Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business, is only to be sustained by perpetual neglect of many other things. And it is not by any means certain that a man’s business is the most important thing he has to do. To an impartial estimate it will seem clear that many of the wisest, most virtuous, and most beneficent parts that are to be played upon the Theatre of Life are filled by gratuitous performers, and pass, among the world at large, as phases of idleness. For in that Theatre not only the walking gentlemen, singing chambermaids, and diligent fiddlers in the orchestra, but those who look on and clap their hands from the benches, do really play a part and fulfill important offices towards the general result. You are no doubt very dependent on the care of your lawyer and stockbroker, of the guards and signalmen who convey you rapidly from place to place, and the policemen who walk the streets for your protection; but is there not a thought of gratitude in your heart for certain other benefactors who set you smiling when they fall in your way, or season your dinner with good company? Colonel Newsome helped to lose his friend’s money; Fred Bayham had an ugly trick of borrowing shirts; and yet they were better people to fall among than Mr. Barnes. And though Falstaff was neither sober nor very honest, I think I could name one or two long-faced Barabbases whom the world could better have done without. Hazlitt mentioned that he was more sensible of obligation to Northcote, who had never done him anything he could call a service, than to his whole circle of ostentatious friends; for he thought a good companion emphatically the greatest benefactor.
I know there are people in the world who cannot feel grateful unless the favour has been done them at the cost of pain and difficulty. But this is a churlish disposition. A man may send you six sheets of letter-paper covered with the most entertaining gossip, or you may pass half an hour pleasantly, perhaps profitably, over an article of his; do you think the service would be greater, if he had made the manuscript in his heart’s blood, like a compact with the devil? Do you really fancy you should be more beholden to your correspondent, if he had been damning you all the while for your importunity? Pleasures are more beneficial than duties because, like the quality of mercy, they are not strained, and they are twice blest.
不管是在中学还是在大学，是在教会还是在市场，极度的忙碌都是缺乏活力的象征。而忙中偷闲的能力，暗示的则是一种广泛的爱好和强烈的个性。在我们身边有一种人，他们无精打采、异常迂腐，除了从事某一常规职业外，很少有生活的意识。假如把这些人带到乡村，或者让他们登上轮船，你就会发现，他们是多么渴望回到自己的书桌边或书房里。
他们没有好奇心，也不能自我挑战。他们不能享受发挥自己才能的纯粹乐趣，除非用棍子抽打着，否则他们会呆站着。与这样的人多说也无益，他们无法让自己悠然自得，他们的本性就不够慷慨，不利用时间拼命工作，只会浑浑噩噩地打发时间。当无须工作，既不饥饿又不口渴时，对他来说，这个充满生命的世界只是一片空白。如果不得不需要个把小时来等火车，他们就会双目圆睁、神情呆滞。看着他们，你就会猜想那里没有可看的风景，也没有可以交谈的人；也可能会觉得他们被吓呆或被疏离了。
然而，他们极有可能是在工作中兢兢业业的人，对契约中的瑕疵或市场的变动有着敏锐洞察力的人。他们上过中学，受过高等教育，但是却总是把目光放在奖章上；他们游历各国，与智者结交，但是总考虑一己之私。似乎是嫌自己起初的灵魂还不够渺小似的，他们一生只是拼命工作，从不娱乐，以此来压缩自己的灵魂世界。直到40岁，还是在那里无精打采地等火车，不想去与他人攀谈，对娱乐也没有一点儿兴趣。在他还是孩童时，还可以在箱子上爬上爬下；到了20岁的时候，他可以盯着姑娘看；但是到了现在，烟斗抽完了，鼻烟盒也空了的时候，我们这位先生却直挺挺地坐在长椅上，目光忧郁。这样的生活，我并不认为是成功的。
但是，他本人并不是唯一受到这种习惯折磨的人，还包括他的妻子、孩子、朋友和亲人，甚至还有与他同乘一车的人。
一个人始终如一地献身于其所谓的事业，就会永远忽略许多其他事物。而且，一个人的事业是否是他要做的最重要的事情，是不能用任何形式来确定的。要公正地判定的话，其中一点是显而易见的，那就是在人生的戏剧里，最聪明、最善良、最仁慈的角色都是由无偿的演员来扮演的。在世人看来，那是悠闲的状态。因为在这出戏剧里，不仅有散步的绅士、歌唱的侍女，还有乐队里勤勉的小提琴手，而且有坐在长凳上鼓掌的观众，他们都真正扮演着一个角色，并对整体效果发挥着重要的作用。毋庸置疑，你依赖于律师和股票经纪人的关照，列车员和信号员使你快速地转移，街道上警察队对你的佑护，但是对于那些路上偶遇的，使你开怀一笑的人，难道你一点儿也不心存感激吗？纽科姆上校的帮忙，却使他的朋友破了财；弗雷德·贝哈姆向人借衬衣，却是一个诡计。但是比起巴恩斯先生， 他们两位倒是更值得结交。虽然福斯塔夫既不庄重又不诚实，但是我想我能说出一两个沮丧的巴拉巴，我想如果没有他们，这个世界会更好。哈兹里特曾提到：与那些懂得卖弄的朋友相比，他对诺思科特的责任感更强，尽管诺思科特对他并未有任何所谓的恩惠之举，因为他坚持认为，一个好的同伴就是最大的施恩者。
我知道世界上有一些人，除非以痛苦和苦难为代价赐予他们恩惠，否则他们便不会有感恩之心。这真是一种无礼的性情。一个人可能会给你写一封六页的信，同你漫无边际地闲谈，或者你开心地用半个小时读他的一篇文章，还有所收获。如果这篇手稿是他用心血写成的，就像魔鬼的契约一样，是否你会觉得更有恩于你？如果你的来信者诅咒你的刁难，你真的觉得你就会对他更加感激吗？乐趣比责任更能令人受益，就像仁慈的品质一样，由于没有任何矫饰，能给人加倍的福祉。
1. Bring these fellows_________the country, or set them aboard ship, and you see how they pine for their desk _________their study.
2. But it is not_________the person himself who suffers from his busy habits, _________his wife and children, his_________ and relations, and down to the _____ ____ people he sits with in a railway carriage or _________omnibus.
3. Do you really fancy you_________ be more beholden to your correspondent, if he had been damning you_________the while for your importunity?
1. 不管是在中学还是大学，是在教会还是市场，极度的忙碌都是缺乏活力的象征。
2. 他们一生只是拼命工作，从不娱乐，以此来压缩自己的灵魂世界。
3. 一个人始终如一地献身于其所谓的事业，就会永远忽略许多其他事物。
1. If they have to wait an hour or so for a train, they fall into a stupid trance with their eyes open.
fall into：落入；分成
2. Do you really fancy you should be more beholden to your correspondent, if he had been damning you all the while for your importunity?
all the while：一直；始终
