常春藤名家散文精选 （16）人生之旅
Unit16 We Are on a Journey
第十六课 人生之旅
Wherever you are，and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike at this moment, and in all the moments of our existence.
不论你身在何处，不论你是何等人物，在此刻，以及人生中的每一刻，你我之间有一点正好是相同的，那就是:
We are not at rest; We are on a journey.
我们并非静止着，而是在旅程中。
Our life is a movement，a tendency, a steady, ceaseless progress towards an unseen goal.
我们的人生是一种运行，一种移动，一种朝着某个看不见的目标稳健而又永无休止的进展。
We are gaining something，or losing something，every day.
我们每日皆有得有失。
Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same，they are changing，for the mere advance of time is a change.
即使我们的地位和品德似乎维持原状时，它们却一直在改变中，因为光是时间的流逝就是一种改变。
It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July.
同是一块光秃秃的田野，一月中所见的就与七月中所见的完全不一样。
The season makes the difference.
这是季节所造成的差别。
The limitations that are childlike in the child are childish in the man.
同样，聪明才智在孩子身上称得上是天真烂漫，但在大人身上则就算是幼稚愚蠢了。
Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another.
我们的所作所为都表示我们已朝甲方向或乙方向跨出了一步。
Even the failure to do something is in itself a deed.
即使无为，其本身亦是一种行为。
It sets us forward or backward.
它引领我们不是进步就是倒退。
The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole.
磁针的磁极作用不论正负皆是同样的真实。
To decline is to accept the other alternative.
拒绝其实就是接受另一种选择。
Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday?
你今天是否比昨天更接近你的人生目标?
Yes，you must be a little nearer to some port or other; for since your ship was launched upon the sea of life,
当然，你一定更接近你的人生目标;因为一旦你的船在人生的大海中下水，
you have never been still for a single moment—the sea is too deep;
你绝不会有须臾片刻静下来—人生的大海太深了，
you could not find an anchorage if you would; there can be no pause until you come into port.
即使你想找个停泊处也无法办到；你唯有进港才能稍作休息。