Judge for yourself. Jefferson refused to accept other people's opinions without careful thought. "Neither believe nor reject anything," he wrote to his nephew, "because any other person has rejected or believed it. Heaved has given you a mind for judging truth and error. Use it."
Jefferson felt that the people "may safely be trusted to hear everything true and false, and to form a correct judgment. Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."
Do what you believe is right. In a free country there will always be conflicting ideas, and this is a source of strength. It is conflict and not unquestioning agreement that keeps freedom alive. Though Jefferson was for many years the object of strong criticism, he never answered his critics. He expressed his philosophy in letters to a friend, "There are two sides to every question. If you take one side站在這一方 with decision 下定決心and act on it with effect實(shí)現(xiàn), those who take the other side will of course resent your actions."
reject
vt. refuse to take, believe, use of consider 拒絕
rejection
n.
nephew
n. the son of one's brother or sister
error
n. mistake; sth. done wrongly
false
a. not true or correct
judgment
n. opinion 判斷， 看法
hesitate adj. hesitant遲疑的
vi. feel doubtful; be undecided 猶豫，遲疑不決
hesitation
n.
prefer
vt. like better; choose (one thing) rather than (another) 更喜歡；寧愿
preference
n.
latter the former … the later …
a. nearer to the end 后面的；后半的
n. the second of two persons or things just spoken of 后者
conflict
n. be opposed; clash 沖突
n. disagreement; clash; fight
unquestioning
a. given or done without question or doubt
agreement
n. having the same opinion(s); thinking in the same way 同意；一致的
criticism v. criticize
n. unfavourable remarks of judgments 批評(píng)
critic
n. person who makes judgments about the good and bad qualities of sth.; person who points out mistakes 評(píng)論家；批評(píng)者
criticize
vt.
philosophy philosopher哲學(xué)家
n. 哲學(xué)
resent
vt. feel angry or bitter at 對...忿恨;對...不滿
action
n. the process of doing things; sth. done 行動(dòng)過程；行動(dòng)