An Excerpt from Affectation
By Lord Chesterfield
[英]切斯特菲尔德伯爵
1.Most people complain of fortune, few of nature; and the kinder they think the latter has been to them, the more they murmur at what they call the injustice of the former.
1.很多人抱怨命运，却很少有人抱怨自然；人们越是认为自然对他们仁爱有加，便越是嘀咕命运对他们的所谓不公。
2.Why have not I the riches, the rank, the power, of such and such, is the common expostulation with fortune: but why have not I the merit, the talents, the wit, or the beauty of such and such others, is a reproach rarely or never made to nature.
2.人们常常对命运发出诘难：我为何没有财富、地位、权力以及诸如此类的东西；但人们却很少或从不这样责怪过自然：我为何没有长处、天赋、机智或美丽以及诸如此类的东西。
3.The truth is, that nature, seldom profuse, and seldom niggardly, has distributed her gifts more equally than she is generally supposed to have done.
3.事实是，自然总是将天赋公平地分配给人们，比人们通常认为的还要不偏不倚，很少过分地慷慨，也很少过分地吝啬。
4.Education and situation make the great difference. Culture improves, and occasions elicit, natural talents.
4.人与人之间的巨大差异是由于教育和环境使然。文化修养改良了天赋，机遇环境诱发了天赋。
5.I make no doubt but that there are potentially, if I may use that pedantic word, many Bacons, Lockes, Newtons, Caesars, Cromwells, and Marlboroughs, at the plough-tail, behind counters, and, perhaps, even among the nobility; but the soil must be cultivated, and the seasons favourable, for the fruit to have all its spirit and flavour.
5.文化修养改良了天赋，机遇环境诱发了天赋。我们并不怀疑在农田耕作，在柜台后营业，甚至在豪门贵族中间有很多潜在的培根们、洛克们、牛顿们、凯撒们、克伦威尔们和马尔伯勒们，如果允许我用“潜在的”这个学究味浓重的词的话；但是要使果实具有它全部的品质和风味，还必须有耕耘过的泥土，必须有适宜的季节。
菲利普·道摩·斯坦霍普，切斯特菲尔德第四任伯爵（Earl of Chesterfield，1694-1773年），出生于英国伦敦富有的贵族家庭，是当时名声显赫的**家和文人，曾任驻荷兰大使、爱尔兰总督及Minister of State等职位。切斯特菲尔德伯爵在世时以优美的文笔，圆滑的外交手腕还有幽默感出名，但今天为人们所记住则是作为一位父亲，因为他给私生子菲利普·斯坦霍普（Philip Stanhope）写了多年非常有意义的信。这些信件风格简洁优美、充满了处事智慧、睿智的建议和犀利的评论，并在19世纪被编印成册，首次出版发行，成为当时风靡一时的畅销书。直到今天书中还有不少箴言，被作为经典广为引用。
整理：2024年2月17日于经典龙苑
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