howtogrowold英美文学欣赏赏析
How to Grow Old
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5 词汇解析
justifiably adv. 无可非议地 v. justify 证明…有理; 为…辩护; 对…作出解释 This does not justify his long absence. 这不能说明他长期缺席是对的。 cheat of 从……那里骗取 to cheat in an exam 在考试中作弊 She cheated her aged aunt of her fortune. 她从年迈的姑妈那里骗得了财产。 joys and sorrows share joys and sorrows with sb. 与某人同甘共苦 =happiness and sadness =ups and downs
5 词汇解析
oppress v. 忧郁,压抑 be oppressed by 因……而烦恼;受……压抑 The gloomy atmosphere in the office oppressed her. 办公室的低沉气氛使她感到郁闷。 He was oppressed by a sense of failure. 他受到失败感压迫。 the+adj 表示一类人 the young 年轻人 the disabled 残疾人 It is often very difficult for the disabled to find jobs. 残疾人士找工作往往很困难。 justification n. 正当理由 We have sound justification for what we do. 人们对自己所做的事都会有辩解的理由。
句子主干:I should wish to die. 第一个while:引导时间状语从句 while (I am) still at work knowing that :引导原因状语从句 that others will carry on what I can no longer do,是know 的宾语 第一个what:引导宾语从句,是carry on的宾语 content in:引导原因状语从句 content in the thought that what was possible has been done 第三个that:引导同位语从句 that what was possible has been done,解释说明 thought的内 容 第一个what:引导主语从句 what was possible,是同位语从句was possible has done 的主语
英译汉赏析3How to Grow Old
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How to Grow OldIn spite of the title, this article will really be on how not to grow old, which, at my time of life, is a much more important subject. My first advice would be to choose your ancestors carefully. Although both my parents died young, I have done well in this respect as regards my other ancestors. My maternal grandfather, it is true, was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven, but my other three grandparents all lived to be over eighty. Of remoter ancestors I can only discover one who did not live to a great age, and he died of a disease which is now rare, namely, having his head cut off. A great-grandmother of mine, who was a friend of Gibbon, lived to the age of ninety-two, and to her last day remained a terror to all her descendants. My maternal grandmother, after having nine children who survived, one who died in infancy, and many miscarriages, as soon as she became a widow devoted herself to women's higher education. She was one of the founders of Girton College, and worked hard at opening the medical profession to women. She used to relate how she met in Italy an elderly gentleman who was looking very sad. She inquired the cause of his melancholy and he said that he had just parted from his two grandchildren. "Good gracious," she exclaimed, "I have seventy-two grandchildren, and if I were sad each time I parted from one of them, I should have a dismal existence!" "Madre snaturale," he replied. But speaking as one of the seventy-two, I prefer her recipe. After the age of eighty she found she had some difficulty in getting to sleep, so she habitually spent the hours from midnight to 3 a. m. in reading popular science. I do not believe that she ever had time to notice that she was growing old. This, I think, is the proper recipe for remaining young. If you have wide and keen interests and activities in which you can still be effective, you will have no reason to think about the merely statistical fact of the论老之将至尽管有这样一个标题,这篇文章真正要谈的却是怎样才能不变老。
How to grow old英汉对照 如何安度晚年
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How to Grow OldBy Bertrand Russell1 In spite of the title, this article will really be on how not to grow old, which, at my time of life, is a much more important subject. My first advice would be to choose your ancestors carefully. Although both my parents died young, I have done well in this respect as regards my other ancestors. My maternal grandfather, it is true, was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven, but my other three grandparents all lived to be over eighty. Of remoter ancestors I can only discover one who did not live to a great age, and he died of a disease which is now rare, namely, having his head cut off。
2 A great grandmother of mine, who was a friend of Gibbon, lived to the age of ninety-two, and to her last day remained a terror to all her descendants. My maternal grandmother, after having nine children who survived, one who died in infancy, and many miscarriages, as soon as she became a widow, devoted herself to woman’s higher education. She was one of the founders of Girton College, and worked hard at opening the medical profession to women. She used to relate how she met in Italy an elderly gentleman who was looking very sad. She inquired the cause of his melancholy and he said that he had just parted from his two grandchildren. “Good gracious”, she exclaimed, “I have seventy-two grandchildren, and if I were sad each time I parted from one of them, I should have a dismal existence!” “Madre snaturale,” he replied. But speaking as one of the seventy-two, I prefer her recipe. After the age of eighty she found she had some difficulty in getting to sleep, so she habitually spent the hours from midnight to3 a.m. in reading popular science. I do not believe that she ever had time to notice that she was growing old. This, I think, is proper recipe for remaining young. If you have wide and keen interests and activities in which you can still be effective, you will have no reason to think about the merely statistical fact of the number of years you have already lived, still less of the probable brevity of you future.3 As regards health I have nothing useful to say since I have little experience of illness. I eat and drink whatever I like, and sleep when I cannot keep awake. I never do anything whatever on the ground that it is good for health, though in actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.4 Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age. One of these is undue absorption in the past. It does not do to live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are dead. One's thoughts must be directed to the future, and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy; one's own past is a gradually increas ing weight. It is easy to think to oneself that one's emotions used to be more vivid than they are, and one's mind more keen. If this is true it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.5 The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigour from its vitality. When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives, and if youcontinue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young, you are likely to become a burden to them, unless they are unusually callous. I do not mean that one should be without interest in them, but one's interest should be contemplative and, if possible, philanthropic, but not unduly emotional. Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves, but human beings, owing to the length of infancy, find this difficult.6 I think that a successful old age is easiest for those who have strong impersonal interests involving appropriate activities. It is in this sphere that long experience is really fruitful, and it is in this sphere that the wisdom born of experience can be exercised without being oppressive. It is no use telling grownup children not to make mistakes, both because they will not believe you, and because mistakes are an essential part of education. But if you are one of those who are incapable of impersonal interests, you may find that your life will be empty unless you concern yourself with your children and grandchildren. In that case you must realise that while you can still render them material services, such as making them an allowance or knitting them jumpers, you must not expect that they will enjoy your company.7 Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it——so at least it seems to me——is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increas ingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river——small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should with to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.WORDS:undue 过度的,不适当的cling to附在...上,坚守...,抓住...vitality生机,生命力callous无情的,无感觉的contemplative好沉思的philanthropic博爱的,慈善的sphere 范围,领域render 给予,提供justifiably 正当地,无可非议地abject 卑下的,可怜的ignoble 不体面的,可耻的recede 退去,收回部分参考译文:如何安度晚年B.A.罗素4 从心理上说,老年时期要防止两种危险。
How to Grow Old,罗素
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Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a great ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what--at last--I have found.
how to grow old 怎样活到老(笔译分析第二版)
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怎样活到老我认为,1、如果对一些合适的活动有着强烈的个人兴趣,他们将会很容易获得一个成功的晚年。
2、在这一方面,有着丰富的经验;这一方面的经验中可以得到的智慧能够有用,且没有被受压迫。
告诫长大的孩子们不要犯错误那是没有用的,因为他们不会相信你,犯错误压实受教育的重要部分。
但是如果你对于个人以外的事情不感兴趣,你会发现你的生活很空虚,3、除非你关心自己的同时也关心你的孩子及孙子。
在这种情况下,你要明白尽管你还可以提供物质服务,比如给他们零花钱或是织毛衣,你也不要期望他们会喜欢你的陪伴。
一些老人被死亡的恐惧所困扰。
如果年轻人有这种感觉,4、那也是合乎情理的。
年轻人有理由惧怕死在战场,5、觉得痛苦也是很正常的想到他们被骗走了生命所能提供的美好生活。
但是6、对于一个知道人间快乐与痛苦的老人,且事业已经完成,惧怕死亡就未必光彩了。
克服恐惧最好的方法就是——至少在我看来——7、让你的兴趣逐渐扩大,在个人之外,直到阻隔的墙一点点后退,你的生命将会和宇宙生命融合在一起。
独立的人生应该像一条河流——刚开始很小,被河岸所限制,汹涌地向岩石和瀑布冲去。
河流逐渐变宽,河岸后退,河水安静地流着。
没有任何停留就和大海汇聚一起,也失去了自身的存在但毫无痛苦。
在老年能够这样看待生活的人,将不会惧怕死亡,他所关心的事情将会继续下去。
如果随着生命的衰竭,疲劳也会增加,想要休息也是可以接受的。
我希望能够死于工作岗位上,并知道别人接手我不再做的工作,会自己所完成的感到满意。
1、如果对一些合适的活动有着强烈的个人兴趣,他们将会很容易获得一个成功的晚年。
参考译文:如果老年人对于个人以外的事情怀有强烈的兴趣,并参加适当的活动,他们的晚年是最容易过得好的。
原文:I think that a successful old age is easier for those who have strongimpersonal involving appropriate activities.(1)Impersonal 此词翻译有误,误译为“个人的”,忽略了否定前缀“im”,参考译文译为“个人意外的”符合句意;(2)“a successful old age is easier”,翻译为“更容易获得一个成功的晚年”,个人认为参考译文翻译为“…的晚年是最容易过得好的”也不是很流畅,也许翻译为“更易安享晚年”妥当。
Unit 9 How to Grow Old课文翻译
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Unit 9 How to Grow Old1. 与本文的标题相反,本文真正要谈的是如何才能不老,在我这个年纪,这才是更为重要的主题。
我的第一条忠告是,选准了祖先再投胎。
尽管我双亲都是英年早逝,我选择的其他祖先还是不错的。
诚然,我的外祖父在67岁正值盛年的时候去世,但另外3位祖辈都活到了80多岁。
更前的祖辈中,我发现只有一位没能长寿,他死于现今罕见的死因,即遭斩首。
我有位曾祖母是吉本的朋友,在92岁去世之前始终令子孙们敬畏不已。
我的外祖母所生的孩子中9个活了下来,1个幼年夭折,此外她还有过多次流产。
守寡以后,她便立即投身于女子高等教育事业之中。
她是格顿学院的创办人之一,为了使女性能进入医生职业,她付出了很多心血。
她过去经常讲起她在意大利遇到的一位神情悲伤的老年绅士。
她询问起他悲伤的缘故,他说因为他刚刚送走了两个孙儿女。
“天哪!”她嚷道,“我有72个孙儿女,要是我每送走一个都如此悲伤,那我一生就会是凄凉的!” 他则回答说:“你这狠心的女人啊!”但作为她72个孙儿女中的一员,我则更喜欢她的处世方法。
80岁时她发现自己有些难入睡,于是她养成了午夜至凌晨3点阅读科普书籍的习惯。
我想她根本无暇注意到自己在衰老。
我认为这正是保持年轻的良方。
只要你兴趣广泛且强烈,有你还能做得了的事情,就不必为自己已经活了多少年这种纯粹的数字问题而伤神,更不必去想你来年无多的可能性。
2. 至于健康,由于我很少得病,所以提不出什么有用的建议。
我想吃就吃,想喝就喝,想睡就睡。
我做任何事情从来不是因为它对健康有益,尽管实际上我爱做的事通常都是有益健康的。
3. 从心理上说,老年人要防止两种危险。
其一是过分沉湎于往事。
人不能生活在回忆当中,也不能生活在对美好过去的惋惜或者对已故友人的哀痛之中。
一个人应当把心思放在未来、放在自己还可以有所作为的事情上。
这并不总是那么容易做到的,因为往事的分量会不断增加。
人们很容易觉得过去自己的情感比现在更活跃,思想比现在更加敏锐。
5第十一单元how to grow old翻译
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How to Grow Old怎么变老by Bertrand Russelll伯特兰.罗素1尽管标题如此,但我真正要讲的却是如何阻止变老,这是我生活中更重要的主题。
首先,我建议你慎重地选择你的祖辈父辈。
虽然我父母早逝,但在选择其他祖辈的时候,我很明智。
这是真的!我外祖父的生命之花67年后才凋零,我其他三个祖父母都生活了80多个春秋。
在远房的上辈中,我只发现一个人并不长寿,他死于一种现在很罕见的疾病,叫做“脑梗塞”。
我的一个曾祖母,是吉朋的朋友。
她活到了92岁,临终前所有的后辈都很惊讶她的长寿。
我外祖母的孩子,九个存活下来,一个死于婴儿时期,还有许多流产了。
此后,她成了寡妇,致力于女子高等教育。
她是格顿女子学院的创立人之一,并为实现女性从事医疗职业而尽心竭力。
她曾说过在意大利遇到过一位神情忧伤的年老绅士。
问其为何忧伤,老人回答说他刚跟他的两个孙孩儿告别。
“天呐!”我外祖母感叹道,“我有72个孙子孙女,要是每次我向其中一个告别都难掩忧伤的话,我该有一种多么凄凉可怕的生活啊!”“多么伟大的母亲啊!”他答道。
但是作为72个孩子之一的我来说,我倒赞成她的想法。
80岁之后,外祖母发现自己难以入睡,所以她习惯性地在午夜至三点阅读科普书籍。
我相信她没有时间来注意她的衰老。
我认为这就是保持年轻的适合之道。
如果你有广泛的活动和浓厚的兴趣,并且你能从中受益,那么你去思考你已经活了多少年这种纯粹的统计数据是毫无意义的,那么去想你还有多少年可活就更荒谬了。
2至于健康,我没有有用之词,因为我很少生病。
我吃喝随意,困了就睡。
在做任何事之前,我从不考虑其是否有利于健康。
事实上,我喜欢做的事大多是有益健康的。
3在老年时期,心理上有两大威胁值得防范。
其中之一就是对往事的过分关注。
人不应该活在回忆里,不应该活在对过往的懊悔中,不应该活在对已故好友的悲痛中。
相反,人应该向前看,其实还有很多事等着我们去做。
但这并不容易,一个人过去的点点滴滴是逐渐累积的重担。
how to grow old文章分析
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how to grow old文章分析英语四级写作美文赏析:How to Grow OldHow to Grow OldPsychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age.One of these is undue absorption in the past.It does not do to live in memories,in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are dead.One’s thoughts must be directed to the future,and to things about which there is something to be done.This is not always easy; one’s own past is a gradually increasing weight.It is easy to think to oneself that one’s emotions used to be more vivid than they are,and one’s mind more keen.If this is true it should be forgotten,and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigor from its vitality.When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives,and if you continue to be as interested in them as you were when they were young,you are likely to become a burden to them.Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves,but human beings, owing to the length of infancy, find this difficult.I think that a successful old age is easiest for those who have strong impersonal interests involvingappropriate activities.It is in this sphere that long experience is really fruitful,and it is in this sphere that the wisdom born of experience can be exercised without being oppressive.It is no use telling grown-up children not to make mistakes,both because they will not believe you,and because mistakes are an essential part of education.But if you are one of those who are incapable of impersonal interests,you may find that your life will be empty unless you concern yourself with your children and grandchildren.In that case you must realize that while you can still render them material services,you must not expect that they will enjoy your company.。
how to grow old文章主旨
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how to grow old文章主旨How to grow old这篇文章是罗素人生信条的体现。
害怕死亡是人类的人性,而罗素认为,对于一个经历了生命中各种起起落落的人来说,害怕死亡并不是一件高尚的事情。
怎样更好地面对生老病死呢?罗素认为,克服死亡恐惧的最好方式是逐渐使自己的兴趣更加广泛,逐渐摆脱个人狭小的圈子,直到自我的围墙一点一点倒塌下来,让自己的生命与整个宇宙的生活融为一体。
文章节选:Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it -so at least it seems to me- is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river: small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in thesea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.有些老年人因为怕死而感到烦恼。
How to Grow Old
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从这个从句看,译文2不如译文1等值。但如果从全句、 从超句体以致从全篇章看,情况就不同了。从全句看, 译文1把原文的整句(periodic sentence)译成散句 (loose sentence)。原文词组②是限定性定语从句, 译文1把它译成了非限定性定语从句,原文的气势减 弱了。译文2为了把它译成整句,把定语从句前置是 符合汉语语序的参数的,而汉语“的字结构”的定语 从句的参数是要求简炼,罗嗦就不易通顺。因此,运 用汉语文言成语来译,与全篇章的文体风格也是协调 的。此外,从超句体看,原文第4句与第三句的连接 是用的对比法。译文用前置的定语更加突出了前句 “年轻人”的对比。这样处理,虽然从句的等值量减 小了,但句子、超句体、篇章的等值量却增加了,这 符合等值翻译的原则。 (3)结论:译文2比译文1等值量大。 第五句:The best way ①∣to overcome it②∣---so at least it seems to me---③∣is to make your interests
只是They在译文2中省略了,变成了空语类PRO,对 谁来说成为泡影,对有汉语语感的人来说,是不言而 喻的。译文2准确地反映了这句虚拟语气的修辞色彩, 大大增加了三个层次等值量的总和。 (7)译文2的表层结构修饰、管辖、制约的关系与原 文基本保持不变,只是语序发生了变化。除了⑥ ⑦⑧ 变成了⑧⑦⑥外,谓语词组④也移位到了全句末尾。 因为谓语词组④是全句信息焦点,移位到句末,符合 汉语末尾焦点的要求。原文句子的表现风格是精炼隽 永,译文2是等值的,译文2充分发扬了汉语言简意赅 的优势,用了40个汉字;而译文1用了65个汉字。由 此可见对于难句的翻译,修辞层次的等值转换常常是 争取三个层次最大等值的关键。 第四句:But in an old man ①∣who has known human joys and sorrows ②∣and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do ③∣the fear of death④‖ is somewhat abject and ignoble⑤.
how to grow old---Tasha_Tudor
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• An American illustrator and writer of children's books • She was born in Boston, Massachusetts. • Her father was a good aircraft designer and manufacturer. Her mother was a portrait painter. • So, the guests which often came to her home were just as famous as Emerson, Mark Twain, Einstein. Tasha grew up in a superior family background.
s
Spring
Summer
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Autumn
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• Tasha devoted her life to children’s illustrator, even over 90.
• She continued to take care of her favorite garden using old tools to make some daily necessities on her own. • Meanwhile, she continued to paint.
She is an elegant lady who knows how to create a life of pleasure and enjoy herself till the end of her life.
Tasha Tutor
Tasha Tutor
• Born in 1915 and died in 2008 • 92 years old
How to grow old 英美文学欣赏赏析
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How to grow oldRussell (1872-1970) is a philosopher lived nearly 100 years old.His biggest charm, however, is not philosophy, but literature.He,once won the Nobel Prize for literature, vividly tells you how to have a successful old age with his simplistic and beautiful language.How to grow old is his another masterpiece.According to the first sentence,the topic is how to grow old,but the article’s true purpose is telling people the best way to overcome the fear of death as you get older.In the first place,Russell drolly came up with his first advice:we should carefully selected our ancestors.After listing his great ancestors,I couldn’t agree any more----This, I think, is the proper recipe for remaining young. If you have wide and keen interests and activities in which you can still be effective, you will have no reason to think about the merely statistical fact of the number of years you have alr eady lived, still less of the probable brevity of your future. Sure it is.Then,Russell clearly describe the opinions of a series of healthy,growing old and death.He pointed that in old age we should mentally be vigilant to two dangers.One is undue absorption in the past, and the other is clinging to youth in the hope if sucking vigor from its vitality. Russell thinks that the best way to conquer the fear of death is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal. If one person in old age can regard his life as a river,he will not feel the fear of the death.Because the cause he devoted to will continue forever.And in my point of view, it entirely depends on your attitude to life. Everyone was bor n to death. We have no means to avoid it but to face it. Faced with death, what we onl y can do is to go for what we want, what we need, and what we like.At the end of this article, Russell expressed his wish----I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done. I can not help but feel deep respect for this man. He is really a philosopher. Doubtlessly, this kind of belief benefits us all no matter you are young or old.。
经典:How-to-grow-old.
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4 What was her attitude towards her grandchildren? She didn’t think it necessary to feel sad or dismal to be parted with her grandchildren for the old should not get too much involved in their grown-up children’s lives. They should let them live their own lives.
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❖ Part 4(para.5~6) The broader interests factor: Strong impersonal interests may ensure us an easy and successful old age and the best way to overcome the fear of death is to make our interests wider and more impersonal until our life becomes merged in the universal life.
❖ 2 How did the author’s maternal grandmother ❖ Keep herself occupied after she became a widow? ❖ Devoted herself to women’s higher education; ❖ Co-founder of Girton College; ❖ Worked hard at opening the medical profession to
HOW TO GROW OLD
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HOW TO GROW OLDBy Bertrand Russell(伯特兰·罗素) 1. In spite of the title, this article will really be on how not to grow old, which, at my time of life, is a much more important subject. My first advice would be to choose your ancestors carefully. Although both my parents died young, I have done well in this respect as regards my other ancestors. My maternal grandfather, it is true, was cut off in the flower of his youth at the age of sixty-seven, but my other three grandparents all lived to be over eighty. Of remoter ancestors I can only discover one who did not live to a great age, and he died of a disease which is now rare, namely, having his head cut off。
2. A great grandmother of mine, who was a friend of Gibbon, lived to the age of ninety-two, and to her last day remained a terror to all her descendants. My maternal grandmother, after having nine children who survived, one who died in infancy, and many miscarriages, as soon as she became a widow, devoted herself to woman’s higher education. She was one of the founders of Girton College, and worked hard at opening the medical profession to women. She used to relate how she met in Italy an elderly gentleman who was looking very sad. She inquired the cause of his melancholy and he said that he had just parted from his two grandchildren. “Good gracious”, she exclaimed, “I have seventy-two grandchildren, and if I were sad each time I parted from one of them, I should have a dismal existence!” “Madre saturate,” he replied. But speaking as one of the seventy-two, I prefer her recipe. After the age of eighty she found she had some difficulty in getting to sleep, so she habitually spent the hours from midnight to 3 a.m. in reading popular science. I do not believe that she ever had time to notice that she was growing old. This, I think, is proper recipe for remaining young. If you have wide and keen interests and activities in which you can still be effective, you will have no reason to think about the merely statistical fact of the number of years you have already lived, still less of the probable brevity of you future.3. As regards health I have nothing useful to say since I have little experience of illness. I eat and drink whatever I like, and sleep when I cannot keep awake. I never do anything whatever on the ground that it is good for health, though in actual fact the things I like doing are mostly wholesome.4. Psychologically there are two dangers to be guarded against in old age. One of these is undue absorption in the past. It does not do to live in memories, in regrets for the good old days, or in sadness about friends who are dead. One’s thoughts must be directed to the future and to things about which there is something to be done. This is not always easy: one’s own past is gradually increasing weight. It is easy to think to oneself that one’s emotions used to be more vivid than they are, and one’s mind keener. If this is true it should be forgotten, and if it is forgotten it will probably not be true.5. The other thing to be avoided is clinging to youth in the hope of sucking vigor from its vitality. When your children are grown up they want to live their own lives, and if you continue to be asinterested in them as you were when they were young, you are likely to become a burden to them, unless they are unusually callous. I do not mean that one should be without interest in them, but one’s interest should be contemplative and, if possible, philanthropic, but not unduly emotional. Animals become indifferent to their young as soon as their young can look after themselves, but human beings, owing to the length of infancy, find this difficult. 6. I think that a successful old age is easiest for those who have strong impersonal interests involving appropriate activities. It is in this sphere that long experience is really fruitful, and it is in this sphere that the wisdom born of experience can be exercised without being oppressive. It is no use telling grown-up children not to make mistakes, both because they will not believe you, and because mistakes are an essential part of education. But if you are one of those who are incapable of impersonal interests, you may find that your life will be empty unless you concern yourself with you children and grandchildren. In that case you must realize that while you can still render them material services, such as making them an allowance or knitting them jumpers, you must not expect that they will enjoy your company. 7. Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it – so at least it seems to me – is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river – small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, andin the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.。
英语美文欣赏how+to+grow+old(new)
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英语美文欣赏:How to Grow OldBertrand Russell伯特兰·罗素-英国哲学家、数学家、逻辑学家伯特兰·亚瑟·威廉·罗素(Bertrand Arthur William Russell,1872年5月18日-1970年2月2日),英国哲学家、数学家和逻辑学家,同时也是活跃的合理主义与自由思想活动家,并致力于哲学的大众化、普及化,很多人将罗素视为这个时代的先知,而与此同时罗素的许多政治思想却又是十分有争议性的。
1950年,罗素获得诺贝尔文学奖,以表彰其“西欧思想,言论自由最勇敢的斗士,卓越的活力, 勇气,智慧与感受性,代表了诺贝尔奖的原意和精神”。
1921年罗素曾于中国讲学,对中国学术界有相当影响。
1970年去世,骨灰被撒在威尔士的群山之中。
Jump to: navigation, searchBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS[54] (18 May 1872 –2 February 1970) was a British nobleman, philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic.[55] At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these in any profound sense.[56] He was born in Monmouthshire, into one of the most prominent aristocratic families in Britain.[57]Key work: Wisdom of the West摘要:我认为,对于那些具有强烈的爱好,其活动又都恰当适宜、并且不受个人情感影响的人们,成功地度过老年决非难事。
11-How-to-grow-old_Russell
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Lesson 11 How to grow o l dWhat, a cc o r d i ng to the author, i s the best way to overcome the f e a r o f d e a t h as you get o l d e r?Some old people are oppressed by the f e a r o f death. I n the young there i s a j u s t i fi ca t i o n f o r this f e e l i ng. Young men who have reason to f e ar t h a t they will be killed i n battle may justifiably f e e l b i t t e r i n the t h o u g h t that t h e y have cheated o f the best things that l i f e has to o f f e r. But i n an old man wh o has known human joys and s o rr o w s,and has achieved whatever work it was i n him to do, the f e a r o f death i s s o m ew h a t ab j e c t and i g n o b l e.The best way to overcome i t -- so at l ea s t i t s ee m s to me -- i s to make your i nt e r e s t s gradually w i d er and more i m p e r s on a l, until bit by bit the w a l l s o f the ego recede, and your l i f e becomes i nc r e a s i n g l y merged in the u n i v e r s a l l i f e. An i n d i v i d u a l human existence should be l i k e a r i v er -- s m a l l at first, n a rr o w l y contained within i t s banks, and r us h i n g passionately past boulders and o v er w a t e r f a l l s. G r ad u a l l y the r i v er grows w i d e r, the b a nk s recede, the w a t e r s flow more quietly, and i n the end, without any visible break, they b e c o m e merged i n the s e a,and p a i n l e s s l y l o se their i n d i v i d u a l b e i n g. The man w h o, i n old age, can see his l i f e i n t h i s way, will n ot s u f f e r f r om the f e a r o f d e a t h, s in ce the things he cares f o r w i l l continue. And i f,with the decay o f v i t a l ity, we a r i n e s s i n c r e a s e s,the thought o f rest will be not unwelcome. I s hou l d wish to die while still at wo r k,knowing that others will carry on what I c a n no l o n g e r do, and content i n the thought that what wa s possible has been done.BERTRAND RUSSELL How to grow old f r o m Portraits f r om M em o ry。
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How to grow old
Russell (1872-1970) is a philosopher lived nearly 100 years biggest charm, however, is not philosophy, but ,once won the Nobel Prize for literature, vividly tells you how to have a successful old age with his simplistic and beautiful to grow old is his another masterpiece.
According to the first sentence,the topic is how to grow old,but the article’s true purpose is telling people the best way to overcome the fear of death as you get the first place,Russell drolly came up with his first advice:we should carefully selected our listing his great ancestors,I couldn’t agree any more----This, I think, is the proper recipe for remaining young. If you have wide and keen i nterests and activities in which you can still be effective, you will have no reason to think about the me rely statistical fact of the number of years you have already lived, still less of the probable brevity of yo ur future. Sure it ,Russell clearly describe the opinions of a series of healthy,growing old and pointed that in old age we should mentally be vigilant to two is undue absorption in the past, and the other is clinging to youth in the hope if sucking vigor fro m its vitality. Russell thinks that the best way to conquer the fear of death is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal. If one person in old age can regard his life as a river,he will not feel the fear of the the cause he devoted to will continue forever.
And in my point of view, it entirely depends on your attitude to life. Everyone was born to death. We h ave no means to avoid it but to face it. Faced with death, what we only can do is to go for what we wa nt, what we need, and what we like.
At the end of this article, Russell expressed his wish----I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done. I cannot help but feel
deep respect for this man. He is really a philosopher. Doubtlessly, this kind of belief benefits us all no matter you are young or old.。