Attaining Moral Perfection等
In the various enumerations of the moral virtues I had met with in my reading, I found the catalogue more or less numerous,as different writers included more or fewer ideas under the same name. I proposed to myself, for the sake of clearness, to use rather more names,
with fewer ideas annexed to each, than a few names with more ideas; and I included under thirteen names of virtues all that at that time occurred to me as necessary or desirable, and annexed to each a short precept, which fully expressed the extent I gave to its meaning.
在阅读的过程中,我发现在列举道德品质时,分类繁多,不同的作者对同一个类别的解释多少有些出入,释义有深有浅。为了明确起见,我主张自己多设定几个名称类别,每个名称包含更加简明的含义,而不要分类少而释义多。我提出了十三种品德,这是当时我认为要么必需要么合意的全部品德的名称,每个名称底下我附了一些简单的戒律,充分说明我认为该词应有的含义。
These names of virtues, with their precepts, were:
这些品德的名称和相应的戒律如下:
1.TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
一、节制。食不过饱;酒不过量。
2.SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
二、沉默寡言。言必于人于己有益;避免无益的谈话。
3.ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
三、生活有秩序。每一样东西应有安放的位置;每件事务当安排好相应的时间。
4.RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
四、决心。当做必做;一旦决定,不可半途而废。
5.FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
五、俭朴。花钱必须于人或于己有益;比如,不要浪费一分一厘。
6.INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
六、勤勉。不浪费时间;每时每刻做有用的事,终止一切不必要的行动。
7.SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
七、诚恳。不恶意骗人;思想要纯洁公正,说话也要如此。
8.JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
八、公正。不做损人之事,不要忘记履行对人有益而且是你应尽的义务。
9.MODERATION. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
九、中庸适度。避免极端;如果对你造成的伤害是应该的,当克制怒火。
10.CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
十、清洁。身体、衣服和住所力求清洁。
11.TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
十一、镇静。勿因小事或不可避免的事故而惊慌失措。
12.CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation.
十二、贞节。除了为了健康或生育后代起见,节制房事,以免伤害身体或损害你自己或他人的安宁或名誉。
13.HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.
十三、谦虚。仿效耶稣和苏格拉底。
My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judged it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time; and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone through the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arranged them with that view, as they stand above. Temperance first, it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits,
and the force of perpetual temptations. This being acquired and established, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improved in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtained rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of prattling, punning,and joking,which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the second place. This and the next, Order, I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies. Resolution, once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavors to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc. Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses, daily examination would be necessary.
既然我的目的是将这些美德变成一种习惯,我认为最好不要同时尝试所有项目,以致分散注意力,最好是一段时间内集中精力执行其中的一项。当我掌握了一个美德后,接着继续实践下一个,如此类推,直到我做到十三项为止。因为先获得的某些美德可能有利于其他美德的养成,依据这个想法,我就按照上面的次序把它们进行了排列。我把节制放在第一,因为它有助于使人头脑冷静,思维清晰,为了经常保持警惕,抵抗旧习惯不断地吸引以及无穷无尽的诱惑的侵扰,这种冷静的头脑和清晰的思维是非常必要的。在获得和养成了这一美德以后,沉默寡言就容易多了。在提高我品德的同时我还想增进知识,我认为在谈话中用耳朵比用嘴更能增长知识,因此我想打破当时我正在形成的喋喋不休、爱说俏皮话、爱戏谑的习惯,这种习惯只会让我结交到一些轻浮的朋友,因此我把沉默寡言放在第二位。我想沉默寡言和下一条生活有秩序的美德会使我有更多时间致力于我的计划和学习。意志坚决一旦成为习惯,将会使我更坚决地努力获得其余的美德。俭朴和勤勉能使我还清剩下的债款,带给我财富和独立,会使诚恳和公正两项美德的实践更加容易,如此等等。接着,按照毕达哥拉斯在《金诗篇》里提出的建议,我认为每日必须进行自我检查。
How Could I Love a Race of People Who Hated Me
族
There was a pretty strict system of segregation in Atlanta. For a long, long time I could not go swimming, until there was a Negro YMCA. A Negro child in Atlanta could not go to any public park. I could not go to the so-called white schools. In many of the stores downtown, I couldn't go to a lunch counter to buy a hamburger or a cup of coffee. I could not attend any of the theaters. There were one or two Negro theaters, but they didn't get any of the main pictures. If they did get them, they got them two or three years later.
亚特兰大拥有相当严格的种族隔离制度。很长很长一段时间我都不能去游泳,直到一个黑人基督教青年会建成。在亚特兰大,黑人孩子不能去任何公共的公园,不能去所谓的白人学校,在市中心的许多商店里不能去午餐柜台买汉堡或一杯咖啡,不能去任何剧院观看演出。虽然那里有一两个黑人剧院,但他们拿不到任何重大影片的胶片,即使拿到了,那也是影片公映后两到三年的事了。
I had grown up abhorring not only segregation but also the oppressive and barbarous acts that grew out of it. I had seen police brutality with my own eyes, and watched Negroes receive the most tragic injustice in the courts. I can remember the organization known as the Ku Klux Klan. It stands out white supremacy, and it was an organization that in those days even used violent methods to preserve segregation and to keep the Negro in his place, so to speak. I remember seeing the Klan actually beat a Negro. I had passed spots where Negroes had been savagely lynched. All of these things did something to my growing personality.
在成长过程中,我不仅憎恶种族隔离,而且对于由此造成的压迫和野蛮行为深恶痛绝。我曾亲眼看到警察的暴行,目睹黑人在法庭上遭受最为悲惨的不公正待遇。我还记得一个叫做三K党的组织,它坚持白人至上主义。可以这么说,在那些曰子里,这个组织为了保持隔离制度,为了让黑人待在自己的地方,甚至采用暴力的手段。我仍然记得见过三K党鞭打一个黑人,我还到过黑人被滥用野蛮私刑的地方。所有这些事情对我人格的养成都起到了一定的作用。
In my late childhood and early adolescence, two incidents happened that had a tremendous effect on my development. The first was the first empty seats at the front of the store. A young white clerk came up and murmured politely:
在我的童年末期和少年早期发生了两件事情,对我的成长产生了巨大的影响。第一件事发生在商店里,和店前的几个空座位有关。一个年轻的白人店员走过来,礼貌地低声说:
"I'll be happy to wait on you if you'll just move to those seats in the rear."
"如果你挪到后面的座位上,我会很乐意为你服务。"
Dad immediately retorted, "There's nothing wrong with these seats. We're quite comfortable here."
爸爸立即反驳道:"坐这些座位有什么不对。我们在这儿很舒服。"
"Sorry," said the clerk, "but you'll have to move."
"对不起,"职员说,"但你必须得移开。"
"We'll either buy shoes sitting here," my father retorted, "or we won't buy shoes at all."
"我们要么坐在这儿买鞋,"我爸爸回答说:"要么什么也不买。"
Whereupon he took me by the hand and walked out of the store. This was the first time I had seen Dad so furious. The experience revealed to me at a very early age that my father had not adjusted to the system, and he played a great part in shaping my conscience. I still remember walking down the street beside him as he muttered, "I don't care how long I have to live with this system, I will never accept it."
于是他拉着我的手,走出了商店。这是我第一次看到爸爸如此愤怒。那次经历让年少的我认识到父亲并不适应这种制度,他对我善恶观念的形成发挥了至关重要的作用。我现在依然还记得我和他并排走在街上,他喃喃地说:"我不在乎我还要在这种制度下生活多久,我永远都不会接受它。"
And he never has. I remember riding with him another day when he accidently drove past a stop sign. A policeman pulled up to the car and said:
而且,他也从未接受过。记得还有一次和他开车外出,他不小心开过了一个停车的标志。一个警察把车开到我们旁边,说道:
"All right, boy, pull over and let me see your license."
"好吧,孩子,靠边停车,让我看看你的驾照。"
My father instantly retorted: "Let me make it clear to you that you aren't talking to a boy. If you persist in referring to me as boy, I will be forced to act as if I don't hear a word you are saying."
我父亲立即反驳道:"让我清楚地告诉你,你并不是在和一个孩子讲话。如果你坚持说我是个孩子,我将不得不对你的话充耳不闻。"
The policeman was so shocked in hearing a Negro talk to him so forthrightly that he didn't quite know how to respond. He nervously wrote the ticket and left the scene as quickly as possible.
警察听到一个黑人和他说话如此直率,大吃一惊,一时真不知该如何回应才好。他紧张地写下罚单,尽快离开了现场。
(来源:可可英语网)