智慧人生篇章 第43期:责任心

 　　One of the features in common between the phone hacking¹ scandal, the various banking² scams and the latest row, over the failure of G4S, is that the men at the top claim not to have known what was going on. OK, you can't expect the top person to know all the details of what their subordinates are up to. So what can we expect? I'd suggest two things.

　　电话窃听丑闻、各种形式的银行诈骗以及最近关于杰富士（G4S，国际安全解决方案供应商）安保失败的争论有一个共同的特点：上头的当权者都声明，自己并不知道到底发生了什么。当然，我们也不能期望这些当权者知道下属做事的所有细枝末节。既然这样，我们能期望的是什么呢？我认为，有两点。

　　The first responsibility of a leader, whether it's in business, the church or in politics is to appoint people they can trust to be honest and competent. Secondly³, given the fact that there are bound to be some human failures, to ensure that the fail safe mechanisms⁴ for detecting honesty and competence⁵ are firmly in place and ready to detect something going wrong at an early stage. It's quite possible for a person at the top not to know personally about a particular failure, but still to regard themselves as rightly responsible. So we can have such a thing as an honourable⁶ resignation and I think of the resignation of Lord Carrington in 1982 over the invasion of the Falklands.

　　首先，无论在商业界、神学界还是政治界，一个领导者的第一责任在于任命其认为诚实、有能力的人士。第二，考虑到这一过程中总会有些人为的因素导致任人不当，那就要确保那些无法察觉出人员不诚实和无能的失灵的安全机制能够稳步得到改善、运行顺畅，并能在早期阶段就能检测出异样。对于当权者而言，他们自己本身很有可能不知道具体是哪里出了问题，但他们也应该对失误负起责任。所以，也就有了引咎辞职的做法，而我认为1982年卡林顿勋爵因英国入侵福克兰群岛而辞职就属于这种情况。

　　Accountability is a key concept not just for people in business or politics but for everyone. There is a powerful statement of Jesus which goes"To whom much is given, much will be expected". And he made it quite clear that every human being is ultimately accountable on this basis. Which is a rather scary idea. Certainly the church in the past rammed⁷ this home in an unpleasantly threatening manner.So I find it more helpful to think of this accountability in terms of a story about our life which we each have to tell or can tell to someone whose judgement we deeply respect. Each one of us has a unique story, which only we can recount. Some are conscious that life has dealt them a very good hand indeed. For example, in his recent memoirs⁸, the former editor of The Times, William Rees Mogg says that his earliest memory is of his third birthday standing⁹ on a hill overlooking his parents' house and feeling"I'm very much myself, am William Rees Mogg and this is a good thing to be". For others the experience's been very different.

　　“问责”也是一个重要的观念，这不仅是对商界或政界而言的，对每个人来说都是如此。耶稣有一句非常有力的警句：“凡得多者须多付出，别人多他的期望也高”。在这一点上，他非常清楚明了的表明，每一个人都必须负起责任。这是一个相当可怕的想法。当然，过去的教会总是充斥着这种威胁性的方式，令人不悦。 我们会因公正的判断而十分尊重一些人，而我发现，如果把“问责”作为我们人生中的一个故事来向这些人讲述，就会更有帮助。我们每个人都会有一个独一无二的故事，只能由我们自己来讲述。有些人会觉得，人生对他们不错。例如，《时代》周刊前主编威廉?李斯-莫格在他最新的回忆录中说道，他最早的记忆是在三岁时，当时他站在山上俯瞰自家的房子，感慨着“我就是我自己，就是威廉?李斯-莫格，这是再好不过的事情了”。而对于另外一些人而言，他们的人生经历大为不同。

　　A man suddenly started to turn up to services at the church where I was serving and when I got to know him he told me his history. He'd been abandoned by his parents and brought up by his grandparents who were addicts¹⁰. His earliest memory is of them crawling around the floor. For years he did this and that including being a male prostitute. Then, when he told me all this he exclaimed"Out of this mess has come me." Wherever we've come from, what we end up with is a me with a story, what's made us happy and what's sad, where we feel we've made a contribution and where we might have failed. It's our tale, our account of ourselves, which we can tell, if not to a friend, at least to ourselves.

　　有一个人突然出现在我所在的教堂进行服务，当我去认识他时，他跟我讲述了他的故事。他自小被父母遗弃，是由吸毒的祖父母抚养成人的。他最早的记忆便是他们因毒瘾发作、一起在地上痛苦爬着的情景。许多年来一直如此，他还成了一名男妓。他告诉我这一切时大声的说道，“我就是来自这么一个糟糕的环境”。无论我们来自什么地方，最终，我们都是一个带有自己人生故事的人，这故事可能有喜有悲，我们会觉得自己做出了贡献或者失败的一塌糊涂。但这就是我们的故事，由自己讲述的故事，如果不能讲给朋友听，至少可以说给自己听。

1 hacking   

n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动

参考例句：

• The patient with emphysema is hacking all day. 这个肺气肿病人整天不断地干咳。
• We undertook the task of hacking our way through the jungle. 我们负责在丛林中开路。

2 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

3 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

4 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

6 honourable   

adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的

参考例句：

• I don't think I am worthy of such an honourable title.这样的光荣称号，我可担当不起。
• I hope to find an honourable way of settling difficulties.我希望设法找到一个体面的办法以摆脱困境。

7 rammed   

v.夯实（土等）( ram的过去式和过去分词 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输

参考例句：

• Two passengers were injured when their taxi was rammed from behind by a bus. 公共汽车从后面撞来，出租车上的两位乘客受了伤。
• I rammed down the earth around the newly-planted tree. 我将新栽的树周围的土捣硬。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 memoirs   

n.回忆录；回忆录传( mem,自oir的名词复数)

参考例句：

• Her memoirs were ghostwritten. 她的回忆录是由别人代写的。
• I watched a trailer for the screenplay of his memoirs. 我看过以他的回忆录改编成电影的预告片。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

10 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册