英文自修94：传递善行

本系列内容英文原文取自BBC Thought for the Day节目网站，朋友们也可以下载节目录音收听。

译者：Young

审读：武太白

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Thought for the Day 20140531Rev Roy Jenkins

英文自修：传递善行

Young 译

Whenever an advertisement offers me something for nothing, my instinctive reaction is ‘What’s the catch?’ When it’s money being handed out, apparently for free, I know for certain that in one way or another, somebody’s trying to con me.

无论何时，只要有广告要免费提供东西给我， 我的本能反应就是“意图为何？”当有人免费散发钱财时，我就知道一准是有人试图用这样或那样的方式进行诈骗。

Which is why the report on this programme yesterday about the Hidden Cash project, said to be causing a social media frenzy in San Francisco, and now spreading to this country, was a useful brake on my scepticism. A man who’s done well on the property market is using Twitter to provide clues pointing towards the envelopes he’s stuffed with banknotes and left in public places.

本节目（Today）昨天播报了一条消息：据说“藏现金寻宝”项目在旧金山的社交媒体上掀起了一股寻钱热，现在蔓延到英国。这一报道很有用，刹住了我对此类事件的本能怀疑。一个地产业的成功男士在推特上提供线索，暗示他在哪些公共场所藏了装有纸钞的信封。

They’ve been appearing taped to everything from bike racks to parking meters, and it’s first come, first served. So it’s hardly surprising that there are lots of people out searching. The anonymous benefactor sees this as a ‘social experiment for good’, a way both of giving back and of encouraging more random acts of kindness.

这些信封被粘在包括自行车车架和停车计时器在内的各种各样的东西上，而且是先到先得。所以那么多人出去寻找并不奇怪。这个匿名的施主把这个活动看作“行善的社会实验”，这种方式种既可以回馈社会又可以鼓励更多随机的善行。

So maybe I was right: there is a catch, albeit a highly desirable one. Receiving kindness can make it more likely that we’ll start sharing it. As the Sunday School hymn used to put it, ‘Have you had a kindness shown? Pass it on. ‘Twas not meant for thee alone, pass it on. Let it travel down the years, let it wipe another’s tears…’

也许我是对的：背后有意图，不过这意图非常合人心意。接受恩惠后更有可能去分享。就像教堂圣歌里常常唱的那样“是否有人向你展示过善意？把它传递下去。它不是仅仅为你，把它传递下去，让它流传经年，让它拭去他人的泪滴。”

But there’s more than a sense of moral obligation here. It’s not like being burdened with one of those old chain letters, which you really wanted to throw in the bin but felt some grim duty to land on someone else. When we appreciate what we’ve received, we want to give: there’s a multiplying effect at work.

但这不仅是道义上的责任感。这不是你因为老旧的连锁信而烦恼，想把它扔进垃圾箱，但又感觉到要去祸害一下别的谁才甘心。我们感激所得的同时，也会想要给予，这其中有叠加效应在起作用。

We might not ‘pass it on’ in the same way. Random acts of kindness can be as varied as human imagination, and the will to seize opportunities. They can be as simple as spending time with someone who never gets a visitor, writing a note to tell a friend how much their support means to you, going out of your way to help a stranger who’s lost or confused. It might be an encouraging word which just lifts another person’s spirits for a day - or one that leads to a life being transformed.

我们可能不会用同样的方式将其“传递下去”，随机的善行多种多样，就像人类的想象力和把握机会的意志一样。它可能简单到只是花时间陪一个无人问津的人，或者写个纸条告诉朋友他们的支持对你意味着什么，去帮助一个迷失困惑的陌生人。它也可能是一个鼓励的字眼，可以让另一个人振奋一整天——甚或带来一生的改观。

Whatever it is, drill down, and we’re likely to find that, however unconsciously, we’re responding to something that’s been done for us. We’ve all been on the receiving end of undeserved generosity - from a host of people, for sure; and in Christian thinking above all from God. We love, says St. John, because he first loved us.

不论它是什么，努力探索我们就有可能发现，我们在无意之中，对别人为我们做过的事给出回应。我们总是在接受来自许许多多人的不应得的慷慨，在基督教的思维里，首要的就是上帝的慷慨相助。圣•约翰说我们会去爱是因为他先爱我们。

Jesus said that discovering the way of love he intends is like finding a priceless pearl. We’d empty our bank accounts for it. And for us that might or might not include random acts of kindness through anonymous white envelopes.

耶稣说发现他爱的方式就像找到无价的珍珠，我们要倾尽所有才能找到它。对我们来说，那可能包括，或许也不包括匿名分发白色信封的随机善行。