馬克-吐溫：勇氣 Courage

In the matter of courage we all have our limits. There never was a hero who did not have his bounds. I suppose it may be said of Nelson and all the others whose courage has been advertised that there came times in their lives when their bravery knew it had come to its limit.

在勇氣問(wèn)題上，人人都有極限。從來(lái)就沒(méi)有膽大包天的英雄好漢。我想，可以說(shuō)，納爾遜和所有那些被大量宣傳的勇士，一生中都有勇氣達(dá)到極限的時(shí)候。

I have found mine a good many times. Sometimes this was expected--often it was unexpected. I know a man who is not afraid to sleep with a rattle-snake, but you could not get him to sleep with a safety-razor.

我就多次發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的勇氣到了極限。有時(shí)是意料之中的——經(jīng)常是出乎意料的。我認(rèn)識(shí)一個(gè)人.此君不怕與響尾蛇同寢，可你無(wú)法讓他與保安剃刀共眠。

I never had the courage to talk across a long, narrow room. I should be at the end of the room facing all the audience. If I attempt to talk across a room I find myself turning this way and that, and thus at alternate periods I have part of the audience behind me. You ought never to have any part of the audience behind you; you never can tell what they are going to do.

我從來(lái)就沒(méi)有勇氣在狹長(zhǎng)房間的中央發(fā)表講話。我得站在房間的一頭，面對(duì)全體聽(tīng)眾。如果我試圖站在房間中央講話，我就會(huì)不斷地轉(zhuǎn)身，這樣，就不斷有部分聽(tīng)眾在我背后。你們永遠(yuǎn)不能讓自己背后有聽(tīng)眾;你們永遠(yuǎn)鬧不清他們要干什么。

I’ll sit down.

我得坐下了。