出自 汤玛斯·卡莱尔(Thomas Carlyle，1795一1881）的《过去与现在》(Past and Present，1843)。
Life was never a May-game for men; in all times the lot of the dumb-millions born to toil was defaced with manifold sufferings, injustices, heavy burdens, avoidable and unavoidable; not play at all, but hard work that made the sinews sore, and the heart sore. …
And yet I will venture to believe that in no time, since the beginnings of Society, was the lot of those same dumb millions of toilers so entirely unbearable as it is even in the days now passing over us. It is not to die, or even to die of hunger, that makes a man wretched; many men have died; all men must die; – the last exit of us all is in a Fire Chariot of Pain. But it is to live miserable we know not why; to work sore and yet gain nothing; to be heart-worn, weary, yet isolated, unrelated, girt in with a cold universal Laissez-faire: it is to die slowly all our life long, imprisoned in a deaf, dead Infinite Injustice, – as in the accursed iron belly of a Phalaris Bull! This is and remains forever intolerable to all men whom God has made. Do we wonder at French Revolutions, Chartisms Revolts of Three Days? The times, if we will consider them, are really unexampled.
“使一个人悲惨的不是死，是活得可怜，而不知为什么；是工作得筋骨酸痛而无所得；是心酸，疲惫，却又孤立无援，被冷冰冰的普遍的自由放任主义紧紧裹在中间；是整个一生都在慢慢死去，被禁闭在一种不闻不动，无边的不正义之中，就象被扔进了暴君的铜牛的该死的铁肚里一般。
And yet I will venture to believe that in no time, since the beginnings of Society, was the lot of those same dumb millions of toilers so entirely unbearable as it is even in the days now passing over us. It is not to die, or even to die of hunger, that makes a man wretched; many men have died; all men must die; – the last exit of us all is in a Fire Chariot of Pain. But it is to live miserable we know not why; to work sore and yet gain nothing; to be heart-worn, weary, yet isolated, unrelated, girt in with a cold universal Laissez-faire: it is to die slowly all our life long, imprisoned in a deaf, dead Infinite Injustice, – as in the accursed iron belly of a Phalaris Bull! This is and remains forever intolerable to all men whom God has made. Do we wonder at French Revolutions, Chartisms Revolts of Three Days? The times, if we will consider them, are really unexampled.
“使一个人悲惨的不是死，是活得可怜，而不知为什么；是工作得筋骨酸痛而无所得；是心酸，疲惫，却又孤立无援，被冷冰冰的普遍的自由放任主义紧紧裹在中间；是整个一生都在慢慢死去，被禁闭在一种不闻不动，无边的不正义之中，就象被扔进了暴君的铜牛的该死的铁肚里一般。
