英語經典美文：飛行轟炸途中的啓示

這些出自於上帝的創造，都是永恆的，正如偉大的藝術家們所創造的音樂和畫作也是上帝賜予的，也是永恆的一樣。下面是本站小編爲大家帶來英語經典美文：飛行轟炸途中的啓示，希望大家喜歡!

One day while piloting a bomber through the war skies of Europe, I came to believe in the immortality of man. There was not any melodrama attached to this awakening. Only through the thousand details of a mind absorbed in a bomb run came the discovery of a single fact: “Know ye the truth, and the truth shall make ye free.”

一天，在我駕駛轟炸機飛越戰火紛飛的歐洲上空時，我突然開始相信人的不朽。這次頓悟不帶任何戲劇性。只是在這次飛行轟炸途中腦子裏出現的無數個念頭當中，我突然發現了一個再簡單不過的事實：“你們必曉得真理，真理必叫你們得以自由。”

Below me were the Alps, and the vision of Hannibal crossing them in his time of war flashed through my mind, followed in rapid succession by the remembrance of all the histories of wars. I looked at the bomber machinery about me and at the battle signs of destruction below and realized this was only one of the thousands of wars man has been engaged in, and still he has flourished. So then, like the warm sun and friendly heaven and God’s other features about me, man, too, must be warmth that came into the subzero cockpit with this divine realization made me know that here, at least for me, was the key to a happiness which had been missing before. The feeling of a day-to-day existence without hope for the tomorrow, changed to a sense of security and the knowledge of having a future. With this truth in mind, one cannot help but try to make a better world to live in.

我下面是阿爾卑斯山脈，迦太基軍隊的統帥漢尼拔在戰爭期間穿越它的景象在我的腦海裏閃過，緊接着是一幕幕關於所有戰爭歷史的回憶。我注視着身旁的轟炸機設備以及下面戰場的摧毀標誌，突然意識到這只不過是人類所經歷過的無數戰爭中的一次，儘管如此，人類依然生生不息。因此，正如溫暖的太陽、舒適的天堂和我周圍上帝所創造的其他生靈一樣，人類也一定是永恆不朽的。駕駛艙內的溫度在零度以下，然而這一神聖的頓悟卻使艙內暖意融融。我意識到，至少對我而言，這就是開啓已經丟失很久的幸福之門的鑰匙。過一天算一天，不希求有明天的感覺頓時變成了未來的安全感。心裏有了這條真理，人們就會努力去創造一個更美好的生活家園。

This awakening came late to me, but with my children it will not be left to happenstance, for I have long since begun to show them the tying in of man’s immortality with the ageless evidences which are everywhere about us: the great artist’s glorious paintings of the heavens at sunrise and sunset; the delicate fragrance of a rose; the simple miracle of a newly born lamb; the massive majesty of snowcapped, purple mountains; the mysterious, many-faced sea hiding a thousands other worlds beneath its cloak; the twinkling lights from stars a billion miles away. They have learned these things are of God and are immortal, just as the music and the paintings of the old masters are God-given and ageless.

這種頓悟對我來說來得遲了些，但這樣的偶然事件決不會發生在我的孩子們身上，因爲我早就開始讓他們看到人類的不朽和我們周圍無處不在的永恆之間的聯繫——造物主對日出日落時天堂輝煌景象的描繪，一朵玫瑰的幽香，一隻初生羊羔身上展示的生命奇蹟，頂峯被積雪覆蓋的偉岸的紫色羣山，大海在它神祕多變的外衣下所掩藏的無數其他的世界，遙遠的星空中星辰閃耀的光芒。他們懂得了這些都出自於上帝的創造，都是永恆的，正如偉大的藝術家們所創造的音樂和畫作也是上帝賜予的，也是永恆的一樣。

“But Daddy,” they have asked me, “the papers say the Atom Bomb will kill off the human race someday, is that so?” How certainly I can assure them now, believing in the imperishability of man as I do. People said that when the spear came into existence, and the bow and arrow, and guns and bullets, and planes and bombs. But there has been someone more powerful than all these forces, and so we are here today, greater in number, healthier in body, and more advanced in science and learning than patience with all this hysteria, I tell them. After all, mankind is only a youngster, like one of you. The Earth is an unknown millions of years old, while man is a mere 6,000 years of age. Mankind is still growing up, comparatively, and his growth can be likened to your own. Its like you and the neighboring children who have words and fight. Someone gets a black eye, but you make up and then you work and play together again, and as you grow more mature you fight less often because you become more intelligent. So will it be with the world.

“可是，爸爸，”他們曾經問我，“報紙上說有一天原子彈會毀滅全人類。是真的嗎?”現在我能明確地告訴他們，因爲我相信人類是永恆不朽的，“矛出現時就有人那樣說。此後有了弓和箭，又有了槍和子彈，飛機和炸彈。但是總有比這些武器更強大的力量存在，因此今天我們人類不斷地繁衍，身體越來越健壯，科學越來越先進，知識越來越豐富。對所有這些歇斯底里要耐心一些，”我告訴他們，“畢竟人類像你們一樣還很年輕。地球已經有不知少百萬年的歷史了，而人類只有六千年的歷史。比較而言，人類仍然在成長，就像你們一樣。就像你和鄰居的孩子爭吵打架，有人眼睛被打青，但你們會重歸於好，然後又在一起學習玩耍，你逐漸長大成熟，就不會經常和別人打架，因爲你變得更理智。世界也是這樣。”

In giving these simple facts to my children, I continually add to my own faith in mankind. I believe man is basically good in heart, spiritually indestructible, and his place in the sun is assured because he is in God’s image. I believe all these things, sincerely; but more important, my children believe them, for it is they who hold the combination to man’s future peace and happiness.

向孩子們講解這些簡單事實時，我自己對人類的信念也不斷增長。我相信人類本質上心地善良，精神不可摧毀，在太陽下的地位很牢固，因爲他是按照上帝的形象創造出來的。我真誠地相信所有這一切——但更重要的是——我的孩子們相信這些，因爲他們把握着人類未來的和平與幸福。