Unit11 You Are What You Do

 

第十一课 行为决定命运

If the past has taught us anything, it is that every cause brings effect, every action has a consequence.

过去的日子若曾经教过我们些什么的话，那便是有因必有果，每一个行为都有一种结果。

This thought, in my opinion, is the moral foundation of the universe;

依我之见，这种想法是宇宙的道德基础:

it applies equally in this world and the next.

它不仅适用于今生也适用于来世。

We Chinese have a saying:"If a man plants melons, he will reap melons; if he sows beans, he will reap beans."

我们中国人有句谚语说:“种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。”

And this is true of every man's life: good begets good，and evil leads to evil.

而这就是每个人生活的写照:善有善报，恶有恶报。

True enough, the sun shines on the saint and sinner alike, and too often it seems that the wicked wax and prosper.

说实在，圣人与罪人皆会受到阳光的泽被，而且常常似乎是恶者大行其道。

But we can say with certitude that, with the individual as with the nation, the flourishing of the wicked is an illusion,

但是我们可以确信地说，不管是对个人或是对国家而言，恶人猖獗只是一种幻象，

for, unceasingly，life keeps books on us all.

因为生命无时无刻不将我们的所作所为像账本一样一笔一笔记录下来。

In the end, we are all the sum total of our actions.

到最后，我们就是我们的行为总合。

Character cannot be counterfeited, nor can it be put on and cast off as if it were a garment to meet the whim of the moment.

品德是无法伪装的，也无法像衣服一样随兴地穿上或脱下来丢在一边。

Like the markings on wood which are ingrained in the very heart of the tree, character requires time and nurture for growth and development.

就像木头的纹路发自于树木的中心深处，品德的成长与发育也需要时间和滋养。

Thus also, day by day, we write our own destiny，for inexorably we become what we do.

也因此，我们日复一日地写下我们自己的命运，因为我们的所为将不留情面地决定我们的命运。

This，I believe，is the supreme logic and the law of life.

我相信这就是最高的逻辑及人生的法则。