The Soundest Investment of All 最成功的投資 　

The Soundest Investment of All

by C. Jared Ingersoll

I feel very presumptuous and uncomfortable about trying to explain out loud the things I believe in. But I do think that all human problems are in some way related to each other, so perhaps if people compare their experiences they may discover something in common in hunting the answers.

I am a very fortunate man for I lead a full and what is for me a happy life. I say this even though I happen to have had, in the course of it, a couple of severe personal blows.

My first wife collapsed and died one day while she and I were ice skating, after eighteen years of a most happy existence together. My only son, a sergeant in the army combat engineers, was killed in Italy in the last war. Nevertheless, these tragedies did not throw me completely and I have been able to fill my life anew with happiness.

I do not mean to sound calloused. Those blows hurt me deeply. I guess that two basically important things helped me most to recover. One is the fact that I have come to see life as a gamble. The other is a belief in what some people call the hereafter. I try to live fully so that when and if my luck changes there will be little room for regret or recrimination over time lost or misspent. My belief in the hereafter is wrapped in the intangible but stubborn thoughts of a layman. Very likely I would get lost in trying to describe or defend, by cold logic, my belief in God but nobody could argue me out of it.

I have come to believe that I owe life as much as it owes me, and I suppose that explains this fine satisfaction I get out of endeavoring to do a job to the best of what ability I have, and out of helping somebody else.

As a kid I used to ride a rake in the hayfields. I got a tremendous kick out of trying to sweep every field clean as a whistle. Here I made a surprising and happy discovery: that there could be actual enjoyment in the exercise of thoroughness and responsibility, and that duty didn’t have to be a drudge.

I don’t know exactly why, but I like to do things for other people. Not only family responsibilities, work on a hospital board, and various church organizations but also the most inconsequential things that might hardly seem worth the time. My office happens to be on Independence Square and now and then I have occasion to direct a tourist to the Liberty Bell or fill him in on a little of the history of Philadelphia. The tourist doesn’t seem to mind and it makes me feel good. I’m afraid I’m not very profound. I have tried to comprehend why something so simple and so sound as the Golden Rule is so often forgotten or held in disrepute. I can only say—and I say this quite selfishly—that I have found it a good investment. It has paid me a very high return, undoubtedly more than I deserve.

最成功的投資

C.賈裏德.英格索爾

我想，若是大聲解釋我的信仰，不僅會給人一種自大的感覺，也會使我感到不安。但是我認為，從某種程度上來説，人類所有的問題都是息息相關的。因此，倘若人們比較一下他們的經歷，也許就能在尋找答案的過程中發現某些共同之處。

我是一個幸運的人，因為我的生活充實而幸福。不管怎樣，我依然會這麼説，即使曾經的多次不幸給我帶來了沉重的打擊。我與第一個妻子共同度過了18年幸福的婚姻生活，然而在我們去滑冰的那天，她突然倒下，撒手人寰。我唯一的兒子是一名工兵軍士，二戰期間，在意大利陣亡。然而，我並沒有被這些不幸徹底打倒，而是再次讓我的生活充滿幸福。

我並不是想讓大家覺得我冷酷無情。這些不幸確實對我造成了很大的傷害。我想我之所以能夠重新振作起來，其中有兩個重要的原因：一是我認為生活其實就是一場賭博，二是我對人們所説的來世深信不疑。為了在晦運時，不至於因虛度時光而後悔或自責，我努力讓自己充實地生活。作為一個普通信徒，無形而堅定的思想正是我信仰來世的來源。我信仰上帝，也許我難以用冷冰冰的'邏輯來描述這個信仰或為它辯護，但誰也無法説服我放棄它。

我相信，我對生活付出多少，就會得到多少。因此，我認為，我最大的滿足正是來源於儘自己最大的努力去做一份工作或是幫助別人。

孩提時，我常會在乾草地上開耙草機。在將每片草地耙乾淨的過程中，我總會獲得極大的成就感，並驚奇地發現：盡心而盡責地完成一件事會為你帶來真正的快樂，而盡責也並不一定是做苦工。

我很喜歡為人服務。我不僅為家庭負責，在一家醫院的理事會及各種教會組織中工作，我還會去做一些看似浪費時間的最無關緊要的瑣事。我的辦公室正好在獨立廣場，因此我偶爾會為去獨立鐘的遊客帶路，一路上給他講一些費城的歷史。雖然遊客並不在乎這些，但我卻樂此不疲。我自己並非知識淵博之人。我常常想弄明白，像黃金定律那樣簡單而合理的箴言為何總被人們遺忘或不屑一顧。我只能説，也自私地説，我發現為人服務是一項最成功的投資。毫無疑問，它給予我的回報遠遠高於我的應得。

本文選自《這，我相信》，該書共選取自述性散文七十二篇。原文作者用簡潔、樸實的文字講述自己如何在逆境中領悟到生活的真諦而最後獲得成功。原文短小精悍、語言平實，啟迪讀者心智。譯文忠實於原文的內容和風格，可讀性強。本書不僅是一本英漢對照的優秀勵志讀物，而且還是翻譯佳作，可供在校大學生、英語自學者和翻譯愛好者閲讀學習。

本書譯自美國暢銷書This I Believe。This I Believe起初是一個廣播節目，策劃於1949年，旨在幫助美國人克服看重物質享受而輕視精神情操的社會傾向。該節目每日播出，每位嘉賓講敍五分鐘，其講稿為一篇六百字的短文，每週在報紙上刊登。這些嘉賓或是社會名流，或是無名小卒，他們的膚色、職業、種族均不相同，但他們必須有一點共同之處——事業成功，應對生活成功。該節目獲得巨大的成功!每天約有三千九百萬美國人圍在收音機旁聆聽羅斯福總統夫人、海倫·凱勒、公司老闆、商人或出租車司機講述他們的信仰。

該廣播節目最後成為一種文化現象，共有用六種語言播出、八十五家主要報紙開闢專欄每週刊登此節目的文章。1952年經仔細挑選，選中一百人的一百篇短文彙集出版。書名是This I Believe，暢銷三十萬冊，是當年銷售量僅次於《聖經》的暢銷書。該書的阿拉伯譯本創下了三天內售出三萬冊的記錄。This I Believe至今仍然是美國全國性的媒體節目。它邀請各行各業的美國人撰文討論指導他們生活的哲學。聽眾每週可在兩個廣播節目中聽到這些人的自述，還可以在網上閲讀他們的短文。