This morning's sunshine faded amid slow-gathering clouds, but something of its light seems still to linger in the air and to touch the rain which is falling softly. I hear a pattering upon the still leafage of the garden; it is a sound which lulls and tunes the mind to calm thoughtfulness.
I have a letter today from my old friend in Germany, E. B. For many and many a year these letters have made a pleasant incident in my life; more than that, they have often brought me help and comfort. It must be a rare thing for friendly correspondence to go on during the greater part of a lifetime between men of different nationalities who see each other not twice in two decades. We were young men when we first met in London, poor, struggling, full of hopes and ideals; now we look back upon those far memories from the autumn of life. B. writes today in a vein of quiet contentment, which does me good. He quotes Goethe:"Was man in der Jugend begehrt hat man im Alter die Faelle."
今天早晨的阳光在缓慢聚集起的云层中渐渐消失了,但一抹余晖仍然在空中流连,映照着轻柔飘落的雨丝。花园中安静的叶子被雨点轻敲的声音传入耳畔,使人心境平和,非常适于沉思。
今天我收到了德国的老朋友E.B.的一封来信。我们通信多年,这些信件早已成为我生活中的一件乐事;不仅如此,它们还常常给予我帮助和慰藉。两个国籍不同、二十多年中彼此没有见过几次面的人,能够在大半生里一直保持友好的通信,这真是一件罕有的事。第一次在伦敦相遇的时候，我们还都是贫穷的年轻人,虽然在为生活而挣扎,但心中充满了希望与理想;而现在,我们都已步人生命的秋天,共同回忆那些久远的往事。E.B.今天的来信中充满了一种宁静的满足感,非常有益于我。他引用了歌德的一句话:“人在年轻时期望之事,在暮年时得以实现。”
These words of Goethe's were once a hope to me; later they made me shake my head incredulously; now I smile to think how true they have proved in my own case. But what exactly do they mean? Are they merely an expression of the optimistic spirit? If so, optimism has to content itself with rather doubtful generalities. Can it truly be said that most men find the wishes of their youth satisfied in later life? Ten years ago I should have utterly denied it, and could have brought what seemed to me abundant evidence in its disproof. And as regards myself, is it not by mere happy accident that I pass my latter years in such enjoyment of all I most desired? Accident --- but there is no such thing. I might just as well have called it an accident had I succeeded in earning the money on which now I live.
From the beginning of my manhood it is true I longed for bookish leisure; that assuredly is seldom even one of the desires in a young man's heart, but perhaps it is one of those which may most reasonably look for gratification later on. What, however, of the multitudes who aim only at wealth, for the power and the pride and the material pleasures which it represents? We know very well that few indeed are successful in that aim; and, missing it, do they not miss everything? For them are not Goethe's words mere mockery?
歌德的这些话曾给我带来希望,但后来我却不再相信了。现在我则微笑着想到,我自己的情况是对于这句话多好的证明啊。然而,这句话的确切含义是什么呢?是否只是在表达一种乐观的精神呢?如果确实如此,乐观主义就只能满足于非常笼统的概述了。能够确定地说大多数人年轻时的愿望在老年时都得到了满足吗?如果是在十年前，我会彻底地否定它，并且能举出对我而言似乎非常充分的证据来进行反驳。我自己就是最好的例子一一不是仅仅凭借着偶然的幸运,我才能在曾经极为渴望的幸福中安度晚年吗?然而,偶然之事在这个世界上根本不存在。如果我能够成功地赚到我现在赖以生活的这些钱，那么,我或许也一样可以称之为偶然的幸运。
从成年开始，我便真心渴望那种与书为伴的悠闲生活。在年轻人的心中,这一定是非常鲜有的愿望,哪怕只是作为许多愿望中的一个——但它或许是最能够得到合理满足的愿望之一。然而,大多数目标只在于取得财富以及金钱所代表的权力、荣耀与物质享受的人，又如何呢?我们非常清楚,在这方面确实取得成功的,只是极少数的人。那么,那些没有实现这一目标的人，不就等于失去了一切吗?对于他们来说,歌德的话岂不仅仅成了一种嘲讽?
Apply them to mankind at large, and perhaps, after all, they are true. The fact of national prosperity and contentment implies, necessarily, the prosperity and contentment of the greater number of the individuals of which the nation consists. In other words, the average man who is past middle life has obtained what he strove for --- success in his calling. As a young man he would not, perhaps, have set forth his aspirations so moderately, but do they not as a fact amount to this? In defence of the optimistic view, one may urge how rare it is to meet with an elderly man who harbours a repining spirit. True; but I have always regarded as a fact of infinite pathos the ability men have to subdue themselves to the conditions of life. Contentment so often means resignation, abandonment of the hope seen to be forbidden.
I cannot resolve this doubt.
如果将这句话普遍应用于全人类,或许它终究是真实的。国家的繁荣与人民的满足这一事实,必然意味着组成国家的大多数人都生活幸福、丰衣足食。换句话说，大部分已过中年的人,都已经得到了他所努力追求的东西一一事业上的成功。人在年轻的时候,或许提出的希望不会如此平凡,但事实上，他们的希望不就是这样吗?为了捍卫这种乐观的观点，我们可以据理力争地说，很少会遇到心怀怨怒的老人。的确如此;然而,我始终认为,有才能的人不得不在现实面前低头,这无论如何都是一个极为可悲的事实。满足常常意味着屈从，意味着放弃被禁止的希望。
我无法解开这个疑惑。
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