名篇背诵：Advice to Youth 忠告年轻人

Advice to Youth 忠告年轻人

马克·吐温(Mark Twain)

Being told I would be expected to talk here, I inquired what sort of a talk I ought to make. They said it should be something suitable to youth — something instructive, or something in the nature of good advice. Very well. I have a few things in my mind which I have often longed to say for the instruction of the young; for it is in one's tender early years that such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable. First, then, I will say to you, my young friends — and I say it beseechingly , urgingly — always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don't they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.

Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didn't mean to. Yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined.

Go to bed early, get up early — this is wise. Some authorities say get up with the sun; some others say get up with one thing, some with another. But a lark is really the best thing to get up with. It gives you a splendid reputation with everybody to know that you get up with the lark; and if you get the right kind of a lark, and work at him right, you can easily train him to get up at half past nine, every time — it is no trick at all.

- beseechingly [bɪˈsiːtʃɪŋlɪ] ad. 恳求地

- superstition [ˌsjuːpəˈstɪʃn] n. 迷信

- dynamite [ˈdaɪnəmaɪt] n. 炸药，充满火药味的东西

承蒙邀请，要我在这里讲几句话，我就询问我应谈些什么。他们说所讲的内容应当适合年轻人——有教育意义，或有忠告性。很好，我心里有一些事情，常常希望能说给年轻人听。作为教诲，因为正是在一个人的童年时期，所要讲的这样的事情最容易生根，最为持久，也最有价值。那么首先，我年轻的朋友们——我诚恳地劝告你们——在父母面前，要永远服从他们。从长远看，这才是上策，因为如果你不服从，他们会迫使你服从。大多数父母都认为他们知道的比你多，你不妨迎合这种迷信想法，而不是按照自己更好的判断行事，通常情况下，你这样受益更大。

要尊重上司（如果有的话），尊重陌生人，有时也要尊重他人。有人冒犯你，你不能肯定他是故意还是无意，不要采取极端措施，静观时机而后用砖石回敬他。那就足够了。如果你有一天发现他不是故意冒犯，就坦诚相告，坦白你打他打错了。像个男子汉一样承认错误，说你不是故意的。是的，在这样一个仁慈友爱的时代，要始终避免暴力行为，暴力行为已经行不通了。

早起早睡——这是明智的做法。有些权威说同太阳一起起床，有些说同某样东西一同起床，有些说同另外某样东西一同起床。但是同云雀一同起床是再好没有的了。同云雀一同起床，可以给你好的名声，人人皆知。如果你弄一只好云雀，以正确的方法训练它，很容易让它九点半起床，次次如此——这并非绝技。