The dark days are drawing to an end. Soon it will be spring once more; I shall go out into the fields, and shake away these thoughts of discouragement and fear which have lately too much haunted my fireside. For me, it is a virtue to be self-centred; I am much better employed, from every point of view, when I live solely for my own satisfaction than when I begin to worry about the world. The world frightens me, and a frightened man is no good for anything. I know only one way in which I could have played a meritorious part as an active citizen -- by becoming a schoolmaster in some little country town, and teaching half a dozen teachable boys to love study for its own sake. That I could have done, I daresay. Yet, no; for I must have had as a young man the same mind that I have in age, devoid of idle ambitions, undisturbed by unattainable ideals. Living as I do now, I deserve better of my country than at any time in my working life; better, I suspect, than most of those who are praised for busy patriotism.
黑暗的日子即将结束,春天很快就会再次到来。我要走出家门,走向田野，将最近频频来到炉火边使我感到困扰的那些沮丧而可怕的想法抛诸脑后。对我来说，以自我为中心是一种优点;从任何角度来看,我在只为满足自己的需要而生活的时候，都要比我在为这个世界忧心不已的时候做得更好。我对这个世界心存恐惧一一这样的一个人不会对任何事情产生积极的影响。如果想让我以一个热心公民的身份做一些有价值的事情，我只知道一种方法——在某个乡村小镇里做一名教师,教六个可教的孩子,使他们真正地热爱读书。我敢说,这件事我能做好。然而,并非如此;因为我必须在年轻的时候就拥有年老时的思想一一没有毫无意义的野心，并且不会因难以达成的理想而烦扰。与我辛劳的一生中的任何时期相比较,我现在的生活更有功于国家;我猜想,也远胜于大多数为爱国主义奔忙而受到赞誉的人。
Not that I regard my life as an example for any one else; all I say is that it is good for me, and in so far an advantage to the world. To live in quiet content is surely a piece of good citizenship. If you can do more, do it, and God-speed! I know myself for an exception. And I ever find it a good antidote to gloomy thoughts to bring before my imagination the lives of men, utterly unlike me in their minds and circumstances, who give themselves with glad and hopeful energy to the plain duties that lie before them. However one's heart may fail in thinking of the folly and baseness which make so great a part of today's world, remember how many bright souls are living courageously, seeing the good wherever it may be discovered, undismayed by portents, doing what they have to do with all their strength. In every land there are such, no few of them, a great brotherhood, without distinction of race or faith; for they, indeed, constitute the race of man rightly designated, and their faith is one, the cult of reason and of justice. Whether the future is to them or to the talking anthropoid, no one can say. But they live and labour guarding the fire of sacred hope.
我并不认为自己的生活方式可以为其他人做榜样;我只是说,它对我来说是有益的,而且从这个意义上讲,也能让这个世界从中获益。在平静的满足中生活,这当然是良好公民所应具备的条件之一。如果你能够做得更好,那就全力以赴吧,祝你成功!我知道自己是个例外。有这样一些人,他们的思想和生活环境都与我截然不同,他们为眼前的平凡职责尽心尽力,愉快且充满希望;我发现,想象他们的生活状态,一直以来都是与我的悲观想法相对抗的有效手段。在想到当今世界正在被愚蠢和卑劣的行径逐渐占据这一事实时,人们总是会沮丧不已;但无论如何,我们都要记得:许多积极乐观的人都在勇敢地面对生活,他们在任何地方都能看到美好的事物,不会为不祥的预兆而气馁,竭尽全力去做好分内之事。在每一片土地上,都有很多这样的人,他们不分种族与信仰,组成了一个了不起的、志同道合的团体;他们才真正配得上人类之名,对理性与正义的崇拜是他们唯一的信仰。没有人能够断言,未来是属于他们的，还是属于会说话的类人猿的。他们为了守卫神圣希望的火种而生存和劳作。
In my own country, dare I think that they are fewer than of old? Some I have known; they give me assurance of the many, near and far. Hearts of noble strain, intrepid, generous; the clear head, the keen eye; a spirit equal alike to good fortune and to ill. I see the true-born son of England, his vigour and his virtues yet unimpaired. In his blood is the instinct of honour, the scorn of meanness; he cannot suffer his word to be doubted, and his hand will give away all he has rather than profit by a plebeian parsimony. He is frugal only of needless speech. A friend staunch to the death; tender with a grave sweetness to those who claim his love; passionate, beneath stoic seeming, for the causes he holds sacred. A hater of confusion and of idle noise, his place is not where the mob presses; he makes no vaunt of what he has done, no boastful promise of what he will do; when the insensate cry is loud, the counsel of wisdom overborne, he will hold apart, content with plain work that lies nearest to his hand, building, strengthening, whilst others riot in destruction. He was ever hopeful and deems it a crime to despair of his country. "Non, si male nunc, et olim sic erit." Fallen on whatever evil days and evil tongues, he remembers that Englishman of old, who, under every menace, bore right onwards; and like him, if so it must be, can make it his duty and his service to stand and wait.
我能够认为在我们的国家中这样的人要少于以往吗?我认识一些这样的人;他们使我确信,像他们一样的人很多,而且到处都有。他们品行高尚、坚定勇敢、慷慨大方;他们有着清醒的头脑和敏锐的目光;他们能够以同样的精神去面对好运和厄运。我看到了活力与美德未受侵害的真正的英格兰之子。对荣誉的本能渴求和对卑鄙行径的蔑视溶于他的血液之中;他不能容忍自己的话受到怀疑;他宁愿放弃拥有的一切,也不愿以卑俗的吝啬为自己谋利。他所吝啬的,只是没有必要的废话。他是一位可靠的朋友;对于那些需要他去爱的人,他的温柔之中透着一丝深沉的关切;在极度坚忍的外表下,他对自己视为神圣的事业充满了激情。他憎恶混乱的状态与无聊的喧闹,从不去乌合之众群集的地方;他从不为所取得的成就自吹自擂，也不对将要做的事情夸下海口;当愚蠢的叫喊声震耳欲聋,明智的劝告受到压制,人们进行暴乱与破坏的时候,他就会离开,满足于手边的平凡工作,努力建设并加强巩固。他的心中永远充满希望,并认为对自己的国家感到绝望是一种罪过。“不,即使现在不好,将来不一定也不好。”无论经历怎样艰苦的岁月,遭受怎样的恶言诽谤，他都铭记着那位面对任何威胁都勇往直前的古代英国人;而且,像那个人一样,如果必须如此,他也能够将忍耐和等待当做自己的职责和义务。
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