SAT阅读历史背景资料：潘恩

2018-04-01 15:44:00来源：网络

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　　新东方在线SAT频道为大家带来SAT阅读历史背景资料：潘恩一文，希望对大家SAT备考有所帮助。更多精彩尽请关注新东方在线SAT频道!

　　(1)对政府起源的论述：

　　Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

　　Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform, and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence whichin every other case advises him out of two evils to choose the least.Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others…

　　在此，潘恩清晰地指出了社会和政府的区别，认为“社会为我们的欲求而生，政府因我们的恶念而诞”，“任何形态的社会均是幸福之源，而政府即使处于最佳状态也是必要之恶”。这些都是受到启蒙运动思想家影响的笔触，对生活在现代民主社会的人，会感到很熟悉，但如果放到200多年前的北美，还是很有新意的。

　　(2)对于北美独立时期的讨论：

　　Another reason why the present time is preferable to all others, is, that the fewer our numbers are, the more land there is yet unoccupied, which instead of being lavished by the king on his worthless dependants, may be hereafter applied, not only to the discharge of the present debt, but to the constant support of government. No nation under heaven has such an advantage as this.

　　The infant state of the Colonies, as it is called, so far from being against, is an argument in favor of independence.We are sufficiently numerous, and were we more so, we might be less united. It is a matter worthy of observation, that the more a country is peopled, the smaller their armies are.In military numbers, the ancients far exceeded the moderns: and the reason is evident, for trade being the consequence of population, men become too much absorbed thereby to attend to anything else. Commerce diminishes the spirit,both of patriotism and military defense. And history sufficiently informs us, that the bravest achievements were always accomplished in the non-age of a nation. With the increase of commerce, England has lost its spirit.The city of London, not withstanding its numbers, submits to continued insults with the patience of a coward. The more men have to lose, the less willing are they to venture. The rich are in general slaves to fear, and submit to courtly power with the trembling duplicity of a Spaniel.

　　Youth is the seed time of good habits, as well in nations as in individuals. It mightbe difficult, if not impossible, to form the Continent into one government half a century hence. The vast variety of interests, occasioned by an increase of trade and population, would create confusion. Colony would be against colony. Each being able might scorn each other's assistance: and while the proud and foolish gloried in their little distinctions, the wise would lament, that the union had not been formed before. Wherefore, the present time is the true time for establishing it. The intimacy which is contracted ininfancy, and the friendship which is formed in misfortune, are, of all others,the most lasting and unalterable. Our present union is marked with both these characters: we are young, and we have been distressed; but our concord hath withstood our troubles, and fixes a memorable era for posterity to glory in.

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