英语美文朗读：On Lying《论说谎》

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On Lying

论说谎

Now as to the matter of lying.

现在来谈一谈说谎。

You want to be very careful about lying,otherwise you are nearly sure to get caught,

你们可要特别谨慎地看待说谎；否则十有八九会被揭穿。

once caught, you can never again be,in the eyes of the pure and the good, what you were before.

一旦被揭穿，在善良和淳朴的人们眼中，你就再也不可能是以前的你了。

Many a young person has injured himself permanently through a single clumsy and ill-finished lie,the result of carelessness born of incomplete training.

许多年轻人，仅仅由于一次拙劣难圆的谎言-由于不完备的教育而导致轻率的后果-而使自己长期蒙受损失。

Some authorities hold that the young ought not to lie at all.

一些权威人士认为年轻人根本不该说谎。

That, of course, is putting it rather stronger than necessary.

当然，这种说法言之过甚，其实未必如此。

Still, while I can't go quite so far as that,I do maintain, and I believe I am right,

不过，虽然我不能把话讲的太过分，我却坚信-我认为确乎如此，

that the young ought to be temperate in the use of this great art until practice and experience shall give them that confidence, elegance, precision which alone make the accomplishment graceful and profitable.

在实践和阅历使人获得信心，文雅，严谨之前，年轻人运用这门伟大的艺术时应当把握好分寸，因为只有这三点才能使说谎的本领无伤大雅甚至带来益处。

Patience, diligence, painstaking attention to detail-these are the requirements.

耐心，勤奋，细致入微则是必备素质，

These, in time, will make the student perfect.

经年累月，这些素质便会使学生变得完善起来。

Upon these, and upon these only,may he rely as the sure foundation for future eminence.

凭借这些，也只有凭借这些，他才可能为将来的出类拔萃打下牢固的基础。

Think what tedious years of study, thought,practice, and experience,went to the equipment of the peerless old master who was able to impose upon the whole world with the lofty and sounding maxim that "truth is mighty and will prevail"-the most majestic compound feature of fact which any of woman born has yet achieved.

试想，要经过学习，思考，实践，经验等多么漫长的岁月，那举世无双的大师才具备如此的素养，他使得整个世界接受了“真理是强大的，并且终将战胜一切”这句崇高而响彻云霄的格言-这是关于事实的复杂性所道出的最豪迈的一句话，至今任何一个出自娘胎的人都未有此成就。

For the history of our race and every individual's experience,are sown thick with evidence that a truth is not hard to kill and that a lie told well is immortal.

原因是我们人类的历史以及每个人的经历都深深地印证了这样的事实:一个真理不难抹杀，一个说的巧妙的谎言则经久不衰。

There is in Boston a monument of the man who discovered the anesthesia.Many people are aware, in these later days,

在波士顿，人们为纪念发现麻醉法的人而立了一座纪念碑：

that he didn't discover it at all,but stole the discovery from another man.

很多人到近期才知道,那个人根本没有发现麻醉法，而是窃取了另一个人的发现。

Isthetruthmighty,andwillitprevail?

这个真理强大吗？它终会取胜吗？

No, my hearers, the monument is made of hard materials,but the lie it tells will outlast a million years.

唉，非也，听众们，虽然纪念碑是用坚硬的材料建造的，而它所散布的谎言却将比它持久百万年。

An awkward, feeble, leaky lie is a thing which you ought to make it your unceasing study to avoid;

你们应该不断研究如果避免制造那些拙劣，无力而又破绽百出的谎言；

such a lie as that has no more real permanence than an average truth.

诸如此类的谎言比起一个普通事实来，决不具有更加真实的永久性。

Why, you might as well tell the truth at once and be done with it.

嗨，你们倒不如既讲真话又同真理打交道。