We all have aptitudes and talents that overflow the narrow bounds of our trade or profession.

我们的才干本领常常超出我们自己行业与职务的狭小范围。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

Every man feels that he is bigger than his job, and he is all the time doing what theologians call "works of supererogation. "

每个人都觉得自己才过其位，大才小用。因而无时无刻不在做着那种神学家们所谓的“额外余功”。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

The serious-minded housemaid is not content to do what she is told to do. She has an unexpended balance of energy. She wants to be a general household reformer.

一个态度认真的女佣人不会满足于只干几件被吩咐的差事。她身上有着剩余精力没有用完。她的志向是做一名改革家庭方面的专家。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

So she goes to the desk of the titular master of the house and gives it a thorough reformation.

于是她来到那家虚有其名的主人的书桌面前，在那上面进行一番彻底改革。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

She arranges the papers according to her idea of neatness. When the poor gentleman returns and finds his familiar chaos transformed into a hateful order, he becomes a reactionary.

按照她的整洁观点，所有文件都重新被做了归置。当那位可怜的主人回来后，发现为他熟悉的杂乱已经变成可恶的整齐时，他简直成了一个反动分子。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

The serious manager of a street railway company is not content with the simple duty of transporting passengers cheaply and comfortably.

一位秉性严肃的市街铁道公司经理绝不会只从运送乘客方面，和使乘客觉得便宜、舒适这一简单责任中获得满足感。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

He wants to exercise the functions of a lecturer in an ethical culture society.

他要发挥在一个道德促进会上一位宣讲人的职能。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

While the transported victim is swaying precariously from the end of a strap he reads a notice urging him to practise Christian courtesy and not to push.

于是，当一位可怜的乘客正在皮带环的下面被弄得摇晃蹒跚站立不稳时，他却要为这位乘客读份东西，请求他发扬基督徒的美德，不要推挤。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

A man enters a barber’s shop with the simple desire of being shaved. But he meets with the more ambitious desires of the barber. The serious barber is not content with any slight contribution to human welfare.

一个人走进理发店，目的只是刮刮胡子而已。但却遇到一位雄心壮志的理发师。这位志向高超的理发师绝不满足于仅对人类的幸福做微小的贡献。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

He insists that his client shall be shampooed, manicured, massaged, steamed beneath boiling towels, cooled off by electric fans, and, while all this is going on, that he shall have his boots blacked.

他坚持认为，他这位顾客还需要洗发、修指、按摩、在滚热毛巾下发汗，在电风扇下冷却，等等，并在进行所有这些的同时，他的皮鞋还必须被重新上油擦拭。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

Have you never marveled at the patience of people in having so many things done to them that they don’t want, just to avoid hurting the feelings of professional people who want to do more than is expected of them?

当你看到有些人在接受种种他们并不需要的服务时所表现的这种忍耐，你不觉得奇怪吗?其实也不过是为了不伤害情愿多干点活的手艺人的感情罢了。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

The painters, dramatists, musicians, poets, and novelists are just as human as housemaids and railway managers and porters. They want to do "all the good they can to all the people they can in all the ways they can. "

我们的画家、剧作家、音乐家、诗人以及小说作者也就像上面说的女佣人，铁路经理与列车员一样，犯着人们所通有的毛病。他们总是希望“以最多的方式对最多的人们做最多的工作”。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

They get tired of the ways they are used to and like to try new combinations.

他们厌倦了自己所熟悉的东西，而喜欢尝试种种新的结合。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

So they are continually mixing things. The practitioner of one art tries to produce effects that are proper to another art.

于是他们经常把不同的事物拉扯在一起。一种艺术的实践者总是尽量用另外一种艺术制造出某种效果。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

A musician wants to be a painter and use his violin as if it were a brush. He would have us see the sunset glories that he is painting for us.

于是有的音乐家想当画家，像使用画笔一样来使用小提琴。他要让我们看见他为我们描绘的落日彩霞。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

A painter wants to be a musician and paint symphonies, and he is grieved because the uninstructed cannot hear his pictures, although the colors do swear at each other.

而画家则想当音乐家，想把交响乐画出来，并很苦恼那些缺乏修养的人听不出他画中的音乐，因为那些色彩明明在互相咆哮着。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

Another painter wants to be an architect and build up his picture as if it were made of cubes of brick. It looks like brick-work, but to the natural eye it doesn’t look like a picture.

另一位画家则想当建筑师，希望他构制出的图画能产生砖石砌成的感觉。结果他的作品倒很像一所砖房，但可惜在一般正常人看来却不像一张图画。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

A prose-writer gets tired of writing prose, and wants to be a poet. So he begins every line with a capital letter, and keeps on writing prose.

再如一位散文作家厌倦了写散文，而想当诗人。于是他在每一行开头用了大写字母以后，却继续照着他的散文写法不误。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

You go to the theatre with the simple-minded Shakespearean idea that the play’ s the thing. But the playwright wants to be a pathologist. So you discover that you have dropped into a gruesome clinic.

再比如看戏剧。你带着你那简单的莎土比亚式的观念走进剧院，以为来到这里就是看戏。但是你的剧作家却想成为病理学家。于是你发现自己身陷诊所，四周阴森难耐。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想

You sought innocent relaxation, but you are one of the hon-elect and have gone to the place prepared for you. You must see the thing through. The fact that you have troubles of your own is not a sufficient claim for exemption.

你本来是到这里来消遣，找个地方舒散舒散，但你这位不入流的人士却走入这个专门为你准备的场所，因此你不得不熬到终场。至于你有你自己的苦衷这点并不成为充分的理由使你豁免。

属类：文学表达-英语散文-人生随想