經(jīng)典英文美文美句品析
經(jīng)典英文美文美句品析
美文文體特征漫論仲文美文，近年頗有聲名鵲起之象。但美文一詞語(yǔ)義漂移;或說(shuō)文體，或說(shuō)文質(zhì)，難成規(guī)范。下面小編整理了經(jīng)典英文美文美句，希望大家喜歡!
經(jīng)典英文美文美句品析
The Beautiful Life
美麗人生
Anonymous
佚名
There were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that have nothing to do with looks. She was the one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart.
她有著一種與外表無(wú)關(guān)的靈氣和美麗。她的話語(yǔ)輕而易舉地征服了人心，那正是我們要聆聽(tīng)的聲音。
It is said that the true nature of being is veiled. The labor of words, the expression of art, the seemingly ceaseless buzz that is human thought all have in common the need to get at what really is so. The hope to draw close to and possess the truth of being can be a feverish one. In some cases it can even be fatal, if pleasure is one's truth and its attainment more important than life itself. In other lives, though, the search for what is truthful gives life.
很多人都說(shuō)人生的真諦是個(gè)未知的概念。言詞的費(fèi)力途釋、藝術(shù)的著力表現(xiàn)還有人類那似乎永無(wú)休止的紛繁思考，三者都苦苦追尋人生的真諦。希望走近以至完全把握存在的真意可以令人十分狂熱。有時(shí)候，有些人以自己篤信的真理為志趣，追尋真理甚于保全生命，于是就有舍生取義之舉。然而，也有另外的一種人生，他們?cè)趯で笳嬷B的過(guò)程中灌溉生命。
I used to find notes left in the collection basket, beautiful notes about my homilies and about the writer's thoughts on the daily scriptural readings. The person who penned the notes would add reflections to my thoughts and would always include some quotes from poets and mystics he or she had read and remembered and loved. The notes fascinated me. Here was someone immersed in a search for truth and beauty. Words had been treasured, words that were beautiful. And I felt as if the words somehow delighted in being discovered, for they were obviously very generous to the as yet anonymous writer of the notes. And now this person was in turn learning the secret of sharing them. Beauty so shines when given away. The only truth that exists is, in that sense, free.
過(guò)去，我常常在教堂的心意籃里面發(fā)現(xiàn)一些優(yōu)美的小短文,有些是關(guān)于我的布道，有些是作者日常讀(圣經(jīng)》的感想。寫這些短文的人不僅對(duì)我的一些觀點(diǎn)加以反思，同時(shí)還會(huì)引用一些他/她曾經(jīng)讀過(guò)的，令他/她難忘又喜愛(ài)的詩(shī)人或者神秘主義者的話。我被這些短文迷住了。我看到了一個(gè)執(zhí)著于追尋真與美的人。其珍而重之的字句，優(yōu)美動(dòng)人。我還感覺(jué)到好像那些字句也樂(lè)于讓我們發(fā)現(xiàn)，它們是那么毫無(wú)保留地，慷慨地為這無(wú)名氏作者借用，而現(xiàn)在輪到這位無(wú)名氏來(lái)學(xué)習(xí)與人分享這些美文的奧秘。分享令美愈加閃耀生輝，在這個(gè)意義上說(shuō)，其實(shí)世上唯一的真理是分毫不費(fèi)的。
It was a long time before I met the author of the notes.
過(guò)了很久我才見(jiàn)到這些短文的作者。
One Sunday morning, I was told that someone was waiting for me in the office. The young person who answered the rectory door said that it was "the woman who said she left all the notes."When I saw her I was shocked，since I immediately recognized her from church but had no idea that it was she who wrote the notes. She was sitting in a chair in the office with her hands folded in her lap. Her head was bowed and when she raised it to look at me, she could barely smile without pain. Her face was disfigured, and the skin so tight from surgical procedures that smiling or laughing was very difficult for her. She had suffered terribly from treatment to remove the growths that had so marred her face.
一個(gè)星期天的早上，我被告知有人正在辦公室等我。幫我應(yīng)門的年輕人說(shuō)“是個(gè)女人，說(shuō)留言是她放的。”當(dāng)我看見(jiàn)她的時(shí)候，我大吃了一驚，因?yàn)槲荫R上就認(rèn)出她是我的教區(qū)信徒，只是我一直不知道那些短文是她寫的。她坐在辦公室的一張椅子上，兩手緊握擱在大腿上，低垂著頭。當(dāng)她抬頭看我的時(shí)候，我注意到她微笑起來(lái)十分費(fèi)勁。那是一張破了相的臉，外科手術(shù)使她的臉皮繃得緊緊的，笑對(duì)她來(lái)說(shuō)是非常困難的。為了去除臉上礙眼的肉瘤她接受了手術(shù)，這令她吃盡了苦頭。
We chatted for a while that Sunday morning and agreed to meet for lunch later that week.
那個(gè)星期天早上我們聊了一會(huì)兒，并決定再找個(gè)時(shí)間一起吃午飯。
As it turned out we went to lunch several times, and she always wore a hat during the meal. I think that treatments of some sort had caused a lot of her hair to fall out. We shared things about our lives. I told her about my schooling and growing up. She told me that she had worked for years for an insurance company. She never mentioned family, and I did not ask.
后來(lái)我們不止吃了一頓，而是好幾頓。每次一起吃飯的時(shí)候她都戴著帽子。我想可能是她接受的某種治療使她掉了不少頭發(fā)。我們分享了各自生活中的點(diǎn)點(diǎn)滴滴。我跟她講我讀書和成長(zhǎng)的故事。她告訴我她在一家保險(xiǎn)公司里已經(jīng)工作多年了。她從來(lái)沒(méi)有提過(guò)自己的家庭，我也沒(méi)有問(wèn)。
We spoke of authors we both had read, and it was easy to tell that books are a great love of hers.
我們還談到大家都讀過(guò)的作家作品，不難發(fā)現(xiàn)她非常喜歡看書。
I have thought about her often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks,class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition hurt her deeply.
這些年我經(jīng)常想起她，在這個(gè)以外表、地位和財(cái)富等虛名浮利掛帥的社會(huì)中她是怎樣一路挺過(guò)來(lái)的呢?毀掉的容顏使她怎么也無(wú)法變得耀眼迷人。我知道這深深地刺痛著她。
Would her life have been different had she been pretty?Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.
如果她長(zhǎng)得漂亮，她的生命軌跡會(huì)不會(huì)有所不同呢?有可能。不過(guò)她有種獨(dú)特的靈氣和美，與外表沒(méi)有任何關(guān)系。她的話輕而易舉地征服了人心，她正是我們要聆聽(tīng)的聲音。她的雋語(yǔ)出于一顆受過(guò)傷卻充滿愛(ài)的心，就像所有人的心一樣，只不過(guò)她比別人更注重對(duì)自己心靈的關(guān)注、用心去體會(huì)生活并從中學(xué)習(xí)。她擁有一種細(xì)膩的美感。她生命里唯一的恐懼就是失去朋友。
How long does it take most of us to reach that level of human growth，if we ever get there? We get so consumed and diminished，worrying about all the things that need improving,we can easily forget to cherish those things that last. Friendship,so rare and so good，just needs our care-maybe even the simple gesture of writing a little note now and then，or the dropping of some beautiful words in a basket, in the hope that such beauty will be shared and taken to heart.
我們究竟要花多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間才能達(dá)到如此高度的成熟?能否最終達(dá)到還是個(gè)未知數(shù)呢。我們老覺(jué)得身心疲憊，懷才不遇，只顧為眼前的不足憂心忡忡，卻忘了珍視一些歷久常新的東西。友誼珍貴而美好，只要我們用心呵護(hù)，有時(shí)候簡(jiǎn)簡(jiǎn)單單的表示就已經(jīng)足夠了，苦如偶爾寫幾句話給朋友，或者在籃子里投入一些優(yōu)美動(dòng)人的字條，以期大家都能分享，記住美妙的時(shí)刻、美好的感覺(jué)。
The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.
她生命的真諦就是要透過(guò)事物的表面一睹其真正的本質(zhì)。她發(fā)現(xiàn)了美和上帝的慈愛(ài)，而美和慈愛(ài)也待她如友，把生命的真諦呈現(xiàn)給她。
經(jīng)典的經(jīng)典英文美文美句
The World as I See It
我的世界觀
Albert Einstein
【美】阿爾伯特·愛(ài)因斯坦
What an extraordinary situation is that of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn;for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he feels it. But from the point of view of daily life，without going deeper, we exist for our fellowmen—in the first place for those on whose smiles and welfare all our happiness depends，and next for all those unknown to us personally with whose destinies we are bound up by the tie of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men，living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to the simple life and am often oppressed by the feeling that I am engrossing an unnecessary amount of the labor of my fellowmen. I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on. force. I also consider that plain living is good for everybody, physically and mentally.
人終究一死，我們所面臨的情形是多么不同尋常!每個(gè)人來(lái)到這個(gè)世界上，都是短暫的停留;至于來(lái)的原因，卻無(wú)人知曉。雖然偶爾自以為對(duì)此似有感悟，可是沒(méi)有深入探討。從日常生活方面來(lái)講，我們是為了同胞而活著—最重要的是這樣一些人，他們的微笑和幸福決定了我們所有的幸福;接下來(lái)是一些素未謀面的人，他們依靠同情的紐帶與我們的命運(yùn)緊密相連。每天我無(wú)數(shù)次地告誡自己，他人的勞作，包括那些活著的人和已故的人，支持著我全部的精神生活和物質(zhì)生活。因此，我一定要全心全意地付出，達(dá)到和他們相同的高度，來(lái)回報(bào)我已經(jīng)獲得并且仍在汲取的恩惠。我十分向往簡(jiǎn)樸的生活，并且時(shí)常心中有愧，因?yàn)橛X(jué)得自己分享了我同胞們太多的勞動(dòng)成果。我把階級(jí)不同看成與正義格格不入，而且最終被迫采取強(qiáng)制手段。我同樣認(rèn)為，不管是在肉體上還是在精神上，任何人會(huì)因?yàn)檫^(guò)樸素的生活而受益匪淺。
In human freedom in the philosophical sense I am definitely a disbeliever. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauer's saying, that "a man can do as he will，but not will as he will,”has been an inspiration to me since my youth up, and a continual consolation and unfailing well-spring of patience in the face of the hardships of life, my own and others'. This feeling mercifully mitigates the sense of responsibility which so easily becomes paralyzing, and it prevents us from taking ourselves and other people too seriously; it conduces to a view of life in which humor, above all, has its due place.
我根本不相信哲學(xué)意義上的那種人類自由。每個(gè)人的行為不僅要受到外界強(qiáng)制的局限，而且要合乎內(nèi)在的必要性。叔本華曾說(shuō)，“人雖然可以為所欲為，但是不能隨心所欲。”從青年時(shí)代起，我就總是被這句名言激勵(lì)著。當(dāng)自己或別人經(jīng)歷生活中種種磨難時(shí)，我總能從這句話中尋得慰藉，從而獲得永不干枯的耐心源泉。擁有這種心情，不僅寬厚地減輕了那種使人容易感到心有余而力不足的責(zé)任感，也避免了我們太過(guò)認(rèn)真地對(duì)待自己和別人;同樣有利于人們獲得一種人生觀，就是首先給予幽默感以應(yīng)有地位。
To inquire after the meaning or object of one’s own existence or of creation generally has always seemed to me absurd from an objective point of view. And yet everybody has certain ideals which determine the direction of his endeavors and his judgments. In this sense I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves-such an ethical basis I call more proper for a herd of swine. The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth，Goodness，and Beauty. Without the sense of fellowship with men of like mind, of preoccupation with the objective，the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific research，life would have seemed to me empty.The ordinary objects of human endeavor-property, outward success, luxury-have always seemed to me contemptible.
從客觀的觀點(diǎn)方面，想要探究自身存在乃至一般創(chuàng)造物的意義或目的，我總是覺(jué)得不免不合常理。然而，每個(gè)人的理想不同，他們的努力和判斷方向也不同。從這一意義上看，我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)把安逸和享樂(lè)當(dāng)成人生目的本身—我認(rèn)為這種倫理基礎(chǔ)更適合于一群豬玀。真、善、美點(diǎn)亮我的道路，并且不停地賦予我新的勇氣，我才能高興地面對(duì)生活的理想。沒(méi)有志同道合的友情，沒(méi)有全身心投入于客觀世界，追尋在藝術(shù)與科學(xué)研究領(lǐng)域無(wú)法企及的目標(biāo)，那么我的生活將是空虛的。人們朝思暮想的一般對(duì)象—財(cái)富、表面的成功、奢侈—對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)都是可鄙的。
My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced freedom from the need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I gang my own gait and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family,with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties I have never lost an obstinate sense of detachment, of the need for solitude—a feeling which increases with the years. One is sharply conscious,yet without regret, of the limits to the possibility of mutual understanding and sympathy with one's fellow-creatures. Such a person no doubt loses something in the way of geniality and light-heartedness;on the other hand, he is largely independent of the opinions, habits, and judgments of his fellows and avoids the temptation to take his stand on such insecure foundations.
我對(duì)社會(huì)正義感和社會(huì)責(zé)任感充滿熱情，可與此形成鮮明對(duì)照的是，我又明顯缺乏與別人和社會(huì)直接接觸的愿望。我一直是按照自己的心愿做事;我未曾全心全意地?zé)釔?ài)我的國(guó)家、我的家庭、我的朋友，甚至我的至親;在面對(duì)所有這些關(guān)系紐帶時(shí)，我一直保持著一種頑固的超然感以及避世的需要—這種感受隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)不斷加強(qiáng)。人們真真切切地覺(jué)得，人們 的相互理解和共鳴是有界限的，雖然這沒(méi)什么可惜的。毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，這樣的人會(huì)因?yàn)橛H切和同情心失去一些東西，然而另一方面，他可以在很大程度上避免別人的意見(jiàn)、習(xí)慣和判斷的影響， 并且能夠抵住誘惑，在這些不可靠的基礎(chǔ)之上建立其立場(chǎng)。
My political ideal is that of democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and respect from my fellows through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the one or two ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that it is necessary for the success of any complex undertaking that one man should do the thinking and directing and in general bear the responsibility. But the led must not be compelled, they must be able to choose their leader... The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the State but the creative，sentient individual，the personality;it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.
我的政治理想是實(shí)現(xiàn)民主制度。尊重每一個(gè)作為個(gè)體的人，擯棄偶像崇拜。盡管并非是我自己的過(guò)錯(cuò)，也并非是我自己的功勞所獲，人們卻總是過(guò)分欽佩和尊敬我本人，這真的是一種命運(yùn)的戲弄。理解一兩個(gè)我靠不懈地努力所探知到的理論，或許就是許多人充滿渴望卻又無(wú)法企及的原因。我很明白，任何復(fù)雜的事業(yè)要想取得成功，就需要有一個(gè)人能承擔(dān)起思考、指揮、全權(quán)負(fù)責(zé)的重任。但是一定不要強(qiáng)迫被領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，他們一定要能夠選定自己的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者……在我看來(lái)，人生精彩的表演中，真正的價(jià)值不是國(guó)家，而是有創(chuàng)造性的、富有感知能力的個(gè)人，是人格;人是唯一能創(chuàng)造出高尚和卓越的生靈，而剩下的蕓蕓眾生在思想和感覺(jué)上總是停滯不前。
This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of the herd nature,the military system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been given his big brain by mistake;a backbone was all he needed. This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism by order, senseless violence, and all the pestilent nonsense that does by the name of patriotism—how I hate them! War seems to me a mean，contemptible thing:I would rather be hacked in pieces than take part in such an abominable business. And yet so high，in spite of everything, is my opinion of the human race that I believe this bogey would have disappeared long ago, had the sound sense of the nations not been systematically corrupted by commercial and political interests acting through the schools and the Press.
這個(gè)話題讓我想起民眾本質(zhì)中最壞的一種表現(xiàn)，即我痛恨不已的軍事制度。一個(gè)人伴著軍樂(lè)隊(duì)的曲調(diào)，在隊(duì)列中前行，而他卻能因此高興。這一行為就足以讓我輕視他。他能有一個(gè)大腦，就是天大的錯(cuò)誤;對(duì)他來(lái)說(shuō)一個(gè)脊推骨柱已是足夠了。在文明社會(huì)中，我們應(yīng)該盡快驅(qū)除這種罪惡的禍端。受命而為的英雄主義、泯滅人性的殘酷暴行、假借愛(ài)國(guó)主義之名的一切可惡的胡作非為—諸如此類都令我痛恨不已!在我看來(lái)，戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)是可鄙、無(wú)恥的勾當(dāng)，我寧愿粉身碎骨，也不愿參與這種令人厭惡的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。即便如此，對(duì)于人類我還會(huì)給予很高的評(píng)價(jià)，我相信，如果商業(yè)利益和政治利益沒(méi)有通過(guò)學(xué)校和媒體系統(tǒng)，腐蝕各民族的正常理智，那么戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)這一妖魔很早之前就不復(fù)存在了。
The fairest thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of tree art and free science. He who knows it not and can no longer wonder,no longer feel amazement, is as good as dead, a snuffed-out candle. It was the experience of mystery-even if mixed with fear-that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, of the manifestations of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which are only accessible to our reason in their most elementary forms—it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute the truly religious attitude;in this sense, and in this alone, I am a deeply religious man. I cannot conceive of a God who rewards and punishes his creatures, or has a will of the type of which we are conscious in ourselves. An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension，nor do I wish it otherwise;such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls.Enough for me the mystery of the eternity of life, and the inkling of the marvelous structure of reality, together with the single-hearted endeavor to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the reason that manifests itself in nature.
我們最美好的經(jīng)歷莫過(guò)于對(duì)神秘的體驗(yàn)。真正的藝術(shù)和真正的科學(xué)發(fā)源地的基本情感，便是對(duì)神秘的體驗(yàn)。對(duì)這種情感渾然不知、沒(méi)好奇心、失去了驚詫感的人，和死人沒(méi)什么區(qū)別，他就像一根被掐滅的蠟燭。正是由于對(duì)奧秘的體驗(yàn)—即便夾雜著恐懼—誕生了宗教。我們感到無(wú)法理解的事物就在我周圍，體會(huì)到最深?yuàn)W的理性和最光彩奪目的美，我們只能用理性去感知這些最原始的形式—真正的宗教虔誠(chéng)恰恰是這種認(rèn)識(shí)和這種情感結(jié)合體，并且只有在這個(gè)意義上，我才是一個(gè)堅(jiān)定的宗教支持者。我無(wú)法設(shè)想會(huì)有那樣一個(gè)上帝:它會(huì)稿勞、懲罰自己創(chuàng)造的生物，或者具有我們自己才能體會(huì)到的那種意志。一個(gè)人在失去生命后他還能繼續(xù)在另一世界里生活，這不在我的理解能力之內(nèi)，我也沒(méi)有心思去理解，那些脆弱靈魂的恐懼或可笑的利己主義者，才會(huì)專門研究這些觀念。生命永駐的奧秘，現(xiàn)實(shí)世界結(jié)構(gòu)中那不可思議的暗示，加上全心全意去探求以便理解自然界展現(xiàn)理性的一部分，無(wú)論多么不值一提，對(duì)我而言，已經(jīng)非常滿足。
關(guān)于經(jīng)典英文美文美句
Francis Bacon On Truth
培根論真理
Francis Bacon
[英]弗朗西斯·培根
Truth，which only doth judge itself，teacheth that the inquiry of truth，which is the love-making or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth，which is the enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. The first creature of God，in the works of the days，was the light of the sense;the last was the light of reason;and his sabbath work ever since is the illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed light upon the face of the matter or chaos;then he breathed light into the face of man;and still he breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his chosen. The poet that beautified the sect mat was otherwise inferior to the rest saith yet excellently well:It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below; but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be commanded，and where the air is always clear and serene)，and to see the errors and wanderings and mists and tempests in the vale below; so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride.Certainly, it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.
真理只能自我判別，教導(dǎo)人們追尋真理，即對(duì)真理的追求;對(duì)真理的認(rèn)知，對(duì)真理的信仰，也意味著對(duì)真理的享受。這三個(gè)要素組成了人性中無(wú)比高尚的美德。感性之光是上帝創(chuàng)造世界時(shí)創(chuàng)造的第一件東西，最后創(chuàng)造的才是理性之光。上帝精神的再現(xiàn)則是安息日。起初，上帝將光明賦予混亂的物質(zhì)世界，然后用光明悄然地點(diǎn)亮人類的心靈世界;現(xiàn)在他依然把圣光賜予其所思選的臣民。有一派哲學(xué)在其他方面沒(méi)有什么實(shí)際作用，可其中有一位詩(shī)人說(shuō)了一句經(jīng)典名言:依在海岸邊，注視著在大海中飄蕩的船帆，是一件快樂(lè)的事情;靠在城堡垛口，注視激戰(zhàn)中的戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)，也是一件快樂(lè)的事;但沒(méi)有什么能趕得上站在真理的前沿(那是一座誰(shuí)也無(wú)法侵占的山嶺，那里空氣清爽，萬(wàn)籟寂靜)，觀察山谷中的錯(cuò)誤、迷茫、薄霧與風(fēng)暴，那更是叫人歡欣雀躍。并且這種期望的態(tài)度是同情，而非自滿或自大。的確，假如一個(gè)人的想法中滿是仁愛(ài)，順應(yīng)天意，走在真理的前沿，即便生活在人間，也不遜于天堂。
To pass from theological and philosophical truth to the truth of civil business: it will be acknowledged even by those that practice it not that clear and round dealing is the honor of man's nature; and that mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver,which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent, which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious. And therefore Montaigne said prettily, when he inquired the reason why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace and such an odious charge. Saith he,If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth is as much to say as that he is brave toward God and a coward toward men. For he faces God，and shrinks from man. Surely the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith cannot possibly be so highly expressed as in that it shall be the last peal to call the judgments of God upon the generations of men;it being foretold that when Christ cometh，he shall not find faith upon the earth.
前面講了神學(xué)與哲學(xué)意義上的真理，現(xiàn)在來(lái)討論一下日常生活中的真理。品格惡劣，精于世故的人，也被迫接受光明正大—人類的一種崇高品德。虛偽如同用金銀合金制成硬幣，即便可以增大金屬的硬度，卻貶低了其內(nèi)在的真正價(jià)值。虛偽與欺詐如同彎曲的小路，唯有走路時(shí)依靠肚腹而不是雙腳的毒蛇，才選擇這條道路。假如一個(gè)說(shuō)謊話、背信棄義的人露出了破綻，由此帶來(lái)的羞恥感是沒(méi)有辦法掩蓋的。因此，蒙田在議論“謊言”一詞為何如此讓人厭惡時(shí)，說(shuō)過(guò)這樣一句至理名言:“我們不如這樣想，一個(gè)人說(shuō)自己在上帝面前肆意妄為，而在凡人面前卻很懦弱，這同說(shuō)謊沒(méi)有什么區(qū)別。”因?yàn)橹e言可以面對(duì)上帝，卻不敢面對(duì)凡人。當(dāng)然，在描述虛偽與背信棄義的危害性時(shí)，懇求上帝對(duì)世世代代的人類進(jìn)行裁決，他們無(wú)疑是最后的警鐘。人們預(yù)示:耶穌靈魂來(lái)到世上后，他在地球上不會(huì)找到絲毫信仰。