英语短文名人故事 哲学思想家 第22期:大卫·休谟

 8 David Hume 大卫·休谟

Hume attended the University of Edinburgh at the unusually early age of twelve at a time when fourteen was normal.  休谟在年仅12岁时就进入爱丁堡大学就读，当时正常的入学年龄是14岁。

At first he considered a career in law, but came to have, in his words, "an insurmountable aversion to everything but the pursuits of Philosophy and general Learning;  最初休谟打算从事法律这个行业，但不久他发现自己有了"一种对于学习哲学和知识以外所有事物的极度厌烦感。

and while fancied I was poring over Voet and Vinnius, Cicero and Virgil were the Authors which I was secretly devouring¹."  当我的家人想象我正在阅读屋埃特和维尼阿斯（两位当时著名的法学家）时，我实际上却是在阅读西塞罗和维吉尔的著作。"

He had little respect for the professors of his time, telling a friend in 1735， 休谟对于大学里的教授都不抱好感，他曾在1735年告诉一位朋友说：

"there is nothing to be learnt from a Professor, which is not to be met with in Books." "你根本不能从教授身上学到任何东西，那些东西在书里都有了。"

As Hume's options lay between a traveling tutorship and a stool in a merchant's office, he chose the latter.  当休谟面对是成为家庭教师还是成为商人的职员这两个选择时，他最终选择了后者。

In 1734, after a few months occupied with commerce in Bristol, he went to La Fleche in Anjou, France.  1734年，在布里斯托经商数个月之后，休谟前往法国安茹的拉弗莱舍（La FUche)旅游， 

There he had frequent discourse² with the Jesuits of the College of La Fleche.  在那里休谟经常与来自拉弗莱舍学院的耶稣会学生进行哲学讨论。

As he had spent most of his savings³ during his four years there while writing A Treatise⁴ of Human Nature,  在写《人性论》的四年中，他花掉了大部分储蓄，

he resolved "to make a very rigid⁵ frugality⁶ supply my deficiency of fortune, to maintain unimpaired my independency,  因此休谟决心要"过极其简朴的生活以应付我那有限的财产，以此确保我的独立自主性，

and to regard every object as contemptible⁷ except the improvements of my talents in literature" .  并且不用考虑任何除了增进我的文学天分以外的事物。

He completed the Treatise at the age of 26. "当《人性论》完稿时，他年仅26岁。

Although many scholars today consider the Treatise to be Hume's most important work and one of the most important books in Western philosophy,  虽然现代的学者们大多将《人性论》一书视为休谟最重要的一本著作，也是西方哲学历史上最重要的著作之一，

the critics in Great Britain at the time did not agree, describing it as "abstract and unintelligible⁸" .  但当时英国的批判学者们并没有看好它，认为它"抽象且缺乏智慧"。

Despite the disappointment, Hume later wrote, "Being naturally of a cheerful and sanguine¹⁰ temper,  尽管有些失望，休谨这样写道："我本来就养成乐观而开朗的个性，

I soon recovered from the blow and prosecuted¹¹ with great ardour my studies in the country."  很快就从这样的挫折里站了起来，并继续在乡下努力地进行研究。"

There, he wrote the Abstract without revealing his authorship, he aimed to make his larger work more intelligible⁹.  他继续写下了《人性论摘要》一书，但没有写出自己的名字，他试图使他更重要的著作--《人性论》一书获得更多重视。

However, only in about 1770, with the praise by Immanuel Kant, did scholars begin to notice its value. 然而，直到1770年左右，随着德国哲学家伊曼努尔·康德对休谟的褒奖，休谟的哲学著作才开始获得大众的注意。

1 devouring   

吞没( devour的现在分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• The hungry boy was devouring his dinner. 那饥饿的孩子狼吞虎咽地吃饭。
• He is devouring novel after novel. 他一味贪看小说。

2 discourse   

n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述

参考例句：

• We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
• He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。

3 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

4 treatise   

n.专著；(专题)论文

参考例句：

• The doctor wrote a treatise on alcoholism.那位医生写了一篇关于酗酒问题的论文。
• This is not a treatise on statistical theory.这不是一篇有关统计理论的论文。

5 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

6 frugality   

n.节约，节俭

参考例句：

• We must build up our country with industry and frugality.我们必须勤俭建国。
• By frugality she managed to get along on her small salary.凭着节俭，她设法以自己微薄的薪水生活。

7 contemptible   

adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的

参考例句：

• His personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.他气貌不扬，言语粗俗。
• That was a contemptible trick to play on a friend.那是对朋友玩弄的一出可鄙的把戏。

8 unintelligible   

adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的

参考例句：

• If a computer is given unintelligible data, it returns unintelligible results.如果计算机得到的是难以理解的数据，它给出的也将是难以理解的结果。
• The terms were unintelligible to ordinary folk.这些术语一般人是不懂的。

9 intelligible   

adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的

参考例句：

• This report would be intelligible only to an expert in computing.只有计算机运算专家才能看懂这份报告。
• His argument was barely intelligible.他的论点不易理解。

10 sanguine   

adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的

参考例句：

• He has a sanguine attitude to life.他对于人生有乐观的看法。
• He is not very sanguine about our chances of success.他对我们成功的机会不太乐观。

11 prosecuted   

a.被起诉的

参考例句：

• The editors are being prosecuted for obscenity. 编辑因刊载污秽文字而被起诉。
• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。