Cardinal Newman - Some Well-informed People 汉译

We sometimes fall in with persons who have seen much of the world, and of the men who, in their day, have played a conspicuous part in it, but who generalize nothing, and have no observation, in the true sense of the word. They abound in information in detail, curious and entertaining, about men and things; and, having lived under the influence of no very clear or settled principles, religious or political, they speak of everyone and everything, only as so many phenomena, which are complete in themselves, and lead to nothing, not discussing them, or teaching any truth, or instructing the hearer, but simply talking. No one would say that these persons, well informed as they are, had attained to any great culture of intellect or to philosophy.

我们有时邂逅一些熟悉世故的人，和一些曾经见过许多在其全盛时代，叱咤风云，世界安危所系的有名人物的人，但是他们却不能归纳出一点什么来，也毫无真正的观察力。我所遇见的那些人，对于人物和掌故，富有离奇有趣而又极为详尽的见闻。他们因为在宗教上和政治上，都无很明确的信念，而浑浑噩噩地度日，所以他们谈到一切的人物和一切的事情时，只是当作行云流水，映入他们眼帘的一些现象，把它说完即了，并未留有什么后果，也未讨论到任何真理，对听他说的人自然无所启发，只不过是一种闲谈而已。这样的人虽富有见闻，谁也不会认为他们在任何伟大的文化，知识，或哲理上有什么造诣的。