悠游度过一天的24小时：第十二章 要规避的危险

CHAPTER XII Dangers To Avoid

第十二章 要规避的危险

I cannot terminate these hints, often, I fear, too didactic and abrupt, upon the full use of one's time to the great end of living (as distinguished from vegetating) without briefly referring to certain dangers which lie in wait for the sincere aspirant towards life. The first is the terrible danger of becoming that most odious and least supportable of persons—a prig. Now a prig is a pert fellow who gives himself airs of superior wisdom. A prig is a pompous fool who has gone out for a ceremonial walk, and without knowing it has lost an important part of his attire, namely, his sense of humour. A prig is a tedious individual who, having made a discovery, is so impressed by his discovery that he is capable of being gravely displeased because the entire world is not also impressed by it. Unconsciously to become a prig is an easy and a fatal thing.

关于如何利用时间以达到美好的生活境界（而不是像植物人一样过活）的建议，恐怕自己过于说教、毫不谦卑、不太连贯，但我还是不能就此结束，必须简短地谈谈对人生抱着真诚热望的人们可能遭遇的某些危险。第一个可怕的危险是成为最讨厌、最不受欢迎的人——假正经。这种人鲁莽无礼，总是摆出一幅有极高智商的神态。这种人是自命不凡的傻瓜，走在外面，会煞有介事地昂首阔步，浑然不觉自己的矫饰中缺乏很重要的一部分，也就是幽默感。这种乏味的家伙要是有什么发现，就会视之为伟大的壮举，如若他人对此不以为然，他就大为不快。人们很容易不自觉地变成这样的人，这是致命的危险。

Hence, when one sets forth on the enterprise of using all one's time, it is just as well to remember that one's own time, and not other people's time, is the material with which one has to deal; that the earth rolled on pretty comfortably before one began to balance a budget of the hours, and that it will continue to roll on pretty comfortably whether or not one succeeds in one's new role of chancellor of the exchequer of time. It is as well not to chatter too much about what one is doing, and not to betray a too-pained sadness at the spectacle of a whole world deliberately wasting so many hours out of every day, and therefore never really living. It will be found, ultimately, that in taking care of one's self one has quite all one can do.

因此，当一个人要展开好好利用自己时间的大业时，记住时间是自己的，不是别人的，你要自己安排。你对时间做出平衡预算之前，地球一直在顺利运转；不论你是否胜任时间的财务大臣这一新职务，地球还是会一如既往地运转。切莫过多念叨自己正在做的事情；也不要因为看到整个世界每天故意浪费这么多时间而没有真正的生活，就感到过分悲伤并形诸于色。最终你将发现，只要管好自己分内的事，你就尽了最大努力。

Another danger is the danger of being tied to a programme like a slave to a chariot. One's programme must not be allowed to run away with one. It must be respected, but it must not be worshipped as a fetish. A programme of daily employ is not a religion.

另一危险就是被计划捆缚，仿佛是拉马车的奴隶。计划不能超出一个人所能承受的范围。必须尊重计划，但不能将它奉为神明；每天要施行的计划并非宗教。

This seems obvious. Yet I know men whose lives are a burden to themselves and a distressing burden to their relatives and friends simply because they have failed to appreciate the obvious. "Oh, no," I have heard the martyred wife exclaim, "Arthur always takes the dog out for exercise at eight o'clock and he always begins to read at a quarter to nine. So it's quite out of the question that we should…” etc., etc. And the note of absolute finality in that plaintive voice reveals the unsuspected and ridiculous tragedy of a career.

这似乎显而易见。然而我知道正因为有些人不懂得这道理，不仅自己背包袱，他们的亲人朋友也因此甚为恼火。“哦，不，”我曾听一位备受折磨的妻子抱怨道，“亚瑟总是8点钟出去遛狗，9点差一刻开始读书，所以我们毫无疑问是应该……”等等、等等。这种悲哀的控诉流露出绝对要终结的意味，显示出一项事业的悲剧性，始料不及又滑稽可笑。

On the other hand, a programme is a programme. And unless it is treated with deference it ceases to be anything but a poor joke. To treat one's programme with exactly the right amount of deference, to live with not too much and not too little elasticity, is scarcely the simple affair it may appear to the inexperienced.

另一方面，计划就是计划。若不遵从计划，计划就不成其为计划，只是个蹩脚的玩笑罢了。适当地遵从计划，不必过度紧张，也不能太过于放松，对没有经验的人而言，这说起来简单，做起来难。

And still another danger is the danger of developing a policy of rush, of being gradually more and more obsessed by what one has to do next. In this way one may come to exist as in a prison, and one's life may cease to be one's own. One may take the dog out for a walk at eight o'clock, and meditate the whole time on the fact that one must begin to read at a quarter to nine, and that one must not be late.

另一危险就是变得匆忙，被一件件接踵而来的事情困住。这样一来就仿佛身陷牢笼，生活不再属于自己。8点钟出去遛狗，可整个过程中都在想必须9点差一刻开始看书，千万不能耽误。

And the occasional deliberate breaking of one's programme will not help to mend matters. The evil springs not from persisting without elasticity in what one has attempted, but from originally attempting too much, from filling one's programme till it runs over. The only cure is to reconstitute the programme, and to attempt less.

有时故意不按计划行事也于事无补。罪恶并非源于一板一眼的坚持，而是源于从一开始贪求太多，把计划填得满满的以致满溢出来。唯一的办法是重定计划，降低企望。

But the appetite for knowledge grows by what it feeds on, and there are men who come to like a constant breathless hurry of endeavour. Of them it may be said that a constant breathless hurry is better than an eternal doze.

随着知识的积累，求知欲愈加旺盛，有的人如果不忙得晕头转向、气喘吁吁，心里就不踏实。对他们来说，不停歇的忙碌比总是打盹儿好。

In any case, if the programme exhibits a tendency to be oppressive, and yet one wishes not to modify it, an excellent palliative is to pass with exaggerated deliberation from one portion of it to another; for example, to spend five minutes in perfect mental quiescence between chaining up the St. Bernard and opening the book; in other words, to waste five minutes with the entire consciousness of wasting them.

无论怎样，如果计划让人觉得压抑，而这个人又不愿更改计划，一大良方就是把一部分时间极其从容地挪到其他地方；比如，从圣.伯纳德大街回来后、打开书本之前，花五分钟时间让大脑彻底休息；换句话说，刻意浪费这五分钟时间。

The last, and chiefest danger which I would indicate, is one to which I have already referred—the risk of a failure at the commencement of the enterprise.

最后我要指出的最大危险，也是我已经提到过的，即事业一开始就夭折的危险。

I must insist on it.

我必须坚持强调这一点。

A failure at the commencement may easily kill outright the newborn impulse towards a complete vitality, and therefore every precaution should be observed to avoid it. The impulse must not be over-taxed. Let the pace of the first lap be even absurdly slow, but let it be as regular as possible.

一开始就失败很容易立即扼杀想成就事业的新动机，因此必须相当谨慎地避免这一点，千万不要有过重的负担。起初的步伐要缓慢，慢到出奇也无妨，但尽可能确保匀速。

And, having once decided to achieve a certain task, achieve it at all costs of tedium and distaste. The gain in self-confidence of having accomplished a tiresome labour is immense.

在决心完成一项任务后，不论任务是多么沉闷无趣，要不计一切代价完成。完成烦闷的任务后，自信会有极大增长。

Finally, in choosing the first occupations of those evening hours, be guided by nothing whatever but your taste and natural inclination.

最后，如何利用晚上那几小时，最初的选择只能由你的品味和习性决定。

It is a fine thing to be a walking encyclopaedia of philosophy, but if you happen to have no liking for philosophy, and to have a like for the natural history of street-cries, much better leave philosophy alone, and take to street-cries.

成为哲学的活百科全书固然是好，但若你偏偏对哲学没兴趣，而钟情于街头叫卖声的变迁史，那就把哲学放到 一边，去研究街头叫卖吧。