1， Why have not I the riches, the rank, the power, of such and such, is the common expostulation with fortune; but why have not I the merit, the talents, the wit, or the beauty, of such and such others, is a reproach rarely or never made to nature.
人們常常對命運發出詰難：我為何沒有財富、地位、權力以及諸如此類的東西；但人們卻很少或從不這樣責怪過自然：我為何沒有長處、天賦、機智或美麗以及諸如此類的東西。
2,If sometimes our common parent has been a little partial, and not kept the scales quite even; if one preponderates too much, we throw into the lighter a due counterpoise of vanity, which never fails to set all right. Hence it happens, that hardly any one man would, without reverse, and in every particular, change with any other.
倘若大自然有時候有那麼一點偏心，沒有將天平擺正；倘若有一頭過重，我們就會在輕的一頭投上一枚大小適當的虛榮的砝碼，它每次都會將天平重新調平，從不出差錯。因此就出現了這種情況：幾乎沒有人會毫無保留地和另一個人裡裡外外全部對換一下。
3,Though all are thus satisfied with the dispensations of nature, how few listen to her voice! How to follow her as a guide! In vain she points out to us the plain and direct way to truth, vanity, fancy, affection, and fashion assume her shape and wind us through fairy-ground to folly and error.
雖然對於自然的分配，人人都感到滿意；然而肯聽聽她的忠告的人卻是如此之少!能將她當作嚮導而跟隨其後的人又是如此之少!她徒然地為我們指出一條通向真理的筆直的坦途；而虛榮、幻想、矯情、時髦卻儼然以她的面貌出現，暗中將我們引向虛幻的歧途，走向愚笨和謬誤。
4，Remember, my son, you have to work. Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheel-barrow or a set of books, digging ditches or editing a paper, ringing an auction bell or writing funny things, you must work. If you look around you will see the men who are the most able to live the rest of their days without work are the men who work the hardest. Don't be afraid of killing yourself with overwork. It is beyond your power to do that on the sunny side of thirty. They die sometimes, but it is because they quit work at six in the evening, and do not go home until two in the morning. It’s the interval that kills, my son. The work gives you an appetite for your meals; it lends solidity to your slumbers, it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday.
謹記，我的年輕人，你們必須工作．不管你是使鋤頭還是用筆，也不管是推手推車還是編記賬簿，也不管你是種地還是編輯報紙，是拍賣師亦或是作家，都必須有一份工作， 併為之努力奮鬥．如果仔細觀察周圍的人，你就會發現，那些工作最努力的人最有可能安享晚年而無須去工作．不要害怕超負荷的工作會縮短你的壽命，不足三十歲的年齡，你的承受能力遠不止如此．如果說真的有人過早送命，那完全是因為他們在晚上六點結束工作，卻要在外流連到凌晨兩點才歸家．我的年輕人，正是晚上六點到凌晨兩點的這段時間的生活毀了他們自己．工作會增加你的食慾，工作會使你安然入睡，工作將會使你心滿意足地享受假日。
閱讀更多 愛分享的羊 的文章
