<h3> 西南聯(lián)大英文課之七</h3><h3> Liberty</h3><h3>何為自由？</h3><h3>作者提出疑問？I have long had an image in my mind of what constitutes liberty. 作者緊接著設(shè)置了一個場景，Suppose that I were building a great piece of powerful machinery, and suppose that I should so awkwardly and unskilfully assemble the parts of it that every time one part tried to move it would buckle up and be checked.裝配一臺復(fù)雜的機器，每一次都要將每一部分精心組裝。每一個部分只有完美合作，整部機器才能有效運轉(zhuǎn)，否則就只能被迫停下來，進行檢查了。所以所謂的自由只能是在一定范圍內(nèi)的自由，也就是要有一定規(guī)矩。Liberty for the several parts would consist in the best possible assembling and adjustment of them all, would it not?自由的完美是合作的完美，而不是絕對的孤立。It is free, not because it is let alone or isolated, but because it has been associated most skilfully and carefully with the other parts of the great structure. 沒有任何人是一塊孤島，人與人之間必須互相支持，抱團取暖，人類的未來才會充滿希望。作者又做了一個比喻，We say of a boat skimming the water with light foot, “How free she runs,” when we mean, how perfectly she is adjusted to the force of the wind.風(fēng)行水上，自然成文。小船在水上自由航行，也是要靠船和水的美妙搭配。如果遭遇暴風(fēng)，船就會處于艱難的處境，甚至?xí)袃A覆的風(fēng)險，這時就要看它努力掙扎求生的樣子了，Throw her head up into the wind and see how she will halt and stagger, how every sheet will shiver and her whole frame will be shaken, how instantly she is “ in irons,”in the expressive phrase of the sea. 只有當它再次順應(yīng)風(fēng)勢，再次與外力協(xié)調(diào)，它才算是真正自由了。She is free only when you have let her fall off again and have recovered once more her nice adjustment to the forces she must obey and cannot defy.最后作者總結(jié)，人類的自由體現(xiàn)為興趣、活動、精神三者的完美協(xié)調(diào)，Human freedom consists in perfect adjustments of human interests and human activities and human energies.</h3>