第1页

一个人若不善使用期聪明才智，
比起懦夫来，还要可鄙得多，
这种人好像在人性更为本质的部分是残缺，畸形的。

A man without the proper use of the intellectual faculties of a man, 
is, if possible, more contemptible than even a coward, 
and seems to be mutilated and deformed 
in a still more essential part of the character of human nature.  

虽然国家无法从教育下民中得到利益，
但若对他们完全不管不问也不适当；
其实，国家教养下民也不是一无好处：
他们受教越多，就越少野蛮民族中常常引起动乱不安的
那种狂热，迷信的盲目行为。

Though the state was to derive no advantage 
from the instruction of the inferior ranks of people, 
it would still deserve its attention that they should not be altogether uninstructed.
The state, however, derives no inconsiderable advantage from their instruction. 
The more they are instructed the less liable they are 
to the delusions of enthusiasm and superstition, which, among ignorant nations, 
frequently occasion the most dreadful disorders.    

一个有教养的智力发达的民族，
总是比一个愚昧无知的民族更懂礼貌，更守规矩。
他们每个人都觉得自己更值得尊敬，更有资格得到他们法定的上司尊敬，
因而他们也更加乐意尊敬他们的上司。
他们对那些出于派性私利而散布的不满言论更能持审慎态度，
更能明辨是非，看穿阴谋，不会轻易上当受骗去参加那些反对政府政策的轻举妄动行为。

An instructed and intelligent people, besides, 
are always more decent and orderly than an ignorant and stupid one.
They feel themselves, each individually, 
more respectable and more likely to obtain the respect of their lawful superiors, 
and they are therefore more disposed to respect those superiors. 
They are more disposed to examine, and more capable of seeing through, 
the interested complaints of faction and sedition, 
and they are, upon that account, 
less apt to be misled into any wanton or unnecessary opposition 
to the measures of government. 


在自由国家里，政府的稳定多半取决于人民对政府所做所为的肯定态度，
因此，至关重要的是，
不能叫他们对政府的所作所为进行草率和反复无常的评判。

In free countries, where the safety of government 
depends very much upon the favourable judgment 
which the people may form of its conduct, 
it must surely be of the highest importance 
that they should not be disposed to judge rashly or capriciously concerning it. 

		斯密：《国富论》Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, V, 1