世界小史 第105期:释迦牟尼

 　　Now at the same time as the Buddha¹ was seeking to relieve man's suffering in India,就在释迦牟尼在印度寻找使人类摆脱苦难的时候，as you remember, that was around 500 BC, there was in China another great man who was also trying to make people happy through his teachings.

　　你知道，这是在公元前500年左右，在中国有另外一位伟人，他正试图用自己的学说使人幸福。

　　And yet he was as different from the Buddha as he could possibly be.

　　可是他跟释迦牟尼却有着天差地别。

　　He wasn't a wealthy nobleman's son but came from a family that had fallen on hard times.

　　他不是贵族的儿子，他来自一个在乱世家道中落的家庭。

　　He didn't become a hermit², but an adviser³ and teacher.

　　他没有成为循世修行者，而是当了一名劝谏者和教师。

　　Rather than helping⁴ individuals not to want things, and therefore not to suffer,他也不怎么在乎让单个的人不再有什么愿望不再受什么痛苦，what mattered most to Confucius was that everybody should live peacefully together – parents with their children and rulers with their subjects.

　　他主要看重的是让人们平平安安、和和气气地共同生活在一起——父母和他们的孩子，统治者们和他们的臣民。

　　That was his goal: to teach the right way of living together.

　　这就是他的目标：教导人们共同生活的正确方式。

　　And he succeeded.

　　他成功了。

　　Thanks to his teachings all the peoples of China lived together for thousands of years, more contentedly⁵ and more peacefully than many other peoples of the world.

　　在他的学说的影响下，中华民族比世界上别的民族更和睦和平地共同生活了几千年。

 

1 Buddha   

n.佛；佛像；佛陀

参考例句：

• Several women knelt down before the statue of Buddha and prayed.几个妇女跪在佛像前祈祷。
• He has kept the figure of Buddha for luck.为了图吉利他一直保存着这尊佛像。

2 hermit   

n.隐士，修道者；隐居

参考例句：

• He became a hermit after he was dismissed from office.他被解职后成了隐士。
• Chinese ancient landscape poetry was in natural connections with hermit culture.中国古代山水诗与隐士文化有着天然联系。

3 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 contentedly   

adv.心满意足地

参考例句：

• My father sat puffing contentedly on his pipe.父亲坐着心满意足地抽着烟斗。
• "This is brother John's writing,"said Sally,contentedly,as she opened the letter.