时文选读 论慷慨 中英双语.docVIP

How to Be Generous----论慷慨 The word gift has got dangerously devalued of late. Salesmen use so-called free gifts as bait and publicists use them as bribes; the wealthy can make gifts to their children, or to charities, with no more noble motive than saving tax. And anything labelled a gift shop, or catalogue, can generally be guaranteed to be full of curious, zany items like personalised solid silver back-scratchers and musical ashtrays, which are only classified as giftware because nobody in their senses would buy them to use themselves. “礼物”一词近来已被危险地贬值了。推销员用所谓的免费赠品作为诱饵，公关人员用它们来行贿；富人们可以制造“礼物”送给他们的子女或捐给慈善团体，这与避免上税一样都没有什么高尚的动机。标有礼品店或礼品目录的任何东西通常可以保证入目全是奇异的、滑稽的物品，如个人用纯银痒痒挠和音乐烟灰缸----因为精神正常的人都不会买来自用，所以它们只好被划归为“礼品”。 We need to claim the word back this Christmas. We also need to claim back the word generous: which too often gets used in the sense of over-large portions of food, hotel towels, the size of sheets, or women spilling out of their dresses. For generosity--the ability to make real gifts with modesty and love, expecting nothing back--is one of the things which most make us human. You do not find pigs or lions giving one another thoughtful little presents, do you? Monkeys, apparently, offer one another fleas at times, but not in any provable spirit of kindliness. We should honour generosity more than we do. 今年圣诞节我们需要还这个词本来的面目。我们也需要还“慷慨”这个同本来的面目，因为这个词在食品、宾馆毛巾、床单大小或胖得快要撑破衣裳的女人的绝大部分意思上用得太泛太滥了。慷慨----即出于谦恭和爱心赠送真正意义的礼物而不期望任何回报的能力----是最使我们人之所以为人的一个方面。你没有发现猪或狮子彼此赠送亲切的小礼品吧？猴子似乎有时互相帮助捉跳蚤，但是这并不在任何可以证明的善意的范畴内。与现在所做的相比，我们应该对慷慨表示更多的敬意。 Perhaps it has become suspect because of the tales of over-the-top generosity sometimes told in gossip about the very rich. The late Christina Onassis giving her daughter a personal zoo and a flock of sheep with their own shepherd, for instance; assorted tycoons flying their guests halfway round the world for birthday parties where there is an emerald bracelet or cufflinks on every place-setting; wealthy men paying off old girlfriends wit