英语名篇诵读 人在旅途

We Are on the Journey

人在旅途

Henry Van Dyke(亨利·苑·戴克)

Wherever you are, and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are just

alike, at this moment, and in all the moments of our existence . We are not at rest; we are on a

journey. Our life is not a mere¹ fact; it is a movement, a tendency, a steady, ceaseless progress

towards an unseen goal. We are gaining something or losing something every day. Even when our

position and our character seem to remain precisely² the same, they are changing. For the mere

advance of time is a change. It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July.

The season makes the difference. The limitations that are childlike in the child are childish in the

man.

Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another. Even the failure to do something

is in itself a deed. It sets us forward or backward. The action of the negative pole of a magnetic

注 needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole. To decline is to accept — the other

alternative .

Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday?Yes,  — you must be a little

nearer to some port or other; for since your ship was first launched upon the sea of life you have

never been still for a single moment; the sea is too deep, you could not find an anchorage if you

would; there can be no pause until you come into port.

此时此刻，在我们生存的任何时刻，无论你身在何处，无论你贵贱高低，有一点你我

都一样。我们没有停下，我们人在旅途。我们的生活不只是一种事实，它是一种运动，是

一种趋势，是朝着一个看不见的目标坚定地、不停地前进。每天，我们都在得到，都在失

去。即使当我们的地位和个性似乎一成不变时，其实它们也都在变。因为时间的推移本身

就是变化。一月和七月的田野都是光秃秃的，但并不是一回事。季节造成了差别。孩子身

上童真可爱的东西发生在成人身上就是幼稚、傻气。

我们所做的一切都是迈向某个方向的一步。甚至没有做成什么本身也是一种作为，它

使我们前进或者后退。磁针阴极的作用同阳极的作用一样真实。拒绝即是接受——另外一

种选择而已。

你今天离你的港口比昨天更近吗？是的——你一定离某个港口更近些了；因为自从你

在人生的大海上起航，你一刻也不曾停止过；生活的海洋浩瀚幽深，你设想找也找不到停

泊地；在进港前，你无处歇身。

1 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• 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。

2 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。