英语名篇诵读 冲动

Impulses

冲动

Albert Einstein(艾伯特·爱因斯坦)

We all know, from what we experience with and within ourselves, that our conscious acts spring from our desires and our fears. Intuition tells us that that is true also of our fellows and of the higher animals. We all try to escape pain and death, while we seek what is pleasant. We are all ruled in what we do by impulses ; and these impulses are so organized that our actions in general serve for our self preservation¹ and that of the race. Hunger, love, pain, fear are some of those inner forces which rule the individual's instinct for self preservation. At the same time, as social beings, we are moved in the relations with our fellow beings by such feelings as sympathy, pride, hate, need for power, pity, and so on. All these primary impulses, not easily described in words, are the springs of man's actions. All such action would cease if those powerful elemental forces were to cease stirring within us. Though our conduct seems so very different from that of the higher animals, the primary instincts are much alike in them and in us. The most evident difference springs from the important part which is played in man by a relatively² strong power of imagination and by the capacity to think, aided as it is by language and other symbolical³ devices.

从身心的体验我们得知，我们有意识的行为来自我们的欲望和恐惧。直觉告诉我们，我们的伙伴和高等动物也是如此。我们都尽力逃避痛苦和死亡，而追求美好快乐的东西。我们的所作所为都受冲动的支配，这些冲动按一定方式组织起来以便我们的行为有助于保全自身和保全人类。饥饿、爱情、痛苦和恐惧都是一些支配个人本能以保护自我的内在力量。同时，作为社会的人，在人际关系上，我们还受到诸如同情心、自尊心、仇恨、权力欲、怜悯等情感的驱使。所有这些基本的冲动，难以用语言描述，却是人类行动之源。如果那些强大的基本力量停止在我们内心活动，所有这样的行为都将中止。虽然我们的行为同高等动物的行为似乎有霄壤之别，但在原始本能上我们和它们很相似。最明显的区别源自对人类起重要作用的部分，即相对较强的想象力和思维力，实际上还得益于语言和其他一些象征手段。

1 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

2 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

3 symbolical   

a.象征性的

参考例句：

• The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more symbolical than real. 今日英国君主的权力多为象徵性的，无甚实际意义。
• The Lord introduces the first symbolical language in Revelation. 主说明了启示录中第一个象徵的语言。