美国语文第五册 第265期:人类与动物(3)

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　　while the knowledge, and skill, and the success of man are perpetually on the increase. 而人类知识、技能以及成功终将不断地推进自己完善。

　　Animals, in all their operations, follow the first impulse of nature or that instinct which God has implanted in them. 大凡动物的行为举止，不过遵循生物的最初欲望或上帝嵌入生物的不同本能需求。

　　In all they do undertake, therefore, their works are more perfect and regular than those of man. 因此，不管它们从事任何事情，其结果总会比人类所做的更为有序完美。

　　But man, having been endowed with the faculty¹ of thinking or reasoning about what he does, 然而，由于其行为举止被赋予思考与推理的能力,

　　is enabled by patience and industry to correct the mistakes into which he at first falls, and to go on constantly improving. 人类通过耐心勤奋可以纠正最初错误，并且不断地加以调整。

　　A bird's nest is, indeed, a perfect structure; 的确，一只鸟窝构造完美，

　　yet the nest of a swallow of the nineteenth century is not at all more commodious² or elegant than those that were built amid the rafters of Noah's ark. 但十九世纪燕子的巢穴完全不会比用椽木建造的诺亚方舟更为舒适漂亮。

　　But if we compare the wigwam of the savage⁴ with the temples and palaces of ancient Greece and Rome, 不过，当我们将原始人窝棚与古希腊或古罗马的庙宇宫殿进行比较，

　　we then shall see to what man's mistakes, rectified⁵ and improved upon, conduct him. 我们不难看出，一个持续绵延的纠偏改进过程，引导人类走向完美。

　　When the vast sun shall veil his golden light 当庞大太阳收敛金色阳光，

　　Deep in the gloom of everlasting⁶ night; 世界进入永恒无边的黑夜，

　　When wild, destructive flames shall wrap the skies, 毁灭火焰呼啸着卷过天空，

　　When ruin triumphs, and when nature dies; 到处在坍塌，自然走向濒亡，

　　Man shall alone the wreck⁷ of worlds survive; 目睹无数星体纷纷坠落消逝，

　　'Mid³ falling spheres, immortal⁸ man shall live. 人类在宇宙残骸中孤独伫立。

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