評論
打印
January 29 is Freethinkers Day in America. It is an opportunity for people to promote and appreciate free thought. This is where logic and reason are seen as more important than faith. The day is also called Thomas Paine Day. He was a great American who lived between 1737 and 1809. He spent his life speaking and writing about the importance of freedom of thought. He wrote many books that became famous. These include ‘The Age of Reason’, ‘The Rights of Man’, and ‘Common Sense’. They helped change societies across the world, particularly in 19th century America and France. His writing played a big part in the American and French revolutions. Paine was among the first to call for an end to slavery and for human rights around the world.
1月29日是美國自由思想日。這一天，人們推崇并感激思想自由給我們帶來的好處。邏輯與推論比事實更加重要。這一天也被叫作托馬斯·潘恩日。他是一位生活在1737至1809年的美國偉人。他傾其一生來宣講并撰寫有關思想自由之重要的文章。他編寫了許多著作。這些包括：《理性時代》，《人權論》以及《常識》。這些著作改變了全世界，特別是改變了19世紀的美國和法國。他的文章對美國和法國革命起到了重要作用。潘恩也是幾名首先呼吁結束奴隸制并呼吁人權的偉人之一。
In the 1990s, the Thomas Paine Foundation began celebrating Thomas Paine’s birthday. At the same time, the‘Truthseeker’ magazine began celebrating Freethinkers Day on the same day. The magazine’s aim was to inform Americans of the importance of Thomas Paine in the history of their freedom and liberty. The great inventor Thomas Edison said: “I have always regarded Paine as one of the greatest of all Americans. Never have we had a sounder intelligence….It was my good fortune to encounter Thomas Paine's works in my boyhood…Paine educated me, then, about many matters of which I had never before thought….I recall thinking, atthat time, ‘What a pity these works are not today the schoolbooks for all children!’”
20世紀90年代，托馬斯·潘恩基金會開始慶祝托馬斯·潘恩誕辰。同一時期，“真相尋求者”雜志開始在同一日慶祝自由思想日。該雜志的目的是要告訴美國人，托馬斯·潘恩在美國自由發展史中所占據的重要位置。偉大發明家托馬斯·愛迪生稱：“我把潘恩看成是美國歷史上最偉大的人物之一。我們從來沒有像他如此高深的思想，我很幸運能夠在童年時期讀到托馬斯·潘恩的作品。潘恩教育了許多我從來沒有想過的事情。那時我就在回想，如今這些作品為什么沒有選錄入孩子們的課本當中呢？
譯文屬可可英語原創，未經允許，不得轉載。
