英语名篇诵读 伏尔泰（在线收听）

Voltaire

伏尔泰

A hundred years' today a man died. He died immortal . He departed laden with years,

laden with works, laden with the most illustrious and the most fearful responsibilities, the

responsibility of the human conscience informed and rectified . He went cursed and blessed,

cursed by the past, blessed by the future, and these are the two superb forms of glory. On the

death-bed he had, on the one hand, the acclaim of contemporaries and of the posterity ; on

the other hand, that triumph of hooting and of hate which the implacable past bestows

upon those who have combated it. He was more than a man; he was an age. He had exercised a

function and fulfilled a mission. He had been evidently chosen for the work which he had done by

the Supreme Will , which manifests itself as visibly in the laws of destiny as in the laws of

nature.

一百年前的今天，有一个人去世了。他是不朽的，必将万世流芳。他去世时年事已

高，著作甚丰，肩负着光荣而艰巨的职责，即培养良知、教化人类的职责。他遭人诅咒，

也为人赞扬，过去遭人诅咒，未来为人赞扬，而诅咒和赞扬正是荣耀的两种最高形式。临

终时，他赢得了同时代人和子孙后代的交口称赞，另一方面，他则听到无情的过去对与它

抗争之人的呵斥和憎恨的呼喊声。他不仅仅代表他个人，而是代表整整一个时代。他发挥

了自己的作用，完成了一项使命。他显然完成了上帝选他去做的事情，上帝的意志体现在

自然法则中，也同样体现在命运法则中。