Ambition 抱负
作者：Joseph Epstein
讲析：沈静
1. It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition.
一个缺乏抱负的世界将会怎样，这不难想象。
be short of缺少
2. It would probably be a kinder world: without demands, without abrasions, without disappointments.
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。
三个介词without反复使用，起强调语气之作用。如《新概念英语》中，there was pastry on my fingers,on the telephone,on the doorknobs.强调到处都是的抱怨语气
3. People would have time for reflection.
人们将有时间进行反思。
4. Such work as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity.
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。
5. 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.
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。
四个“不（复）存在”的表达方法，富于变化，很值得借鉴。
never enter in不会介入
be eliminated被消除
become a thing of the past城为过眼云烟
be at an end得以终结
6. Art would no longer be troubling, but purely celebratory in its functions.
艺术将不再惹人费神，其功能将纯粹为了庆典。
7. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke caused by tumultuous endeavor.
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。
die of死于
heart attack心脏病
stroke caused by tumultuous endeavor由激烈拼争引起的中风
8. Anxiety would be extinct.
焦虑将会消失。
9. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart.
时光流逝，抱负却早已远离人心
10. Ah, how unrelieved boring life would be!
啊，长此以往人生将变得多么乏味无聊！
11. There is a strong view that holds that success is a myth, and ambition therefore a sham.
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。
...strong view that holds ...that指strong view,holds持有某种看法
12. Does this mean that success does not really exist?
这是不是说实际上并不丰在成功？
13. That achievement is at bottom empty? 成就本身就是一场空？
at bottom实际上
14. That the efforts of men and women are of no significance alongside the force of movements and events ？
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？
be of no significance=be not significant无意义的
15. Now not all success, obviously, is worth esteeming, nor all ambition worth cultivating.
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。
not all success is worth esteeming不是所有成功都值得景仰
nor all ambition(is)worth cultivating不是所有抱负都值得追求
16. Which are and which are not is something one soon enough learns on one’s own.
对值得和不值得的选择，一个人自然而然很快就能学会。
on one's own独自，全靠自己
17. 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
the most cynical最愤世嫉俗的人
count for价值
the true myth is that....什么是无稽之谈
18. To believe otherwise is to take on a point of view that is likely to be deranging.
认为成功不存在的观点很可能造成混乱。
take on a point of view接受某种观点
19. It is, in its implications, to remove all motives for competence, interest in attainment, and regard for posterity.
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。
in its implications内在的含义
20. 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.
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。
21. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death.
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。
22. 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 .
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。
23. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life.
我们决定生活中哪些至关重要，哪些微不足道。
trivial微不足道的
24. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do.
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。
25. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make.
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。
26. We decide. We choose.
我们决定，我们选择。
27. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed.
而当我们决定和选择时，我们的生活便得以形成。
28. In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is about.
最终构筑我们命运的就是抱负之所在。
