佚名/Anonymous
Being told I would be expected to talk here,I inquired what sort of talk I ought to make.They said it should be something suitable to youth-something didactic,instructive,or something in the nature of good ad vice.Very well.I have a few things in my mind which I have often longe d to say for the instruction of the young;for it is in one's tender ea rly years that such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable.First,then,I will say to you my young friends - and I say it beseechingly,urgingly--
Always obey your parents,when they are present.This is the best po licy in the long run,because if you don't,they will make you.Most pa rents think they know better than you do,and you can generally make mor e by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own bette r judgment.
Be respectful to your superiors,if you have any,also to strangers,and sometimes to others.If a person offend you,and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not,do not resort to extreme measures;simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick.That will be sufficie nt.If you shall find that he had not intended any offense,come out fra nkly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him;acknowledge it like a man and say you didn't mean to.Yes,always avoid violence;i n this age of charity and kindliness,the time has gone by for such thin gs.Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined.
Go to bed early,get up early-this is wise.Some authorities get up with the sun;some get up with one thing,others with another.But a lar k is really the best thing to get up with.It gives you a splendid reput ation with everybody to know that you get up with the lark;and if you g et the right kind of lark,and work at him right,you can easily train h im to get up at half past nine,every time-it's no trick at all.
Now as to the matter of lying.You want to be very careful about lyi ng;otherwise you are nearly sure to get caught.Once caught,you can ne ver again be,in the eyes of the good and the pure,what you were before.Many a young person has injured himself permanently through a single c lumsy and ill finished lie,the result of carelessness born of incomplet e training.Some authorities hold that the young out not to lie at all.That of course,is putting it rather stronger than necessary;still,whi le I cannot go quite so far as that,I do maintain,and I believe I am r ight,that the young ought to be temperate in the use of this great art until practice and experience shall give them that confidence,elegance,and precision which alone can make the accomplishment graceful and profi table.Patience,diligence,painstaking attention to detail-these are r equirements;these in time,will make the student perfect;upon these on ly,may he rely as the sure foundation for future eminence.Think what t edious years of study,thought,practice,experience,went to the equipm ent of that peerless old master who was able to impose upon the whole wo rld the lofty and sounding maxim that "Truth is mighty and will prevail"-the most majestic compound fracture of fact which any of woman born has yet achieved.For the history of our race,and each individual's ex perience,are sewn thick with evidences that a truth is not hard to kill,and that a lie well told is immortal.There is in Boston a monument of the man who discovered anesthesia;many people are aware,in these latte r days,that that man didn't discover it at all,but stole the discover y from another man.Is this truth mighty,and will it prevail?Ah no,my hearers,the monument is made of hardy material,but the lie it tells wi ll outlast it a million years.An awkward,feeble,leaky lie is a thing which you ought to make it your unceasing study to avoid;such a lie as that has no more real permanence than an average truth.Why,you might a s well tell the truth at once and be done with it.A feeble,stupid,pre posterous lie will not live two years-except it be a slander upon someb ody.It is indestructible,then,of course,but that is no merit of your s.A final word:begin your practice of this gracious and beautiful art early-begin now.If I had begun earlier,I could have learned how.
Never handle firearms carelessly.The sorrow and suffering that have been caused through the innocent but heedless handling of firearms by th e young!Only four days ago,right in the next farm house to the one whe re I am spending the summer,a grandmother,old and gray and sweet,one of the loveliest spirits in the land,was sitting at her work,when her young grandson crept in and got down an old,battered,rusty gun which h ad not been touched for many years and was supposed not to be loaded,an d pointed it at her,laughing and threatening to shoot.In her fright sh e ran screaming and pleading toward the door on the other side of the ro om;but as she passed him he placed the gun almost against her very brea st and pulled the trigger!He had supposed it was not loaded.And he was right-it wasn't.So there wasn't any harm done.It is the only case o f that kind I ever heard of.Therefore,just the same,don't you meddle with old unloaded firearms;they are the most deadly and unerring things that have ever been created by man.You don't have to take any pains at all with them;you don't have to have a rest,you don't have to have a ny sights on the gun,you don't have to take aim,even.No,you just pi ck out a relative and bang away,and you are sure to get him.A youth wh o can't hit a cathedral at thirty yards with a Gatling gun in three qua rters of an hour,can take up an old empty musket and bag his grandmothe r every time,at a hundred.Think what Waterloo would have been if one o f the armies had been boys armed with old muskets supposed not to be loa ded,and the other army had been composed of their female relations.The very thought of it makes one shudder.
There are many sorts of books;but good ones are the sort for the yo ung to read.Remember that.They are a great,an inestimable,and unspea kable means of improvement.Therefore be careful in your selection,my y oung friends;be very careful;confine yourselves exclusively to,and w orks of that kind.
But I have said enough.I hope you will treasure up the instructions which I have given you,and make them a guide to your feet and a light t o your understanding.Build your character thoughtfully and painstakingl y upon these precepts,and by and by,when you have got it built,you wi ll be surprised and gratified to see how nicely and sharply it resembles everybody else's.
得知人們希望我在這裏講幾句時，我問他們我該講些什麽。他們說，希望我講些適合年輕人的東西——一些有教誨性、能教育人的東西，或是一些好的建議。這太好了！我倒是一直想給年輕人提點兒建議呢，因為人在年輕時期，好的建議極易在心底紮根，並能終身受用。那麽，首先，年輕朋友們——我要真誠地告誡你們——
一定要聽父母的話。從長遠來講，這是最聰明的做法，如果你不聽話，他們就會逼著你聽話。大多數父母認為他們知道的比你們多，在這種情況下，與其自行其是，倒不如迎合他們的想法，這樣你會收獲更多。
如果你有上級的話，請尊重他們，對陌生人和他人也是如此。如果某個人得罪了你，而你不知道他是否是故意的，那就不要采取極端做法，而是要等待時機，給他當頭一棒，這就夠了。如果發現他並非有意傷害你，那麽，你就應該站出來，承認教訓他的事，要像一個男子漢一樣承認錯誤，並說明自己並非有意。還有就是，切勿使用暴力，在和平友好的年代，暴力已經過時。讓我們譴責這些低俗的舉止，粉碎暴力吧！
早睡早起——這是十分明智的。有些人主動起床，也有些人被迫起床。當然，在百靈鳥的歌聲中起床最愜意不過了。當人們都知道你與百靈鳥同迎清晨時，你便會備受稱讚；如果你得到一隻中意的百靈鳥，並以正確的方式訓練它，讓它九點半，甚至是任何時候起床就不是件難事了——當然，這並不是說要耍詭計。
現在，我們來談談說謊吧。要說謊，就得小心謹慎，否則很容易穿幫。一旦被揭穿，別人就不再認為你是善良和純潔的了，你在別人眼中就不是從前的你了。很多年輕人就因為一個拙劣的謊言永遠地傷害了自己，原因在於他們不夠謹慎且缺乏經驗。有些人認為，年輕人不能撒謊。當然，這有些偏激。我不會這麽偏激，而且我認為我是有道理的。我認為，年輕人應適當運用這門偉大的藝術，通過訓練和實踐，他們將變得自信、優雅和精確，恰恰是這些可以使他們完美出色地達到目標。耐心、勤奮和對細節的認真揣摩，都是年輕人必須具備的條件。隨著時間的流逝，這些要素將會使你們臻於完美，而你們也隻有仰仗這些要素，才能成就日後的輝煌。想想那位無可匹敵的大師吧，多年沉悶乏味的學習、思考、實踐和練習才使他得以在世人麵前說出這樣的經典語句——“真理有著巨大的力量，並將戰勝一切。”——這是最偉大的悖論，是凡人所能達到的最高境界。曆史和個人的經曆都深刻地表明：真理易被推翻，但絕妙的謊言永遠顛撲不破。波士頓立有一座紀念麻醉術發明者的紀念碑。後來，很多人發現，這個人根本不是麻醉術的發明者，他不過是竊取了他人的成果。真理的力量真的很強大嗎？它能戰勝一切嗎？哦，不，朋友們，製作那座紀念碑的材料固然很堅固，但它所承載的謊言將比紀念碑本身還要久一百萬年。笨拙、無說服力和漏洞百出的謊言是你應當通過不斷學習去避免的，這樣的謊言還不及一般真理長久。為什麽呢？你還是說出真相吧，現在就說。一個沒有說服力、可笑、荒謬的謊言不會持續兩年——除非它是對某人的誹謗。當然，這樣的謊言牢不可破，但對你的名譽沒有什麽好處。一句話：盡早練習這門高尚而美麗的藝術吧——現在就開始。要是我當年入門早，現在就已經學會了。
不要隨便玩弄槍械。年輕人因為無知或不小心擺弄槍械而造成痛苦和傷害的例子太多了！我避暑的農舍隔壁住著一位滿頭銀發、和藹可親的老奶奶，她可以說是世界上最可親的老人家之一了。就在四天前，她正在幹活，她的小孫子躡手躡腳地溜了進來，還拿著一支陳舊扭曲、鏽跡斑斑的槍，這支槍好多年沒用了，大家都以為裏邊沒裝子彈。孫子用槍指著她，笑著威脅她，她十分害怕，驚叫著跑開，躲到門的另一側求饒。但當她從他身邊走過時，他幾乎用槍頂著她的胸膛，並且扣動了扳機！他以為槍膛裏沒子彈，的確——槍裏確實沒子彈，所以並沒有造成什麽傷害。這是我聽過的唯一例外，因此，同樣地，不要去碰沒有裝子彈的槍。槍是人類製造出的最精確的殺人工具，不要在上麵浪費精力，不要給槍裝支架，不要裝瞄準器，甚至不要去瞄準，絕對不要，你隻要拿起一樣類似的東西並且“乒乒”兩下，保證你會擊中目標。一個在四十五分鍾之內都無法用加特林擊中三十碼開外的教堂的年輕人，可能會用一支破舊的沒裝子彈的槍在一百碼處次次擊中他的奶奶。想想看，如果滑鐵盧戰役中的一方是拿著沒裝子彈的槍的孩子們，另一方是他們的女性親戚，結果會如何呢？隻要想想，就會讓人不寒而栗。
書籍名目繁多，但隻有好書才適合年輕人閱讀。請記住，好書能讓你不斷完善自身，這種作用強大、不可估量且難以捉摸。因此，年輕的朋友們，請謹慎選擇你們的讀物，要十分謹慎。你們應該專門讀諸如羅伯遜的《道德啟示錄》、巴克斯特的《聖徒的安息》和《傻瓜出國記》之類的作品。
我說得已經夠多了。我希望你們能珍惜這些建議，讓它們成為你們的向導，點燃你們思想的火花。按照這些建議去培養自己的性格吧，慢慢地，一旦你塑造好了，就會驚訝而欣慰地發現，自己和他人是如此相似。
1.Always____your parents,when they are present.This is the____policy in the long run,because if you don't,they will____you.Most parents think they know better____you do,and you can generally make____by humoring that superstition than you can by ac ting on your own better____.
2.Think____Waterloo would have been if one of the armies had been____armed with old muskets supposed not to be____,and the other army had been composed of____female relations.The very thoug ht of it makes____shudder.
1.因為人在年輕時期，好的建議極易在心底紮根，並能終身受用。
2.耐心、勤奮和對細節的認真揣摩，都是年輕人必須具備的條件。
3.書籍名目繁多，但隻有好書才適合年輕人閱讀。
1....I inquired what sort of talk I ought to make.
sort of：有幾分；稍微；有點兒
2....such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable.
take root：生根；被牢固樹立