经典英语美文 （92）论人类荣耀之虚渺
What then is the work of life? What the business of great men, that pass the stage of the world in seeming triumph as these men we call heroes have done? Is it to grow great in the mouth of fame and take up so many pages in history? Alas! That is no more than making a tale for the reading of posterity till it turns into fable and romance. Is it to furnish subjects to the poets, and live in their immortal rhymes as they call them? That is, in short, no more than to be hereafter turned into ballad and song and be sung by old women to quiet children, or at the corner of the street to gather crowds in aid of the pickpocket and the poor. Or is their business rather to add virtue and piety to their glory, which alone will pass them into eternity and make them truly immortal? What is glory without virture? A great man without religion is no more than a great beast without a soul. What is honour without merit? And what can be called true merit but that which makes a person bea good man as well as a great man?
那么，人生的工作是什么？那些伟大的人物们，还有那些被我们称为英雄的人们，他们春风得意地走过世界的舞台时又做了些什么呢？难道就是要在众口喧称中变得伟大，并且还要在历史上占据许多篇章吗？唉！那只不过是编了一个故事供后人阅读，直到它变成了神话或是传奇罢了。难道就是要供给诗人们以吟咏的题材，并生活在他们那些所谓不朽的诗篇之中吗？简而言之,那只不过是在将来变成歌谣，由老奶奶唱给静心 聆听的孩子，或由卖唱的在街角唱出，以吸引大批的听众，使扒手和穷人多了一个谋生机会而已。他们所应做的亊情，是不是要为自己的荣耀添加上美德和虔诚呢？只有这两样东西才可以使他们进入永生，让他们真正不朽！如果没有美德，荣耀又算得了什么呢？ 一个没有宗教信仰的伟人只不过是一只没有灵魂的巨兽。如果没有价值存在，荣耆又算得了什么呢？而被称作真正有价值的东西，除了那种不仅把一个人造就成伟人，并且使他具有好人的品质之外，还能有什么呢？