书城外语有一种智慧叫包容
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第27章 美德是另外事

Knowledge and Virtue

?约翰·亨利·纽曼 / John Henry Newman

Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility, nor is largeness and justness of view faith. Philosophy, however enlightened, however profound, gives no command over the passions, no influential motives, no vivifying principles. Liberal education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman. It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind, a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of life—these are the connatural qualities of a large knowledge; they are the objects of a University; I am advocating, I shall illustrate and insist upon them; but still, I repeat, they are no guarantee for sanctity or even for conscientiousness, they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate, to the heartless, pleasant, alas, and attractive as he shows when decked, out in them. Taken by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not; they look like virtue at a distance, but they are detected by close observers, and on the long run; and hence it is that they are popularly accused of pretense and hypocrisy, not, I repeat, from their own fault, but because their professors and their admirers persist in taking them for what they are not, and are officious in arrogating for them a praise to which they have no claim. Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk, then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man.

知识是一回事,美德则是另外一回事。好意不是良心,优雅不是谦让,广博与公正的观点也不是信仰。无论多么富有启迪或高深莫测的哲学,都无法左右感情,都不具备有影响力的动机,都不具有导致生动活泼的原理。文科教育并非为了造就基督教徒或者天主教徒,而是为了造就绅士。造就一个绅士是件美好的事,有教养的才智,优雅的情趣,正直、公正而冷静的头脑,高贵而彬彬有礼的举止——这些是与渊博的学识与生俱来的品质,也正是大学教育的目的。我倡导它们,并加以阐释和坚持。不过我要说的是,它们仍然不能确保圣洁,甚或不能保证诚实。

它们可以附庸于世故的俗人,附庸于玩世不恭的浪子。唉,当他们用它伪装起来时,就更增加了他们外表上的冷静、快活和魅力。就其本身而言,它们似乎已经面目全非,它们已成为一种只可远观的美德,只有经过长久的观察方可探知真相。因此它们受到广泛的责难,被指责为虚假、伪善。我想强调的是,这绝不是因为它们自身有什么过错,而是因为教授及其崇拜者们一味地把它们弄得面目全非,而且还殷勤地献上其本身并未要求的赞扬。如果说用剃刀能开采花岗岩,用丝线能系住船只,那么你就可以希望能用人的知识和理性这样美妙而优雅的东西,去同人类的情感和高傲那样的庞然大物进行抗争。

1. Knowledge is one_______, virtue is another; good sense is_______ conscience, refinement is not humility, nor is largeness and justness of_______faith.

2. _______by themselves, they do but_______to be what they are not; they look______virtue at a distance, but they are detected by_______observers, and on the long run; and hence it is that they are popularly accused of pretense_______hypocrisy, not, I repeat, from their own_______, but because their professors and their admirers persist_______taking them for what they are not, and are officious in arrogating for them a_______to which they have no claim.

1. 好意不是良心,优雅不是谦让,广博与公正的观点也不是信仰。

2. 我倡导它们,并加以阐释和坚持。

3. 唉,当他们用它伪装起来时,就更增加了他们外表上的冷静、快活和魅力。

1. I am advocating, I shall illustrate and insist upon them.

insist upon:坚持

2. I repeat, they are no guarantee for sanctity or even for conscientious-ness.

guarantee for:保证;担保