刚刚走上社会的年轻人，充满了蓄势待发的豪情、青春的朝气、前卫的思想，梦想着轰轰烈烈的事业。可是，社会毕竟是一所包罗万象、喧嚣复杂的大学校，拒绝虚假和肤浅，更拒绝空想和庸碌。如何在涉世之初少走弯路，顺利开创成功的事业？对此，马克·吐温如是说。
Being told I would be expected to talk here, I inquired what sort of talk I ought to make. They said it should be something suitable to youth—something instructive, or something in the nature of good advice. Very well. I have a few things in my mind which I have often longed to say for the instruction of the young; for it is in one's tender early years that such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable. First, then, I will say to you, my young friends—and I say it beseechingly, urgingly—always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don't they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.
Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didn't mean to. Yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined.
Go to bed early, get up early—this is wise. Some authorities say get up with the sun; some say get up with one thing, others with another. But a lark is really the best thing to get up with. It gives you a splendid reputation with everybody to know that you get up with the lark; and if you get the right kind of lark, and work at him right, you can easily train him to get up at half past nine, every time—it is no trick at all.
By Mark Twain
［参考译文］
忠告年轻人
马克·吐温
被告知将要在此演讲，我询问应该说什么话才合时宜。他们说我演讲的内容应该适合年轻人——具有教育意义，或者能提出些善意的忠告。正好，我脑中有一些想法，一直希望能表达出来，对年轻人进行教育；因为在年轻时，这些事情最能深扎心底，最为持久，最为珍贵。首先，我要告诉你们，我年轻的朋友——我恳切地说，父母在世时，永远遵从他们的要求，从长远来看这是最佳法则，因为你不这样做，他们也会迫使你去做。大部分父母认为，他们比你明白事理，一般来说，相信这一点会比照自己的判断行事更奏效。
若有上级，要尊敬他们，尊重陌生人，有时也要尊重其他人。如果有人攻击你，你要考虑清楚人家是有意还是无意的，不要采取极端措施；仅仅看准时机，用砖头予以回击，这样足矣。如果你发现他并非有心攻击你，那么你坦率地承认自己打他是不应该的；像个男子汉承认自己并不是有意的。是的，应该避免诉诸暴力行为；在与人为善、厚道谦和的年代，为这种事情计较，时间也会慢慢流逝。让身份低贱，没有受过教育的人去动手动脚吧。
早睡早起——这是明智之举。有些权威人士说日出而起，有些人说与这样事物同起，有些人说与那样事物同起。但是百灵鸟真的是最佳的同起之物。所有人知道你伴着百灵鸟起床，你会因此声名鹊起；如果你得到合适的百灵鸟，用正确的方法调教，那么可以轻易地训练它在九点半起床，每次——它都不会做恶作剧。
［注释］
-beseechingly [bɪˈsiːʧɪŋlɪ] adv. 恳求地 imploringly
-superstition [ˌsjuːpəˈstɪʃən] n. 迷信 an irrational belief
-dynamite [ˈdaɪnəmaɪt] n. 炸药，充满火药味的事物 a powerful explosives
-lark [lɑːk] n. 云雀，百灵鸟 rise with the lark（习语）早起
［作者简介］
马克·吐温（Mark Twain, 1835-1910），美国批判现实主义文学的奠基人，世界著名的短篇小说大师，当过排字工人、密西西比河上的舵手和新闻记者，以语言幽默见长。他经历了美国从自由资本主义到帝国主义的发展过程，其思想和创作也表现为从轻快调笑到辛辣讽刺再到悲观厌世的发展阶段。其作品文字清新有力，审视角度自然而独特，被视为美国文学史上具划时代意义的现实主义著作。马克·吐温本人也被誉为“美国文学中的林肯”。其代表作有《汤姆·索耶历险记》、《哈克贝里·费恩历险记》等。