伟大与渺小 Random Thoughts
This matter of other people's learning and accomplishments has been worrying me for some time. I never read the life of any important person without discovering that he knew more and could do more than I could ever hope to know or to do in half a dozen lifetimes. To begin with, unless these people chance to be obvious invalids like Stevenson or Chehov, they are always tremendous athletes, with surprising strength, powers of endurance, and so forth.
They could all walk and run and climb our heads off, even when they were seventy. Then they all have the gift of tongues. You never catch a glimpse of them sitting down to learn a new language, not even running an eye over its irregular verbs, yet it is admitted that they speak any number with an astonishing fluency and purity of accent. They never confine themselves to one science, but are inevitably masters of several. The big book of Nature they know by heart. Only the other day I was reading an account of a great novelist, a most sophisticated and subtle person, and was told that he knew the name and habits and history of every wild flower and plant and tree and bird in the country. Nor is that all. There is not one of these bigwigs who is not ( I quote the customary phrases ) a sensitive and accomplished musician, or an extraordinarily fine amateur water-colourist, or the possessor of a magnificent prose style. We are always told that, had circumstance been different, their talents were such that they need only have given their serious attention to one or other of these arts to have procured for themselves lasting and perhaps world-wide reputations. So runs the legend of the eulogist.
I am baffled. How is it done? I ask the question again, my voice rises to a scream of envy and vexation. Consider what is involved in this matter (so lightly touched upon and dismissed) of music or water-colour painting or fine writing, what years of serious application, of drudgery at the keyboard, the easel, or the writing desk. It is one thing to strum on the piano, as you and I do, faking the left hand passages as we go along, or to daub a few patchy water colours, or to paste on to clumsy prose some old spangles of rhetoric, and it is quite another thing to be an accomplished musician or artist or writer. If the first were meant, I could understand it; but the second and as a mere recreation, too! And then to add the athleticism, the sciences, the tongues, the natural history! I am bewildered and crushed. The very idle rumour of fellow-creatures so wonderfully gifted makes me dwindle in my own estimation to the size of a gnat.
一直以来，对别人的渊博学识及深厚造诣，我感到很忧虑。只要随便读一读某位重要人物的传记，我就总会发现，他的学问和才能就算我活六辈子也休想学到和做到。第一个理由是，除了像史蒂文森或契诃夫那样明显体弱多病的人以外，他们总是像卓越的运动员一样，有着惊人的气力和耐力。
他们即使年届七旬，在走路、跑步、翻山越岭时，都走在他人前面。并且，他们也都是语言方面的天才。你从来没有看见他们坐下来学习一种新的语言，甚至连不规则动词表也没见他们浏览过，但是他们都可以讲几种语言，不仅流利，而且发音纯正。他们一般都精通几门学科，而且不会使自己局限在某一门科学里，大自然这部巨著被他们熟记在心。不久以前，我还读到一位杰出的小说家的事迹。他是一位非常老练且细致的人，据说他熟悉乡村每一种野花野草、树木和禽鸟的名称、习性和生活史。除此之外，请原谅我用一些套话来形容，这些大人物都是富于灵感的音乐大师，或是精妙绝伦的业余水彩画家，或是风格优美的文体家。更使我们感到惊讶的是，尽管他们的境遇不同，只要他们认真从事这门或那门艺术，凭着他们的才能，日后都会获得不朽的声誉，甚至还会享誉全球。这些对他们的描述总是神乎其神。
但是我非常困惑。他们凭什么做得到？我再次想问这个问题，甚至嫉妒和烦恼得要遥问苍天。我们应该仔细地想一想，一首乐曲、一幅水彩画或一篇美妙的文章究竟意味着什么（这一点却被他们轻轻带过或略而不谈），这需要很多年专心致志地在键盘上、在画架上或者在写字台上辛勤工作才能有所成就。而像你我这样胡乱弹奏钢琴曲，同时还用左手插入即兴的过门，或者不管色彩是否协调蘸上水彩乱涂几笔，或者在一篇粗制滥造的散文里贴上几句闪闪烁烁的陈词滥调，是不会成为一个有成就的音乐家、画家或作家的。要是成功指的是前者，我可以理解；但是如果指的是后者呢？——尚且还不过是作为一种业余的消遣！更不用说他们还要从事体育运动、研究各门科学、学习各种语言，甚至自然史！这使我迷惑不解，佩服得五体投地。这就是使我觉得自己越来越渺小，小得像个小蚊虫的原因。而他们有如此神奇的天赋，正像传说中讲的那样。
心灵小语
茫茫宇宙，广阔的大自然，我们在其中都是那么渺小。不论多么伟大的人，都会发出这样的感慨！我们渺小，但有存在的价值。一切伟大与渺小都是相对的！
词汇笔记
tremendous [triˈmendəs] adj. 巨大的；卓越的；惊人的
例 We witness the tremendous change of this city.
我们目睹了这个城市的巨大变化。
confine [ˈkɔnfain] v. 限制；闭居
例 Don't confine your learning only to class.
不要把自己的学习只局限于课堂。
extraordinarily [iksˈtrɔ:dnrili] adv. 非常；格外地；非凡地
例 Computers and robots could be reduced to extraordinarily small sizes.
电脑和机器人的尺寸将可以缩得非常小。
reputation [ˌrepjuˈteiʃən] n. 声望；信用；名誉
例 Can you cash reputation in a bank?
你能在银行兑现你的信用吗？
小试身手
你从来没有看见他们坐下来学习一种新的语言，甚至连不规则动词表也没见他们浏览过。
译_______________
大家都认为他们随便就可以讲几种语言，不仅流利，而且发音纯正。
译_______________
这使我迷惑不解，佩服得五体投地。
译_______________
短语家族
To begin with, unless these people chance to be obvious invalids like Stevenson or Chehov……
to begin with：首先；第一；原先
造_______________
You never catch a glimpse of them sitting down to learn a new language……
catch a glimpse of；瞥见
造_______________