獲悉人們希望我在這里講幾句時，我就問他們我該講些什么。他們希望我講些適合年輕人的東西-一些教誨性、有教育意義的東西，或是一些好的建議。
Very well. I have a few things in my mind which I have often longed to say for the instruction of the young; for it is in one’s tender early years that such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable. First, then. I will say to you my young friends-and I say it beseechingly, urgingly.
這太好了！我倒是一直想給年輕人提點建議呢，因為人在年輕時期，好的建議極易在心底扎根，并能終生受用。那么，首先，年輕朋友們-我要真 誠地告誡你們：
Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don’t, they will make you.
一定要聽父母的話，長遠來講這是最聰明的做法，如果你不聽話，他們就會逼著你聽話。
Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.
大多數(shù)父母認(rèn)為他們知道得 比你們多，在這種情況下，與其基于自己的判斷行事，還不如迎合他們的想法，這樣你會收獲更多。
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 as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient.
如果你有上級的話，請尊重他們，對陌生人和他人也是如此。如果某個人得罪了你，而你也不知道他是否是故意的，那就不要采用極端做法，而要等待時機，給他當(dāng)頭一棒，這就夠了。
If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didn’t mean to.
如果發(fā)現(xiàn)他并非有意傷害你，那么，你就應(yīng)該站出來，坦白承認(rèn)教訓(xùn)他的事；要像一個男子漢一樣承認(rèn)錯誤并說明自己 并非有意。還有就是，切勿使用暴力。
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.
在這個和平友好的年代，暴力已經(jīng)過時了。讓我們譴責(zé)這些低俗的舉止、粉碎暴力吧！
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 is really the best thing to get up with.
早睡早起-這是十分明智的。有些人主動起床，也有些人被迫起床。當(dāng)然在百靈鳥的歌聲中起床是最愜意不過了。
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 time-it’s no trick at all.
當(dāng)人人都知道你與百靈鳥同迎清晨，你便會備受稱贊，如果你得 到一只中意的百靈鳥，并按自己的意愿訓(xùn)練它，讓他九點半， 甚至是任何時候起床都不是件難事-當(dāng)然，這并不是說要耍詭計。
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.
現(xiàn)在，我們來談?wù)務(wù)f謊吧。要說謊，就得小心謹(jǐn)慎，否則 很容易穿幫。一旦被揭穿，別人就不再認(rèn)為你是善良的和純潔的，他們眼中的你就不是從前的你了。
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.
很多年輕人就因為一個笨拙或并不圓滿的謊言永遠地傷害了自己，原因在于他們不夠謹(jǐn)慎且缺乏訓(xùn)練。有些人認(rèn)為，年輕人不能撒謊。
That of course, is putting it rather stronger than necessary; still while I cannot go quite so far as that, I do maintain, andI believe I am right, that the young ought to be temperate 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 graceful and profitable.
當(dāng)然，這有些偏激。我不會這么偏激，而是始終相信自己是有道理的，我 認(rèn)為，年輕人應(yīng)適當(dāng)運用這門偉大的藝術(shù)，通過訓(xùn)練和實踐， 他們將變得自信、優(yōu)雅和精確，而這些恰恰可以使他們完美出色地完成任務(wù)。
Patience, diligence, painstaking attention to detail-these are requirements; these in time, will make the student perfect; upon these only, may he rely as the sure foundation for future eminence.
耐心、勤奮和對細節(jié)的認(rèn)真揣摩-都是年輕人必須具備的條件。隨著時間的流逝，這些要素將會使你們?nèi)照橥昝溃銈円仓挥醒稣踢@些要素才能成就日后的輝煌。
Think what tedious years of study, thought, practice, experience, went to the equipment of that peerless old master who was able to impose upon the whole world the lofty and sounding maxim that "Truth is mighty and will prevail the most majestic compound fracture of fact which any of man born has yet achieved.
想想那位無可匹敵的大師吧,多年沉悶乏味的學(xué)習(xí)、思考、實踐 和練習(xí)才使他得以在世人面前說出這樣的經(jīng)典語句一一 “真理 有著巨大的力量，并將戰(zhàn)勝一切”-這是最偉大的悖論，是凡人所能達到的最高境界。
For the history of our race, and each individual’s experience, are sewn thick with evidences that a truth is not hard to kill, and that a lie well told is immortal. There is in Boston a monument of the man who discovered anesthesia; many people are aware, in these latter days, that that man didn’t discover it at all, but stole the discovery from another man. Is this truth mighty, and will it prevail? Ah no, my hearers, the monument is made of hardy material, but the lie it tells will outlast it a million years.
歷史和個人的經(jīng)歷都深刻地表明真理易被推翻，但絕妙的謊言卻永遠顛撲不破。波士頓立有一座紀(jì)念麻醉術(shù)發(fā)明者的紀(jì)念碑。但后來，很多人發(fā)現(xiàn)，這個人 根本不是麻醉術(shù)的發(fā)明者，他不過是竊取了他人的成果。真理的力量真的很強大嗎？它能戰(zhàn)勝一切嗎？哦，不，朋友們，那座紀(jì)念碑是用很堅固的材料做成，但它所昭示的謊言將比紀(jì)念碑本身還要久一百萬年。
An awkward, feeble, leaky lie is a thing which you ought to make it your unceasing study to avoid; such a lie as that has no more real permanence than an average truth. Why, you might as well tell the truth at once and be done with it. A feeble, stupid, preposterous lie will not live two years-except it be a slander upon somebody.
笨拙、沒有說服力和漏洞百出的謊言是你應(yīng)當(dāng)通過不斷學(xué)習(xí)去避免的，這樣的謊言還不及一般真理長久。為什么呢，你還是說出真相吧，現(xiàn)在就說。一個沒有說服力、可笑、荒謬的謊言不會存在兩年-除非它是對某人的誹謗。
It is indestructible, then of course, but that is no merit of yours. A final word: begin your practice of this gracious and beautiful art early-begin now. If I had begun earlier, I could have learned how.
當(dāng)然，這樣的謊言牢不可破，但這對你的名譽沒有什么 f好處。一句話：盡早練習(xí)這門高尚而美麗的藝術(shù)吧-現(xiàn)在就開始。要是我當(dāng)年入門早，現(xiàn)在就已經(jīng)學(xué)會了。
There are many sorts of books; but good ones are the sort for the young to read. Remember that. They are a great, an inestimable, and unspeakable means of improvement. Therefore be careful in your selection, my young friends; be very careful; confine yourselves exclusively to Robertson’s Sermons, Baxter’s Saint’s Rest, The Innocents Abroad, and works of that kind.
書有各種各樣的，但好書才適合年輕人閱讀。請記住，好 書能讓你不斷完善自身，這種作用力強大，不可估量且難以名 狀。因此，年輕的朋友們，請謹(jǐn)慎選擇你們的讀物，要十分謹(jǐn)慎。你們應(yīng)該專門讀羅伯遜的《道德啟示錄》、巴克斯特的《圣徒的安息》和《傻瓜出國記》等作品。
But I have said enough. I hope you will treasure up the instructions which I have given you, and make them a guide to your feet and a light to your understanding. Build your character thoughtfully and painstakingly upon these precepts, and by and by, when you have got it built, you will be surprised and gratified to see how nicely and sharply it resembles everybody else’s.
我說得已經(jīng)夠多了。我希望你們能珍惜這些建議，讓它們成為你的向?qū)Вc燃你們思想的火花。按照這些建議去努力培養(yǎng)自己的性格吧。慢慢地，一旦你塑造好了自己的性格，你將驚喜而欣慰地發(fā)現(xiàn)自己和他人是如此相似。
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