It was not the part of His kindly love that he who was to praise Gods divine generosity in regard to others should be compelled to condemn it in regard to himself.At last the best of artisans God ordained that that creature to whom He had been able to give nothing proper to himself should have joint possession of whatever had been peculiar to each of the different kinds of being. He therefore took man as a creature of indeterminate nature and, assigning him a place in the middle of the world, addressed him thus: neither a fixed abode nor a form that is thine alone nor any function peculiar to thyself have we given thee, Adam, to the end that according to thy longing and according to thy judgment thou mayest have and possess what abode, what form, and what functions thou thyself shalt desire. The nature of all other beings is limited and constrained within the bounds of laws prescribed by Us. Thou, constrained by no limits, in accordance with thine own free will, in whose hand We have placed thee, shalt ordain for thyself the limits of thy nature. We have set thee at the worlds center that thou mayest from thence more easily observe whatever is in the world. We have made thee neither of heaven nor of earth, neither mortal nor immortal, so that with freedom of choice and with honor, as though the maker and molder of thyself, thou mayest fashion thyself in whatever shape thou shalt prefer. Thou shalt have the power to degenerate into the lower forms of life, which are brutish. Thou shalt have the power, out of thy souls judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, which are divine.O supreme generosity of God the Father, O highest and most marvelous felicity of man! To him it is granted to have whatever he chooses, to be whatever he wills. Beasts as soon as they are born(.) bring with them from their mothers womb all they will ever possess. Spiritual beings angels, either from the beginning or soon thereafter, become what they are to be for ever and ever. On man when he came into life the Father conferred the seeds of all kinds and the germs of every way of life. Whatever seeds each man cultivates will grow to maturity and bear in him their own fruit. If they be vegetative, he will be like a plant. If sensitive, he will become brutish. If rational, he will grow into a heavenly being. If intellectual, he will be an angel and the son of God. And if, happy in the lot of no created thing, he withdraws into the center of his own unity, his spirit, made one with God, in the solitary darkness of God, who is set above all things, shall surpass them all.最后，我似乎明白了为什么说人是凌驾于万物之上的幸运儿并因而值得无限赞美，明白了在这大千世界注定了属于他的地位 这地位不仅令野蛮人而且令尘世之外的星辰和神灵忌妒。这一点已超越信仰，妙不可言。难道不应当如此吗？正是在此意义上人被恰如其分地称呼和评价为世间奇迹和宇宙精华上帝我们的在天之父与至高无上的缔造者按照他那神秘智慧的法则，已经建造了我们所目睹的这宇宙家园，这无比圣洁的神殿。他用神灵装点天界之上的区域；他用永恒的灵魂加速天球的运转；至于恶浊肮脏的下界，他便用形形色色的动物填满。但是，当这些都做完后，这位工匠一心希望有人来思索这伟业宏图，来爱慕其美妙，来赞叹其辽阔。因此，当大功告成之时，他终于想到要创造人。可是，在他的创作原型中没有可供他为自己塑造后代的模型，在他的宝库里也没有可供他馈赠给新生子的遗产，而普天之下也没有任何地方可供后者坐下来凝思这宇宙的奥秘。万事俱备，万物按高、中、低三层各就其位。然而，在其创造的最后阶段，我们在天之父的力量不可能衰竭不济。他的智慧不可能因缺乏咨议而陷于窘迫。他的仁爱也不可能使本要赞美上帝施予万物之神圣慷慨的人因其自身所受荣宠不及而心生怨尤。最后，这位举世无双的工匠【上帝】决定，由于找不到任何恰当的东西给予人，那么人将同时拥有万物的特性。上帝于是把人视为特性待定的生命，把他安置在世界的中央，并对他指示如下：“亚当，我们既没有给你固定的住所，也没有给你独自拥有的形式，也没有给你任何特殊的功能，目的在于你可以根据自己的愿望，根据自己的判断去获取和拥有你希望的任何住所、任何形式和任何功能。所有其它事物的特性都受到我们所制定的法则的限制与约束。而你将由自己来决定你的特性的边界，不受任何约束，按照你自己的自由意志我们让你听从自由意志的支配。我们把你置于世界的中心，以便你从这里更容易观察这世上的一切。我们既未确定你属于天上，也未确定你属于地下，既未确定你终有一死，也未确定你永恒不灭，以便你凭着自由意志与高尚情操就像你的造物主一样随心所欲地塑造你自己的形象。你将有能力堕落为低级的生命形式，那将与禽兽无异。你将有能力凭借你心灵的判断力，再生为高级的形式，那将与神灵同在。”啊，至高无上的厚爱来自上帝，我们的在天之父！啊，