Robinson Crusoe: Junior High Part (Revised Edition)

Author: Daniel Defoe (English)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-06-02
Features: I was born in a respectable family in York① in 1632. I am not a local, because my father was a foreigner, a man from Bremen② in Germany. When he came to England, he first lived in Hull③, making a fortune through business, and later retired from business, settled in York, married my mother there. My mother's maiden name was Robinson, from a very respectable family. Because of my mother, I was named Robinson Crusoe④, but due to changes in English pronunciation, now when people call us or we call ourselves, or write our names, it has become "Cruso"⑤. So some of my friends also call me like this. I have two older brothers. One brother was a lieutenant colonel in the British infantry regiment stationed in Flanders⑥, whose unit had previously been led by the famous Colonel Lockhart. Later, this brother died near Dunkirk⑦ while fighting the Spanish. As for my second older brother, I still have no idea where he is, just like my father and mother later didn't know where I was. I am the third child in the family and did not learn any trade. From a young age, my mind was filled with the desire to travel the world. My aged father gave me a good education, in addition to family education, he also sent me to the village compulsory primary school. My father's plan was for me to study law, but I was determined to go overseas, nothing else could satisfy me. My obsession with this matter made me strongly resist my father's wishes and commands, my mother's and friends' pleas and advice; my stubborn nature seemed destined for my later unhappy life. My father was a wise and dignified man, he saw the danger of my plan and gave me many serious and insightful pieces of advice. One morning, he called me into his room (because of his gout, he could not move), and earnestly advised me. He asked me, apart from just running around aimlessly, what reason I had to leave my family and hometown. He thought that at home, I had a good chance of relying on the recommendations of relatives and friends to establish myself in society, and that I had a good chance of relying on my own efforts and diligence to earn a fortune, to live a comfortable and happy life. He told me that those who go overseas to take risks, start businesses, and achieve fame through great deeds are usually people with no land to stand on, or else they are full of ambition and wealth. But neither of these situations fit me, either too high or too low. He said my social status was between the two, or could also be called the middle class. Based on his years of experience, he thought this was the best class in the world, the happiest, not like the manual laborers who must endure all kinds of hardships, nor like the upper class who are troubled by luxury, ambition, and mutual strife. He told me that one thing proves that this way of life is happy, that everyone envies this life, many emperors often lament the unhappy consequences of their noble birth, wishing they had been born between the rich and the poor; many wise people of antiquity proved that this status is the standard of happiness, because they often pray to God, hoping neither to be too poor nor too rich. He asked me to notice that both the upper class and the lower class encounter the troubles and misfortunes of life; while those in the middle position rarely encounter these disasters, and also do not experience the ups and downs and changes in life like the upper class or the lower class. Not only that, the middle class is neither like the rich, who, through a life of luxury and extravagance, exhaust themselves physically and mentally; nor like the poor, who, through a life of daily toil, with little food and clothing, become worn and emaciated. He also said that only the middle class has the blessing of enjoying all virtues and comforts; stability and wealth can be said to be the constant companions of the middle class. He said that in this matter, not going to extremes, self-restraint, peace and health, pleasant socializing, all kinds of enjoyable pastimes, all kinds of satisfactory pleasures, all these blessings belong to the middle class; in this environment, everyone can live a leisurely life, neither having to labor and worry for daily bread, living a life of hardship and without a moment of peace; nor being troubled by desires and the ambitions of getting rich and becoming famous, exhausting themselves day by day; but just living comfortably, savoring the sweetness of life, and increasingly appreciating their happiness. Then he earnestly and kindly advised me not to be childish and to not seek trouble, because, whether from a logical point of view or from my family background, these troubles could be avoided. He said that with my family background, I didn't need to find food for myself. He said he would do his best to help me enter the way of life he recommended to me. He said that if I could not live a comfortable and happy life in the future, it could only be blamed on my fate or my own faults, not on him, because since he saw the harm of my plan, he had fulfilled his duty and had warned me against this harmful thing. In short, he said that if I listened to his advice and stayed at home, he would definitely find a way to help me; he would never encourage me to travel far, so as not to be responsible for my misfortune. Finally, he asked me to take my brother as a warning. He had equally seriously advised his brother not to go to Flanders to fight, but he didn't listen, and as a result, he joined the army with the courage of his youth, lost his life. …P1-3