全党应该执行一九四○年七月七日和十二月二十五日的中央指示，应该执行即将到来的七次大会的指示。
# The whole Party should carry out the Central Committee's directives of July 7 and December 25, 1940, and the directives of the forthcoming Seventh National Congress.
所以印这个材料，是为了帮助同志们找一个研究问题的方法。
# The following material is being published to help comrades find a method for studying problems.
现在我们很多同志，还保存着一种粗枝大叶、不求甚解的作风，甚至全然不了解下情，却在那里担负指导工作，这是异常危险的现象。
# Many of our comrades still have a crude and careless style of work, do not seek to understand things thoroughly and may even be completely ignorant of conditions at the lower levels, and yet they are responsible for directing work. # This is an extremely dangerous state of affairs.
对于中国各个社会阶级的实际情况，没有真正具体的了解，真正好的领导是不会有的。
# Without a really concrete knowledge of the actual conditions of the classes in Chinese society there can be no really good leadership.
§要了解情况，唯一的方法是向社会作调查，调查社会各阶级的生动情况。
#§The only way to know conditions is to make social investigations, to investigate the conditions of each social class in real life.
对于担负指导工作的人来说，有计划地抓住几个城市、几个乡村，用马克思主义的基本观点，即阶级分析的方法，作几次周密的调查，乃是了解情况的最基本的方法。
# For those charged with directing work, the basic method for knowing conditions is to concentrate on a few cities and villages according to a plan, use the fundamental viewpoint of Marxism, i. e., the method of class analysis, and make a number of thorough investigations.
只有这样，才能使我们具有对中国社会问题的最基础的知识。
# Only thus can we acquire even the most rudimentary knowledge of China's social problems.
§要做这件事，第一是眼睛向下，不要只是昂首望天。
#§To do this, first, direct your eyes downward, do not hold your head high and gaze at the sky.
我用开调查会的方法得来的材料，湖南的几个，井冈山的几个，都失掉了。
# Of the data I obtained through fact-finding meetings, those on Hunan Province and on Chingkangshan have been lost.
这里印的，主要的是一个《兴国调查》，一个《长冈乡调查》和一个《才溪乡调查》。
# The materials published here consist mainly of the "Survey of Hsingkuo", the "Survey of Changkang Township" and the "Survey of Tsaihsi Township".
开调查会，是最简单易行又最忠实可靠的方法，我用这个方法得了很大的益处，这是比较什么大学还要高明的学校。
# Holding fact-finding meetings is the simplest, most practicable and most reliable method, from which I have derived much benefit; it is a better school than any university.
我在湖南五县调查和井冈山两县调查，找的是各县中级负责干部；寻乌调查找的是一部分中级干部，一部分下级干部，一个穷秀才，一个破产了的商会会长，一个在知县衙门管钱粮的已经失了业的小官吏。
# In my investigations of five counties in Hunan Province and two counties in Chingkangshan, I approached responsible cadres of middle rank; in the Hsunwu investigation I approached cadres of the middle and lower ranks, a poor hsiutsai, a bankrupt ex-president of the chamber of commerce and a petty official in charge of county revenue who had lost his job.
他们都给了我很多闻所未闻的知识。
# All of these people gave me a great deal of information I had never even heard of.
使我第一次懂得中国监狱全部腐败情形的，是在湖南衡山县作调查时该县的一个小狱吏。
# The man who for the first time gave me a complete picture of the rottenness of Chinese jails was a petty jailer I met during my investigation in Hengshan County, Hunan.
兴国调查和长冈、才溪两乡调查，找的是乡级工作同志和普通农民。
# In my investigations of Hsingkuo County and Changkang and Tsaihsi townships, I approached comrades working at the township level and ordinary peasants.
这些干部、农民、秀才、狱吏、商人和钱粮师爷，就是我的可敬爱的先生，我给他们当学生是必须恭谨勤劳和采取同志态度的，否则他们就不理我，知而不言，言而不尽。
# These cadres, the peasants, the hsiutsai, the jailer, the merchant and the revenue clerk were all my esteemed teachers, and as their pupil I had to be respectful and diligent and comradely in my attitude; otherwise they would have paid no attention to me, and, though they knew, would not have spoken or, if they spoke, would not have told all they knew.
必须给予时间，必须有调查纲目，还必须自己口问手写，并同到会人展开讨论。
# Ample time must be allowed and an outline for the investigation must be prepared; furthermore, one must personally ask questions, take notes and have discussions with those at the meeting.
因此，没有满腔的热忱，没有眼睛向下的决心，没有求知的渴望，没有放下臭架子、甘当小学生的精神，是一定不能做，也一定做不好的。
# Therefore one certainly cannot make an investigation, or do it well, without zeal, a determination to direct one's eyes downward and a thirst for knowledge, and without shedding the ugly mantle of pretentiousness and becoming a willing pupil.
必须明白：群众是真正的英雄，而我们自己则往往是幼稚可笑的，不了解这一点，就不能得到起码的知识。
# It has to be understood that the masses are the real heroes, while we ourselves are often childish and ignorant, and without this understanding it is impossible to acquire even the most rudimentary knowledge.
§我再度申明：出版这个参考材料的主要目的，在于指出一个如何了解下层情况的方法，而不是要同志们去记那些具体材料及其结论。
#§I should like to repeat that the main purpose of publishing this reference material is to indicate a method for finding out the conditions prevailing at the lower levels; it is not to have comrades memorize the specific material and the conclusions drawn from it.
一般地说，中国幼稚的资产阶级还没有来得及也永远不可能替我们预备关于社会情况的较完备的甚至起码的材料，如同欧美日本的资产阶级那样，所以我们自己非做搜集材料的工作不可。
# Speaking generally, the infant bourgeoisie of China has not been able, and never will be able, to provide relatively comprehensive or even rudimentary material on social conditions, as the bourgeoisie in Europe, America and Japan has done; we have therefore no alternative but to collect it ourselves.
特殊地说，实际工作者须随时去了解变化着的情况，这是任何国家的共产党也不能依靠别人预备的。
# Speaking specifically, people engaged in practical work must at all times keep abreast of changing conditions, and this is something for which no Communist Party in any country can depend on others.
所以，一切实际工作者必须向下作调查。
# Therefore, everyone engaged in practical work must investigate conditions at the lower levels.
对于只懂得理论不懂得实际情况的人，这种调查工作尤有必要，否则他们就不能将理论和实际相联系。
# Such investigation is especially necessary for those who know theory but do not know the actual conditions, for otherwise they will not be able to link theory with practice.