羅伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森/Robert Louis Stevenson
Extreme busyness,whether at school or college,kirk or market,is a symptom of deficient vitality;and a faculty for idleness implies a cath olic appetite and a strong sense of personal identity.There is a sort o f dead-alive,hackneyed people about,who are scarcely conscious of livi ng except in the exercise of some conventional occupation.Bring these f ellows into the country,or set them aboard ship,and you will see how t hey pine for their desk or their study.
They have no curiosity;they cannot give themselves over to random p rovocations;they do not take pleasure in the exercise of their facultie s for its own sake;and unless necessity lays about them with a stick,t hey will even stand still.It is no good speaking to such folk:they can not be idle,their nature is not generous enough;and they pass those ho urs in a sort of coma,which are not dedicated to furious moiling in the gold-mill.When they do not require to go to the office,when they are n ot hungry and have no mind to drink,the whole breathing world is a blan k to them.If they have to wait an hour or so for a train,they fall in to a stupid trance with their eyes open.To see them,you would suppose there was nothing to look at and no one to speak with;you would imagine they were paralysed or alienated;and yet very possibly they are hard wo rkers in their own ways,and have good eyesight for a flaw in a deed or a turn of the market.They have been to school and college,but all the time they had their eyes on the medal;they have gone about in the world and mixed with clever people,but all the time they were thinking of the ir own affairs.As if a man's soul were not too small to begin with,th ey have dwarfed and narrowed theirs by a life of all work and no play;u ntil here they are at forty,with a listless attention,a mind vacant of all materials of amusement,and not one thought to rub against another,while they wait for the train.Before he was breeched,he might have cla mbered on the boxes;when he was twenty,he would have stared at the gir ls;but now the pipe is smoked out,the snuffbox empty,and my gentleman sits bolt upright upon a bench,with lamentable eyes.This does not appe al to me as being Success in Life.
But it is not only the person himself who suffers from his busy habi ts,but his wife and children,his friends and relations,and down to th e very people he sits with in a railway carriage or an omnibus.
Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business,is only to be s ustained by perpetual neglect of many other things.And it is not by any means certain that a man's business is the most important thing he has to do.To an impartial estimate it will seem clear that many of the wise st,most virtuous,and most beneficent parts that are to be played upon the Theatre of Life are filled by gratuitous performers,and pass,among the world at large,as phases of idleness.For in that Theatre not only the walking gentlemen,singing chambermaids,and diligent fiddlers in th e orchestra,but those who look on and clap their hands from the benches,do really play a part and fulfill important offices towards the genera l result.You are no doubt very dependent on the care of your lawyer and stockbroker,of the guards and signalmen who convey you rapidly from pla ce to place,and the policemen who walk the streets for your protection;but is there not a thought of gratitude in your heart for certain other benefactors who set you smiling when they fall in your way,or season yo ur dinner with good company?Colonel Newsome helped to lose his friend's money;Fred Bayham had an ugly trick of borrowing shirts;and yet they were better people to fall among than Mr.Barnes.And though Falstaff wa s neither sober nor very honest,I think I could name one or two long-fa ced Barabbases whom the world could better have done without.Hazlitt me ntioned that he was more sensible of obligation to Northcote,who had ne ver done him anything he could call a service,than to his whole circle of ostentatious friends;for he thought a good companion emphatically th e greatest benefactor.
I know there are people in the world who cannot feel grateful unless the favour has been done them at the cost of pain and difficulty.But th is is a churlish disposition.A man may send you six sheets of letter-pa per covered with the most entertaining gossip,or you may pass half an h our pleasantly,perhaps profitably,over an article of his;do you think the service would be greater,if he had made the manuscript in his heart's blood,like a compact with the devil?Do you really fancy you should be more beholden to your correspondent,if he had been damning you all t he while for your importunity?Pleasures are more beneficial than duties because,like the quality of mercy,they are not strained,and they are twice blest.
不管是在中學還是在大學，是在教會還是在市場，極度的忙碌都是缺乏活力的象征。而忙中偷閑的能力，暗示的則是一種廣泛的愛好和強烈的個性。在我們身邊有一種人，他們無精打采、異常迂腐，除了從事某一常規職業外，很少有生活的意識。假如把這些人帶到鄉村，或者讓他們登上輪船，你就會發現，他們是多麽渴望回到自己的書桌邊或書房裏。
他們沒有好奇心，也不能自我挑戰。他們不能享受發揮自己才能的純粹樂趣，除非用棍子抽打著，否則他們會呆站著。與這樣的人多說也無益，他們無法讓自己悠然自得，他們的本性就不夠慷慨，不利用時間拚命工作，隻會渾渾噩噩地打發時間。當無須工作，既不饑餓又不口渴時，對他來說，這個充滿生命的世界隻是一片空白。如果不得不需要個把小時來等火車，他們就會雙目圓睜、神情呆滯。看著他們，你就會猜想那裏沒有可看的風景，也沒有可以交談的人；也可能會覺得他們被嚇呆或被疏離了。然而，他們極有可能是在工作中兢兢業業的人，對契約中的瑕疵或市場的變動有著敏銳洞察力的人。他們上過中學，受過高等教育，但是卻總是把目光放在獎章上；他們遊曆各國，與智者結交，但是總考慮一己之私。似乎是嫌自己起初的靈魂還不夠渺小似的，他們一生隻是拚命工作，從不娛樂，以此來壓縮自己的靈魂世界。直到40歲，還是在那裏無精打采地等火車，不想去與他人攀談，對娛樂也沒有一點兒興趣。在他還是孩童時，還可以在箱子上爬上爬下；到了20歲的時候，他可以盯著姑娘看；但是到了現在，煙鬥抽完了，鼻煙盒也空了的時候，我們這位先生卻直挺挺地坐在長椅上，目光憂鬱。這樣的生活，我並不認為是成功的。
但是，他本人並不是唯一受到這種習慣折磨的人，還包括他的妻子、孩子、朋友和親人，甚至還有與他同乘一車的人。
一個人始終如一地獻身於其所謂的事業，就會永遠忽略許多其他事物。而且，一個人的事業是否是他要做的最重要的事情，是不能用任何形式來確定的。要公正地判定的話，其中一點是顯而易見的，那就是在人生的戲劇裏，最聰明、最善良、最仁慈的角色都是由無償的演員來扮演的。在世人看來，那是悠閑的狀態。因為在這出戲劇裏，不僅有散步的紳士、歌唱的侍女，還有樂隊裏勤勉的小提琴手，而且有坐在長凳上鼓掌的觀眾，他們都真正扮演著一個角色，並對整體效果發揮著重要的作用。毋庸置疑，你依賴於律師和股票經紀人的關照，列車員和信號員使你快速地轉移，街道上警察隊對你的佑護，但是對於那些路上偶遇的，使你開懷一笑的人，難道你一點兒也不心存感激嗎？紐科姆上校的幫忙，卻使他的朋友破了財；弗雷德·貝哈姆向人借襯衣，卻是一個詭計。但是比起巴恩斯先生，他們兩位倒是更值得結交。雖然福斯塔夫既不莊重又不誠實，但是我想我能說出一兩個沮喪的巴拉巴，我想如果沒有他們，這個世界會更好。哈茲裏特曾提到：與那些懂得賣弄的朋友相比，他對諾思科特的責任感更強，盡管諾思科特對他並未有任何所謂的恩惠之舉，因為他堅持認為，一個好的同伴就是最大的施恩者。
我知道世界上有一些人，除非以痛苦和苦難為代價賜予他們恩惠，否則他們便不會有感恩之心。這真是一種無禮的性情。一個人可能會給你寫一封六頁的信，同你漫無邊際地閑談，或者你開心地用半個小時讀他的一篇文章，還有所收獲。如果這篇手稿是他用心血寫成的，就像魔鬼的契約一樣，是否你會覺得更有恩於你？如果你的來信者詛咒你的刁難，你真的覺得你就會對他更加感激嗎？樂趣比責任更能令人受益，就像仁慈的品質一樣，由於沒有任何矯飾，能給人加倍的福祉。
1.Bring these fellows____the country,or set them aboard ship,and you see how they pine for their desk____their study.
2.But it is not____the person himself who suffers from his bus y habits,____his wife and children,his____and relations,an d down to the____people he sits with in a railway carriage or____omnibus.
3.Do you really fancy you____be more beholden to your corres pondent,if he had been damning you____the while for your importuni ty?
1.不管是在中學還是大學，是在教會還是市場，極度的忙碌都是缺乏活力的象征。
2.他們一生隻是拚命工作，從不娛樂，以此來壓縮自己的靈魂世界。
3.一個人始終如一地獻身於其所謂的事業，就會永遠忽略許多其他事物。
1.If they have to wait an hour or so for a train,they fall into a stupid trance with their eyes open.
fall into：落入；分成
2.Do you really fancy you should be more beholden to your correspon dent,if he had been damning you all the while for your importunity?
all the while：一直；始終