内容简介
本杰明·富兰克林(Beniamin Franklin,1706~1790)——美国精神完美的代表,著名的思想家、政治家、科学家、文学家、外交家和实业家,个堪称通才的伟人。他一生真买的写照就像他自己所说过的一句话:“诚实和勤勉,应该成为你长久的伴侣。”
本杰明·富兰克林出生在波士顿一个皂烛商家庭。他早年辍学,十岁开始在父亲的皂烛店帮工,十二岁成为其兄所办印刷所的学徒。富兰克林十七岁只身前往费城,开始了艰苦创业。通过自己的诚买勤勉及不懈努力,他很快事业有成,跻身费城的成功人士之列。富兰克林利用一切空闲时间刻苦自学,通晓了多种外语,阅读了大量欧洲各国的历史、哲学、文学著作,对自然科学和政治经济学也做了很深的研究,且取得了令人瞩目的成果。富兰克林成名之后在北美殖民地的一文化传播和社会福利方面做了大量工作,逐渐成为北美殖民地中具影响力的人物之一。在北美独立和解放的革命大潮中,富兰克林忘我地投身到这场波澜壮阔的斗争之中。他在大陆会议上与保守派进行了坚决的斗争,协助杰斐逊起草并修改了《独立宣言》,全权代表美国出使法国,出色地完成了一系列外交使命,被誉为民主精神的缔造者和美国人的象征。美国开国元勋、第任总统乔治·华盛顿曾经这样评价他:“在我的一生中,能让我敬佩的人只有三位:一位是本杰明·富兰克林先生;第二位也是本杰明·富兰克林先生;第三位还是本杰明·富兰克林先生。”
富兰克林晚年根据自己的人生经历写成的《富兰克林自传》是一本为世人所赞颂的经典自传。世界各国许多年轻人深受其影响,因此而奋发图强,励志人生,彻底改变了自己,走上了成功的道路。在这本自传中,富有启蒙时代乐观进步精神与人道主义思想的富兰克林袒露心扉,向读者展示了其人生的经历,讲述了自己追求人性与自由、科学与进步的美好向往。他相信人类凭借知识和理性足以解决发展中的种种难题,并谆谆告诫读者不要抛弃以勤劳节俭为核心的美德。《富兰克林自传》就像他的为人那样淳朴无华,文风简洁明快,语言清晰亲切,通俗幽默。读者阅读此书就如同在与一个慈祥的长者娓娓对话,悉心体会一位成功人士的处世哲学,从中汲取人生修养的大智慧,在品味其无穷无尽韵味的同时,思想和精神得到突破性的升华。
作者简介
本杰明·富兰克林,1706年1月6日出生于波士顿米尔克大街。他的父亲约瑟亚·富兰克林是一个制蜡烛的匠人。约瑟亚·富兰克林结过两次婚,在他的十七个孩子中,本杰明·富兰克林是他最小的儿子。本杰明·富兰克林的学校教育经历在他十岁时就结束了,十二岁时给他的哥哥詹姆斯的生意帮忙。詹姆斯是个印刷从业者,他出版了-份名为《新英格兰报》的报纸。本杰明·富兰克林成了这份报纸的一名撰稿人,以后还做了一段时间编辑。但是后来两兄弟吵了架,本杰明·富兰克林随即离家出走,先是到了纽约,之后来到费城,时同是1723年的10月。他很快就干起了印刷的工作,但他还没千几个月就在总督基思的诱惑下去了伦敦。到了伦敦之后,他发现基思的允诺完全是一张空头支票,他只好又干起了排字工人的工作,直到他被一个名叫德纳姆的商人带回费城,让他为其工作。德纳姆去世之后,富兰克林重操旧业。他很快就自己开了一家印刷所,出版了《宾夕法尼亚人报》。他在那份报纸上发表了许多文章,并使这份报纸成为了一个引发当地多项改革的媒体。1732年他开始出版其著名的《穷人理查德的历书》,他借用他人或亲自编纂的那些至理名言言简意赅,既为此书增色生辉,又从很大程度上奠定了他此后盛名卓著一生的基础。1758年,富兰克林在《穷人理查德的历书》中发表了。“神父亚拉伯罕的演讲”一文,之后就停止了此书的写作。。神父亚拉伯罕的演讲。一文被视为美国殖民地时期最杰出的一篇文学作品。
在此期间,富兰克林越来越关注公众事务。他开始建立学院的计划,这个学院后来发展成宾夕法尼亚大学。他还创立“美利坚哲学研究会”,以便让具有科学探索精神的人能够就他们的科学发现相互交流富兰克林本人则开始了对电的研究以及其他科学探索。在富兰克林毕生从事实业与政治活动的间隙,他总会继续这些研究。1748年,富兰克林已经积蓄到了不菲的财富,他卖掉了生意,以得到闲暇进行科学研究。过了几年,富兰克林做出了多项发明,这让他在整个欧洲学术界名声鹊起。
在政治上,富兰克林既是一个能力非凡的管理者又是一个口若悬河的雄辩家,但他的政治生涯却因为他利用职权为亲友谋利而受到损害。他在家乡的政治生活中做出的最为显著的贡献就是邮政改革。然而,富兰克林作为政治家的声誉主要在于他建立的北美殖民地与英国的关系上,后来是殖民地与法国的关系。1757年,富兰克林被派往英国,对殖民地政府中佩恩派的影响发出抗议。他那里呆了五年,竭力让英国人民和英国政府了解殖民地的状况。返回北美之后,他在帕克斯顿事件中起到了令人尊敬的作用,但也使得他失去了议会中的议席。然而,在1764年富兰克林作为殖民地的代表又被派往英国,这次是请求英国国王从当时殖民地掌权者手中收回权力。在伦敦,他积极反对邮政法案的提案,但是人们失去了对他的信任,原因是他为一个朋友谋取北美邮政局长的职位,他的名声也因此受损。尽管由于他的有效工作最终导致这个邮政法案提案的流产,人们对他还是持怀疑的态度。但是富兰克林依旧努力工作,为殖民地的利益大声疾呼,此时殖民地的麻烦层出不穷,正在酿成触发革命的危机。1767年,富兰克林渡海来到法国,受到极大的礼遇。然而,富兰克林1775年返回北美殖民地之前失去了他在邮政局的职位,因为他参与了向马萨诸塞著名的泄漏哈金森与奥利弗信件的事件。他返回费城以后,被选为北美大陆会议的成员。1777年,富兰克林作为美利坚合众国的代表被派往法国。他在法国一直逗留到1785年。成为了法国最受欢迎的人物。富兰克林回国后,由于他为圜效力成就卓著,人们公认他是美国独立运动中仅次于华盛顿的顶尖人物。1790年4月17日,本杰明·富兰克林与世长辞。
富兰克林1771年在英国开始撰写这部自传的第一部分,1784年、1785年和1787年他又时断时续地撰写这一部分,一直写到发生在1757年的事情。经历了一系列非同寻常的波折之后,自传的原始手稿由约翰比格娄先生印刷出版。此次再版更加确认了这本自传在刻画殖民地时期最著名人物方面的价值,以及其被公认为最伟大的自传之一的地位。
内页插图
目录
INTRODUCTION NOTE
简介
Part 1 第一部分
Part 2 第二部分
Part 3 第三部分
Part 4 第四部分
Part 5 第五部分
Part 6 第六部分
Part 7 第七部分
Part 8 第八部分
CHIEF EVENTS IN FRANKLINS LIFE
富兰克林一生重大事件
精彩书摘
The account we received of his life and character from some old people at Ecton, I remember, struck you as something extraordinary, from its similarity to what you knew of mine.
"Had he died on the same day, " you said, "one might have supposed a reincarnation."
John was bred a dyer, I believe of woolens. Benjamin was bred a silk dyer, serving as assistant at London. He was an ingenious man. I remember him well, for when I was a boy he came over to my father in Boston, and lived in the house with us some years. He lived to a great age. His grandson, Samuel Franklin, now lives in Boston. He left behind him two volumes of his own poetry, consisting of little occa- sional pieces addressed to his friends and relations, of which the fol- lowing, sent to me, is a specimen. He had formed a shorthand of his own, which he taught me, but, never practicing it, I have now forgot it. I was named after this uncle, there being a particular affection between him and my father. He was very religious, a great attender of priests" speeches, which he took down in his shorthand, and had with him many volumes of them. He was also much of a politician; too much, perhaps, for his station. There fell lately into my hands, in London, a collection he had made of all the principal pamphlets, re- lating to public affairs, from 1641 to 1717. A dealer in old books met with them, and knowing me by my sometimes buying of him, he brought them to me. It seems my uncle must have left them here, when he went to America, which was about fifty years since.
This obscure family of ours was early in the Reformation, and continued Protestants through the reign of Queen Mary, when they were sometimes in danger of trouble on account of their zeal against the pope. They had got an English Bible, and to conceal and secure it, it was fastened open with tapes under and within the cover of a joint-stool. When my great-great-grandfather read it to his family, he turned up the joint-stool upon his knees, turning over the leaves then under the tapes. One of the children stood at the door to give notice if he saw the officer of the spiritual court coming. In that case the stool was turned down again upon its feet, when the Bible remained con- cealed under it as before. This story I heard from my uncle Benjamin.
The family continued with the Church of England till about the end of Charles the Seconds reign, when some of the ministers that had been removed for holding religious gatherings in Northamptonshire. Benjamin and Josiah adhered to them, and so continued all their lives: the rest of the family remained with the Episcopal Church.
Josiah, my father, married young, and carried his wife with three children into New England, about 1682. The religious gatherings hav- ing been forbidden by law, and frequently disturbed, moved some considerable men of his acquaintance to remove to that country, and he was prevailed with to accompany them there, where they expected to enjoy their mode of religion with freedom. By the same wife he had four children more born there, and by a second wife ten more, in all seventeen; of which I remember thirteen sitting at one time at his table, who all grew up to be men and women, and married; I was the youngest son, and the youngest child but two, and was born in Boston, New England. My mother, the second wife, was Abiah Folger, daugh- ter of Peter Folger, one of the first settlers of New England, of whom honorable mention is made by Cotton Mather in his church history of that country, entitled Magnalia Christi Americana, as "a religious, learned Englishman," if I remember the words correctly. I have heard that he wrote many small occasional pieces, but only one of them was printed, which I saw now many years since. It was written in 1675, in the verse of that time and people, and addressed to those then con- cerned in the government there. It was in favor of liberty of con- science, and in behalf of the Baptists, Quakers, and other groups that had been under persecution, ascribing the Indian wars, and other dis- tresses that had fallen upon the country, to that persecution, as so many judgments of God to punish so evil an offense, and calling for the removal of those laws. The whole appeared to me as written with a good deal of decent simplicity and manly freedom. The last few lines, I remember, explained that his criticism proceeded from goodwill, and, therefore, he would be known to be the author.
My elder brothers were all made assistants to different trades. I was put in grammar-school at eight years of age, my father intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the Church. My early eagerness to learn to read (which must have been very ear- ly, as I do not remember when I could not read) , and the opinion of all his friends, that I should certainly make a good scholar, encour- aged him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin, too, approved of it, and proposed to give me all his shorthand volumes of religious lec- tures, I suppose as a stock to set up with, if I would learn his charac- ter. I continued, however, at the grammar-school not quite one year, though in that time I had risen gradually from the middle of the class of that year to be the head of it, and farther was removed into the next class above it, in order to go with that into the third at the end of the year. But my father, in the meantime, from a view of the expense of a college education, which having so large a family he could not well afford.
前言/序言
6500词床头灯英语学习读本:本杰明·富兰克林自传(英汉对照) [The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin] 下载 mobi epub pdf txt 电子书 格式
6500词床头灯英语学习读本:本杰明·富兰克林自传(英汉对照) [The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin] 下载 mobi pdf epub txt 电子书 格式 2024
6500词床头灯英语学习读本:本杰明·富兰克林自传(英汉对照) [The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin] mobi epub pdf txt 电子书 格式下载 2024