英语阅读家族的信条.docVIP

美联英语提供：英语阅读：Our Family Creed 家族的信条 两分钟做个小测试，看看你的英语水平 /test/kuaisu.aspx?tid=16-73675-0 They are the principles on which my wife and I have tried to bring up our family. They are the principles in which my father believed and by which he governed his life. They are the principles, many of them, which I learned at my mothers knee. 这些是我妻子和我在教育培养我们子女时尽力倚靠的信条，这些是我父亲所笃信并以之规范其生活的信条，这些信条 中的大部分是我从母亲的膝下秉承而来的。 They point the way to usefulness and happiness in life, to courage and peace in death. 这些信条指明了人们如何幸福而有所作为地生活，也指明 了人们如何勇敢而安详地对待死亡。 If they mean to you what they mean to me, they may perhaps be helpful also to our sons for their guidance and inspiration. 如果这些信条对于诸位的意义如同它们对于我的意义，那 么它们或许可以有效地指导和鼓舞我们的子女们。 Let me state them: 让我将这些信条陈述如下： I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 我相信，个人拥有至上的价值，拥有生存、自由和追求幸福 的权利。 I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity, an obligation; every possession, a duty. 我相信，每一项权利都必然蕴含着一种责任，每一个机遇都 必然蕴含着一种义务，每一种获得都必然蕴含着一种职责。 I believe that the law was made for man and not man for the law; that government is the servant of the people and not their master. 我相信，法律为人所制定，而非人为法律而生，政府是人民 的仆人，而非人民的主人。 I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living. 我相信，不管体力劳动抑或脑力劳动都是高尚的，世界不会 让人不劳而获，但却会给每个人一次谋生的机会。 I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and that economyis a prime requisite of a sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs. 我相信，不管是在政府、商业还是个人事务中，勤俭节约都 是合理安排生活之基本要素，而经济适用是健全的金融机制之 主要需求。 I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order. 我相信,真理与正义是任何一个长治久安的社会秩序之基石。 I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a mans word should be as good as his bond, that character - not wealth or power or position - is of supreme worth. 我相信，承诺是神圣的；并且，假如人的言语和契约同样可 靠,那么这种品质——而非财富、权势与身份地位——就具有至 高无上的价值。