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On Being Worldly-wise 说世故 Give me a favor to take a look at the lines below, which belong to Shakespeare. 赏光看看下面几行台词，是莎士比亚的。 Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade.Beware Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in, Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee. Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy: For the apparel oft proclaims the man; And they in France of the best rank and station Are most select and generous chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be: For loan oft loses both itself and friend; And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all, --to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. A little difficult to relate to, right? So let me present the Chinese version to you: 理解起来有点难，是吧？让我给你呈现一下汉语版吧！ 不要想到什么就说什么，凡事必须三思而行。对人要和气，可是不要过分狎昵。相知有素的朋友，应该用钢圈箍在你的灵魂上，可是不要对每一个泛泛的新知滥施你的交情。留心避免和人家争吵；可是万一争端已起，就应该让对方知道你不是可以轻侮的。倾听每一个人的意见，可是只对极少数人发表你的意见；接受每一个人的批评，可是保留你自己的判断。尽你的财力购制贵重的衣服，可是不要炫新立异，必须富丽而不浮艳，因为服装往往可以表现人格；法国的名流要人，就是在这点上显得最高尚，与众不同。不要向人告贷，也不要借钱给人；因为债款放了出去，往往不但丢了本钱，而且还失去了朋友；向人告贷的结果，容易养成因循懒惰的习惯。尤其要紧的，你必须对你自己忠实；正像有了白昼才有黑夜一样，对自己忠实，才不会对别人欺诈。 When you finish reading the lines, which word immediately came into your mind? Worldly- wise. Right? 读过这些台词之后，你首先想到什么词？世故，是吧？ Being worldly-wise has ever been a dream for many because it surely benefits you. It is quite an art of living if you have a good sense of propriety in what you do or say. The basic principle is not to offend others. Polonius, a figure in Hamlet, is surely proficient in this art. Before his son going abroad, he taught him this lesson. Such an old hand at the art of being worldly-wise there have never existed in other literature works, ancient and modern, home and abroad. 对许多人来说，世故是梦寐以求的事，因为它可以让你受惠多多。能把握好言行之分寸，是了不起的生活艺术。其基本原则就是：不要冒犯他人。哈姆雷特中的一个人物，普隆列斯，精于此道。在其子出国之前，给他上了一课。如此世故之老手，在其他古今中外的文学作品中难见其踪。 There are some people around you who are of being worldly-wise in this respect or that respect like Polonius but a man possessing all these characteristics I have never experienced. 周围有些人，不在这方面即在那方面跟普隆列斯有些像，但一个具备了所有这些世故之态的人，我尚未见识过。 For some unreasonable reason, I feel terrified with the person who is too worldly-wise. Such a person is like a deep lake where you don’t know if there is a black hole trapping you or if there is slippy slope making you fall. it's hard for you to judge whether he is telling the truth or just telling a lie, whether he is making friends with you heartily or just pretending politeness and compliance. His EQ is too higher than yours and what you say and what you do is totally under control by him and so at any time you may act as a piece in a board game whose plot is decided by this worldly-wise man. A piece in a board game everyone is, actually, you may feel terrified before such a man. 因为一些没有理由的理由，我对过于世故之人有些害怕。这种人就像一个湖，你不知道什么地方有“黑洞”会陷你于困境，也不知道什么地方会有滑溜的斜坡让你摔上一跤。你难以判断他是在告知真相还是在扯谎，实在真心交友还是在虚与委蛇。他“情商”太高，你的言行全部在他的掌控之下，任何时候你都不过充当他的棋子，而全局取决于这个世故之人。当然每个人都不过是一枚棋子，但面对此人，你还是心怀恐惧。 Anyway, everyone is more or less worldly-wise for a better existence, but too worldly-wise a man is a danger for one less worldly-wise. I mean, when a society is one of the law of the jungle, a person more worldly-wise is the fittest while a person less worldly-wise is the weakest. So many people believe that being worldly-wise is a must for existence in such a society. A society of the law of the jungle is certainly not a civilized one,for such a society cultivate animal nature(barbarity) more than human nature. That is to say, a society full of worldly-wise men is less civilized than one lack of worldly-wise men. Being worldly-wise is only a choice a man has to exist in a society consisting of the law of the jungle. 不管怎么说，大家为了更好的生存，都或多或少有些世故，但过于世故之人对于不太世故之人来说，毕竟危险。我的意思是说，在一个奉行存林法则的社会中，一个更加世故之人是适者而不太世故之人则是弱者。许许多多的人都认为生于此等社会，世故乃生存必备。奉行存林法则的社会当然算不上文明社会，因为这样的社会培育兽性而非人性。也即是说，一个满是世故之人的社会没有一个缺少世故之人的社会文明。世故乃奉行存林法则之社会不得已而为之的选择。 Restore your belief in human nature,anyway. In this world, there are many people who are not worldly-wise but kindlinessly-wise(it’s not a dictionary word).those who are kindlinessly-wise are kind and straightforward, dealing with relationships with benevolence and tolerance. And the most prominent character of those kindlinessly-wise people is sincerity. Every word from their mouth and every act from their body is out of their inner hearts. They may have been hurt by this world,but they still contribute their sincerity to this world and so human nature beats barbarity. That's why this society of the law of the jungle is not so bad and fill with warmth of human nature. 还是恢复你对人性的信仰吧。在这个世界，有许多人并不世故，是很善故（这是一个词典中查不到的字）这些善故之人，善良，坦率，以仁爱之心和宽容之量处理关系。而善故之人最突出的特征是真诚。一言一行，皆发自内心。他们也许曾被这个社会伤害，却依旧向这个社会奉献真诚，因为人性打败了兽性。这就是为什么这个丛林法则的社会还不是太坏而充满了人性之温暖的缘故。 One or two words to explanation why some people are so worldly-wise while some, kindlinessly-wise, it is impossible,as it is an extremely complicated problem. It is complicated because human nature, on which the problem is base, is too complicated. 为什么一些人如此世故，另一些人如此善故，一两句话是解释不清楚的，不可能解释清楚，因为这是一个极其复杂的问题。它之所以复杂是因为人性复杂，而这个问题是基于人性的。 It’s beyond imagination that there exists such man of pure good or pure evil. A person is a body blending good and evil to make human nature complex, which makes this society complex as well. Let’s seek a better existence in this society of the law of jungle by showing more kindliness than worldly-wiseness. 难以想象有纯善或纯恶的人。一个人，是个善恶共同体，因而使人性变得复杂。人性复杂又使得社会复杂。让我们通过展现出更多的善而非世故来在这个存林法则的社会里寻求更好的存在吧！
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