Virtue 美德

關於有人作出一個獨特的正直或中肯的行為，和一位正直的翩翩君子之間是有差別的。有人不是網球高手，但偶而也會打出一個好球。一個所謂的網球高手，他的眼神，肌肉和反應都已經被訓練到毫無疑問的可以打出無以數計的好球。他們有某種的氣質或品質，甚至於他不打球的時候都可以被感受出來；正如一位數學家的心念，當他不在研算時，他的心思一直都有某種特有的習慣和觀感。同樣的，一個人堅忍不拔的持續作出正直的行為，最後會得出某種性格的品質。現在我們所謂的“美德”，就是這種品質，而非那些特出的行為。

There is a difference between doing some particular just or temperate action and being a just or temperate man. Someone who is not a good tennis player may now and then make a good shot. What you mean by a good player is the man whose eye and muscles and nerves have been so trained by making innumerable good shots that they can now be relied on. They have a certain tone or quality which is there even when he is not playing, just as a mathematician's mind has a certain habit and outlook which is there even when he is not doing mathematics. In the same way a man who perseveres in doing just actions gets in the end a certain quality of character. Now it is that quality rather than the particular actions which we mean when we talk of "virtue."


** C.S. Lewis in "Mere Christianity"
英翻中 : by Bill