Have you ever opened a heavy door for a little child? Have you ever given a hand to lift or carry something for a fellow passenger? Have you ever donated a book, a coat or some money for a charity event? If you have any of the above experiences and remember how you felt doing that, you may agree with me that we should help strangers as much as we can.
你是否曾为一个小孩打开过一扇厚重的门?你是否曾为一位同行旅客伸出援手提举一件东西?你是否曾为一件善事捐献过一本书、一件大衣或一些钱?如果你曾经有过上述任何经历并记得当时的感受,你可能会同意我的看法:我们应该尽我们所能帮助陌生人。
The first reason why we should help others is simply that it makes us happy. Most of us have done strangers a good turn once in a while, whether it is giving directions to a lost boy or giving our seat to an elderly lady in a bus. What a great feeling it is to draw a smile on others' faces! And how much better do we feel about ourselves when we are trusted, needed and able to help? As the American philosopher Emerson put it, “Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.” Indeed, some doctors even cheer up their depressed or despairing patients by making them visit and help the needy.
我们应该帮助他人的第一个原因就是这会使我们快乐。我们中的大多数人都曾帮助过陌生人,无论是给一个迷路的男孩指路还是在公交车上给一位老奶奶让座。赢得别人脸上的微笑是一种多么好的感觉啊!当我们被信任,被需要或能够助他人时,我们感觉多么美好啊。正如美国哲学家爱默生所说:“送人玫瑰,手有余香。”事实上,有些医生甚至通过让那些抑郁或绝望的患者去看望和帮助有需要的人来鼓舞这些患者。
Moreover, helping others makes the world more livable and lovable. We cannot live well alone in the world, and we need each other's care and support from time to time. If you are thankful for the times that others have helped you, then do your best to pass it on; if you hope to get help from others, offer your hand wherever you can and you'll end up helping yourself. Chen Guangbiao, the famous entrepreneur of China, made his every effort to help the poor children who had no chance to receive education; Andy Lau, the Hong Kong pop star, donated several million yuan for the mainland disaster areas. Neither wanted to get any return, but both have helped to make our society heartwarming and harmonious. We should help strangers, for if we don't, how cold and depressing this world would be!
而且,帮助他人使得世界更为宜居和可爱。我们无法很好地单独生存于世,我们不时需要彼此的关爱和支持。如果你对于曾经帮助过你的人心存感恩,那么竭尽全力把它传递下去吧;如果你希望从他人那里得到帮助,无论何地只要你能,就伸出你的援手吧,最终你会帮到自己。著名的中国企业家陈光标尽其所能帮助没机会接受教育的贫苦儿童;香港流行音乐巨星刘德华为大陆灾区捐献了数百万元。他们两人都未曾想要得到任何回报,但是他们提供的帮助使我们的社会温暖和谐。我们应该帮助陌生人,因为如果我们不这样做的话,这个世界将是多么冷漠和压抑啊!
Admittedly, professional cheats tend to take advantages of people who are kind, helpful and warm-hearted. However, we should not turn our backs on those in need of our help for this reason. Instead, we should use common sense to judge the help-seeker and the situation carefully before offering help when still holding our faith in human nature. Anyhow, who will believe in us if we ourselves don't have much faith in others?
不可否认,职业骗子往往利用那些好心助人、古道热肠的人们。然而,我们不应该因此拒绝帮助那些需要我们帮助的人。相反,我们应该相信人性的善,同时在提供帮助之前,利用常识仔细评判寻求帮助的人们和当时的情况。无论如何,如果我们自己不再信任别人的话,谁会相信我们呢?
To sum up, we should be ready to help others because it makes us feel better and makes our society more beautiful. When it comes to strangers, we should still offer what we can though we should avoid getting cheated.
总之,我们应该乐于助人,因为这会使我们感觉更好,也会使我们的社会更加美好。当涉及陌生人时,尽管我们应该避免被骗,我们仍然应该尽我们所能。
Nowadays, it is not rare for teachers to complain that their students are indifferent to classmates. Some are even worried that the young generation might become too selfish to shoulder the due responsibility for the future of China. To be sure(无疑), many of our young people cannot see eye to eye(看法一致)with them. However, from my direct observations as a university student, I must admit that we young people today are in general more self-centered and unsympathetic than our previous generations.
现在,老师们经常抱怨他们的学生对同学冷漠。有些老师甚至担心年轻一代可能变得太自私而无法为中国的未来担负应有的责任。毫无疑问,对此我们的很多年轻人无法与其看法一致。然而,从我作为一名大学生的直接观察来看,我必须承认,总体而言我们今天的年轻人比我们的前几代人更加以自我为中心和冷漠无情。
To start with, many, if not most, young people choose to attend exclusively to their own needs. In their eyes, it is all too natural to seek satisfaction from what they do, even if it may cause inconvenience to others. Take my dormitory for example. It is a common scene here that a roommate cheerfully talks to his girlfriend on the phone at midnight when others are struggling for a sound sleep. One may complain now and then, but to no avail. In fact, a good many students live their dormitory life much in the same way. When I take a nap at noon, they often play cards without regard to my need. Life is a joy to them, but they often enjoy it to the neglect of others' feelings. In sharp contrast, our caring parents always pay heed to our needs and those of people around them. Whenever my father comes back home late in the night, he tiptoes in for fear that he might awake the family. Whenever my mother goes downstairs to the morning fair, she always walks quietly lest she should disturb the neighbors.
首先,如果不是大多数的话,那么至少很多年轻人选择仅仅致力于满足自我的需求。在他们眼中,从他们的所作所为中寻求满足感非常自然,即使会给他人造成不便也在所不惜。以我的宿舍为例。经常在午夜的时候,其他人都在努力试图入睡,而一位室友却兴奋地和女友打着电话。有人可能不时抱怨,但无济于事。事实上,很多学生的宿舍生活与此类似。当我在中午小睡时,他们经常打牌,毫不考虑我的需要。对他们而言,生活就是娱乐,但他们经常忽视他人的感受而自得其乐。与此形成鲜明对比的是,我们充满爱心的父母总是注意到我们和周围人的需要。每当我父亲深夜回家时,他总是踮着脚尖走路,生怕吵醒家人。每当我母亲下楼去早市的时候,她总是静静地走路,以免打扰邻居。
Moreover, our young people tend to be insensitive to others' difficulties. When a classmate falls ill, few people offer to help; instead, they regard it as none of their business. Some students in my class come from poor families, but they are active mobile phone users, who may spend per month twice as much as what their parents earn from arduous labor. When asked why they behave so, they answer that parents have the obligation to pay the bills. Personally, I detest their answer, for I know my parents never thought that way when they were young. Being aware of their parents' financial difficulty, they used various means to support themselves and managed to save every penny they could for the family.
而且,我们年轻人往往对他人的困难漠不关心。当一位同学生病的时候,很少有人提供帮助。相反,他们认为这与自己无关。我们班上有些学生来自贫困家庭,但他们经常使用手机,每月的花费可能是父母通过辛勤工作挣得的工资的两倍。当被问到为何这么做时,他们回答说父母有付账的义务。就我个人而言,我厌恶他们的回答,因为我知道我的父母年轻时从不这么想。意识到父母经济困难,他们用各种手段来养活自己并设法为家里省下每一分钱。
For the above reasons, I subscribe to the idea that today's young people in China are more selfish and hard-hearted than our previous generations. It is high time that we learned from older generations so that a harmonious and splendid future for us all can be anticipated.
由于上述原因,我赞成这个观点:和我们的前几代人相比,今天中国的年轻人更加自私和无情。我们是时候向前几代人学习了,以便我们可以期待和谐美好的未来。