23. The Strenuous Life（勤奋的生活）

Gentlemen,

先生们：

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.

1、在向你们——西部最大城市的公民，为国家培育了林肯和格兰特的国家的公民，最能体现美国精神的公民—讲话时，我想谈的不是贪图安逸的人生哲学，而是要向你们宣讲勤奋生活论——即过勤奋苦干的生活，过忙碌奋斗的生活。我想说，成功的最高境界不属于满足安逸的人们，而是属于那些在艰难险阻面前从不畏惧终获辉煌的人们。

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.

2、凡怯懦、懒惰、不相信祖国的人，谨小慎微丧失坚强斗志的“文明过头”的人、混沌无知的人、思想僵化的人、不能像刚毅有抱负的人那样被鼓舞振奋的人——总之，当看到国家有新的责任要承担，当看到祖国正在建立足以满足需要的海陆军，当看到英勇的士兵和水手在美丽的热带岛屿上驱逐西班牙势力，承担起应尽的世界责任，恢复当地秩序——当看到这一切时，所有这些人都退缩了。就是这样一些人，他们害怕过勤奋的生活，害怕过真正值得过的国民的生活。他们相信与世隔绝的生活，任由这种生活在侵蚀他们个人吃苦耐劳品德的同时，也侵蚀了一个民族的吃苦耐劳精神。若不然，他们就沉迷于惟利是图、贪得无厌的卑污泥潭而不能自拔，认为国家应一切以商业利益为根本。但他们却不明白，商业利益固然是不可或缺的因素，然而毕竟只是造就真正伟大国家的许多因素之一。诚然，如果一个国家不是深深扎根于其工业活动领域的艰苦努力所带来的繁荣的物质基础之中，那么这个国家也不可能长久地生存下去。但是，如果仅仅依赖于物质财富，任何国家也永远不会成为真正伟大的国家。我们应该向那些创造了物质财富的人们致敬，向那些创建了工厂和铁路的实业巨头们致敬，向那些用勤劳和智慧换取财富的强者们致敬；国家很感激他们以及和他们一样的人。但是，我们更感激另外一些人，他们的最佳楷模就是林肯那样的政治家和格兰特那样的军人。他们的生活轨迹表明，他们清楚工作和斗争的法则，他们含辛茹苦，使自己和依赖他们生活的人们过上了富足的生活，而且他们懂得还有更崇高的责任—对国家和民族的责任。

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 high ideals, yet to use practical methods. Above all, let us shrink
from no strife, moral or physical, within or without the nation, provided we are certain that the strife is justified;
for it is only through strife, through hard and dangerous endeavor, that we shall ultimately win the goal of true national greatness.

3、所以同胞们，我要讲的是，我们的国家要求我们不能好逸恶劳，而只能过刻苦勤奋的生活。迫在眉睫的20世纪将决定许多国家的命运。假如我们只是一味地袖手旁观、贪图享乐、苟且偷安，假如我们面临激烈的竞争考验时不是冒着牺牲个人生命和失去亲人的危险去赢得胜利，而是落荒而逃的话，那么，更勇敢坚强的民族就会超越我们，得以统领世界。因此，让我们勇敢地面对充满斗争考验的生活，下定决心卓越而果断地履行我们的职责；下定决心无论在语言还是行动上都坚持正义；下定决心诚实勇敢地以切实可行的方法为崇高的理想服务。最重要的是，无论是精神还是物质的斗争，无论是国内还是国外的斗争，只要我们确定正义在手，我们就绝不能逃避退缩。因为只有通过斗争，通过艰苦和充满危险的努力，我们才能最终达到目标—成为真正伟大的国家。