Never Judge a Book by Its Cover 永远不要用一本书的封面来判断好坏

A Better World 更美的世界 

This is the true joy of life,

这是生命中真正的喜悦；
being a force of nature to make the world a better place,

生命是大自然的一股力量，这股力量让世界变得更加美好，
instead of a selfish little clot, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

生命不是自私的小肉体，只会抱怨这世界没有尽力使你快乐。
It is our privilege to do for it what we can.

能为世界变得更好做出努力是我们的荣幸。
Never Judge a Book by Its Cover 永远不要用一本书的封面来判断好坏
A lady and her husband stepped off the train in Boston, 
一位女士和她的丈夫走下了火车来到波士顿。

and walked timidly without an appointment 
into the Harvard University President’s outer office. 

他们没有预约，所以内心惶恐的走进了哈佛大学校长接见室。
The Secretary could tell in a moment 
that such country hicks had no business at Harvard. 
秘书一眼就看出这种乡巴佬与哈佛肯定没有什么瓜葛，

She frowned as the man said softly, 

她正皱着眉头，这时这位男士柔和地说。

“We want to see the President.” 
‘我们想见一下校长,’

“He’ll be busy all day,” 
the Secretary snapped.

‘他每天都很忙,’ 秘书打断了他的话。
“We’ll wait,” the lady replied.

‘我们可以等,’ 那位女士回应道。
For hours, the Secretary ignored them, 

几个小时过去了，这个秘书都没有搭理他们。             
hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. 

她希望这对夫妇能够自觉羞愧，离开这里。
They didn’t; 
and the Secretary grew frustrated 
and finally decided to disturb the President.

但他们却没有，这个秘书倍感挫败，最后她决定通知校长。         
“Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave,” 
she told him.

‘或许你花几分钟会见他们，他们就走了,’ 她跟校长说！
He sighed and nodded. 

校长叹了口气，点头同意了。
Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them.

像他这样重要的人物根本没有时间去陪这对夫妇。
The President, stern-faced with dignity, 
strutted toward the couple. 

校长板着脸，带着十足的威严，趾高气扬地走向这对夫妇。
The lady told him, 
“We had a son who attended Harvard for one year. 

 这位女士告诉校长，‘我们的儿子曾在哈佛就读过一年。
He loved Harvard. 
他很喜欢哈佛。

He was happy here. 
他在这里很快乐。

But about a year ago, 
he was accidentally killed. 

但是在一年前，他意外身亡。
And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, 
somewhere on campus.”

我丈夫和我想在校园一处给他留个纪念物 。
The President wasn’t touched, 
and he was shocked, 
不仅没有感动反而觉得不可思议。

“Madam,” he said gruffly. 
女士，他粗声说着，

“We can’t put up a statue for every person 
who attended Harvard and died. 
我们不可能为所有曾在这里读书的人都立一个遗像吧，

If we did, this place would look like a cemetery. ”

如果我们这样做的话，校园岂不是变成一个墓园吗？ 
“Oh, no,” the lady explained quickly. 
‘哦，不是的，’这位女士很快解释说。

“We don’t want to erect a statue. 
我们不是要立一座雕像。

We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.”
我们想给学校捐建一栋楼。

The president rolled his eyes. 
校长转动着他的眼睛。

He exclaimed, “A building, 

do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? 
他说，‘一座楼！’你是否想过一座建筑物要花多少钱？

We have over seven and a half million dollars 
in the physical plant at Harvard.”

我们学校花了750多万美元去修建教学楼。
For a moment the lady was silent. 

好一会儿，这位女士都沉默不言。
The president was pleased. 
He could get rid of them now.

校长很开心高兴，他想这是打发他们离开的的时候了。
And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, 

这位女士转向她的丈夫，轻轻地说：
“Is that all it costs to start a University? 

只要750万美元就可以建座大学？
Why don’t we just start our own?”

那我们为什么不自己建一座大学呢？
Her husband nodded.

她的丈夫点点头。
The President’s face wilted in confusion and bewilderment. 

校长脸色苍白，感到慌乱不安。
And Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away; 

斯坦福先生和太太起身离开哈佛，
traveling to Palo Alto, California, 

旅行去了加州。
where they established the university that bears their name, 
他们在那里建立了一所以他们的名字命名的大学，

a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.

纪念他们那个哈佛不再关心的儿子。

You can easily judge the character of others 
by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.

通过他们怎样对待那些没能力为他们或对他们做什么事的人，

你就能容易地判断出某些人的特征了。