The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.
著名数学家爱德蒙斯通如果闲暇时无所事事，就不会出版数学词
典，也不会发现开启数学之门的钥匙。如果苏格兰青年弗格森在山
坡上放羊时，让他那思维活跃的大脑处于休息状态，而不是借助一
串珠子计算星星的位置，他就不会成为著名的天文学家。
Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed
labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.
劳动征服一切。这里所指的劳动不是断断续续的，间歇性的或
方向偏差的劳动，而是坚定的，不懈的，方向正确的每日劳动。正如
要想拥有自由就要时刻保持警惕一样，要想取得伟大的，持久的成
功，就必须坚持不懈地努力。
Ambition 抱负
It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition. It would
probably be a kinder world: with out demands, without abrasions,
without disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Such
work as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity.
一个缺乏抱负的世界将会怎样，这不难想象。或许，这将是一个更为
友善的世界：没有渴求，没有磨擦，没有失望。人们将有时间进行反
思。他们所从事的工作将不是为了他们自身，而是为了整个集体。
Competition would never enter in. conflict would be eliminated,
tension become a thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at
an end. Art would no longer be troubling, but purely celebratory in its
functions.
竞争永远不会介入；冲突将被消除。人们的紧张关系将成为过
往云烟。创造的重压将得以终结。艺术将不再惹人费神，其功能将纯
粹为了庆典。
Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die of heart
attack or stroke caused by tumultuous endeavor. Anxiety would be
extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed
from the human heart.
人的寿命将会更长，因为由激烈拼争引起的心脏病和中风所导致
的死亡将越来越少。焦虑将会消失。时光流逝，抱负却早已远离人心。
Ah, how unrelieved boring life would be!
There is a strong view that holds that success is a myth, and ambition
therefore a sham. Does this mean that success does not really exist?
That achievement is at bottom empty?
啊，长此以往人生将变得多么乏味无聊！
有一种盛行的观点认为，成功是一种神话，因此抱负亦属虚幻。
这是不是说实际上并不丰在成功？成就本身就是一场空？
That the efforts of men and women are of no significance alongside
the force of movements and events 。now not all success, obviously, is
worth esteeming, nor all ambition worth cultivating. Which are and
which are not is something one soon enough learns on one's own.
与诸多运动和事件的力量相比，男男女女的努力显得微不足道？显
然，并非所有的成功都值得景仰，也并非所有的抱负都值得追求。
对值得和不值得的选择，一个人自然而然很快就能学会。
But even the most cynical secretly admit that success exists; that
achievement counts for a great deal; and that the true myth is that
the actions of men and women are useless.
但即使是最为愤世嫉俗的人暗地里也承认，成功确实存在，成就的
意义举足轻重，而把世上男男女女的所作所为说成是徒劳无功才是
真正的无稽之谈。
To believe otherwise is to take on a point of view that is likely to be
deranging. It is, in its implications, to remove all motives for
competence, interest in attainment, and regard for posterity.
认为成功不存在的观点很可能造成混乱。这种观点的本意是一笔勾
销所有提高能力的动机，求取业绩的兴趣和对子孙后代的关注。
We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do
not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the
immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us,
choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death.
But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall
live: courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with
purpose or in drift.
我们无法选择出生，无法选择父母，无法选择出生的历史时期与
国家，或是成长的周遭环境。我们大多数人都无法选择死亡，无法选
择死亡的时间或条件。但是在这些无法选择之中，我们的确可以选
择自己的生活方式：是勇敢无畏还是胆小怯懦，是光明磊落还是厚
颜无耻，是目标坚定还是随波逐流。
We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide
that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse
to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our
choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make.
我们决定生活中哪些至关重要，哪些微不足道。我们决定，用以显
示我们自身重要性的，不是我们做了什么，就是我们拒绝做些什么。
但是不论世界对我们所做的选择和决定有多么漠不关心，这些选择
和决定终究是我们自己做出的。
We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives
formed. In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is
about.
我们决定，我们选择。而当我们决定和选择时，我们的生活便得以
形成。最终构筑我们命运的就是抱负之所在。
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