In a little Rhode Island mill town, years ago, as a young minister assigned to my first church, I found the
 congregation split down the middle by one of those feuds that sometimes start with two stubborn contestants
 and wind up with everyone taking sides.
几年前在罗德岛州一个小的磨坊镇，身为年轻的牧师的我，被指派到我的第一个教堂。我发现聚会的群众因为夙怨而由中央分裂
。夙怨有时开始于两个顽固的对头，而结束于每个人各自支持一边。
The leader of one faction was an irresistible force named Mrs. Follett.
小派系的一个带头者是一股无法抗拒的力量，名叫法力脱太太。
The head of the other was an immovable object named Mrs. Lloyd.
另一个小派系的带头者是一个不动摇的人物，名叫乐得太太。
Things reached the point where the two groups sat on opposite sides of the church, glaring across the aisle.
事情到了两群人马各坐在教堂里相对的两边，隔着通道怒目相视的地步。
Drawing on my vast inexperience, I was all for calling on each of these ladies and pointing out their Christian
 duty to stop hating each other.
利用我广泛的不成熟经验，我尽量去拜访这两位女士，而且尽量指出她们基督教的职责，来阻止她们彼此相恨。
But a member of the congregation, an old mill worker named Rowbottom, stopped me.
但聚会群众的一位会友，名叫罗巴敦的磨坊老工人，打断我的话。
"It won't work," he said. "You'll just make things worse. A conductor of goodwill, that's what the pastor of a
 church should be. Goodwill is stronger than ill will."
「那不会成功的，」他说。「你只会把事情弄得更糟。善意的传导者，那是教堂的牧师所应该做到的。善意强于恶意。」
"But how does one transmit goodwill," I objected, "if there isn't any in the first place?"
「但是人们如何传达善意，」我表示异议，「如果首先没有任何善意的话？」
Rowbottom tapped me earnestly on the shoulder. "Create some, my boy. Create some!" And he walked away.
罗巴敦认真地拍拍我的肩膀。「制造一些，孩子，制造一些！」然后他走开了。
I knew that hostility provokes hostility, that anger breeds more anger, and that the church was caught in this
 vicious circle.
我知道敌意引起敌意，生气产生更多的生气，教堂因而陷于这种恶性循环。
As I pondered Rowbottom's words, it occurred to me that the converse might also be true.
在我考虑罗巴敦的话的时候，我突然想到相反的事情可能也是对的。
If either of these two ladies could be induced to say something slightly pleasant about the other, perhaps the
 downward spiral could be reversed.
如果这两位女士能够被诱导去彼此说一些稍微令人愉快的事，或许这种不断往下的螺旋形的情况可以倒转过来。
In those days, full of zeal, I made a great many parish calls.
那时候，充满着热心，我打了很多次教区的电话。
And since I weighed only about 130 pounds, the good ladies of the parish were forever offering me glasses of
 milk and pieces of pie or cake "to keep me from blowing away."
因为我秤起来重量大约只有一百卅磅，教区里好意的女士永无止境地提供一杯一杯的牛奶和一块一块的派或蛋糕给我
，「为了防止我被风吹走。」