ThePowerofHabit论习惯(中文版).docVIP

The Power of Habit 论习惯 ——By William James Habit a second nature! Habit is ten times nature, the Duke of Wellington is said to have exclaimed; and the degree to which this is true no one can probably appreciate as well as one who is a veteran soldier himself. The daily drill and the years of discipline end by fashioning a man completely over again, as to most of the possibilities of his conduct. “习惯是第二天性！习惯是十倍的天性！”威灵顿公爵曾这样大声疾呼；对于这句话的真实理解程度，可能没有人能够像一个退伍老兵理解那么深刻。每天的训练和常年累月的纪律，到头来把一个人大部分行为的可能性完全再塑造了一遍。 There is a story, which is credible enough, though it may not be true, of a practical joker, who, seeing a discharged veteran carrying home his dinner, suddenly called out, Attention! whereupon the man instantly brought his hands down, and lost his mutton and potatoes in the gutter. The drill had been thorough, and its effects had become embodied in the mans nervous structure.[16] “一个恶作剧者，讲过这样一个故事，尽管此故事可能不真实，但是颇具可信度。看到一个退伍老兵端着饭回家，他突然大喊了一声“立正”因此，那个老兵立即放下双手，搞得他的羊肉和土豆都掉在水沟里了。训练如此彻底，以至于使其效果具体化地体现在了老兵的神经结构之中。” Riderless cavalry-horses, at many a battle, have been seen to come together and go through their customary evolutions at the sound of the bugle-call. Most trained domestic animals, dogs and oxen, and omnibus- and car- [p.121] horses, seem to be machines almost pure and simple, undoubtingly, unhesitatingly doing from minute to minute the duties they have been taught, and giving no sign that the possibility of an alternative ever suggests itself to their mind. Men grown old in prison have asked to be readmitted after being once set free. In a railroad accident to a travelling menagerie in the United States some time in 1884, a tiger, whose cage had broken open, is said to have emerged, but presently crept back again, as if too much bewildered by his new responsibilities, so that he was without difficulty secured. 人们常在很多战斗中看到，无人骑的骑兵马，一听到军号声就会走到一起来，做出它们习惯性演练的动作。大多数受训过的家畜，狗和牛，公共马车和小马车的马，它们看起来似乎都是几近纯粹和简单的机器，每时每刻都在毫无怀疑，毫无犹豫地履行着教授给它们的责任，没有任何迹象表明在它们的心中还曾出现过其它事情的可能性。一些在监狱中变老的