Common Sense by Thomas Paine

《常识》 托马斯·潘恩

 

Who the Author of this Production is, is wholly unnecessary to the Public, as the Object for Attention is the DOCTRINE ITSELF, not the MAN.

大家完全没有必要知道本书的作者是谁，因为值得关注的是主旨本身而不是人。

 

The nicest construction that words are capable of, when applied to the description of something which either cannot exist, or is too incomprehensible to be within the compass of description, will be words of sound only, and though they may amuse the ear, they cannot inform the mind, for this explanation includes a previous question.

字词组成了最漂亮的语句，描述不可能存在的存在的事物或太费解所以无法描述的事物，但那也只能是一堆字词、一阵声响，虽然悦耳，仔细思考却没有什么意义。

 

As we are never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice.

如果不摆脱某种执念爱好的影响，我们就无法公正地看待他人；同理，当我们被顽固的偏见束缚时，也无法公正地对待自己。

 

As no man at first could possess any other public honours than were bestowed upon him, so away the right of posterity. Because such an unwise, unjust, unnatural compact might(perhaps) in the next succession put them under the government of a rogue or a fool. Most wise man, in their private sentiments, have ever treated herditary right with contempt; yet it is one of whose evils, which when once established is not easily removed; many submit from fear, others from superstition, and the more powerful part shares with the king the plunder of the rest.

第一代可以拥有被授予的社会荣誉，但荣誉的授予者没有权力代替子孙放弃权利。这明显是侵犯了后代的权利，因为这可能把子孙置于一个恶棍或蠢货的统治之下，所以这个契约是愚蠢、不公平、天理不容的。贤达人士对世袭权多持暗自蔑视的态度，但它是一种一旦确立就很难纠正的恶。很多人因恐惧而服从，有些人是出于迷信，而强势阶级则和国王联合起来一起拖动其他人。

 

Have no other Preliminaries to settle with the reader, than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves; that he will put ON, or rather that he will not put OFF the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day.

请你摆脱偏见和成见，把一切困难都交给理解和情感独自判断，这样，你就能拥有（或毋宁说是不失去）真正的人类性格，不受当下限制，放眼未来。

 

The least fracture now will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the tender ring of a young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and posterity read it in full grown characters.

今天的一小点儿裂隙，都会像针尖刻在小橡树嫩皮上的名字，伤痕会随着树的生长而扩大，子子孙孙都能清晰地读到醒目的大字。

 

This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but trying them by those feelings and affections which nature justifies, and without which, we should be incapable of discharging the social duties of life, or enjoying the felicities of it. I mean not to exhibit horror for the purpose of provoking revenge, but to awaiten us from fatal and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue determinately some fixed object.

没有正常的情感和感情，我们就无法履行人生的职责，也无法享受其幸福。我并不是要展示恐怖来激起复仇情绪，而是要把人们从非人的濒死麻木中唤醒，使其坚定地追求某个确定的目标。

 

As Milton wisely expresses," Never can true reconcilement grow, where wounds of deadly hate have pierced so deep."

弥尔顿智慧地说：“当死仇的伤刺到深处，就不可能产生真正的议和。”

 

For as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law OUGHT to be King; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony, be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it is.

在专制政府中，主就是法，而在自由国家中，法应该是王，别无其他。但为了预防将来发生滥用，就应当在典礼结束时打碎王冠，把权力分散到有权享用的人们手中。

 

The Almighty has implanted in us these unextinguishable feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guardians of his image in our hearts. They distinguish us from the head of common animals. The social compact would dissolve, and justice be extirpated the earth, or have only a casual existence were we callous to the touches of affection. The robber, and the murderer, would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries which our tempers sustain, provoke us into justice.

万能的上帝把追求善良和智慧的情感永远种在我们心里，这种情感守护我们心中上帝的形象，使我们不同于兽群。如果我们不解爱恨，社会契约就会解体，正义就会在地球上绝迹或者只是偶尔光临。假如承受的伤害不能使我们奋起追求正义，盗贼和杀人犯就会多多逍遥法外。

 

O you that love mankind! You that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom has been hunted round the globe, Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her—— Europe regards her like a stranger, and the England has given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.

啊，热爱人类的人们啊，既敢于反抗暴政又敢直面暴君的人们啊，站出来吧！旧世界处处都是压迫、自由杯四处驱赶，亚洲和非洲早就放逐了它，欧洲视其为异物，英国已经对它下了逐客令。啊，接待这个逃亡者，立刻为人类准备一个避难所吧。

 

The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to renture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit to courtly power with trembling duplicity of a Spaniel.

能够失去的越多，人便越不愿冒险。富人一般都是恐惧的奴隶，屈服于朝廷的权力，像狗一样颤抖着斗心眼儿。

 

Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals.

青年时期是播种好习惯的季节，个人如此，国家亦如此。

 

Let a man throw aside that narrowness of soul, that selfishness of principle, which the niggards of all professions are so unwilling to part with, and he will be at delivered of his fears on that head. Suspicion is the companion of mean souls, and the bane of all good society.

丢掉灵魂的不开放性和教义的自私性（各种小家子气的人很不愿摆脱）吧，我们就能摆脱这方面的各种恐惧了。不信任是低等灵魂的伴侣，是所有美好社会的祸根。

 

Immediate necessity makes many things convenient, which if continued would grow into oppressions.

燃眉之急常常便宜行事，但长此以往就会变成迫害。

 

It is from our enemies that we often gain excellent maxims, and are frequently surprised into reason by their mistakes.

我们常从敌人那里得到警句箴言，常被他们犯的错吓得理智起来。

 

Not withstanding our wisdom, there is a visible feebleness in some of our proceedings which gives encouragement to dissensions.

虽然我们有智慧，但在处理某些问题时却有一个明显的毛病，那就是优柔寡断，这助长了意见的分歧。

 

This line is a line of consistency: neither drawn by caprice, nor extended by ambition; but produced by a chain of events, of which the colonies were not the authors.

历史是一条连贯的线，既不是任意画出的，也不会因个人的雄心而延长，它是由一串事件组成的，而作者并不是北美十三州。

 

If the bearing arms be sinful, the first going to war must be more so, by all the difference between wilful attack, and unavoidable defense.

如果拿起武器是罪恶的，那么先拿起武器的一方必然罪更大，主动攻击和被迫自卫之间有天壤之别。

 

Kings are not taken away by miracles, neither are changes in governments brought about by any other means than such as are common and human.

暴君不是被神力变没的，政府中的变化也只能借由人力产生。