美文阅读 （108）我们在旅途中
We are on a journey.
我们在旅途中。
Wherever you are, and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike at this moment,
不论你处在什么地方，也不论你是什么人，不管是在此时此刻，还是在我们生命中的任何一个瞬间，
and in all the moments of our existence.
有一件事对你我来说是恰巧相同的。
We are not at rest; we are on a journey.
我们不是在休息，我们是在一次旅途中。
Our life is a movement, a tendency, ceaseless progress toward an unseen goal.
我们的生活是一种运动，一种趋势，是向一个看不见的目标稳定而不停地进步。
We are gaining something, or losing something, everyday.
每一天，我们都会赢得某些东西，或者会失去某些东西。
Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing.
甚至当我们的位置和我们的性格看起来跟以前完全相似时，它们事实上仍然在变化着。
For the mere advance of time is a change.
仅仅是时间的前进就是一种变化。
It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July.
对于一块荒地来说，在1月和7月是不同的。
The season makes the difference.
季节会制造差异。
The limitations that are childlike in the children are childish in the man.
能力上的缺陷对于孩子来说是一种可爱的品质，但对于大人来说就是一种幼稚的表现。
Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another.
我们做的每一件事都是朝着一个或另一个方向前进一步。
Even the failure to do something is in itself a deed.
甚至“没有做任何事情”这件事本身也是一种行为。
It sets us forward or backward.
它让我们前进或后退。
The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole.
一刺针阴极的作用和阳极的作用都是一样真实的。
To decline is to accept, the other alternative.
拒绝也是一种接受，这些都是二中择一的选择。
Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday?
你今天比昨天更接近你的港口了吗？
Yes, you must be a little nearer to some port or other;
是的，你必须接近某一个港口或者其他港口。
for since your ship was first launched upon the sea of life, you have never been still for a single moment;
自从你第一次被抛入生活之海，你的船连一分钟都没有静止过，
the sea is too deep, you could not find an anchorage if you would; there can be no pause until you come into port.
海是如此之深，你也不可能找到一个抛锚的地方，于是你不可能停下来，直到你到达自己的港口。