Roll Away the Stone
?珀尔·巴克 / Pearl Buck
I enjoy life because I am endlessly interested in people and their growth. My interest leads me continually to widen my knowledge of people, and this in turn compels me to believe that the normal human heart is born good. That is, it is born sensitive and feeling, eager to be approved and to approve, hungry for simple happiness and the chance to live. It neither wishes to be killed nor to kill. If through circumstances it is overcome by evil, it never becomes entirely evil. There remain in it elements of good, however recessive, which continue to hold the possibility of restoration.
I believe in human beings but my faith is without sentimentality. I know that in environments of uncertainty, fear and hunger, the human being is dwarfed and shaped without his being aware of it, just as the plant struggling under a stone does not know its own condition. Only when the stone is removed can it spring up freely into the light. But the power to spring up is inherent, and only death puts an end to it.
I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in human beings. Like Confucius of old, I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and the angels. I have enough for this life. If there is no other life, then this one has been enough to make it worth being born, myself a human being.
With so profound a faith in the human heart and its power to grow toward the light, I find here reason and cause enough for hope and confidence in the future of mankind. The common sense of people will surely prove to them someday that mutual support and co-operation are only sensible for the security and happiness of all.
Such faith keeps me continually ready and purposeful with energy to do what one person can toward shaping the environment in which the human being can grow with freedom. This environment, I believe, is based upon the necessity for security and friendship.
I take heart in the promising fact that the world contains food supplies sufficient for the entire earth population. Our knowledge of medical science is already sufficient to improve the health of the whole human race. Our resources in education, if administered on a world scale, can lift the intelligence of the race. All that remains is to discover how to administer, upon a world scale, the benefits which some of us already have. In other words, to return to my simile, the stone must be rolled away.
This, too, can be done, as a sufficient number of human beings come to have faith in themselves and in each other. Not all will have such faith at the same moment, but there is a growing number who have the faith. Half a century ago no one had thought of world food, world health, world education. Many are thinking today of these things. In the midst of possible world war, of wholesale destruction, I find my only question is this: Are there enough people who now believe? Is there time enough left for the wise to act? It is a contest between ignorance and death, or wisdom and life. My faith in humanity stands firm.
我享受着生活的乐趣，因为我对人类及其发展有着无穷的兴趣。这一兴趣引导着我不断拓宽对人们的了解，并进一步促使我坚信“人之初，性本善”。这就是说，人生来便善解人意，富有同情心，渴望被肯定及肯定他人，期望得到简单的幸福与生存的机会；而并不愿意遭受他人迫害或去迫害他人。即使人类因环境的影响而产生了邪念，也绝不会完全为邪恶所掌控。无论怎样蜕化变质，人性美好的一面终会有所保留，也依然会有弃恶从善的可能。
我想，再没有什么信仰比我对人类的信仰更重要了。我知道，当处于恐惧、饥饿、不确定的外部环境中，人类并未意识到他们的发展受到了阻碍，就像被压在石头下却毫不知情、仍在苦苦挣扎的植物一样。只有推开石头，它才能在明媚的阳光下自由生长。这蓬勃生长的力量是与生俱来的，唯有死亡才能将其剥夺。
拥有了对人类的信仰，我觉得其他信仰都不再重要。同古时的孔子一样，我深深沉迷于对大地与人生的无限惊奇中，而不再去想什么天堂和天使。今生，我活得充实。倘若没有来世，那么为今世而生也完全值得。
我深信人心向善且拥有向往光明的力量。这使我对人类的未来充满了希望与信心。未来的某天，人类共同的感知将会向他们证实，对全人类的安全与幸福而言，相互扶持与合作是明智的。
这样的信仰让我心甘情愿地不断尽自己所能、有目的地为营造人类自由发展的环境而努力。我相信，营造这样的环境是基于人类友谊与安全的需要。
我坚信未来：世界拥有足够供养全人类的食物；我们的医学知识足以改善全人类的健康状况；我们的教育资源，如果全球化管理，就能提高全人类的智力。我们只需去发现如何全球化管理我们已经拥有的资源。换句话说，借用我之前的比喻，那就是必须推开石头。
这也是可行的，因为数以万计的人类已渐渐对自己与他人拥有了信心。尽管并不是所有人都同时拥有了这样的信念，但拥有这种信念的人越来越多。半个世纪前，还不曾有人对世界的食物、健康及教育等问题予以关注。而今天，很多人都在关注这些事情。在可能发生的世界大战或大规模的毁灭行动中，我只有一个疑问，那便是：如今是否有足够的人拥有信仰？是否有足够的时间让智者行动？这是无知与死亡、智者与生命之间的论争。而我对人类的信仰坚定如一。
1. I believe in_______beings but my faith is without sentimentality. I_______that in environments of uncertainty, fear and_______, the human being is dwarfed and shaped_______his being aware of it, just as the_______struggling under a stone does not know its_______condition.
2. This, too, can be_______, as a sufficient number of human beings_______ to have faith in themselves and in each_______. Not all will have such faith at the same_______, but there is a growing number who have the_______. Half a century ago no one had_______of world food, world health, world education.
1. 人之初，性本善。
2. 同古时的孔子一样，我深深沉迷于对大地与人生的无限惊奇中，而不再去想什么天堂和天使。
3. 我深信人心向善且拥有向往光明的力量。这使我对人类的未来充满了希望与信心。
1. This in turn compels me to believe that the normal human heart is born good.
in turn：相应的；转而
2. I am so absorbed in the wonder of earth and the life upon it that I cannot think of heaven and the angels.
be absorbed in：专心致志于；全神贯注于