This figure of speech is plain and pungent. Salt is savory, purifying, preservative. It is one of those superfluities which the great French wit defined as “things that are very necessary”. A bag of salt, among the barbarous tribes, was worth more than a man. The Jews prized it especially, because their religion laid particular emphasis on cleanliness, and because salt was largely used in their sacrifices. 這篇文章清晰而中肯。鹽是有味道的，能除污，能防腐。偉大的法國智者稱鹽是非常必要的生活用品之一。在原始部落一袋鹽比一個(gè)人還值錢。*人尤為珍視鹽，因?yàn)樗麄兊淖诮烫貏e重視潔凈，并且在他們祭祀時(shí)也大量用到鹽。
Christ chose an image which was familiar, when He said to His disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth.” This was His conception of their mission, their influence. They were to cleanse and sweeten the world in which they lived, to keep it from decay, to give a new and more wholesome flavor to human existence. Their function was not to be passive, but active. The sphere of its action was to be this present life. There is no use in saving salt for heaven. It will not be needed there. Its mission is to permeate, season, and purify things on earth. 據(jù)說耶穌基督一次在對(duì)他的門徒說話時(shí)也用過類似的比喻，“你們是這世上的鹽。”耶穌說出了這些門徒的使命和應(yīng)該起到的影響。他們要去凈化他們生存的世界并使之和諧，阻止衰落，給人們帶來新鮮的更健康的風(fēng)氣。他們要積極地去做事而不是對(duì)周圍的事聽之任之。他們要在當(dāng)前的生活中做這些事情，而不是要等到去天堂后再做。在那里是不需要的。他們的使命就是在人間傳播，增添健康的活力。
Men of privilege without power are waste material. Men of enlightenment without influence are the poorest kind of rubbish. Men of intellectual and moral and religious culture, who are not active forces for good in society, are not worth what it cost to produce and keep them. If they pass for Christians they are guilty of obtaining respect under false pretenses. They were meant to be the salt of the earth. And the first duty of salt is to be salty.享有特權(quán)而沒有發(fā)揮出力量的人一文不值；受過教育而沒有影響的人也不值一提。有知識(shí)，有道德修養(yǎng)有文化的人如果不能對(duì)社會(huì)產(chǎn)生積極的影響力，就不值得培養(yǎng)和供養(yǎng)他們的一切代價(jià)。如果他們被當(dāng)作基督徒，那他們應(yīng)該因?yàn)樵趥窝b下得到人們的尊重而羞愧。他們應(yīng)該是社會(huì)的中堅(jiān)力量。作為優(yōu)秀分子的第一條就是成為優(yōu)秀分子。
This is the subject on which I want to speak to you today. The saltiness of salt is the symbol of a noble, powerful, truly religious life.這就是今天的主題。優(yōu)秀分子的優(yōu)秀性應(yīng)該體現(xiàn)在一種高尚的，有影響力的生活。
You college students are men of privilege. It cost ten times as much, in labor and care and money, to bring you out where you are today, as it cost to educate the average man, a hundred times as much as it cost to raise a boy without any education. This fact brings you face to face with a question: Are you going to be worth your salt?大學(xué)生們是被賦予特權(quán)的人。為了培養(yǎng)、造就成為今天在這里的大學(xué)生，花的是養(yǎng)活一個(gè)普通人十倍的人力和資金，是養(yǎng)活一個(gè)沒有任何教育的孩子的一百倍的代價(jià)。這個(gè)事實(shí)讓我們面對(duì)一個(gè)問題：是否能夠名副其實(shí)稱得上是優(yōu)秀分子?
Christ chose an image which was familiar, when He said to His disciples, “Ye are the salt of the earth.” This was His conception of their mission, their influence. They were to cleanse and sweeten the world in which they lived, to keep it from decay, to give a new and more wholesome flavor to human existence. Their function was not to be passive, but active. The sphere of its action was to be this present life. There is no use in saving salt for heaven. It will not be needed there. Its mission is to permeate, season, and purify things on earth. 據(jù)說耶穌基督一次在對(duì)他的門徒說話時(shí)也用過類似的比喻，“你們是這世上的鹽。”耶穌說出了這些門徒的使命和應(yīng)該起到的影響。他們要去凈化他們生存的世界并使之和諧，阻止衰落，給人們帶來新鮮的更健康的風(fēng)氣。他們要積極地去做事而不是對(duì)周圍的事聽之任之。他們要在當(dāng)前的生活中做這些事情，而不是要等到去天堂后再做。在那里是不需要的。他們的使命就是在人間傳播，增添健康的活力。
Men of privilege without power are waste material. Men of enlightenment without influence are the poorest kind of rubbish. Men of intellectual and moral and religious culture, who are not active forces for good in society, are not worth what it cost to produce and keep them. If they pass for Christians they are guilty of obtaining respect under false pretenses. They were meant to be the salt of the earth. And the first duty of salt is to be salty.享有特權(quán)而沒有發(fā)揮出力量的人一文不值；受過教育而沒有影響的人也不值一提。有知識(shí)，有道德修養(yǎng)有文化的人如果不能對(duì)社會(huì)產(chǎn)生積極的影響力，就不值得培養(yǎng)和供養(yǎng)他們的一切代價(jià)。如果他們被當(dāng)作基督徒，那他們應(yīng)該因?yàn)樵趥窝b下得到人們的尊重而羞愧。他們應(yīng)該是社會(huì)的中堅(jiān)力量。作為優(yōu)秀分子的第一條就是成為優(yōu)秀分子。
This is the subject on which I want to speak to you today. The saltiness of salt is the symbol of a noble, powerful, truly religious life.這就是今天的主題。優(yōu)秀分子的優(yōu)秀性應(yīng)該體現(xiàn)在一種高尚的，有影響力的生活。
You college students are men of privilege. It cost ten times as much, in labor and care and money, to bring you out where you are today, as it cost to educate the average man, a hundred times as much as it cost to raise a boy without any education. This fact brings you face to face with a question: Are you going to be worth your salt?大學(xué)生們是被賦予特權(quán)的人。為了培養(yǎng)、造就成為今天在這里的大學(xué)生，花的是養(yǎng)活一個(gè)普通人十倍的人力和資金，是養(yǎng)活一個(gè)沒有任何教育的孩子的一百倍的代價(jià)。這個(gè)事實(shí)讓我們面對(duì)一個(gè)問題：是否能夠名副其實(shí)稱得上是優(yōu)秀分子?