《富兰克林自传》读后感
五分钟了解《富兰克林自传》
The Autobiography of BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography was written in two parts, the first was composed as a letter to his son. The second half was penned several years later and was ultimately never finished.
《富兰克林自传》由两部分组成，第一部分是他给儿子写的信。第二部分是几年后所写，但最终没有完成。
Franklin’s father had 17 children from two wives. Franklin was the youngest son with two younger sisters.
富兰克林的父亲有两个妻子以及17个孩子。富兰克林是男孩中年龄中最小的，他还有两个年幼的妹妹。
He was born in Boston, New England on Sunday 6th January 1706. The family had settled there after moving from England. He went to grammar school at 8 years of age but left aged 10 to help his father with his business.
他于1706年1月6日出生在新英格兰的波士顿。他们家从英格兰搬到这里后，就定居在这里。富兰克林八岁开始去语法学校上学，而后在10岁辍学帮助父亲做生意。
He worked there for two years, before becoming an apprentice at his brother James’ new printing business. This job gave him access to a great many books and combined with his thirst for knowledge, it meant he would stay up most of the night reading.
富兰克林帮助父亲工作两年后，便去哥哥James的印刷厂，成为了一名学徒。这个工作让他有机会和很多书接触，加之富兰克林渴望获取知识，所以他大部分夜里都在读书。
He also dabbled in writing poetry and managed to sell some of his own work, but was later discouraged by his father. He continued to learn how to write, improving his language and after reading a book on Socrates used his “Socratic method” to practise drawing people into concessions, even if they had superior knowledge.
他还涉足了诗歌创作，并设法卖掉了一些自己的作品，但是最后被父亲禁止了。而后，他继续学习如何写作，提高语言水平。在阅读了一本苏格拉底的书之后，他用“苏格拉底方法”来练习说服学识渊博的人。
Franklin’s brother began printing one of the first newspapers in America and Franklin’s job was to deliver it. Thinking his brother wouldn’t publish anything of his, he submitted an article anonymously, which was well received and encouraged by this, submitted several more.
富兰克林的哥哥开始发行美国最早的报纸，而富兰克林则主要负责送报纸。富兰克林考虑到哥哥并不会刊发自己的作品，他匿名提交了一篇文章，结果被报纸录用，这激励他之后连发了好几篇文章。
After taking over the publishing of the paper for a few months, Franklin left and traveled to Philadelphia via New York, where he first met his future wife – Miss Read – and again worked for a printers.
而后，富兰克林接管了哥哥的印发报纸的工作（这里是因为哥哥被举报）。几个月后，他离开了波士顿，经纽约到达了费城，在那里他见到了未来的妻子（Miss Read），并再次做起了印刷工人的工作。
He took a voyage to England, arriving in London on 24th December 1724, traveling with his friend, James Ralph. He got work immediately at a printing-house, working there for the best part of a year before moving to a greater printing-house for the remainder of his stay, about 6 months.
1724年12月24日，他与朋友詹姆斯·拉尔夫一起航行到英国，抵达伦敦。（由于身无分文，富兰克林开始寻求老本行的工作）他很快在印刷厂找到了工作，并在那里工作了一年。而后便跳槽到当地一家更大的印刷厂工作了六个月。
He drank only water instead of the “strong” beer that the other workmen drank, arguing against its supposed strength through its ingredients, and saving himself four or five shillings a week. A large number of his colleagues followed his example.
在其他同事醉天酒地时，富兰克林坚持喝清水。他不同意酒的成分有益的说法， 同时这也给他每周节省了4到5先令。随后大多数同事纷纷效仿。
After a two and a half month trip back, Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia on 11th October 1726. Miss Read had married somebody else in his absence but had later left him.
经过两个半月的旅程，本杰明·富兰克林于1726年10月11日到达费城。在他不在期间，Read小姐已经与别人结婚，但丈夫之后离开了他。
Franklin worked running a shop business but he and the owner got seriously ill and after the owner died, the store and therefore also his employment, was lost. He decided to partner with a friend and they opened a new printing-house. It became a success due in part to the reputation gained from Franklin’s work ethic and determination to deliver, regardless of any accidents or mishaps.
富兰克林曾经营一家商店生意，但他和老板同时病重。老板去世后，商店倒闭，他的工作也就丢了。他决定和一个朋友合伙开一家新的印刷厂。印刷厂经营得非常成功，这主要归功于富兰克林的职业道德以及不论任何意外和差错也要及时修改交付的决心（书中描述富兰克林4点起床开始工作，晚上也工作到很晚，感染了很多邻居）。
By 1729, Franklin was also publishing a newspaper and had bought out his partner, thus now solely running the business. His business was given the jobs of printing paper money (which he had influenced and campaigned for through his writings) and printing the laws and votes of the government nearby. He then opened a stationers shop to further expand his business.
到1729年，富兰克林还出版了一份报纸，并买断了他的合伙人，独自经营生意。他的业务包括印刷纸币（富兰克林写的报道深受赏识，因此获取了一些业务）以及印刷附近政府的法律文件和倡议书。之后，他又开了一家文具店继续扩张他的生意。
Benjamin Franklin married Miss Deborah Read on 1st September 1730. Soon after his marriage he attempted his first public project – the building of a subscription library. He drew up the proposals, got the required subscriptions and the public library was built. This in time led to the locals being observed as more intelligent than the people of the same rank in other countries.
富兰克林于1730年9月1日与Deborah Read小姐结婚。结婚后不久，他开始尝试第一个公共项目—会员制图书馆。他起草了提案，获得了所需的订阅量（起初大约为50人）并建立了公共图书馆。以至于当时大家普遍认为费城的人比其他地方的人更聪明。
Reading was the only amusement Franklin allowed himself and he set aside 1-2 hours a day to study with books. He began a project to attain moral perfection by creating a list of thirteen virtues and focusing on one each week.
富兰克林将阅读作为自己的唯一娱乐活动，每天拿出1-2小时来读书。他给自己制定了一个“道德完美”计划，列举了十三种美德并在每周专注完成其中一个。
This model could be completed four times a year and whilst he never did achieve moral perfection, this system and the practising of it did provide him with a moral improvement and happiness.
这个模型一年可以完成四次，尽管他从未实现“道德完美”，但这种方法及其实践过程的确让他取得道德上的进步和幸福。
He began to take a strong interest in public affairs. In Pennsylvania there was no provision for defence or educating the youth, so in 1743 Franklin drew up a proposal for an academy and the following year, a philosophical society. He also wrote a pamphlet outlining the lack of defence and promoting a voluntary association of the people. This motion received over 10,000 subscribers, who in time armed themselves and formed themselves into companies and regiments.
富兰克林开始对公共事务产生浓厚兴趣。宾夕法尼亚州当时并没有防御工程和青年教育规章制度。因此，富兰克林于1743年提出了建立一所学院的方案，并于次年又提出建立一个哲学学会的提议。他还写了一本小册子，概述了缺乏防御的问题，呼吁人们组织起防御工程。这项运动得到了一万多人的支持，他们及时武装起来，组成连队和兵团。
Franklin also invented an open stove for warming rooms whilst saving fuel compared to an iron furnace. It was so popular he was offered a patent to sell them but he refused, stating “We should be glad of an opportunity to serve others by any invention of ours; and this we should do freely and generously”.
富兰克林还发明了一个开放式火炉，给室内升温，这相比于铁炉节省了不少能源。“开炉”十分流行，以至于他被授予出售“开炉”的专利权，但是他拒绝了。他认为，“我们应该很高兴有机会通过我们的发明为他人服务；我们应该慷慨地，免费地去（贡献我们的发明）”。
In 1756, “General” Benjamin Franklin was sent to the North-West frontier to build forts with troops under his command to form protection from hostile Indians.
1756年，本杰明·富兰克林将军被派往西北边境，在他的指挥下，部队建造了堡垒，以免受敌人（Indians）的侵害。
Ten years prior to this in 1746, Franklin began his electric experimentation. He initially performed these experiments in his house and many people came to see the wonders he would produce. One paper he wrote was about how lightning and electricity were the same. After initially being laughed at, Franklin conducted an experiment with a kite, successfully extracting sparks from a cloud.
在这十年前，富兰克林开始了电学实验。他最初在自己房间里进行这些实验，很多人出于好奇来围观。他写了一篇关于闪电和电能是一样的论文。起初受到了很多人的嘲笑，但富兰克林用风筝进行了一个实验，成功从云端抽取出电火花。
Later in life Benjamin Franklin was appointed as the delegate to represent the Pennsylvania Assembly in England and was given the job of petitioning the King against the governor, who was having disputes with the assembly. The last part of the autobiography details Franklin’s meetings and discussions in London but the two sides were far from any agreement.
晚年，本杰明·富兰克林（Benjamin Franklin）被任命为宾夕法尼亚州议会代表，前往英国向国王提出请愿书，反对与议会产生争议的州长。自传的最后一部分详细介绍了富兰克林在伦敦的会议和讨论，但双方没有达成任何协议。
His memoirs were unfinished due to his death in 1790, but he would go on to be part of the committee that drafted the US Declaration of Independence, announcing the United States of America as a sovereign state and no longer part of the British Empire.
他的回忆录因1790年去世而未完成。后来富兰克林成为起草《美国独立宣言》委员会的成员，宣布美国为独立于大英帝国的主权国家。
He very much earned the title, “The First American”.
他赢得了“The First American”称号。