6. Einstein’s View of Life

爱因斯坦谈人生

背景知识

阿尔伯特.爱因斯坦（ Alben Einstein 1879-1955）,德国著名物理学家，1921年因在物理学方面的杰出贡献，特别是发现光电效应定律获诺贝尔物理学奖。他提出的狭义相对论和广义相对论有力地推动了物理学的发展。爱因斯坦除了致力于科学研究，还竭尽全力支持人类和平事业以及慈善事业。他酷爱音乐，拉得一手小提琴。再他看来，科学、艺术都是相同的，如同真理一样，是最质朴和纯真的。

How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper 1) ______ one knows from daily life that one exists for other people –first of all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness is wholly 2) ________, and then for the many unknown to us, to whose destinies we are 3) _____ by the ties of 4) _______. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an 5) _____amount of the labor of my fellow-men. I regard class 6) ________ an unjustified and, in the last resort, based on force. I also believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, physically and mentally.

To 7) _______ after the meaning or object of one’s own existence or that of all creatures has always seemed to me absurd from an objective point of view. 8)_______. In this sense I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves----this ethical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. 9) ____,______, ________. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed to me empty. 10)______.

Key words

1. mortal n.（终有一死的）生物；〈口〉人，凡人

2. sojourn v. 逗留n. 逗留；旅居

3. reflection n. 反射，映像，倒影，反省，沉思，反映

4. well-being n.安宁，幸福，健康快乐；福利

5. destiny n. 命运，定数

6. sympathy n. 同情，同情心

7. remind vt. 提醒，使想起

8. exert v. 尽（力），施加(压力等)，努力

9. fugal adj. 节约的，俭省的

10. oppressive adj. 压制性的，压迫的，沉重的，难以忍受的

11. engross vt. 占去；独占；吸引，占用，使全神贯注

12. undue adj. 不适当的，过分的，过度的；不应有的

13. distinction n. 区别，差别，级别，特性，声望，显赫

14. unassuming adj. 谦逊的，不装腔作势的

15. absurd adj. 荒谬的，可笑的

16. determine v. 决定，确定，测定，使下定决心

17. endeavor n. 努力，尽力vi．尽力，努力

18. ethical adj. 伦理的，道德的；民族的，民族特有的

19. pigsty n. 猪舍，脏房子

20. eternally adv. 永恒地，常常

21. trite adj. 陈腐的

22. contemptible adj. 可鄙的