美丽的英语散文

美丽的英语散文 Equality and Greatness Between persons of equal income there is no social distinction except the distinction of merit. Money is nothing;character,conduct,and capacity are everything.Instead of all the workers being leveled down to low wage standards and all the rich leveled up to fashionbale income standards,everybody under a system of equal incomes would find his or her own natural level.There would be great people and ordinary people and little peolpe,but the great would always be those who had done great things,and never the idiot whose mother had spoiled them and whose father had left a hunred thousand a year;and the little would be persons of small minds and mean characters,and not poor persons who had never had a chance.That is why idiots are always in favour of inequality of income(their only chance of eminence),and the really great in favour of equality. 收入相当的人除了品性迥异以外没有社会差别。金钱不能说明什么;性格，行 为，能力才代一切。在收入平等制度下，每个人将会找到他或她正常的地位， 而不是所有的工人被划到应拿低工资阶层，所有的富人被划到应得高收入的阶 层。人有卓著伟人，平庸之辈和碌碌小人之别，然伟人总是那些有所建树之人， 而非从小深受母亲溺爱，父亲每年留下一大笔钱之人;碌碌小人总是那些心胸 狭窄，品德卑劣之人，而不是那些从未获取机会的穷人。愚蠢之众总是赞成收 入不平等(他们职能凭借这种机会才能为人所知)，而真正伟大之人则主张平等 相待，原因就在于此。 Best of times It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way. Excerpt from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens 参考译文 这是一个最好的时代，也是一个最坏的时代;这是明智的年代，这是愚昧的年 代;这是信任的纪元，这是怀疑的纪元;这是光明的季节，这是黑暗的季节; 这是希望的春日，这是失望的冬日;我们面前应有尽有，我们面前一无所有; 我们都将直下地狱…… Life is a chess-board The chess-board is the world:the pieces are the phenomena of the universe; the rules of the game are what we call the laws of nature. The player on the other side is hidden from us. We know that his play is always fair, just and patient. But also we know, to our cost, that he never overlooks a mistake, or makes the smallest allowance for ignorance. By Thomas Henry Huxley 参考译文 棋盘宛如世界:一个个棋子仿佛世间的种种现象:游戏规则就是我们所称的自 然法则。竞争对手藏于暗处，不为我们所见。我们知晓，这位对手向来处事公 平，正义凛然，极富耐心。然而，我们也明白，这位对手从不忽视任何错误， 或者因为我们的无知而做出一丝让步，所以我们也必须为此付出代价。