名篇背诵：Equality and Greatness 平等与伟大

Equality and Greatness 平等与伟大

乔治·萧伯纳(George Bernard Shaw)

Between persons of equal income there is no social distinction except the distinction of merit . Money is nothing:character, conduct, and capacity are everything... There would be great people and ordinary people and little people, but the great would always be those who had done great things, and never the idiots whose mothers had spoiled them and whose fathers had left them a hundred thousand a year; and the little would be persons of small minds and mean characters, and not poor persons who had never had a chance. That is why idiots are always in favour of inequality of income (their only chance of eminence ), and the really great in favour of equality.

- distinction [dɪˈstɪŋkʃn] n. 区别，差别

- merit [ˈmerɪt] n. 功绩，荣誉，价值

- eminence [ˈemɪnəns] n. 卓越，著名

平等收入的人之间，没有社会的区别，只有功德的区别。钱财算不了什么；操行、行为和能力才是最最重要的……人分为伟人、普通人和小人，而伟人总是那些干过大事的人，从不是那些母亲溺爱父亲每年留给十万英镑的蠢材；小人心胸狭窄，吝啬，卑微；而穷人要吝啬也没有机会和条件。那就是为什么蠢材总是要收入不平衡（他们唯一显赫的机会），而真正的伟人却要平等。

乔治·萧伯纳(1856—1950)，英国小说家、剧作家、批评家，1925年诺贝尔文学奖获得者，以幽默和社会批判著称，出生于爱尔兰都柏林。他写过批判现实主义的小说：《业余社会主义者》(An Unsocial Socialist ,1883)。写了欧洲戏剧史上的名著《易卜生主义的精髓》(The Quintessence of Ibsenism ，1891)。戏剧很多，如《华伦夫人的职业》(Mrs Warren's Profession ，1893)，《鳏夫的房产》(Widower's House ，1892)，《荡子》(The Philanderer ，1893)，《人与超人》(Man and Superman , 1903)，《皮格马利翁》(Pygmalion ，1913)，《伤心之家》(Heartbreak House ，1919)，《苹果车》(The Apple Cart ，1929)等。

除了文学作品，肖还是一位活跃的社会评论家，他对妇女权利、平等和社会改革持有激进的观点，并通过他的作品和演讲来传达这些观点。他的言论常常引起争议，但也为他赢得了一大批支持者。