優美英語賞析：我的四種生活
I live a life of four dimensions—a wife, a mother, a worker, an individual in society. Diversified roles, yes; but they are well knit by two major forces: an attempt to discover, understand, and accept other human beings; and a belief in my responsibility toward others. The first began in my childhood when my father and I acted out Shakespeare.
我在生活中有着四重身份——既爲人妻，又爲人母;既有自己的事業，又是社會的一分子。是的，角色不同，但配合得很好，因爲它們都受兩種主要力量的支配：一是努力觀察、理解和接受他人，二是對他人盡職盡責。第一種努力早在孩童時代我和父親一起“出演”莎劇時就開始了。
He refused to let me merely parrot Hamlet’s brooding soliloquy, Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene, or Cardinal Woolsey’s self-analysis. He made a fascinating game of helping me understand the motivations behind the poetic words.
無論是哈姆雷特深沉的獨白、麥克白夫人的夢囈，還是伍思裏主教的自我剖析，父親都不讓我機械地背誦，而是通過有趣的遊戲幫我揣摩詩句中隱含的角色內心活動。
In college, a professor further sparked this passionate curiosity about the essence of others and, by his example, transmuted it into a deep concern, a sense of responsibility that sprang not from stern Calvinistic principles, but from an awareness of all I received—and must repay with gladness.
在大學時代，一位教授的言傳身教進一步引發了我理解他人本質的熱忱與好奇，從他身上，我學到了如何將這種熱忱與好奇轉化爲對他人深切的關愛、對他人應負的責任。這種責任心絕非源自卡爾文教派嚴格的教義，而是源自對我所獲得一切的欣然回報。
I believe this acceptance, this tenderness one has for others, is impossible without an acceptance of self. Just when or where I learned that the full quota of human weakness and strength was the common property of each of us, I don’t know. But somewhere in my late twenties, I grew able to admit my own drives—and, rid of the anguished necessity of re-costuming them, I was free to face them, and recognize that they were neither unique nor uncontrollable.
我相信人若不能接受自己，便不可能接受和善待他人。不知從何時何地開始，我意識到每個人都有優點和缺點。在我快滿三十歲的時候，我學會了承認內心的衝動，而非痛苦地將其掩飾，我泰然自若地應付它們，因爲它們乃人之共性，只需善於駕馭。
The rich and happy life I lead every day brings new witness to the validity of my own philosophy, for me. Certainly it works in marriage. Any real marriage is a constant understanding and acceptance, coupled with mutual responsibility for one another’s happiness. Each day I go out strengthened by the knowledge that I am loved and love.
我想我的人生哲學是正確的——我度過的充實而快樂的每一天便是明證。我的人生哲學也適用於婚姻生活，因爲真正幸福的婚姻都建立在夫妻之間彼此不斷理解和相互接受的基礎之上，雙方應盡職盡責，讓對方幸福。每天我外出工作，知道我的愛得到了回報，便渾身有了力量。
In the mother-child relationship, those same two forces apply. Words are useless to describe my efforts to know my own children. But my great debt to them for their understanding of me is one I have often failed to repay. How can I overvalue a youngster with the thoughtfulness, the imagination to always phone when a late arrival might cause worry? To always know how to reassure. How can I repay the one who dashed into adulthood far too young but has carried all of its burden with a firm, joyous spirit?
這兩種力量在母子關係之間也發揮了效用。我爲了解孩子們所做出的努力遠非文字所能形容，而孩子們對我的理解更讓我無以爲報。是怎樣的想象力、心靈相通和體貼，讓一個孩子在母親遲遲未歸時總是打電話確認她的行蹤與安危?他用稚嫩的雙肩快樂而堅定地擔起成人的責任，我要怎樣做才能報答這位早熟懂事的孩子?!
My job itself is a reaffirmation of that by which I live. Very early in my working life, I was a small cog in a big firm. Emerging from a tiny job, I found a strange frightening world. Superficially, everyone was friendly. But beneath the surface were raging suspicion, distrust; the hand ever ready to ward off—or deliver—the knife in the back. For years I thought I was in a world of monstrous people. Then I began to know the company’s president.
我的人生信條在工作中也得到了印證。從業之初，我只是一家大公司的無名小卒。我從低微的職位慢慢晉升，發現公司是個十分古怪而可怕的世界。每個人表面上和和氣氣，暗中卻相互猜忌，人人自危，既怕自己背後射來暗箭，又想伺機捅人一刀。幾年下來，我覺得公司裏每個人都是魔鬼，後來才發現這一切都是總裁一手造成的。
What he had been I have no way of knowing. But at seventy, he was suspicious, distrusting, sure that no one was telling him the truth. He had developed a technique of pitting all of us against each other. Able to see the distortion he caused, I youthfully declared that if I every ran a business, it would be on the reverse principle.
他從前爲人如何我無從得知，但年已七旬的他滿腹狐疑，不相信任何人，覺得所有人都在欺騙他，便運用手段挑起員工之間的爭鬥。明白了他何以能使人心扭曲，年輕的我暗下決心，他年我若自行創業，一定運用完全相反的原則。
For the last two years, I have had that opportunity, and had the joy of watching people—widely different people, too—learn to understand each other, accept each other, feel mutually responsible.
兩年前我終於有機會自立門戶，有了觀察人的工作。我看到各種不同的人如何學會相互理解和接受，對彼此盡責。
My trials and errors have really synthesized into one great belief, which is that I am not alone in my desire to reach my fellow man. I believe the human race is inherently cooperative and concerned about its brother.
我的嘗試和成敗得失熔鑄成一個堅定的信念——絕非僅我一人試圖理解與尊重他人。我相信合作與相互關愛正是人類的本性。
公衆號：英語學習微世界
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