第三册第15篇：笔
Small as it is, the pen has changed the course of history, shaped the destiny of nations, facilitated the commerce of peoples, imprisoned the elusive thoughts of man, recorded events, carried news, and done more work for mankind than all other tools or weapons. Progress without it would have been almost impossible. The invention of the wheel and screw, the introduction of steam-power, the use of electricity, all these have changed the lives of millions; but the pen has done more. It has removed mountains. It has prepared the way for all advancement. Whatever plans have been drawn up, whatever laws formulated, have come from the pen.
笔虽很小，却已经改变了历史的进程，决定了民族的兴衰，推进了民间的贸易,钳制了难以捉摸的不良思想，记录事件，传播消息，为人类做了比任何其他工具或武器更多的工作。没有它，进步几乎是不可能的。车轮和螺丝的发明，蒸汽机的问世，电力的使用，所有这些都曾改变了亿万人的生活;然而，笔却做得更多。他创造了奇迹。他为所有的前进铺平了道路。任何计划的拟订，任何法律的制定，无一不出自于笔。
Today the pen is more highly esteemed than ever. The typewriters clicking in every continent are the drudges, the pen is the aristocrat, governing all and giving the final flourish. In the past the pen did all the work, for all writing intended to last for any length of time was valid only if written with pen and ink. The lawyers took up their pens and wrote the law of the land from the days when papyrus was first used to the day Magna Carta was compiled, and for 500 years after. The most famous letters in the world were written with a pen; and it was with a pen that the greatest thinkers of all time wrote down their thoughts.
今天,笔比以往任何时候都更加受到尊重。在世界各地嘀嗒作响的打字机只不过是奴仆而已,笔才是尊贵的主人，它统治着一切，给予最后的华丽修饰。在过去，笔干着所有的工作,因为所有需要保留任何一段时间的文字,只有用笔和墨水写了才是有效的。从埃及人造的纸莎草纸开始使用时起，直到英国大宪章编成，以及在此后的五百多年中，法学家们拿起笔，写下了国法。甘界上最著名的信件都是用笔写的。历代最伟大的思想家正是用笔才写下了他们的思想。
The Law and the Prophets, the four Gospels, the letters of St Paul, how should we have had these today had they not been preserved for us by the pen? To the pen we owe The Pilgrims Progress, Paradise Lost, The Canterbury Tales; and it was with his pen that Shakespeare shook the world.
摩西五书》、先知预言、《四福音书》及圣保罗的书信，如果没有用笔把它们保存下来，我们今天怎么能拥有这些呢?多亏了笔，我们才能看到《天路历程》、《失乐园》和《坎特伯雷故事集》。莎士比亚也正是用他的笔来震撼世界的。
The servant of the greatest, the pen is the slave of the humblest. The serving maid and schoolboy may drive it as they will.
笔既是伟人们的仆役，也是地位低微的人们的奴隶，侍女和年幼学童都可以随意地使用它。
Behind all we do today is the pen. We cannot sign a cheque or write a letter or buy a house or complete a business transaction without our pen. The editor stirs the world with it, the student would fail to pass his examination without it, a deed is worthless till our name is written with pen and ink, though the signature is there it becomes irrevocable. For the stroke of a pen is legally binding, and few things are more thrilling or mysterious.
我们今天所做的一切都有笔的功劳。签署支票，写信，购买住宅或完成一项商业上的交易，都得用笔签字。编辑靠它鼓动世界，学生没有它就无法通过考试。在未用沾了墨水的笔签字之前，一份契约是无效的，而一旦有了署名，它就成为不可改变的了。因为大笔一挥是有法律约束力的，很少有比它更加能使人感到激动或神秘的东西了。
With a stroke of the pen Bradshaw sent Charles Stuart to the block. Queen Elizabeth took up her pen and signed a document, which hurried Mary Queen of Scots to her tragic end.
Queen Victoria saved a life with her pen, for, when the Iron Duke gave her a death warrant to sign she wrote Pardoned, so giving a bad soldier a chance to make good. When the Declaration of American Independence was signed John Hancock was the first to write his name. “There, (said he) I guess King George will be able to read that.”
约翰?布拉德肖的笔一挥，查理?斯图亚特便上了断头台。英王伊丽莎白一世拿起笔签署了一个文件，从而加快了苏格兰女王玛丽以悲剧性的方式结束了自己的生命。维多利亚女王用笔赦免了一个人的命。当威灵顿公爵呈给她一份死刑执行书请她签署时，她写了“赦免”二字，于是给了一个不好的军人改过自新的机会。当签署《独立宣言》时，约翰?汉考克第一个署了名，并说到，“瞧吧!我想乔治国王会看到的。”
Our coming into the world is recorded with pen and ink. Before we have been at school a day our name is enrolled with a pen. We cannot be married till we have signed the register. A pen records our death.
我们降临到这个世界上来，笔就加以记录。在入学以前，笔把我们的名字登记在了学生名册上。没有笔在登记册上签名，我们就不能成婚。笔也记下了我们的死亡。
The next time we take up our pen to write, let us remember that we hold in our hand the most powerful instrument mankind possesses.
下次当我们拿起笔准备书写的时候，我们应该记着，我们手中握着的是人类所拥有的最强有力的工具。
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