Growth that Starts from Thinking
?埃莉诺·罗斯福 / Eleanor Roosevelt
It seems to me a very difficult thing to put into words the beliefs I hold and what they make me do in my life. I think I was fortunate because I grew up in a family where there was a very deep religious feeling. I don’t think it was spoken of a great deal. It was more or less taken for granted that everybody held certain beliefs and needed certain reinforcements of their own strength and that came through their belief in God and their knowledge of prayer.
But as I grew older I questioned a great many of the things that I knew very well my grandmother who had brought me up had taken for granted. And I think I might have been quite a difficult person to live with if it hadn’t been for the fact that my husband once said, “ it didn’t do you any harm to learn those things, so why not let your children learn them? When they grow up they’ll think things out for themselves.
And that gave me a feeling that perhaps that’s what we all must do—think out for ourselves what we could believe and how we could live by it. And so I came to the conclusion that you had to use this life to develop the very best that you could develop.
I don’t know whether I believe in a future life. I believe that all that you go through here must have some value, therefore there must be some reason. And there must be some “going on”. How exactly that happens I’ve never been able to decide. There is a future—that I’m sure of. But how, that I don’t know. And I came to feel that it didn’t really matter very much because whatever the future held you’d have to face it when you came to it, just as whatever life holds you have to face it in exactly the same way. And the important thing was that you never let down doing the best that you were able to do—it might be poor because you might not have very much within you to give, or to help other people with, or to live your life with. But as long as you did the very best that you were able to do, then that was what you were put here to do and that was what you were accomplishing by being here.
And so I have tried to follow that out—and not to worry about the future or what was going to happen. I think I am pretty much of a fatalist. You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
我很难用语言来形容我的信仰是什么，以及它们对我的人生起着怎样的作用。我想我是幸运的，出生在一个虔诚地信仰宗教的家庭。但我们对宗教的谈论并不多。在每个人心中都或多或少有着某些信仰，以及巩固他们自身力量所需的某些方式，而对上帝的信仰以及对祈祷的了解正是这些力量的源泉。
然而，在祖母身边长大的我，随着年龄的增长，对她认为理所当然的事情产生了诸多疑问。因此，我坚决不让孩子接触这些东西，以至于感觉自己似乎有些过于苛刻。直到有一次丈夫劝我说：“你儿时也学过那些，对你并无害处，为何不让孩子们接触呢？等他们长大了，自然就会独立去思考这些事情了。”
他的话让我觉得，也许我们每个人都应该这样做，应该独立思考我们该信仰什么，如何将信仰作为生活的准则。于是，我得出了这样的结论，人在一生中必须尽自己所能做好自己。
我不知道自己对未来的生活是否充满信心。但我相信，我们现在所经历的一切一定是有价值的，因此这其中自有它的道理。并且有些事也必然会发生。至于这些事将会如何发生，是我无法决定的。不过我敢肯定，一定会有未来。但是，是怎样的未来，我不得而知。我觉得这并不重要，因为不管未来怎样，我们都必须面对，就像我们必须面对生活中发生的任何事一样。尽自己的最大努力去做才是真正重要的。也许你没有足够的能力，去施舍，去帮助他人，或者维持自己的生活，只要你能尽自己最大的努力，你就能完成使命，实现自己的人生价值。
因此，不为未来担忧，也不担心下一刻会发生什么，就是我一直努力遵循的人生法则。我认为自己是一个比较相信宿命的人。你必须接受发生的任何事，勇敢地面对它，做到倾尽全力才最重要。
1. I don’t think it was_______of a great deal. It was more or less taken_______granted that everybody held_______beliefs and needed certain reinforcements of their_______strength and that came through your_______in God and their knowledge of prayer.
2. And that_______me a feeling that perhaps that’s what we_______must do—think out for ourselves what we________believe and how we could live by it. And so I_______to the conclusion that you had to use this life to_______the very best that you could develop.
1. 在每个人心中都或多或少有着某些信仰。
2. 应该独立思考我们该信仰什么，如何将信仰作为生活的准则。
3. 我得出了这样的结论，人在一生中必须尽自己所能做好自己。
1. I grew up in a family where there was a very deep religious feeling.
grow up：长大；成长
2. ...knew very well my grandmother who had brought me up had taken for granted.
bring up：养育；提起；教育；培养