A Treatise on Good Manners and Good Breeding

By Jonathan Swift

论礼貌与教养（上）

乔纳森 斯威夫特

Good manners are the art of making those people easy with whom we converse.

Whoever makes the fewest persons uneasy is the best bred in the company.

As the best law is founded upon reason,so are the best manners.And some lawyers have introduced unreasonable things into common law, so likewise many teachers have introduced absurd things into common good manners.

礼貌就是使与我们交谈的人安然处之的一种艺术。

在一群人中，最越不让人感到局促不安，谁就越有教养。

最公正的法律是建立在理智之上的；同样，最好的行为举止也是建立在理智之上的。有的律师把没有道理的东西引进了习惯法；同样，许多教师把荒唐可笑的东西引进了礼貌之中。

One principal point of this art is to suit our behaviour to the three several degrees of men; our superiors,our equals, and those below us.

For instance, to press either of the two former to eat or drink is a breach of manners; but a farmer or a tradesman must be thus treated, or else it will be difficult to persuade them that they are welcome.

礼貌艺术的一大要素是以适当的行为举止来对待三种不通层次的人，即我们的长者，我们的同辈和低于我们这一层次的人。

例如，强迫前两种层次的人吃菜喝酒是失礼的，但是农夫或者商贩就应这样对待，否则要让他们相信他们是受欢迎的是很困难的。

Pride, ill nature, and want of sense, are the three great sources of ill manners; without some one of these defects, no man will behave himself ill for want of experience; or of what, in the language of fools, is called knowing the world.

I defy anyone to assign an incident wherein reason will not direct us what we are to say or do in company, if we are not misled by pride or ill nature.

骄傲自大，性情乖癖，缺乏理性是失礼的三大根源。如果能根除这些弊病，没有人会因为缺乏经验，或者，如某些愚人所说，因为谙于世故而有失礼貌的。

我敢说任何人能举出一个事例来说明，要不是受到骄傲情绪或坏脾气的舞蹈，理智总会指引我们与人交往时谈吐得体，举止适度。
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