Advice to Youth Mark Twain给青年人忠告马克吐温.doc

Advice to Youth Mark Twain给青年人的忠告-马克吐温A gifted raconteur(健谈者, 善于讲故事的人), distinctive(出众的,与众不同的) humorist, and irascible(irsibl 易怒的,暴躁的) moralist, Mark Twain transcended(超越) the apparent limitations of his origins to become a popular public figure and one of Americas best and beloved writers.马克吐温，天才的演说家，与众不同的幽默作家，暴躁的卫道者，他超越了出身的表面限制，成为了一个受欢迎的公众人物，美国最优秀、大家最喜爱的作家之一。Advice to Youth by Mark Twain is a short little composition that he was asked to write to the youth of America. Basically it was just meant to be something educational and useful in life. What he said back then is just as true today as it was when he wrote it. We can see his view on life from that.马克吐温的给青年人的忠告是他应邀写给美国青年的一篇小短文。主要是关于生活中的一些有教育性的有益的的建议。他那时所说的话拿到今天来看，也如当时一样正确，从中我们也可以管窥到的人生观。Being told I would be expected to talk here, I inquired what sort of talk I ought to make. They said it should be something suitable to youth-something didactic（didktik, dai-教诲的,说教的）, instructive, or something in the nature of good advice. Very well. I have a few things in my mind which I have often longed（渴望）to say for the instruction of the young; for it is in ones tender（未成熟的）early years that such things will best take root（扎根）and be most enduring（持久的耐久的）and most valuable. First, then. I will say to you my young friends and I say it beseechingly（恳求地）, urgently（迫切地） “我接到通知将到这里来做演说时，我就询问我应该讲些什么。他们说应该讲些适合年轻人的 - 有教育性的，有意义的，或者一些好的建议。非常好！我头脑中确实有一些事情，常常渴望对年轻人讲讲，作为对于他们的指导因为在一个人稚嫩的少年时期，这样的事情会深深扎根，会成为最持久的最有价值的事。那么首先，我要迫不及待地对你们，我的年轻朋友们恳切地讲述 - ”Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you dont, they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring（迎合,迁就.顺应）that superstition(迷信,盲目跟从) than you can by acting on your own better judgment. “当你们的父母在的时候，要顺从他们。这从长远看来是最好的办法，因为如果你不这样，他们也会让你这样做。大部分的父母都认为他们知道得比你们更加清楚，比起执行你们自己认为更好的判断，顺应他们，通常可以得到更多。”Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offend you, and you are in doubt（不能肯定的）as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to（诉诸于）extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense（有意冒犯）, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didnt mean to. Yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined. “如果有上级，要尊敬他们，对陌生人，对其他人也应当这样。如果有个人冒犯你，你拿不准他是有意还是无意的，不要诉诸于极端手段就简单地等待机会，用砖头回击他，那就足够了。如果你发现他不是有意冒犯你，就站出来坦率地承认你打他的确做错了。像个男子汉那样承认下来，并说你不是故意的。是的，要永远避免暴力冲突；这是个慈善友好的时代，追求暴力的时代已经过去。把炸药留给那些地位低微粗俗的人吧。”Go to bed early, get up early- this is wise. Some authorities say get up with the sun; some say get up with one thing, others with another. But a lark（云雀,百灵鸟）is really the best thing to get up with（起床时带着）. It gives you a splendid reputation with everybody to know that you get up with the lark; and if you get the right kind of lark, and work at him right, you can easily train him to get up at half past nine, every timeits no trick at all. “早睡早起 - 这是明智的。有些权威说应该随着日出就起床；有些说应该随这种事物同时起床，有些说应该随那种。但云雀的确是最好的选择。它会给你一个好名声，让每个人都知道你与云雀同时起床；而如果你选对了云雀的种类，好好地调教，你可以很容易将他训练成9点半起床，每次都这样，这可不是骗人的。”Now as to the matter of lying, you want to be very careful about lying; otherwise you are nearly sure to get caught. Once caught, you can never again be in the eyes to the good and the pure, what you were before. Many a young person has injured himself permanently through a single clumsy and ill finished lie, the result of carelessness born of incomplete training. Some authorities hold that the young ought not to lie at all. “现在来谈谈说谎的事。你们要非常小心地对待说谎；否则几乎一定会被抓到。一但被抓，在那些善良纯洁的人眼中，你就不可能再与原来的你一样了。许多年轻人都这样：用一个简单笨拙而又草草收尾的谎言，用那天生缺乏训练的疏忽所导致的结果来伤害自己。有些权威人士认为，年轻人绝不应该撒谎。”That of course, is putting it rather stronger than necessary; still while I cannot go quite so far as that, I do maintain（坚持）, and I believe I am right, that the young ought to be temperate（温与的,节制的,适度的）in the use of this great art until practice and experience shall give them that confidence, elegance, and precision which alone can make the accomplishment（成就）graceful（优雅优美）and profitable. Patience, diligence, painstaking（辛苦的,勤勉的）attention to detailthese are requirements; these in time（迟早）, will make the student perfect; upon these only, may he rely as the sure foundation for future eminence. “当然，这要求过于苛刻，我的观点没那么绝对，我坚持认为，同时我也相信我的想法是正确的：年轻人在运用这项伟大艺术时一定要节制，直到他们的实践与经验可以让他们自信、优雅并精确地使谎言漂漂亮亮地成功。耐心、勤奋、对细节的认真洞察力，这些都需要具备；这些迟早会让学习者变得完美；仅仅靠这些，就会为将来变得出众打下坚实基础。” For the history of our race, and each individuals experience, are sewn（sew缝合）thick with evidences that a truth is not hard to kill, and that a lie well told is immortal（不朽的）. There is in Boston a monument of the man who discovered anesthesia（麻醉,麻木）; many people are aware, in these latter days, that that man didnt discover it at all, but stole the discovery from another man. Is this truth mighty（强有力的）, and will it prevail（priveil流行盛行）? Ah no, my hearers, the monument is made of hardy（坚硬的）material, but the lie it tells will outlast（比活得长, 比耐久）it a million years. “我们人类的历史及每个人的经历都清清楚楚地证明：事实不难毁掉，编得好的谎言可以长存不朽。波士顿有个纪念碑，是为了纪念一个发明麻醉术的人；后来许多人都知道，根本不是他发现的，而是他偷了另一个人的发明成果。这个事实有力量吗？它会流传吗？哦，不会的，我的听众们。纪念碑是用坚硬的材料做的，而它所记述的谎言会比它多活一百万年。”An awkward, feeble, leaky lie is a thing which you ought to make it your unceasing（不断的）study to avoid; such a lie as that has no more real permanence（永久,持久）than an average truth. Why, you might as well tell the truth at once and be done with it. A feeble, stupid, preposterous(荒谬的,可笑的) lie will not live two yearsexcept it be a slander(sl:nd 中伤,毁谤) upon somebody. It is indestructible(不能破坏的,不减的), then of course, but that is no merit(功绩) of yours. A final word：begin your practice of this gracious（崇高的）and beautiful art earlybegin now. If I had begun earlier, I could have learned now.“笨拙、无力、有漏洞的谎言是你们应该通过不断学习来避免的；这样的谎言不会比一个普遍的事实更真实永久。你们何不一次说出事实并自此再不提起。一个软弱无力，愚蠢荒谬的谎言流传不到两年 - 除非那是对某个人的诽谤。当然，它不可毁灭，但这样对你也没有好处。总之一句话：现在趁早就开始实践这项高尚美丽的艺术吧。如果我早早开始，我现在一定会学会了。”Never handle firearms（火器,轻武器）carelessly. The sorrow and suffering that have been caused through the innocent（无知的,无辜的）but heedless（不谨慎的,不小心的）handling of firearms by the young! Only four days ago, right in the next farm house to the one where I am spending the summer, a grandmother, old and gray and sweet, one of the loveliest spirits(精灵,天使,人物) in the land, was sitting at her work, when her young grandson crept in and got down an old, battered（磨损的,弄垮的）, rusty gun which had not been touched for many years and was supposed not to be loaded, and pointed it at her, laughing and threatening to shoot. In her fright she ran screaming and pleading toward the door on the other side of the room; but as she passed him he placed the gun almost against her very breast and pulled the trigger! “绝不轻意地用武器。由于年轻人无知，轻率地拿起武器而引起的悲痛有多少！仅仅四天前，就在我过夏天那家农屋的隔壁，有一位头发灰白，与蔼可亲的老奶奶，当地最可爱的人物之一，正坐着做她的活，她年幼的孙子蹑手蹑脚地进来取下那枝破旧、已被敲扁了的、生锈的枪。这枝枪已多年未被动过，可能没有填装弹药。惊骇中，她边跑边尖叫着恳求着到了屋子另一边的门。就当她经过他时，他几乎把枪正对着她的胸膛，并拉动了扳机。”He had supposed it was not loaded. And he was rightit wasnt. So there wasnt any harm done. It is the only case of that kind I ever heard of. Therefore, just the same, dont you meddle（瞎弄,擅自摸弄）with old unloaded firearms; they are the most deadly and unerring things that have ever been created by man. You dont have to take any pains at all with them; you dont have to have a rest, you dont have to have any sights on the gun, you dont have to take aim, even. No, you just pick out a relative and bang away（砰砰地不住射击）, and you are sure to get him. “他以为里面没装子弹，他对了 - 是的，是没装，所以没造成任何伤害。这是我所听说过的惟一一个没有造成伤害的例子。因此，同样别去摆弄那些旧的卸了瞠的武器，它们是人类创造的武器中最准确最致命的了。使用它们你不用费任何力气，也不需要休息，不用枪瞄准，甚至都不用选取目标。都不用，你就找个亲戚呼地一声，就一定能击中他。”There are many sorts of books; but good ones are the sort for the young to read. Remember that. They are a great, a