英语美文背诵 自由人的信仰

A Freeman's Worship

The life of Man, viewed outwardly, is but a small thing in comparison with the forces of Nature. The slave is doomed² to worship Time and Fate and Death, because they are greater than anything he finds in himself, and because all his thoughts are of things which they devour³. But, great as they are, to think of them greatly, to feel their passionless splendour, is greater still. And such thought makes us free men; we no longer bow before the inevitable⁴ in Oriental subjection, but we absorb it, and make it a part of ourselves. To abandon the struggle for private happiness, to expel all eagerness of temporary desire, to burn with passion for eternal things--this is emancipation⁵, and this is the free man's worship. And this liberation is effected by a contemplation of Fate; for Fate itself is subdued⁶ by the mind which leaves nothing to be purged⁷ by the purifying fire of Time.

United with his fellow-men by the strongest of all ties, the tie of a common doom¹, the free man finds that a new vision is with him always, shedding over every daily task the light of love. The life of Man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes⁸, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach, and where none may tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent⁹ Death. Very brief is the time in which we can help them, in which their happiness or misery¹⁰ is decided¹¹. Be it ours to shed sunshine on their path, to lighten their sorrows by the balm of sympathy, to give them the pure joy of a never-tiring affection, to strengthen failing courage, to instil¹² faith in hours of despair. Let us not weigh in grudging¹³ scales their merits and demerits, but let us think only of their need--of the sorrows, the difficulties, perhaps the blindnesses, that make the misery of their lives; let us remember that they are fellow-sufferers in the same darkness, actors in the same tragedy as ourselves. And so, when their day is over, when their good and their evil have become eternal by the immortality¹⁴ of the past, be it ours to feel that, where they suffered, where they failed, no deed of ours was the cause; but wherever a spark of the divine fire kindled¹⁵ in their hearts, we were ready with encouragement, with sympathy, with brave words in which high courage glowed.

Brief and powerless is Man's life; on him and all his race the slow, sure doom falls pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless¹⁶ way; for Man, condemned¹⁷ to-day to lose his dearest, to-morrow himself to pass through the gate of darkness, it remains¹⁸ only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day; disdaining¹⁹ the coward terrors of the slave of Fate, to worship at the shrine²⁰ that his own hands have built; undismayed by the empire of chance, to preserve a mind free from the wanton tyranny that rules his outward life; proudly defiant²¹ of the irresistible²² forces that tolerate, for a moment, his knowledge and his condemnation²³, to sustain alone, a weary but unyielding Atlas²⁴, the world that his own ideals have fashioned despite the trampling²⁵ march of unconscious power.

自由人的信仰

罗素

从外表看来，人的生命与自然的力量相比是微不足道的。奴隶注定要崇拜时间、命运和死亡。因为他内心没有比这些更伟大的思想，因为他所思所想的一切都无它们所吞噬。但是它们虽然伟大，我们若能尊敬它们，体认它们无情的壮丽，就比它们更伟大。这些思想使我们成为自由人。我们不再东方式地听天由命，屈服在无法逃避的威力前。我们承受它们，使它们成为我们生活的一部分，放弃为私人利益的奋斗，不对片刻的欲望孜孜以求。充满激情地追求永恒的事物--这就是解放；这就是自由人的信仰。这种解放是对命运深思熟虑后产生的，而被时间精炼之火净化得毫无杂质的意识决定着命运本身。

自由人以一切联系中最强的一种联系与他的同类团结起来，这种联系就是共同的命运，他保持着一种新的视野，让爱之光洒满一切日常事务，人的生命是黑暗中的长途跋涉，被隐形的敌人所包围。为困倦和痛苦所折磨，朝向一个难以到达而且不能久留的目标前进，在前进途中，我们的同伴一个一个地从我们眼前消失，被全能的死亡悄悄下令携走了。我们帮助他们的时间非常短暂，而正是这短暂的时间决定了他们悲喜祸福，愿我们能把阳光洒向他们的旅途，以同情的抚慰减轻他们的哀伤，以源源不断的爱心使他们感受纯洁的欢乐，在他们勇气消退时使他们振作，在他们绝望时给他们信心。我们不要用分分计较的天平去衡量他们的优点和缺点，而应考虑他们的需要，考虑那些使他们受苦的忧伤、痛苦或盲目无知。我们应该记住，他们和我们一样在黑暗中受苦受难，在同一个悲剧里扮演角色，因此，当他们的年寿已尽，当时间把他们的善与恶化为不朽的过去而成为永恒时，愿我们能感到，我们从来不是使他们受苦受挫折的原因；愿我们能感到，当他们的心中闪烁着圣火时，我们曾同情他们，安慰他们，并曾用豪言壮语鼓舞他们。

人的生命是短暂而脆弱的，不可避免的死亡虽然缓慢，但一定会降临在每一个人身上，阴森而无情，这个全能的物质世界毫不容情地滚滚前行无视善恶，任意摧毁，对与人来说，注定今天要失去最亲爱的亲人朋友，明天自己也要通过黑暗的死亡之门，人的生命存在就在于死亡来袭之前，珍惜那些使他短暂的生命变得高贵的思想，鄙弃对命运的恐惧，对自建的圣坛顶礼膜拜，不受机缘的摆布，摆脱主宰他外部生活的粗暴统治而取得心灵的自由，敢于骄傲地向那些不可抗拒的压力挑战----这些压力对其认识和判断力不过是暂时的----他就像疲惫而不屈的擎天巨神，独自支撑着他自己的理想世界，对这种无意识力量的肆意践踏毫不理会。

1 doom   

n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定

参考例句：

• The report on our economic situation is full of doom and gloom.这份关于我们经济状况的报告充满了令人绝望和沮丧的调子。
• The dictator met his doom after ten years of rule.独裁者统治了十年终于完蛋了。

2 doomed   

命定的

参考例句：

• The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
• A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。

3 devour   

v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷

参考例句：

• Larger fish devour the smaller ones.大鱼吃小鱼。
• Beauty is but a flower which wrinkle will devour.美只不过是一朵，终会被皱纹所吞噬。

4 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

5 emancipation   

n.（从束缚、支配下）解放

参考例句：

• We must arouse them to fight for their own emancipation. 我们必须唤起他们为其自身的解放而斗争。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They rejoiced over their own emancipation. 他们为自己的解放感到欢欣鼓舞。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 subdued   

adj. 屈服的，柔和的，减弱的 动词subdue的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He seemed a bit subdued to me. 我觉得他当时有点闷闷不乐。
• I felt strangely subdued when it was all over. 一切都结束的时候，我却有一种奇怪的压抑感。

7 purged   

清除（政敌等）( purge的过去式和过去分词 )； 涤除（罪恶等）； 净化（心灵、风气等）； 消除（错事等）的不良影响

参考例句：

• He purged his enemies from the Party. 他把他的敌人从党内清洗出去。
• The iron in the chemical compound must be purged. 化学混合物中的铁必须清除。

8 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

9 omnipotent   

adj.全能的，万能的

参考例句：

• When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science.我们达到万能以后就不需要科学了。
• Money is not omnipotent,but we can't survive without money.金钱不是万能的，但是没有金钱我们却无法生存。

10 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

11 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

12 instil   

v.逐渐灌输

参考例句：

• It's necessary to instil the minds of the youth with lofty ideals.把崇高理想灌输到年青人的思想中去是很必要的。
• The motive of the executions would be to instil fear.执行死刑的动机是要灌输恐惧。

13 grudging   

adj.勉强的，吝啬的

参考例句：

• He felt a grudging respect for her talents as an organizer.他勉强地对她的组织才能表示尊重。
• After a pause he added"sir."in a dilatory,grudging way.停了一会他才慢吞吞地、勉勉强强地加了一声“先生”。

14 immortality   

n.不死，不朽

参考例句：

• belief in the immortality of the soul 灵魂不灭的信念
• It was like having immortality while you were still alive. 仿佛是当你仍然活着的时候就得到了永生。

15 kindled   

（使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光

参考例句：

• We watched as the fire slowly kindled. 我们看着火慢慢地燃烧起来。
• The teacher's praise kindled a spark of hope inside her. 老师的赞扬激起了她内心的希望。

16 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

17 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

18 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

19 disdaining   

鄙视( disdain的现在分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做

参考例句：

20 shrine   

n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣

参考例句：

• The shrine was an object of pilgrimage.这处圣地是人们朝圣的目的地。
• They bowed down before the shrine.他们在神龛前鞠躬示敬。

21 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

22 irresistible   

adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的

参考例句：

• The wheel of history rolls forward with an irresistible force.历史车轮滚滚向前，势不可挡。
• She saw an irresistible skirt in the store window.她看见商店的橱窗里有一条叫人着迷的裙子。

23 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

24 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

25 trampling   

踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯

参考例句：

• Diplomats denounced the leaders for trampling their citizens' civil rights. 外交官谴责这些领导人践踏其公民的公民权。
• They don't want people trampling the grass, pitching tents or building fires. 他们不希望人们踩踏草坪、支帐篷或生火。