时间:2018-11-30 作者:英语课 分类:英语励志美文精华


英语课

A sort of unselfish selfishness


by WARD 1 GREENE


When a man is ten, he has a boy's faith in almost everthing: even Santa Claus is a belief he is not quite ready to give up so long as there is a chance the old gentleman may really live and deliver. When a man is twenty, he is closer to compete disillusion 2 and stronger conviction than he will probably ever be in his life. This is the age of atheists and agnostics; it is also the age of martyrs 3. Jesus Christ must have been a very young man when he died on the cross; Joan of Arc, they say, was only nineteen as the flames consumed her. It is in the later years---oh, anywhere from thirty to fifty---that a man at some time stands with the tatters of his hopes and dreams fallen from him and asks himself:"What, indeed, do i believe?"


He is very apt, then, to cling to the words of other men who have written for him the shadow signposts that come as anything to poiting pathways he found best in the past and roads he will trust on the way ahead. These words may be mere 4 copybook maxims 5: that honesty is the best policy, or haste makes waste. They may be alone from Shakespeare---"To thine own self be true"---or from the bible---"All things whatsoever 6 ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them"---or from the poets" i myself am Heaven and Hell". They may seem a sort of hodgepodge in a man's mind, yet they can make a pattern not inconsistent and not weak.


So if i believe that i myself am Heaven and Hell, that anything less than honesty to myself and others is a boomerang on them and me; if my translation of the Golden Rule is acts of kindness and understanding and xompassion, practiced in the hope that they will be shown to me, then i have a way of life that is a sort of unselfish selfishness. The bald statement may sound cynical 7, but if i can follow that way, i shall not be too unhappy here and i may face death with regret but an untroubled face and a stout 8 heart.


But there are blocks and pitfalls 9 in a way of life, even assuming that a man can adhere to it steadfastly 10 despite his own inclinations 11 to deviate 12. These obstacles are the work other men who adhere to other ways. Hence kindness and compassion 13 are not enough.


A man, i believe, must have courage and fortitude 14 and a burning sense of justice, too. There are times we should turn the other cheek, but there are likewise times when we must fight the good fight. When? Well, if a fellow can't find answer on the signposts or in his heart, i guess he has just got to pray.



1 ward
n.守卫,监护,病房,行政区,由监护人或法院保护的人(尤指儿童);vt.守护,躲开
  • The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
  • During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时,我要点根火把,抵挡蚊虫。
2 disillusion
vt.使不再抱幻想,使理想破灭
  • Do not say anything to disillusion them.别说什么叫他们泄气的话。
  • I'd hate to be the one to disillusion him.我不愿意成为那个让他幻想破灭的人。
3 martyrs
n.martyr的复数形式;烈士( martyr的名词复数 );殉道者;殉教者;乞怜者(向人诉苦以博取同情)
  • the early Christian martyrs 早期基督教殉道者
  • They paid their respects to the revolutionary martyrs. 他们向革命烈士致哀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
4 mere
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
5 maxims
n.格言,座右铭( maxim的名词复数 )
  • Courts also draw freely on traditional maxims of construction. 法院也自由吸收传统的解释准则。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
  • There are variant formulations of some of the maxims. 有些准则有多种表达方式。 来自辞典例句
6 whatsoever
adv.(用于否定句中以加强语气)任何;pron.无论什么
  • There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
  • All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样,你就怎样对人。
7 cynical
adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的,不信世道向善的
  • The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大,他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
  • He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。
8 stout
adj.强壮的,粗大的,结实的,勇猛的,矮胖的
  • He cut a stout stick to help him walk.他砍了一根结实的枝条用来拄着走路。
  • The stout old man waddled across the road.那肥胖的老人一跩一跩地穿过马路。
9 pitfalls
(捕猎野兽用的)陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 ); 意想不到的困难,易犯的错误
  • the potential pitfalls of buying a house 购买房屋可能遇到的圈套
  • Several pitfalls remain in the way of an agreement. 在达成协议的进程中还有几个隐藏的困难。
10 steadfastly
adv.踏实地,不变地;岿然;坚定不渝
  • So he sat, with a steadfastly vacant gaze, pausing in his work. 他就像这样坐着,停止了工作,直勾勾地瞪着眼。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
  • Defarge and his wife looked steadfastly at one another. 德伐日和他的妻子彼此凝视了一会儿。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记
11 inclinations
倾向( inclination的名词复数 ); 倾斜; 爱好; 斜坡
  • She has artistic inclinations. 她有艺术爱好。
  • I've no inclinations towards life as a doctor. 我的志趣不是行医。
12 deviate
v.(from)背离,偏离
  • Don't deviate from major issues.不要偏离主要问题。
  • I will never deviate from what I believe to be right.我绝不背离我自信正确的道路。
13 compassion
n.同情,怜悯
  • He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
  • Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。
14 fortitude
n.坚忍不拔;刚毅
  • His dauntless fortitude makes him absolutely fearless.他不屈不挠的坚韧让他绝无恐惧。
  • He bore the pain with great fortitude.他以极大的毅力忍受了痛苦。
学英语单词
advanced base
aggrandizements
albumin-free(tuberculin)
all-intertial guidance system
Anywa
arc scale
ascertainable profit centre
be beyond
blind plate
Boa Vista I.da
Bromodiphenylmethane
burgundy-colored
car-air-conditioning system
cfia
change set
chemical treating line
chewit
chlorine-resistant
civil engineering contractor
Clostridium ovitoxicus
Corporate financial management
corybulbine
countrifled
curlicue
d-n.c
deprome
disease-surveillance
door-bolts
drone pipe
electric liquid calorimeter
englyns
EPITONIIDAE
equilibratory organs
erection works
ethnographically
Ev.
extrusion land
flight crews
frequency sharing scheme
general measuring instrument
gentleman's agreement
H. L.
half a mind
hatch side girder
heavy liming
high-frequency inductance measurement
hikari
hypertexts
icosahedron
illusionisms
juncous
laspeyres' formula
leaf primordia
lot on
low pressure centrifugal blower
maritime survey
marriage money
masonry construction
mean lift force
middle management training plan
milk cow
minimum-damage-fire-control theory
Muconda
mudiriyah
natan
native language
near-side lane
non drying oil
nonbilious
nonheterotrophic
nonlinear phase conjugation
open-cup flash-point
pace egg
paduak
palaeoeconomies
pellicular ion-exchanger
PivalicAcid
potassium tetracyanoplatinate (II)
powerpops
primordiumless
ribboning
semi-knockdown
septembrized
service logic
so-and-so
spinning satellite
spreaded
square-cuts
ST_time_until-a-particular-moment
starrest
strip conducting wire
sub-brown dwarfs
supranasal
Tanama
the spirit is willing
time expiration exit routine
turn ... away
uk other
ungelts
unique polar axis
welegas
zoomed-out