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But as abused prosperity is oftentimes made the very means of our greatest adversity, so it was with me.[qh]
常言道，富得快，麻烦来。我的情形完全是这样。[qh]
I went on the next year with great success in my plantation:[qh]
第二年，我的种植园大获成功。[qh]
I raised fifty great rolls of tobacco on my own ground, more than I had disposed of for necessaries among my neighbours;[qh]
我从自己的地里收了五十捆烟叶，除了供应当地的需要外，还剩下很多。[qh]
and these fifty rolls, being each of above a hundredweight, were well cured, and laid by against the return of the fleet from Lisbon:[qh]
这五十捆烟叶每捆一百多磅重；我都把它们晒好存放起来，专等那些商船从里斯本回来。[qh]
and now increasing in business and wealth, my head began to be full of projects and undertakings beyond my reach;[qh]
这时，生意发展，资财丰厚，我的头脑里又开始充满了各种不切实际的计划和梦想。[qh]
such as are, indeed, often the ruin of the best heads in business.[qh]
这种虚妄的念头往往会毁掉最有头脑的商人。[qh]
Had I continued in the station I was now in,[qh]
我若能长此安居乐业下去，[qh]
I had room for all the happy things to have yet befallen me for which my father so earnestly recommended a quiet, retired life,[qh]
生活必然会无比幸福。正是为了能获得这些幸福，我父亲曾竭力规劝我过一种安份守己的平静生活；[qh]
and of which he had so sensibly described the middle station of life to be full of;[qh]
而且，他告诉我，只有中间地位的生活，才享有种种幸福。他的看法确实是通情达理、切合实际的。[qh]
but other things attended me, and I was still to be the wilful agent of all my own miseries;[qh]
然而，冥冥中另一种命运在等待着我。我自己一手造成了自己的不幸，[qh]
and particularly, to increase my fault, and double the reflections upon myself, which in my future sorrows I should have leisure to make,[qh]
增加了自己的过错，使我后来回想起来倍加悔恨。[qh]
all these miscarriages were procured by my apparent obstinate adhering to my foolish inclination of wandering abroad, and pursuing that inclination,[qh]
我后来遭遇的种种灾难都是由于我执迷不悟，[qh]
in contradiction to the clearest views of doing myself good in a fair and plain pursuit of those prospects, and those measures of life,[qh]
坚持我遨游世界的愚蠢愿望，并刻意去实现这种愿望。[qh]
which nature and Providence concurred to present me with, and to make my duty.[qh]
结果，我违背了大自然与造物主的意愿和自己的天职，放弃用通常正当的手段追求幸福的生活，以致给自己造成无穷的危害。[qh]
As I had once done thus in my breaking away from my parents,[qh]
正如我上次从父母身边逃走一样，[qh]
so I could not be content now, but I must go and leave the happy view I had of being a rich and thriving man in my new plantation,[qh]
这时我又开始不满于现状。我本来可以靠经营种植园发家致富，[qh]
only to pursue a rash and immoderate desire of rising faster than the nature of the thing admitted;[qh]
可我偏偏把这种幸福的远景丢之脑后，去追求一种不切实际的妄想；异想天开，想做个暴发户，而不是像通常一般人那样靠勤劳积累致富。[qh]
and thus I cast myself down again into the deepest gulf of human misery that ever man fell into,[qh]
这样，我又把自己抛入人世间最不幸的深渊。[qh]
or perhaps could be consistent with life and a state of health in the world.[qh]
如果我没有那种种虚幻的妄想，我的生活一定会康乐安适的。[qh]
