英语名篇诵读 生命的真正价值（在线收听）

The Real Value of Life

生命的真正价值

A hundred times every day, I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the

labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same

measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am

often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an undue amount of the labor of my fellow-

men. I regard class distinctions as unjustified and, in the last resort , based on force. I also

believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, physically and mentally.

To inquire after the meaning or object of one's own existence or that of all creatures has

always seemed to me absurd from an objective point of view. And yet everybody has certain

ideals which determine the direction of his endeavors and his judgments. In this sense I have never

looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves — this ethical basis I call the ideal of a

pigsty. The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to

face life cheerfully, have been kindness, beauty, and truth. Without the sense of kinship with

men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in

the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed to me empty. The trite objects

of human efforts — possessions, outward success, luxury — have always seemed to me

contemptible .

我每天上百次地提醒自己，我的精神和物质生活是以别人（活着的和逝去的）的劳动

为基础的，因而自己必须勤奋努力，以同样的分量来回报已经领受和正在领受的一切。我

强烈地向往着简朴的生活，并且时常自责，因为觉得自己占用了过多同胞的劳动成果。我

认为阶级差别是不公正的，而且最终都是建立在暴力之上的。我还相信，对每个人来说，

简单纯朴的生活有益身心。

从客观上看，探寻个人或芸芸众生生存的意义或目的，我总觉得似乎是荒唐可笑的。

然而，每个人都有某些理想，决定着他做出努力和进行判断的方向。在这种意义上，我从

不把安逸和享受看作生活目的本身——我把这种伦理基础叫做“猪栏”理想。照亮我人生之

路、一次又一次给我新的勇气快乐地面对生活的理想，一直都是真、善、美。没有志同道

合者之间的亲密感情，没有全神贯注于客观世界——那个在艺术和科学的领域永远达不到

的世界，那么在我看来生活就会是空虚的。人生努力实现的那些庸俗的目标——财产、徒

有其表的成功、奢侈——对我来说一向是可鄙的。