励志美文精华《This, I believe》:什么使我胸怀宽广
编者按:
北美鸠清晨的鸣唱或黄昏时天空中沙丘鹤笛鸣般的长吟，是任何赞美诗都无法媲美的。柔和的春风中弥漫着田野间矢车菊的芳香，让我的灵魂也更加高尚，这是教堂中任何焚香都无法比拟的。
What Makes Me Feel Big
J. Frank Dobie
“My mind is big when I look at you and talk to you,” Chief Eagle of the Pawnees said to George Bird Grinnell when, after years of absence, that noble writer appeared at his friend’s tepee.
It is very difficult in drawing up a credo to be severely honest about one’s self, to avoid all traditional cant. We actually believe in what we value most. Outside of the realms of carnality and property, which men appearing in public generally pretend not to notice, I believe in and draw nourishment from whatever makes me feel big.
I believe in a Supreme Power, unknowable and impersonal, whose handiwork the soul-enlarging firmament declares. However, I believe in questionings, doubtings, searchings, skepticism, and I discredit credulity or blind faith. The progress of man is based on disbelief of the commonly accepted. The noblest minds and natures of human history have thought and sung, lived and died, trying to budge the status quo towards a larger and fuller status.
I am sustained by a belief in evolution—the increasing purpose of life in which the rational is, with geological slowness, evolving out of the irrational. To believe that goodness and wisdom and righteousness, in Garden of Eden perfection, lie somewhere far ahead instead of farther and farther behind, gives me hope and somewhat explains existence. This is a long view. I do not pretend that it is a view always present in me. It does raise me when I have it, however.
I feel no resentment so strongly as that against forces which make men and women afraid to speak out forthrightly. The noblest satisfaction I have is in witnessing the up movement of suppressed individuals and people. I make no pretense to having rid myself of all prejudices, but at times when I have discovered myself freed from certain prejudices, I have felt rare exhilaration.
For me, the beautiful resides in the physical, but it is spiritual. I have never heard a sermon as spiritual in either phrase or fact as, “Waters on a starry night are beautiful and free.” No hymn lifts my heart higher than the morning call of the bobwhite or the long fluting cry of sandhill cranes out of the sky at dusk. I have never smelled incense in a church as refining to the spirit as a spring breeze laden with aroma from a field of bluebonnets.
Not all hard truths are beautiful, but beauty is truth. It incorporates love and is incorporated by love. It is the goal of all great art. Its presence everywhere makes it free to all. It is not so abstract as justice, but beauty and intellectual freedom and justice, all incorporating truth and goodness, are constant sustainers to my mind and spirit.
什么使我胸怀宽广
J.弗兰克.多比
并非所有坚定的真理都是美好的，但“美即是真”。所有伟大的艺术都追求这样的目标，即美融合爱，也被爱所融合。它无处不在，唾手可得。
在离开朋友波尼族印第安人首领雄鹰的兽皮帐篷几年后，作家乔治.伯德.格林又回到那里。这位首领对他高尚的朋友说：“凝视着你，与你交谈，让我感到心胸宽广。”
我们很难为自己拟出一个既能严格遵守又能避免传统教条的信念。事实上，我们最为珍视的东西便是我们的信仰。除了人们在公共场合总会假装视而不见的俗念与财产之外，所有能让我胸怀宽广的都是我的信仰，它们是我力量的源泉。
我相信有一种至高无上且无法控制的未知力量，它的创造，宣告了灵魂拥有无限伸展的空间。然而，我也相信询问、质疑、探索与怀疑，但拒绝轻信或盲从的信仰。人类的进步是基于对普遍接受的质疑。人类历史上，拥有最高尚思想的人们曾经思考过，歌唱过，生活过，最终离去，他们也曾努力扩展并充实现状。我始终相信进化论，即生活目的在不断增加，而其中从非理性到理性的进化时间就像地质变化一样漫长。我相信，伊甸园中完美的善良、智慧与正义就在遥远的前方，给予我希望，并或多或少地解释了生存的意义。这是一个长远的观点。我不会假装认为，自己始终拥有这样的观点。然而，当我拥有它时，我的灵魂的确得到了升华。
使人不敢坦诚言论的势力，是我最为憎恨的。当看到受压迫的个人与民族奋起反抗时，我便会心生敬慕，感到满足。我并不伪称自己已经摒弃了所有的偏见，但有时当我发现自己摆脱了某些偏见时，我就会狂喜不已。
我认为，美虽然存在于肉体，但却属于精神。我从未听说过，有哪句布道词能从言辞或事实上表现出这样的精神美：
“夜晚繁星点点，湖水自由荡漾。”
北美鸠清晨的鸣唱或黄昏时天空中沙丘鹤笛鸣般的长吟，是任何赞美诗都无法媲美的。柔和的春风中弥漫着田野间矢车菊的芳香，让我的灵魂也更加高尚，这是教堂中任何焚香都无法比拟的。并非所有坚定的真理都是美好的，但“美即是真”。所有伟大的艺术都追求这样的目标，即美融合爱，也被爱所融合。它无处不在，唾手可得。它不像正义那样抽象，但美、心智的自由及正义，都与真与善融合，这便是我思想与精神的永恒支柱。
本文选自《这，我相信》，该书共选取自述性散文七十二篇。原文作者用简洁、朴实的文字讲述自己如何在逆境中领悟到生活的真谛而最后获得成功。原文短小精悍、语言平实，启迪读者心智。译文忠实于原文的内容和风格，可读性强。本书不仅是一本英汉对照的优秀励志读物，而且还是翻译佳作，可供在校大学生、英语自学者和翻译爱好者阅读学习。
本书译自美国畅销书This I Believe。This I Believe起初是一个广播节目，策划于1949年，旨在帮助美国人克服看重物质享受而轻视精神情操的社会倾向。该节目每日播出，每位嘉宾讲叙五分钟，其讲稿为一篇六百字的短文，每周在报纸上刊登。这些嘉宾或是社会名流，或是无名小卒，他们的肤色、职业、种族均不相同，但他们必须有一点共同之处——事业成功，应对生活成功。该节目获得巨大的成功!每天约有三千九百万美国人围在收音机旁聆听罗斯福总统夫人、海伦·凯勒、公司老板、商人或出租车司机讲述他们的信仰。
该广播节目最后成为一种文化现象，共有用六种语言播出、八十五家主要报纸开辟专栏每周刊登此节目的文章。1952年经仔细挑选，选中一百人的一百篇短文汇集出版。书名是This I Believe，畅销三十万册，是当年销售量仅次于《圣经》的畅销书。该书的阿拉伯译本创下了三天内售出三万册的记录。This I Believe至今仍然是美国全国性的媒体节目。它邀请各行各业的美国人撰文讨论指导他们生活的哲学。听众每周可在两个广播节目中听到这些人的自述，还可以在网上阅读他们的短文。
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