第六期 第67集 On Motes and Beams
时间：2018-11-28 作者：英语课 分类：疯狂英语1996-1998年 一至六期
It is curious that our own offenses 1 should seem so much less heinous 2 than the offenses of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward 3 events to consider them, find it easy to condone 4 them. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves fro which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit 5 us in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial instance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he has never told not one, but a hundred?
There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and littleness, of virtue 6 and vice 7, of nobility and baseness. Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but potentially they are the same. For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity. The knowledge that these reveries are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance 8 to oneself as well as to others. It is well also if they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most eminent 9 and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.
译文：
微尘与栋梁
让人奇怪的是，和别人的过错比起来，我们自身的过错往往不是那样的可恶。我想，其原因应该是我们知晓一切导致自己犯错的情况，因此能够设法谅解自己的错误，而别人的错误却不能谅解。我们对自己的缺点不甚关注，即便是深陷困境而不得不正视它们的时候，我们也会很容易就宽恕自己。据我所知，我们这样做是正确的。缺点是我们自身的一部分，我们必须接纳自己的好和坏。
但是当我们评判别人的时候，情况就不同了。我们不是通过真实的自我来评判别人，而是用一种自我形象来评判，这种自我形象完全摒弃了在任何世人眼中会伤害到自己的虚荣或者体面的东西。举一个小例子来说：当觉察到别人说谎时，我们是多么地蔑视他啊！但是，谁能够说自从未说过谎？可能还不止一百次呢。
人和人之间没什么大的差别。他们皆是伟大与渺小，善良与邪恶，高尚与低俗的混合体。有的人性格比较坚毅，机会也比较多，因而达个或那个方面，能够更自由地发挥自己的禀赋，但是人类的潜能却都是相同的。至于我自己，我认为自己并不比大多数人更好或者更差，但是我知道，假如我记下我生命中每一次举动和每一个掠过我脑海的想法的话，世界就会将我视为一个邪恶的怪物。每个人都会有这样的怪念头，这样的认识应当能够启发我们宽容自己，也宽容他人。同时，假如因此我们得以用幽默的态度看待他人，即使是天下最优秀最令人尊敬的人，而且假如我们也因此不把自己看得过于重要，那是很有裨益的。
- It's wrong of you to take the child to task for such trifling offenses. 因这类小毛病责备那孩子是你的不对。 来自《简明英汉词典》
- Thus, Congress cannot remove an executive official except for impeachable offenses. 因此，除非有可弹劾的行为，否则国会不能罢免行政官员。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
- They admitted to the most heinous crimes.他们承认了极其恶劣的罪行。
- I do not want to meet that heinous person.我不想见那个十恶不赦的人。
- Untoward circumstances prevent me from being with you on this festive occasion.有些不幸的事件使我不能在这欢庆的时刻和你在一起。
- I'll come if nothing untoward happens.我要是没有特殊情况一定来。
- I cannot condone the use of violence.我不能宽恕使用暴力的行为。
- I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to war.我绝不允许任何导致战争的行为。
- Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
- They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。
- He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
- You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。
- He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
- They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
