1736-11-18 Benjamin Franklin.THE WASTE OF LIFE.
Anergus was a gentleman of a good estate; he was bred to no business, and could not contrive how to waste his hours agreeably; he had no relish for any of the proper works of life, nor any taste at all for the improvements of the mind; he spent, generally, ten hours of the four-and-twenty in his bed; he dozed away two or three more on his couch, and as many were dissolved in good liquor every evening, if he met with company of his own humour.
Anergus是一个拥有良好财产的绅士；他没有从事任何职业，也不知道如何愉快地度过自己的时光；他对生活中的任何正当工作都没有兴趣，也没有任何提升心智的品味；他通常每天在床上度过二十小时中的十小时；在沙发上昏昏欲睡两三小时，每晚如果遇到志同道合的朋友，又会花费同样的时间饮酒消磨。
Five or six of the rest he sauntered away with much indolence; the chief business of them was to contrive his meals, and to feed his fancy beforehand with the promise of a dinner and supper; not that he was so absolute a glutton or so entirely devoted to his appetite, but, chiefly because he knew not how to employ his thoughts better, he let them rove about the sustenance of his body.
剩下的五六个小时，他极为懒散地度过；他主要的事务是安排自己的餐食，并提前用想象中的午餐和晚餐来满足自己的欲望；并不是说他是个绝对的暴食者，或是完全沉迷于自己的食欲，而是因为他不知道该如何更好地使用自己的思想，于是让它们围绕着自己的身体所需的食物游走。
Thus he had made a shift to wear off ten years since the paternal estate fell into his hands; and yet, according to the abuse of words in our day, he was called a man of virtue, because he was scarce ever known to be quite drunken, nor was his nature much inclined to licentiousness.
就这样，自从继承父业以来，他已经勉强度过了十年；然而，根据现代对“美德”一词的误用，他却被称为一个有德之人，因为他几乎从未醉得酩酊大醉，也不是天生放纵。
One evening, as he was musing alone, his thoughts happened to take a most unusual turn, for they cast a glance backward, and began to reflect on his manner of life. He bethought himself what a number of living beings had been made a sacrifice to support his carcass, and how much corn and wine had been mingled with those offerings.
一天傍晚，当他独自沉思时，他的思想发生了非常不寻常的转变，开始回顾自己的一生。他开始思考，为了维持自己的身体，究竟有多少生命被牺牲了，多少谷物和酒精被用来支持他的存在。
He had not quite lost all the arithmetic that he had learned when he was a boy, and he set himself to compute what he had devoured since he came to the age of man.
他没有完全忘记童年时学过的算术，便开始计算自成年以来他所消耗的食物。
"About a dozen of feathered creatures, small and great, have, one week with another," said he, "given up their lives to prolong mine, which in ten years amounts to at least six thousand."
“每周差不多有十来只大大小小的鸟类，”他说，“为延续我的生命献出了它们的生命，十年下来，至少有六千只。”
"Fifty sheep have been sacrificed in a year, with half a hecatomb of black cattle, that I might have the choicest part offered weekly upon my table. Thus a thousand beasts out of the flock and the herd have been slain in ten years' time to feed me, besides what the forest has supplied me with."
“一年有五十只羊和半头牛献出生命，我才能每周吃到最精致的食物。因此，十年来，共有一千只牲畜为我提供食物，除了森林为我提供的。”
"Many hundreds of fishes have, in all their varieties, been robbed of life for my repast, and of the smaller fry as many thousands."
“无数的鱼类也为我提供了食物，种类繁多的小鱼也有成千上万的。”
"A measure of corn would hardly afford me fine flour enough for a month's provision, and this arises to above six score bushels; and many hogsheads of ale and wine, and other liquors, have passed through this body of mine, this wretched strainer of meat and drink."
“一斗谷物几乎不足以供我一个月的精致面粉，而这已经达到六十多蒲式耳；此外，还有许多酒桶、啤酒和其他饮品，都被我这个可怜的肉体过滤了。”
"And what have I done all this time for God or man? What a vast profusion of good things upon a useless life and a worthless liver! There is not the meanest creature among all these which I have devoured, but hath answered the end of its creation better than I. It was made to support human nature, and it hath done so."
“那么这些年我为上帝或人为谁做过什么呢？如此庞大的美好事物，却浪费在一条无用的生命和一副毫无价值的肝脏上！在我所消耗的一切生命中，没有任何一种生物没有比我更好地实现它的生命意义。它们被创造来维持人类的生存，并且它们做到了。”
"Every crab and oyster I have ate, and every grain of corn I have devoured, hath filled up its place in the rank of beings with more propriety and honour than I have done. Oh shameful waste of life and time!"
“每一只我吃过的螃蟹和生蚝，每一粒我吞下的谷物，都在它们所处的生物等级中履行了自己的角色，比我做得更加得体和荣耀。哦，生命与时间的可耻浪费！”
In short, he carried on his moral reflections with so just and severe a force of reason, as constrained him to change his whole course of life, to break off his follies at once, and to apply himself to gain some useful knowledge, when he was more than thirty years of age.
简言之，他用非常严谨和正确的理性进行自我反省，迫使自己改变了整个生活方式，立刻摒弃了自己的愚昧，并开始在三十岁以后学习有用的知识。
He lived many following years with the character of a worthy man and an excellent Christian; he performed the kind offices of a good neighbour at home, and made a shining figure as a patriot in the senate-house; he died with a peaceful conscience, and the tears of his country were dropped upon his tomb.
他在接下来的许多年里，过着一个值得称道的人的生活，成为一位优秀的基督徒；他在家中是个好邻居，在议会中则是一个杰出的爱国者；他在安详的良心中去世，国家的眼泪也洒在了他的墓碑上。
The world, that knew the whole series of his life, stood amazed at the mighty change. They beheld him as a wonder of reformation, while he himself confessed and adored the Divine power and mercy, which had transformed him from a brute to a man.
世界上那些了解他一生的人都惊讶于他巨大的变化。他们把他当作改革的奇迹，而他自己则承认并敬仰那神圣的力量和仁慈，正是它把他从一个野兽转变成了一个人。
But this was a single instance; and we may almost venture to write MIRACLE upon it. Are there not numbers of both sexes among our young gentry, in this degenerate age, whose lives thus run to utter waste, without the least tendency to usefulness?
但这是个个例；我们几乎可以把它写成“奇迹”。难道我们在当今这个堕落的时代中，不还有许多男女青年，他们的生活如同浪费掉的时光，没有任何指向有用之处吗？
When I meet with persons of such a worthless character as this, it brings to my mind some scraps of Horace:
当我遇到这样无用之人时，我常常想起霍拉斯的一些诗句：
"Nos numerus sumus, et fruges consumere nati,
. . . . . . . . . . . . Alcinoique
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . juventus,
Cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies," &c.
PARAPHRASE.
释义：
There are a number of us creep
Into this world, to eat and sleep;
And know no reason why they're born,
But merely to consume the corn,
Devour the cattle, fowl, and fish,
And leave behind an empty dish.
我们中有许多人爬进这个世界，吃饭睡觉；
不知道自己为什么出生，只知道消耗粮食，
吞噬牲畜、家禽和鱼类，
最终留下空盘一只。
Though crows and ravens do the same,
Unlucky birds of hateful name,
Ravens or crows might fill their places,
And swallow corn and eat carcasses,
Then, if their tombstone, when they die,
Be n't taught to flatter and to lie.
尽管乌鸦和渡鸦也做同样的事，
这些不幸的鸟儿，名字讨厌，
渡鸦或乌鸦可能也能取而代之，
吞食谷物，吃掉尸体，
然后，如果他们的墓碑，当他们死时，
不被教导去恭维或撒谎，
There's nothing better will be said,
Than that they've eat up all their bread,
Drunk all their drink, and gone to bed.
没有什么更好的评价了，
除了他们吃光了所有的面包，
喝完了所有的酒，
然后去睡觉。
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