He asked me what reasons, more than a mere wandering inclination, I had for leaving father's house and my native country,[qh]

他问我，除了为满足我自己漫游四海的癖好外，究竟有什么理由要离弃父母，背井离乡呢？[qh]

where I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure.[qh]

在家乡，我可以经人引荐，在社会上立身。如果我自己勤奋努力，将来完全可以发家致富，过上安逸快活的日子。[qh]

He told me it was men of desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring, superior fortunes on the other, who went abroad upon adventures,[qh]

他对我说，一般出洋冒险的人，不是穷得身无分文，就是妄想暴富；[qh]

to rise by enterprise, and make themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road;[qh]

他们野心勃勃，想以非凡的事业扬名于世。[qh]

that these things were all either too far above me or too far below me;[qh]

但对我来说，这样做既不值得，也无必要。[qh]

that mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low life,[qh]

就我的社会地位而言，正好介于两者之间，即一般所说的中间地位。[qh]

which he had found, by long experience, was the best state in the world, the most suited to human happiness,[qh]

从他长期的经验判断，这是世界上最好的阶层，这种中间地位也最能使人幸福。[qh]

not exposed to the miseries and hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind,[qh]

他们既不必像下层大众从事艰苦的体力劳动而生活依旧无着；[qh]

and not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper part of mankind.[qh]

也不会像那些上层人物因骄奢淫逸、野心勃勃和相互倾轧而弄得心力交瘁。[qh]

He told me I might judge of the happiness of this state by this one thing - viz.[qh]

他说，我自己可以从下面的事实中认识到，中间地位的生活确实幸福无比；[qh]

that this was the state of life which all other people envied;[qh]

这就是，人人羡慕这种地位，[qh]

that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence of being born to great things,[qh]

许多帝王都感叹其高贵的出身给他们带来的不幸后果，[qh]

and wished they had been placed in the middle of the two extremes, between the mean and the great;[qh]

恨不得自己出生于贫贱与高贵之间的中间阶层。[qh]

that the wise man gave his testimony to this, as the standard of felicity, when he prayed to have neither poverty nor riches.[qh]

明智的人也证明，中间阶层的人能获得真正的幸福。《圣经》中的智者也曾祈祷："使我既不贫穷，也不富裕。"[qh]

He bade me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of life were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind,[qh]

他提醒我，只要用心观察，就会发现上层社会和下层社会的人都多灾多难，[qh]

but that the middle station had the fewest disasters,[qh]

唯中间阶层灾祸最少。[qh]

and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes as the higher or lower part of mankind;[qh]

中间阶层的生活，不会像上层社会和下层社会的人那样盛衰荣辱，瞬息万变。[qh]

nay, they were not subjected to so many distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind,[qh]

而且，中间地位不会像阔佬那样因挥霍无度、[qh]

as those were who, by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances on the one hand,[qh]

腐化堕落而弄得身心俱病；[qh]

or by hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other hand,[qh]

也不会像穷人那样因终日操劳、[qh]

bring distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their way of living;[qh]

缺吃少穿而搞得憔悴不堪。[qh]

[qh]