英語美文欣賞：艱辛的人生

在人的這一生中，任何的收穫都要通過努力去得到。目前不作任何的努力，只不過意味着在過去有過努力的積儲。一個人不必工作,除非他或其先輩們曾經努力工作過，並取得了豐厚的收穫。下面是本站小編爲大家帶來英語經典美文：艱辛的人生，希望大家喜歡!

A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springsmerely from lack either of desire or of power to striveafter great things, is as little worthy of a nation as anindividual.

We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admirethe man who embodies victorious efforts,

the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who isprompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife ofactual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothingsave by effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely meansthat there has been effort stored upin the past. A man can be freed from the necessity of work only by the fact that he or his fathersbefore him have worked to good purpose. If the freedom thus purchased is used aright, and the manstill does actual work, though of a different kind, whether as a writer or a general, whether in the fieldof politics or in the field of exploration and adventure,

he shows he deserves his good fortune.

But if he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a period, not of preparation,butof mere enjoyment, even though perhaps not of vicious enjoyment, he shows that he is simply acumberer on the earth’s surface; and he surely unfits himself to hold his own place with his fellows,if the need to do so should again arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life,and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.

As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base untruth to say that happy is the nationthat has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to daremighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank withthose poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much,because they live in the gray twillight thatknows neither victory nor defeat.

美文翻譯：

一種怠惰安逸的生活，一種僅僅是由於缺少追尋偉大亊物的渴望或能力而導致的悠閒生活，這對國家與個人都是毫無價值的。

我們不欣賞那種怯懦安逸的人。我們欽佩那種表現出奮力向上的人，那種永不屈待鄰人，能隨時幫助朋友，但是也具有那些剛健的品質，足以在現實生活的嚴酷鬥爭中獲取勝利的人。失敗是難以忍受的，但更爲糟糕的是從來不去努力爭取成功。在人的這一生中，任何的收穫都要通過努力去得到。目前不作任何的努力，只不過意味着在過去有過努力的積儲。一個人不必工作,除非他或其先輩們曾經努力工作過，並取得了豐厚的收穫。假如他能夠把獲得的這種自由加以正確地運用，仍然做些實際的工作，儘管那些工作是屬於另一類的，不論是做一名作家還是將軍,不論是在政界還是在探險和冒險方面做些亊情，都表明了他沒有事負自己的好運。

但是,假如他未將這段需要從亊實際工作的自由時期用於準備，而僅僅是用於享樂(即使他所從亊的或許並非不良的享樂)，那也就表明了他只是地球表面上的一個贅疣;而且如果那種需要再度出現的話，他肯定無法在間僚之中維持自己的地位。一種純粹安逸的生活終究並不是一種令人很滿意的生活，而且，最主要的是，過那種生活的人最終肯定沒有能力擔當起世上之重任。

對於個人是如此，對於國家也是這樣。有人說一個沒有歷史的國家是得天獨厚的，這是根本錯誤的。一種得天獨厚的優越感來源於一個國家所具有的光榮歷史。敢於挑戰非比尋常的事物，去贏得光輝的勝利，即使其中摻雜着失敗，那也遠勝子與那些既沒有享受多大快樂也沒有道受多大痛苦的平庸之輩爲伍，因爲他們生活在一個既享受不到勝利也不會道遇挫敗的灰暗的境界中。