HOWTOGROWOLD罗素

1、实用标准HOW TO GROW OLDBy Bertrand Russell罗素( 1872-1970 ),是一个活了 99岁的哲学家.然而,他最大的魅 力却不是哲学,而是文学.曾经获得诺贝尔文学奖一一文学中最高奖 项的他,用自己的朴实优美的语言为你讲述怎样才能度过一个成功的 晚年.1. In spite of the title, this article will really be on how not to grow old, which, at my time of life, is a much more important subject. My first advice wou

2、ld be to choose your ancestors carefully. Although both my parents died young, I have done well in this respect as regards my other ancestors. My maternal grandfather, it is true, was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven, but my other three grandparents all lived to be over e

3、ighty. Of remoter ancestors I can only discover one who did not live to a great age, and he died of a disease which is now rare, namely, having his head cut off.2. A great grandmother of mine, who was a friend of Gibbon, lived to the age of ninety-two, and to her last day remained a terror to all he

4、r descendants. My maternal grandmother, after having nine children who survived, one who died in infancy, and many miscarriages, as soon as she became a widow, devoted herself to文档大全实用标准woman s higher education. She was one of the founders of Girton College, and worked hard at opening the medical pr

5、ofession to women. She used to relate how she met in Italy an elderly gentleman who was looking very sad. She inquired the cause of his melancholy and he said that he had just parted from his two grandchildren. Good gracious , she exclaimed, “I have seventy-two grandchildren, and if I were sad each

6、time I parted from one of them, I should have a di smal existence! “ Madresnaturale, he replied. But speaking as one of the seventy-two, I prefer her recipe. After the age of eighty she found she had some difficulty in getting to sleep, so she habitually spent the hours from midnight to 3 a.m. in re

7、ading popular science. I do not believe that she ever had time to notice that she was growing old. This, I think, is proper recipe for remaining young. If you have wide and keen interests and activities in which you can still be effective, you will have no reason to think about the merely statistica

8、l fact of the number of years you have already lived, still less of the probable brevity of you future.3. As regards health I have nothing useful to say since I have little experience of illness. I eat and drink whatever I like, and sleep when I cannot keep awake. I never do anything whatever on the

9、 ground that it is good for health, though in actual fact the things I文档大全实用标准like doing are mostly wholesome.4. Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age. One of these is undue absorption in the past. It does not do to live in memories, in regrets for the good old days,

10、 or in sadness about friends who are dead. One s thoughts must be directed to the future and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy: one s own past is gradually increasing weight. It is easy to think to oneself that one s emotionsused to be more vivid than they

11、are, and one s mind keener. If thisis true it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.5. The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigor from its vitality. When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives, and if you c

12、ontinue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young, you are likely to become a burden to them, unless they are unusually callous. I do not mean that one should be without interest in them, but one sinterest should be contemplative and, if possible, philanthropic, but not unduly emo

13、tional. Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves, but human beings, owing to the length of infancy, find this difficult.6. I think that a successful old age is easiest for those who have文档大全实用标准strong impersonal interests involving appropriate activi

14、ties. It is in this sphere that long experience is really fruitful, and it is in this sphere that the wisdom born of experience can be exercised without being oppressive. It is no use telling grown-up children not to make mistakes, both because they will not believe you, and because mistakes are an

15、essential part of education. But if you are one of those who are incapable of impersonal interests, you may find that your life will be empty unless you concern yourself with you children and grandchildren. In that case you must realize that while you can still render them material services, such as

16、 making them an allowance or knitting them jumpers, you must not expect that they will enjoy your company.7. Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiabl

17、y feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it so at least it

18、 seems to me is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the文档大全实用标准universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river small at first, narrowly contained within its banks,

19、and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in

20、 this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and

21、content in the thought that what was possible has been done.大聪明和小聪明都是罗素的特色.读懂了罗素,您就读懂了英语; 读懂了罗素,您就会发现原来英语是那么的优美！如何变老看题目,似乎我要讨论的是如何变老的问题,其实不然.我要谈 的恰恰是如何防止变老.活到我现在的年龄,这个问题也显得日渐重 要起来.我的第一条建议是慎重选择祖先.虽然我的父母寿命都不算很长,但只要参看一下我的其他长辈就会发现我在这一方面还是比拟文档大全实用标准成功的.我的外祖父确实是英年早逝,去世时只有六十七岁,但其他 三位祖辈人无一没有超越八十岁的年龄. 向上追溯,再

22、远的长辈中未 有长寿的,我只发现一位,而致使那位老人去世的疾病在当今时代是 少之又少,名叫 砍头.我的一位曾祖母曾与历史学家吉本相识,她 活到了九十二岁,而且直到生命的最后一天仍然在子孙中保存着家长 的威严.我的外祖母一生育有九个子女,另有一个幼年夭折,流产也 有屡次.外祖父去世后,外祖母把全部精力都投入到了女子高等教育 的进步上.她是剑桥大学格腾女子学院的创始人之一, 一直致力于在 医药行业为女性开辟一片天地.她过去常向我们讲过一件在意大利遇 到的事情.当时她看到一位神情忧伤的老先生,就上前询问原因.老 先生说他刚刚送走了他的两个孙子.哎呀,她说,我有七十二个孙 子孙女,要是他们每次离开我都

23、伤心,那我的生活该是多么凄惨！ 您 真是一位不寻常的母亲！ 老人用意大利语说.作为七十二人当中的 一员,我十分欣赏她的秘诀.八十岁以后,外祖母难以入眠,就养成 了午夜到凌晨三点阅读科普读物的习惯. 我相信这么一来她就无暇顾 及自己已入岁暮了.在我看来,这正是外祖母永葆青春的秘诀.如果你尚有活力投入到你那些广泛而浓厚的兴趣和活动中,你就没有理由担忧你对的年龄,那只不过是统计数字罢了,更没有理由担忧你的 未来短暂.在健康方面我没有什么可以借鉴的经验,由于我没有多少得病的 经历.我想吃就吃,想喝就喝,想睡就睡.我从来没有刻意做过任何 有益健康的事情,不过事实上我喜欢做的事情大都有益身心.文档大全实用

24、标准心理方面,当谨防两种危险.其一是过度沉浸于过去.生活在无 尽的追忆中,生活在对美好的往昔的怅然假设失中, 或生活在对已逝友 人的哀思中,都毫无用处.人们应该寄思于未来,致力于尚有可为之 事.这并不总是件容易的事.往昔的分量会逐渐增加.人们很容易认 为过去的情感比现在更动人,过去的头脑也比现在更敏锐.倘假设事实 如此,就应该忘记；如果忘记了,事实或不再真实了.还要谨防另一种危险：对年轻人过分依恋,奢望能从他们的青春 中汲取活力.子女成年后都希望有自己的生活,如果你对他们还保存 着与他们成年之前一样的关爱,否那么你将会成为他们的一种负担,除 非你的子女对此异常冷漠.我并不是说不该对他们继续关爱他们, 但 这种关爱应当存于心底,或力所能及提供些物质帮助,但不能过度用 情.在动物世界中,幼崽能够自理后,父母对它们的态度就会变得冷 漠；但人类婴幼期较长,这种情感很难淡化.如果我们能对人之外事情产生浓厚的兴趣,并进行适当的活动, 老年时光将十分美好.正是在这方面,丰富的阅历可以找到用武之地； 也正是通过这种方式,阅历所凝结出的智慧能够得到运用, 而不显得 盛气凌人.告诉成年的子女不要犯错是没有任何用处的, 由于其一他 们不会听从；其二,错误本身就是教育的一个重要组成局部.但如果 你是一个对其它事物提不起兴趣的人, 你会发现一旦停止对子女,以 及他们子女的关心,生