评论
打印
My intention being to acquire the habitude of all these virtues, I judg'd it would be well not to distract my attention by attempting the whole at once, but to fix it on one of them at a time;
既然我的目的是在养成这一切美德的习惯，我认为最好还是不要立刻全面地去尝试，以致分散注意力，最好还是在一个时期内集中精力对付其中的一个。
and, when I should be master of that, then to proceed to another, and so on, till I should have gone thro' the thirteen; and, as the previous acquisition of some might facilitate the acquisition of certain others, I arrang'd them with that view, as they stand above.
当我掌握了那个美德以后，接着就开始注意另外一个，这样下去，直等到我做到了十三条为止。因为先获得的一些美德可以便利其他美德的培养，所以我就按照这个主张把它们像上面的次序排列起来。
Temperance first, as it tends to procure that coolness and clearness of head, which is so necessary where constant vigilance was to be kept up, and guard maintained against the unremitting attraction of ancient habits, and the force of perpetual temptations.
我把节制放在第一，因为它可能使我头脑冷静，思想清楚，为了经常保持警惕，抵抗旧习惯不断的吸力和无穷无尽的试探的引诱，这种冷静的头脑和清晰的思想是必要的。
This being acquir'd and establish'd, Silence would be more easy; and my desire being to gain knowledge at the same time that I improv'd in virtue, and considering that in conversation it was obtain'd rather by the use of the ears than of the tongue, and therefore wishing to break a habit I was getting into of prattling, punning, and joking, which only made me acceptable to trifling company, I gave Silence the second place.
在获得和养成了这一美德以后，沉默寡言就容易得多了，在改进我品德的同时我还想增进知识，我认为在谈话时与其用嘴还不如用耳朵更能增进知识，因此我想打破我当时正在形成的爱好喋喋不休、爱说俏皮话、爱戏谑的习惯，这种习惯使我只能与轻浮的人交友，因此我给了沉默寡言第二位。
This and the next, Order, I expected would allow me more time for attending to my project and my studies.
在获得了这一项和下一项（生活秩序）的美德以后，我估计会使我有更多的时间来执行我的计划来读书。
Resolution, once become habitual, would keep me firm in my endeavours to obtain all the subsequent virtues; Frugality and Industry freeing me from my remaining debt, and producing affluence and independence, would make more easy the practice of Sincerity and Justice, etc., etc.
养成了有决心这一习惯后，我就能更坚决地努力获得其余的美德了，俭朴和勤勉能使我还清债款的余数，会给我财富和产业，会使诚恳和公正的实践更加容易，等等等等。
Conceiving then, that, agreeably to the advice of Pythagoras in his Golden Verses, daily examination would be necessary, I contrived the following method for conducting that examination.
接着，按照毕达哥拉斯在他的“金诗篇”里所提出的意见，我认为每日必须检查，因此我想出下面的方法来进行考查。
I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues.
我做了一本小册子，每一美德分配到一页。
I rul'd each page with red ink, so as to have seven columns, one for each day of the week, marking each column with a letter for the day.
每一页用红墨水画成七行，一星期的每一天占一行，每一行上注明代表礼拜几的一个字母。
I cross'd these columns with thirteen red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the first letter of one of the virtues, on which line, and in its proper column, I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I found upon examination to have been committed respecting that virtue upon that day.
我用红线把这些直行画成十三条横格，在每一条横格的头上注明每一美德的第一个字母，在这横格的适当直行中，我可以记上一个小小的黑点，代表在检查当天该项美德时所发现的过失。
I determined to give a week's strict attention to each of the virtues successively.
我决定给与每一项美德一个星期的严格注意，如此轮流替换。
Thus, in the first week, my great guard was to avoid every the least offense against Temperance, leaving the other virtues to their ordinary chance, only marking every evening the faults of the day.
这样，在第一星期中，我密切预防关于节制的任何极细微的过失，其他的美德让它们像平时一样，只是每晚记下有关的过失。
Thus, if in the first week I could keep my first line, marked T, clear of spots, I suppos'd the habit of that virtue so much strengthen'd, and its opposite weaken'd, that I might venture extending my attention to include the next, and for the following week keep both lines clear of spots.
这样，假如在第一个星期中，我能使写着“节制”的第一行里没有黑点，我就以为这一美德已经加强了，它的相反方面已经削弱了，其程度也许足以使我扩大我的注意力到下面的一项，争取在下一周内在两行中都没有黑点。
Proceeding thus to the last, I could go thro' a course compleat in thirteen weeks, and four courses in a year.
这样下去直到最后一项，我可以在十三个星期内完毕一个整个的过程，一年可以循环四次。
And like him who, having a garden to weed, does not attempt to eradicate all the bad herbs at once, which would exceed his reach and his strength, but works on one of the beds at a time, and, having accomplish'd the first, proceeds to a second,
一个人要替一个花园拔草，他不能企图一次就消灭所有的野草，这样做会超过他的能力，但是他在某一个时候只对付一个花坛，在拔完了第一个花坛以后，才动手第二个，
so I should have, I hoped, the encouraging pleasure of seeing on my pages the progress I made in virtue, by clearing successively my lines of their spots, till in the end, by a number of courses, I should be happy in viewing a clean book, after a thirteen weeks' daily examination.
像他一样，我希望我能令人快慰地在我的表格上看到我在品德上的进步，在逐步地清除了横行中的黑点之后，直到末了，在几个循环之后，在十三个星期的逐日检查以后，我会愉快地看到一本干净的簿子了。
