美国语文第六册 第193期:新英格兰清教徒先辈的品格(5)
他们的虔诚不仅仅是永恒的，这是发自内心的。
it had the proof of a good tree in bearing good fruit; it produced and sustained a strict morality.
这恰好证明了善良之因必将结出善良之果。这种虔诚导致并维系着严格的道德准则。
Their tenacious purity of manners and speech obtained for them, in the mother country,
他们坚持习俗的纯粹性，他们的语言也从中获取营养。
their name of Puritans, which, though given in derision, was as honorable an appellation as was ever bestowed by man on man.
清教徒这个称谓，尽管有些嘲弄的意味，却是赋予他们的具有荣誉感的称号。
That there were hypocrites among them, is not to be doubted; but they were rare.
在他们中间存在伪君子，这一点毋庸置疑。不过，这种人很少见。
The men who voluntarily exiled themselves to an unknown coast, and endured there every toil and hardship for conscience' sake,
那些自愿将自己放逐到未知海岸的人，出于良心的缘故在那儿忍受千难万苦，
and that they might serve God in their own manner, were not likely to set conscience at defiance, and make the service of God a mockery;
他们以自己的方式为上帝服务，这样的人不可能将良知弃之不顾，嘲弄对上帝的虔敬。
they were not likely to be, neither were they, hypocrites.
这样的人不可能，也不会是伪君子。
I do not know that it would be arrogating too much for them to say, that, on the extended surface of the globe,
我不晓得是否可以这样说，在地球的广阔大地上，
there was not a single community of men to be compared with them, in the respects of deep religious impressions and an exact performance of moral duty.
没有哪个人类社会在强烈的宗教情感和道德责任的严格履行方面能与他们相比。
