8 We Are on a Journey

Henry Van Dyke

Wherever you are, and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike at this moment, and in all the moments of our existence. We are not at rest; we are on a journey. Our life is a movement, a tendency, a steady, ceaseless progress towards an unseen goal. We are gaining something, or losing something, every day. Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing, for the mere advance of time is a change. It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July. The season makes the difference. The limitations that are childlike in the child are childish in the man.

Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another. Even the failure to do something is in itself a deed. It sets us forward or backward. The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole. To decline is to accept the other alternative.

Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday? Yes, you must be a little nearer to some port or other; for since your ship was launched upon the sea of life, you have never been still for a single moment—the sea is too deep; you could not find an anchorage if you would; there can be no pause until you come into port.

难词释义

magnetic [mæɡˈnetɪk] adj. 磁的；磁性的

anchorage [ˈæŋkərɪdʒ] n. （船的）锚地，停泊处

人生旅途

亨利·凡·戴克

无论你在何处，无论你是何人，此刻，而且在我们生命的每时每刻，你与我都有一点是类似的。我们不是在休息，而是在旅途中。生命是一种运动，一种趋势，一个稳步、持续的通往一个未知目标的过程。每天，我们都在获得，或失去。尽管我们的地位和性格看起来好像一点都没变，但是它们的确在变化。因为时光的流逝本身就是一种变化。在一月和七月拥有一片光秃秃的土地是不同的，是季节本身带来了变化。孩童时可爱的缺点到了成人时便成了幼稚。

我们做的每件事都是迈向一个或另外一个方向，甚至“没做成一件事情”本身也是一件事情，它让我们前进或倒退。一根磁针阴极的转动与阳极的转动同样真实。拒绝也是另一种接受。

你今天比昨天更加接近你的目标了吗？是的，你肯定是离一个或另一个码头更近一些了。因为自从你的小船在生命的海洋上启航，你没有哪一刻是停止的。大海这么深，你想抛锚时找不到地方。在你驶入码头之前，你不可能停留。