海边的贝壳

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海边的贝壳 “我好像是在海上玩耍，时而发现了一个光滑的石子儿， 时而发现了一个美丽贝壳而为之高兴的孩子。 尽管如此，那真理的海洋还是神秘地展现在我们面前。” ――伊萨克・牛顿 <<<亨利・戴维・梭罗 | 首页 | 维基百科：互动的乌托邦？>>> 瓦尔登湖（三一） mountain @ 2003-11-26 Not long since, a strolling Indian went to sell baskets at the house of a well-known lawyer in my neighborhood. "Do you wish to buy any baskets?" he asked. "No, we do not want any," was the reply. "What!" exclaimed the Indian as he went out the gate, "do you mean to starve us?" Having seen his industrious white neighbors so well off -- that the lawyer had only to weave arguments, and, by some magic, wealth and standing followed -- he had said to himself: I will go into business; I will weave baskets; it is a thing which I can do. Thinking that when he had made the baskets he would have done his part, and then it would be the white man's to buy them. He had not discovered that it was necessary for him to make it worth the other's while to buy them, or at least make him think that it was so, or to make something else which it would be worth his while to buy. I too had woven a kind of basket of a delicate texture, but I had not made it worth any one's while to buy them. Yet not the less, in my case, did I think it worth my while to weave them, and instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy my baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them. The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others? 不久以前，一个闲步的印第安人到我的邻舍一位著名律师家中兜卖篮子。“你们要买篮子吗？”他说。口答是“不，我们不要”。“什么！”印第安人出门叫道，“你们想要饿死我们吗？”看到他的勤劳的白种人邻居，生活得如此富裕――因为律师只要把辩论之词编织起来，就像有魔术似的，富裕和地位都跟着来了――因而这印第安人曾自言自语：我也要做生意了；我编织篮子；这件事是我能做的。他以为编织好篮子就完成了他的一份，轮下来就应该是白种人向他购买了。他却不知道，他必须使人感到购买他的篮子是值得的，至少得使别人相信，购买这一只篮子是值得的，要不然他应该制造别一些值得叫人购买的东西。我也曾编织了一种精巧的篮子，我并没有编造得使人感到值得购买它。在我这方面，我一点不觉得我犯不着编织它们，非但没有去研究如何编织得使人们觉得更加值得购买，我倒是研究了如何可以避免这买卖的勾当。人们赞美而认为成功的生活，只不过是生活中的这么一种。为什么我们要夸耀这一种而贬低别一种生活呢？ 生词：well off, standing, exaggerate. 注意： well off 富裕的 standing 名望 理解不足： 没理解 the lawyer had only to weave arguments, and, by some magic, wealth and standing followed 。 没理解 The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind. 注意其中的 but 用法。 没理解 Why should we exaggerate any one kind at the expense of the others? 引用(0) 评论 XML blogger del.icio.us furl.net Wikipedia 发表评论 最后更新 煎饼 探索Wiki Wiki资料：自由百科制造者 维基百科Wiki新写法―主题首页 发现了一个好站点 《锐思评论》关于中立观点是否适用于BBS的讨论 累坏了 国内比较早的几个Wiki 台湾的Wiki资料 Wiki资料：大家都来玩wiki <<<亨利・戴维・梭罗 | 首页 | 维基百科：互动的乌托邦？>>>