美文欣賞:今天,我開始新的生活(2)

As a child I was slave to my impulses; now I am slave to my habits, as are all grown men. I have surrendered my free will to the years of accumulated habits and the past deeds of my life have already marked out a path which threatens to imprison my future. My actions are ruled by appetite, passion, prejudice, greed, love, fear, environment, habit, and the worst of these tyrants is habit. Therefore, if I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits. My bad habits must be destroyed and new furrows prepared for good seed.

小時候。我常會感情用事，長大成人了，我要用良好的習(xí)慣代替一時的沖動。我的自由意志屈服于多年養(yǎng)成的惡習(xí)，它們威脅著我的前途。我的行為受到品味、情感、偏見、欲望、愛、恐懼、環(huán)境和習(xí)慣的影響，其中最厲害的就是習(xí)慣。因此。如果我必須受習(xí)慣支配的話，那就讓我受好習(xí)慣的支配。那些壞習(xí)慣必須戒除，我要在新的田地里播種好的種子。

I will form good habits and become their slave.

我要養(yǎng)成良好的習(xí)慣，全心全意去實行。

And how will I accomplish this difficult feat? Through these scrolls, it will be done, for each scroll contains  a principle which will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which will bring me closer to success. For it is another of nature's laws that only a habit can subdue another habit. So, in order for these written words to perform their chosen task, I must discipline myself with the first of my new habits which is as follows:

這不是輕而易舉的事情，要怎樣才能做到呢，靠這些羊皮卷就能做到。因為每～卷里都寫著一個原則，可以摒除-項壞習(xí)慣，換取一個好習(xí)慣，使人進步，走向成功。這也是自然法則之一，只有一種習(xí)慣才能抑制另一種習(xí)慣。所以，為了走好我選擇的道路，我必須養(yǎng)成的第一個習(xí)慣：

I will read each scroll for thirty days in this prescribed manner, before I proceed to the next scroll.

每張羊皮卷用三十天的時間閱讀，然后再進人下一卷。

First, I will read the words in silence when I arise. Then, I will read the words in silence after I have partaken of my midday meal. Last, I will read the words again just before I retire at day's end, and most important, on this occasion I will read the words aloud.

清晨即起，默默誦讀；午飯之后，再次默讀；夜晚睡前，高聲朗讀。

On the next day I will repeat this procedure, and I will continue in like manner for thirty days. Then, I will turn to the next scroll and repeat this procedure for another thirty days. I will continue in this manner until I have lived with each scroll for thirty days and my reading has become habit.

第二天的情形完全一樣。這樣重復(fù)三十天后，就可以打開下一卷了。每一卷都依照同樣的方法讀上三十天，久而久之，它們就成為一種習(xí)慣了。

And what will be accomplished with this habit? Herein lies the hidden secret of all man's accomplishments. As I repeat the words daily they will soon become a part of my active mind, but more important, they will also seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.

這些習(xí)慣有什么好處呢？這里隱含著人類成功的秘訣。當(dāng)我每天重復(fù)這些話的時候，它何成了我精神活動的一部分，更重要的是，它們滲入我的心靈。擁是個神秘的世界，永不靜止，創(chuàng)造夢境，在不知不覺中影響我的行為。

As the words of these scrolls are consumed by my mysterious mind I will begin to awake, each morning, with a vitality I have never known before. My vigor will increase, my enthusiasm will rise, my desire to meet the world will overcome every fear I once knew at sunrise, and I will be happier than I ever believed it possible to be in this world of strife and sorrow.

當(dāng)這些羊皮卷上的文字，被我奇妙的心靈完全吸收之后，我每天都會充滿活力地醒來。我從來沒有這樣精力充沛過。我更有活力，更有熱情，要向世界挑戰(zhàn)的欲望克服了一切恐懼與不安。在這個充滿爭斗和悲傷的世界里，我竟然比以前更快活。

Eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I was commanded in the scrolls to react, and soon these actions and reactions will become easy to perform, for any act with practice becomes easy.

最后，我會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己有了應(yīng)付一切情況的辦法。不久，這些辦法就能運用自如。因為，任何方法，只要多練習(xí)，就會變得簡單易行。

Thus a new and good habit is born, for when an act becomes easy through constant repetition it becomes a pleasure to perform and if it is a pleasure to perform it is man's nature to perform it often. When I perform it often it becomes a habit and I become its slave and since it is a good habit this is my will.

經(jīng)過多次重復(fù)，一種看似復(fù)雜的行為就變得輕而易舉，實行起來，就會有無限的樂趣，有了樂趣，出于人之天性，我就更樂意常去實行。于是，一種好的習(xí)慣便誕生了。習(xí)慣成為自然。既是一種好的習(xí)慣，也就是我的意原。

Today I begin a new life.

今天，我天始新的生活。

And I make a solemn oath to myself that nothing will retard my new life's growth. I will lose not a day from these readings for that day cannot be retrieved nor can I substitute another for it. I must not, I will not, break this habit of daily reading from these scrolls and, in truth, the few moments spent each day on this new habit are but a small price to pay for the happiness and success that will be mine.

我鄭重地發(fā)誓，絕不讓任何事情妨礙我新生命的成長。在閱讀這些羊卷的時候，我絕不浪費一天的時間，因為時光一去不返，失去的日子是無法彌補的。我也絕不打破每天閱讀的習(xí)慣。事實上，每天在這些新習(xí)慣上花費少許時間，相對于可能獲得的愉樂與成功而言，只是微不足道的代價。

As I read and re-read the words in the scrolls to follow, never will I allow the brevity of each scroll nor the simplicity of its words to cause me to treat the scroll's message lightly. Thousands of grapes are pressed to fill one jar with wine, and the grape skin and pulp are tossed to the birds. So it is with these grapes of wisdom from the ages. Much has been filtered and tossed to the wind. Only the pure truth lies distilled in the words to come. I will drink as instructed and spill not a drop. And the seed of success I will swallow.

當(dāng)我閱讀羊皮卷中的字句時，絕不能出為文字的精煉而忽視內(nèi)容的深沉。一瓶葡萄美酒需要千百顆果子釀制而成，果皮和渣子拋給小鳥。葡萄的智慧代代相傳，有些被過濾，有些被淘汰，隨風(fēng)飄逝。只有純正的真理才是永恒的。它們就精煉在我要閱讀的文字中。我要依照指示，絕不浪費，飲下成功的種子。

Today my old skin has become as dust. I will walk tall among men and they will know me not , for today I am a new man, with a new life.

今天，我的老繭化為塵埃。我在人群中昂首闊步，不會有人認(rèn)出我來，因為我不再是過去的自己、我已擁有新的生命。