Unit 2 Lessons from Jefferson 课文

Jefferson died long ago, but many of his ideas are still of great interest. 杰斐逊已谢世很久，但他的许多思想仍使我们感到很大的兴趣。
Lessons from Jefferson by Bruce Bliven 杰斐逊的遗训 布鲁斯·布利文
Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, may be less famous than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln,  美国第三任总统托马斯·杰斐逊也许不像乔治·华盛顿和亚伯拉罕·林肯那样着名
but most people remember at least one fact about him: he wrote the Declaration of Independence. 但大多数人至少记得有关他的一件事实：是他写的《独立宣言》。
Although Jefferson lived more than 200 years ago, there is much that we can learn from him today.  虽然杰斐逊生活在二百多年以前，但我们今天仍可以从他身上学到很多东西。
Many of his ideas are especially interesting to modem youth. Here are some of the things he said and wrote: Go and see.  他的许多思想对当代青年特别有意义。下面就是他讲过和写到过的一些观点：自己去看。
Jefferson believed that a free man obtains knowledge from many sources besides books and that personal investigation is important.  杰斐逊认为，一个自由的人除了从书本中获取知识外，还可以从许多别的来源获得知识；他认为，亲自做调查是很重要的。
When still a young man, he was appointed to a committee to find out whether the South Branch of the James River was deep enough to be used by large boats.  在他还很年轻的时候，他就被任命为一个委员会的成员，去调查詹姆斯河南部支流的水深是否可以通行大型船只。
While the other members of the committee sat in the state capitol and studied papers on the subject, Jefferson got into a canoe and made on-the-spot observations. 委员会的其他成员都坐在州议会大厦内研究有关这一问题的文件，而杰斐逊却跳进一只独木舟去做现场观测。
You can learn from everyone. By birth and by education Jefferson belonged to the highest social class.  你可以向任何人学习。按出身及其所受的教育，杰斐逊均属于最高的社会阶层。
Yet, in a day when few noble persons ever spoke to those of humble origins except to give an order, Jefferson went out of his way to talk with gardeners, servants, and waiters.  然而，在那个贵人们除了发号施令以外很少跟出身卑贱的人说话的年代，杰斐逊却常破例跟园丁、仆人和侍者交谈。
Jefferson once said to the French nobleman, Lafayette, You must go into the people's homes as I have done, look into their cooking pots and eat their bread.  有一次杰斐逊曾这样对法国贵族拉斐特说过：“你必须像我那样到平民百姓的家里去，看看他们的锅里煮些什么，吃吃他们的面包。
If you will only do this, you may find out why people are dissatisfied and understand the revolution that is threatening France. 只要你肯这样做，你就会发现老百姓为什么会不满意，你就会理解正在威胁着法国的革命。”
Judge for yourself.  自己作判断。
Jefferson refused to accept other people's opinions without careful thought.  未经过认真的思考，杰斐逊绝不接受别人的意见。
"Neither believe nor reject anything," he wrote to his nephew, "because any other person has rejected or believed it.  他在给侄子的信中写道：“不要因为别的人相信或拒绝了什么东西，你也就去相信它或拒绝它。
Heaven has given you a mind for judging truth and error. Use it." 上帝赐予你一个用来判断真理和谬误的头脑。那你就运用它吧。”
Jefferson felt that the people "may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false, and to form a correct judgment.  杰斐逊觉得，人民“是完全可以信赖的，应该让他们听到一切真实和虚伪的东西，然后作出正确的判断。
Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. 倘使让我来决定，我们是应该有一个政府而不要报纸呢还是应该有报纸而不要政府，我会毫不犹豫地选择后者。”
Do what you believe is right.  做你认为是正确的事。
In a free country there will always be conflicting ideas, and this is a source of strength.  在一个自由的国家里总会有各种相互冲突的思想，而这正是力量的源泉。
It is conflict and not unquestioning agreement that keeps freedom alive.  使自由保持活力的是冲突而不是绝对的一致。
Though Jefferson was for many years the object of strong criticism, he never answered his critics.  虽然有好多年杰斐逊一直受到激烈的批评，但他从不回应那些批评他的人。
He expressed his philosophy in letters to a friend, "There are two sides to every question.  他在写给一位朋友的信中表达了自己的观点：“每个问题都有两面。
If you take one side with decision and act on it with effect, those who take the other side will of course resent your actions." 如果你坚决站在一面并根据它有效地采取行动，那么，站在另一面的那些人当然会对你的行动怨恨不满。”
Trust the future; trust the young.  相信未来，相信青年。
Jefferson felt that the present should never be chained to customs which have lost their usefulness.  杰斐逊认为，绝不可以用那些已经无用的习俗来束缚住“现在”的手脚。
"No society," he said, "can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs to the living generation." 他说：“没有哪个社会可以制订一部永远适用的宪法，甚至连一条永远适用的法律也制订不出来。地球是属于活着的一代的。”
He did not fear new ideas, nor did he fear the future.  他不害怕新的思想，也不害怕未来。
"How much pain," he remarked, "has been caused by evils which have never happened! I expect the best, not the worst.  他评论说：“有多少痛苦是由一些从未发生过的灾难引起的啊！我期待的是最好的东西，而不是最坏的东西。
I steer my ship with hope, leaving fear behind." 我满怀希望地驾驶着自己的航船，而把恐惧抛在后面。”
Jefferson's courage and idealism were based on knowledge.  杰斐逊的勇气和理想主义是以知识为基础的。
He probably knew more than any other man of his age.  他懂得的东西也许比同时代的任何人都要多。
He was an expert in agriculture, archeology, and medicine.  在农业、考古学和医学方面他都是专家。
He practiced crop rotation and soil conservation a century before these became standard practice, and he invented a plow superior to any other in existence.  在人们普遍采用农作物轮作和土壤保持的做法以前一个世纪，他就这样做了。他还发明了一种比当时任何一种都好的耕犁。
He influenced architecture throughout America, and he was constantly producing devices for making the tasks of ordinary life easier to perform. 他影响了整个美国的建筑业，他还不断地制造出各种器械装置，使日常生活中需要做的许多工作变得更加容易。
Of all Jefferson's many talents, one is central.  在杰斐逊的众多才能中，有一种是最主要的：
He was above all a good and tireless writer.  他首先是一位优秀的、不知疲倦的作家。
His complete works, now being published for the first time, will fill more than fifty volumes.  目前正在第一次出版的他的全集将超过五十卷。
His talent as an author was soon discovered, and when the time came to write the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia in 1776, the task of writing it was his.  他作为一个作家的才能很快便被发现了，所以，当1776年在费城要撰写《独立宣言》的时刻来到时，这一任务便落在了他肩上。
Millions have thrilled to his words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." 数以百万计的人们读到他写的下列词句都激动不已：“我们认为这些真理是不言而喻的：一切人生来就是平等的……”
When Jefferson died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of American independence, he left his countrymen a rich legacy of ideas and examples.  1826年7月4日，正值美国独立五十周年纪念日之际，杰斐逊与世长辞了。他给他的同胞留下了一份丰富的思想遗产和众多的榜样。
American education owes a great debt to Thomas Jefferson, who believed that only a nation of educated people could remain free. 托马斯·杰斐逊对美国的教育事业作出了巨大的贡献，他认为，只有受过教育的人民组成的国家才能保持自由。