名人认知系列 哲学思想家6：Francis Bacon 弗朗西斯·培根

Francis Bacon

弗朗西斯·培根

Francis Bacon’s words “knowledge is power” are well-known to us. This talented boy is so clever that he entered the Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of twelve and lived for three years there with his older brother.At Cambridge he met the Queen for the first time. The Queen was impressed by his precocious¹ intellect, and was accustomed to call him “the young Lord Keeper”. He began to study law at Gray’s Inn, but his studies were interrupted for two and a half years while he served with the English ambassador to France. The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England. Sir Nicholas had laid up a considerable sum of money to purchase an estate for his youngest son, but he died before doing so, and Francis was left with only a fifth of that money. Having borrowed money, Bacon got into debt. To support himself, he reentered Gray’s Inn. He made rapid progress. He was admitted to the bar in 1582.

我们都知道弗朗西斯·培根的名言“知识就是力量”。这位极富才华的少年天资聪颖，十二岁便进入剑桥大学三一学院，和他哥哥一起在那度过了三年时光。在剑桥时，他第一次见到女王，女王对他早熟的才华印象深刻，并习惯地称他为“小掌玺大臣”。他在葛莱学院学习法律。但是他中途中断了两年半学业，为英国驻巴黎大使工作。1579年2月，培根的父亲尼古拉斯猝死，使他提前回到英国。他父亲生前为他最小的儿子准备了一大笔购买不动产的钱，可惜他在购买前去世了，培根只得到了那笔钱的五分之一。因为借款，培根债务缠身。为养活自己，他重新回到葛莱学院学习。此后他取得了快速的进步，于1582年成为一名律师。

Bacon’s goals were threefold: discovery of truth, service to his country, and service to the church. Knowing that a prestigious² post would aid him toward these ends, in 1580 he applied³, through his uncle, for a post at court. It’s a pity that his application failed. However, Bacon’s fortune soared in the next dozen years. In 1613 he was appointed attorney general and in 1618 lord chancellor⁴.

培根有三个方面的目标：发现真理，为国尽忠，服务教会。他知道一个显赫的职位有助于他实现这些目标，于是1580年他就通过叔叔申请了一个在法院的职位，但申请失敗了。然而培根的运气在接下来的十多年里迅速好转。1613年，他被任命为检察长，1618年晋 升为大法官。

Disaster struck soon after. He was convicted by the High Court of Parliament for accepting bribes⁵. Then he was sentenced to a fine and imprisonment⁶. From then on, Bacon devoted⁷ himself to study and writing. Some historians believe Bacon may have been innocent of the bribery⁸ charges; Bacon himself said that he pleaded guilty by force deliberately⁹ so to save the king from a worse political scandal.

但是灾难很快降临。他被英国上议院法庭认定犯有受贿罪，判处罚金和监禁。从那以后，培根将精力放在了学术和写作上。一些历史学家认为，关于受贿的指控，培根可能是无辜的。培根自己说为了避免国王涉入更严重的政治丑闻，他不得不承认有罪。

By the end of March 1626, Bacon came to the suburb of North London through the snow. Suddenly he wanted to do an experiment concerning the possibility of using the
snow to preserve meat. At that time he was studying hot and cold theory and its practical application. However, because of his frail¹⁰ body, he could not withstand the invasion of cold. His bronchitis relapsed and conditions deteriorated¹¹. Soon he died in April 9, 1626 early morning, leaving assets of about 7,000 and debts to the amount of 22,000.
 

1626年3月底的一天，培根踏着积雪去伦敦北郊。他突发奇想，决定做一个关于用雪来保存肉的可能性的实验，当时他正在研究冷热理论及其实际应用问题。然而，他身体虚弱，没能经受住风寒的侵袭，导致他支气管炎复发。随后，他病情恶化，于1626年4月9日的清晨病逝，留下了 7，000英镑财产和22，000英镑的债务。

1 precocious   

adj.早熟的；较早显出的

参考例句：

• They become precocious experts in tragedy.他们成了一批思想早熟、善写悲剧的能手。
• Margaret was always a precocious child.玛格丽特一直是个早熟的孩子。

2 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

5 bribes   

n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏

6 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

7 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

8 bribery   

n.贿络行为，行贿，受贿

参考例句：

• FBI found out that the senator committed bribery.美国联邦调查局查明这个参议员有受贿行为。
• He was charged with bribery.他被指控受贿。

9 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

10 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

11 deteriorated   

恶化，变坏( deteriorate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Her health deteriorated rapidly, and she died shortly afterwards. 她的健康状况急剧恶化，不久便去世了。
• His condition steadily deteriorated. 他的病情恶化，日甚一日。