第11课

旁白 neutral

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death.

有些老年人害怕死亡。

旁白 neutral

In the young there is a justification for this feeling.

这种情绪如果发生在年轻人身上，是情有可原的。

旁白 neutral

Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle

青年人有理由担心他们会战死沙场，

旁白 neutral

may justifiably feel bitter in the thought

想到他们没有享受到人生最美好的东西，

旁白 neutral

that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer.

因而感到痛苦，这也是情有可原的。

旁白 neutral

But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows,

但是，一个已经尝过人间甘苦的老人，

旁白 neutral

and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do,

并且已经做完了他力所能及的一切工作，

旁白 neutral

the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble.

如果他仍然害怕死亡，那就有几分可怜又可鄙了。

旁白 neutral

The best way to overcome it--so at least it seems to me--

克服这种恐惧的最好办法——至少在我看来是如此——

旁白 neutral

is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal,

是使你的兴趣逐渐扩大，变得更加超然物外，

旁白 neutral

until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede,

直到自我的界限一点点地消退，

旁白 neutral

and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.

你的生命越来越融入到普遍的生命之中。

旁白 neutral

An individual human existence should be like a river--

人的个体生命应该像一条河流——

旁白 neutral

small at first, narrowly contained within its banks,

最初很小，被狭窄的河岸限制着，

旁白 neutral

and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls.

汹涌地冲过巨石，飞跃瀑布。

旁白 neutral

Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly,

渐渐地，河流变得宽阔，河岸后退，水流也变得更加平静，

旁白 neutral

and in the end, without any visiblebreak, they become merged in the sea,

最终，在没有任何明显的断裂的情况下，它们汇入了大海，

旁白 neutral

and painlessly lose their individual being.

并且毫无痛苦地失去了它们的个体存在。

旁白 neutral

The man who, in old age can see his life in this way,

那些年老时能以这种方式看待自己生命的人，

旁白 neutral

will not suffer from the fear of death,

将不会受到对死亡的恐惧的折磨，

旁白 neutral

since the things he cares for will continue.

因为他所珍视的一切将会继续存在。

旁白 neutral

And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases,

而且，如果随着活力的衰退，疲劳感增加，

旁白 neutral

the thought of rest will be not unwelcome.

休息的念头将不会令人不快。

旁白 neutral

I should wish to die while still at work,

我希望在工作时死去，

旁白 neutral

knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do,

知道别人会继续我无法再做的事情，

旁白 neutral

and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.

并满意地想到，所有可能做的事情都已经完成了。