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Most people complain of fortune, few of nature; and the kinder they think the latter has been to them, the more they murmur at what they call the injustice of the former. 很多人抱怨命运，却很少有人抱怨自然;人们越是认为自然对他们仁爱有加，便越是嘀咕命运对他们的所谓不公。 Why have not I the riches, the rank, the power, of such and such, is the common expostulation with fortune; but why have not I the merit, the talents, the wit, or the beauty, of such and such others, is a reproach rarely or never made to nature. The truth is, that nature, seldom profuse, and seldom niggardly, has distributed her gifts more equally than she is generally supposed to have done. Education and situation make the great difference. Culture improves, and occasions elicit natural talents. I make no doubt but that there are potentially, if I may use that pedantic word, many Bacons, Lockes, Newtons, Caesars, Cromwells, and Mariboroughs at the ploughtail, behind counters, and perhaps, even among the nobility; but the soil must be cultivated, and the season favourable, for the fruit to have all its spirit and flavour. 人们常常对命运发出诘难：我为何没有财富、地位、权力以及诸如此类的东西;但人们却很少或从不这样责怪过自然：我为何没有长处、天赋、机智或美丽以及诸如此类的东西。事实是，自然总是将天赋公平地分配给人们，比人们通常认为的还要不偏不倚，很少过分地慷慨，也很少吝啬。人与人之间的巨大差异是由于教育和环境使然。文化修养改良了天赋，机遇环境诱发了天赋。如果允许我用潜在的这个学究味浓重的词的话，我并不怀疑在农田耕作，在柜台后营业，甚至在豪门贵族中间有很多潜在的培根们、洛克们、牛顿们、凯撒们、克伦威尔们和马尔伯勒们，但必须要有耕耘栽培过的泥土，还有适宜的季节，这样生成的果实才能具有它全部的品质和特色。 | 
