世界上最偉大的名人演講 The Strenuous Life 勤奮的生活

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Gentlemen,

1. In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men of the State which gave to the country Lincoln and Grant, men who preeminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to preach not the doctrine of ignoble ease but the doctrine of the strenuous life; the life of toil and effort; of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes not to the man who desires mere easy peace but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, of from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

2. The timid man, the lazy man, the man who distrusts his country, the overcivilized man, who has lost the great fighting, masterful virtues, the ignorant man and the man of dull mind, whose soul is incapable of feeling the mighty lift that thrills "stem men with empires in their brains"—all these, of course, shrink from seeing the nation undertake its new duties; shrink from seeing us build a navy and army adequate to our needs; shrink from seeing us do our share of the world's work by bringing order out of chaos in the great, fair tropic islands from which the valor of our soldiers and sailors has driven the Spanish flag. These are the men who fear the strenuous life, who fear the only national life which is really worth leading. They believe in that cloistered life which saps the hardy virtues in a nation, as it saps them in the individual; or else they are wedded to that base spirit of gain and greed which recognizes in commercialism the be-all and end-all of national life, instead of realizing that, though an indispensable element, it is after all but one of the many elements that go to make up true national greatness. No country can long endure if its foundations are not laid deep in the material prosperity which comes from hard unsparing effort in the fields of industrial activity; but neither was any nation ever yet truly great if it relied upon material prosperity alone. All honor must be paid to the architects of our material prosperity; to the great captains of industry who have built our factories and our railroads; to the strong men who toil for wealth with brain or hand; for great is the debt of the nation to these and their kind. But our debt is yet greater to the men whose highest type is to be found in a statesman like Lincoln, a soldier like Grant. They showed by their lives that they recognized the law of work, the law of strife; they toiled to win a competence for themselves and those dependent upon them; but they recognized that there were yet other and even loftier duties—duties to the nation and duties to the race.

3. I preach to you, then, my countrymen, that our country calls not for the life of ease, but for the life of strenuous endeavor. The twentieth century looms before us big with the fate of many nations. If we stand idly by, if we seek merely swollen, slothful ease, and ignoble peace, if we shrink from the hard contests where men must win at hazard of their lives and at the risk of all they hold dear, then the bolder and stronger peoples will pass us by and will win for themselves

the domination of the world. Let us therefore boldly face the life of strife, resolute to do our duty well and manfully; resolute to uphold righteousness by deed and by word; resolute to be both honest and brave, to serve highideals, yet to use practicalmethods. Above all, let us shrink from no strife, moral or physical,within or without the nation,provided we are certain that thestrife is justified; for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor,that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.

勤奮的生活

先生們：

1、在向你們——西部最大城市的公民，為國(guó)家培育了林肯和格蘭特的國(guó)家的公民，最能體現(xiàn)美國(guó)精神的公民—講話時(shí)，我想談的不是貪圖安逸的人生哲學(xué)，而是要向你們宣講勤奮生活論——即過(guò)勤奮苦干的生活，過(guò)忙碌奮斗的生活。我想說(shuō)，成功的最高境界不屬于滿(mǎn)足安逸的人們，而是屬于那些在艱難險(xiǎn)阻面前從不畏懼終獲輝煌的人們。

2、凡怯懦、懶惰、不相信祖國(guó)的人，謹(jǐn)小慎微喪失堅(jiān)強(qiáng)斗志的“文明過(guò)頭”的人、混沌無(wú)知的人、思想僵化的人、不能像剛毅有抱負(fù)的人那樣被鼓舞振奮的人——總之，當(dāng)看到國(guó)家有新的責(zé)任要承擔(dān)，當(dāng)看到祖國(guó)正在建立足以滿(mǎn)足需要的海陸軍，當(dāng)看到英勇的士兵和水手 在美麗的熱帶島嶼上驅(qū)逐西班牙勢(shì)力，承擔(dān)起應(yīng)盡的世界責(zé)任，恢復(fù)當(dāng)?shù)刂刃?mdash;—當(dāng)看到這一切時(shí)，所有這些人都退縮了。就是這樣一些人，他們害怕過(guò)勤奮的生活，害怕過(guò)真正值得過(guò)的國(guó)民的生活。他們相信與世隔絕的生活，任由這種生活在侵蝕他們個(gè)人吃苦耐勞品德的同時(shí)，也侵蝕了一個(gè)民族的吃苦耐勞精神。若不然，他們就沉迷于惟利是圖、貪得無(wú)厭的卑污泥潭而不能自拔，認(rèn)為國(guó)家應(yīng)一切以商業(yè)利益為根本。但他們卻不明白，商業(yè)利益固然是不可或缺的因素，然而畢竟只是造就真正偉大國(guó)家的許多因素之一。誠(chéng)然，如果一個(gè)國(guó)家不是深深扎根于其工業(yè)活動(dòng)領(lǐng)域的艱苦努力所帶來(lái)的繁榮的物質(zhì)基礎(chǔ)之中，那么這個(gè)國(guó)家也不可能長(zhǎng)久地生存下去。但是，如果僅僅依賴(lài)于物質(zhì)財(cái)富，任何國(guó)家也永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)成為真正偉大的國(guó)家。我們應(yīng)該向那些創(chuàng)造了物質(zhì)財(cái)富的人們致敬，向那些創(chuàng)建了工廠和鐵路的實(shí)業(yè)巨頭們致敬，向那些用勤勞和智慧換取財(cái)富的強(qiáng)者們致敬;國(guó)家很感激他們以及和他們一樣的人。但是，我們更感激另外一些人，他們的最佳楷模就是林肯那樣的政治家和格蘭特那樣的軍人。他們的生活軌跡表明，他們清楚工作和斗爭(zhēng)的法則，他們含辛茹苦，使自己和依賴(lài)他們生活的人們過(guò)上了富足的生活，而且他們懂得還有更崇高的責(zé)任—對(duì)國(guó)家和民族的責(zé)任。

3、所以同胞們，我要講的是，我們的國(guó)家要求我們不能好逸惡勞，而只能過(guò)刻苦勤奮的生活。迫在眉睫的20世紀(jì)將決定許多國(guó)家的命運(yùn)。假如我們只是一味地袖手旁觀、貪圖享樂(lè)、茍且偷安，假如我們面臨激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)考驗(yàn)時(shí)不是冒著犧牲個(gè)人生命和失去親人的危險(xiǎn)去贏得勝利，而是落荒而逃的話，那么，更勇敢堅(jiān)強(qiáng)的民族就會(huì)超越我們，得以統(tǒng)領(lǐng)世界。因此，讓我們勇敢地面對(duì)充滿(mǎn)斗爭(zhēng)考驗(yàn)的生活，下定決心卓越而果斷地履行我們的職責(zé);下定決心無(wú)論在語(yǔ)言還是行動(dòng)上都堅(jiān)持正義;下定決心誠(chéng)實(shí)勇敢地以切實(shí)可行的方法為崇高的理想服務(wù)。最重要的是，無(wú)論是精神還是物質(zhì)的斗爭(zhēng)，無(wú)論是國(guó)內(nèi)還是國(guó)外的斗爭(zhēng)，只要我們確定正義在手，我們就絕不能逃避退縮。因?yàn)橹挥型ㄟ^(guò)斗爭(zhēng)，通過(guò)艱苦和充滿(mǎn)危險(xiǎn)的努力，我們才能最終達(dá)到目標(biāo)—成為真正偉大的國(guó)家。