The Five Boons of Life: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death 生命中的五個選擇
The Five Boons of Life: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death 生命中的五個選擇
◎ Mark Twain
In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said: “Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others, and be wary, choose wisely! For only one of them is valuable.”
在生命之初，一位仙女帶著籃子走來，對一位年輕人說道：“這里有幾份禮物。你可以從中拿一份，留下其他的。你要小心，作出明智的選擇！這里面只有一份禮物是珍貴的?！?
The gifts were five: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death. The youth, said, eagerly: “There is no need to consider”; and he chose Pleasure.
一共有五份禮物：名聲，愛情，財富，快樂，死亡。年輕人迫不及待地說：“沒有必要考慮?！彼x了快樂。
He went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youth delights in. But each in its turn was short-liyed and disappointing, vain and empty; and each, departing, mocked him .In the end he said: “These years I have wasted. If I could but choose again, I would choose wisely.”
此后，他就開始步入世界，追尋年輕人所喜愛的快樂。但每一種快樂都是如此短暫，令人失望、徒勞和空虛，每當一種快樂棄他而去時，都要嘲弄他一番。最后，年輕人感嘆道：“這些年我都浪費了。如果我能再選一次的話，我一定會作出明智的選擇?！?
The fairy appeared, and said: “Four of the gifts remain. Choose once more, and oh, remember—time is flying, and only one of them is precious.”
這時仙女又出現了，她說：“四份禮物依然還在。再選一次吧。噢，記住——時光飛逝，而其中只有一件是珍貴的?！?
The man considered long, then chose Love; and did not mark the tears that rose in the fairy’s eyes. After many, many years the man sat by a coffin, in an empty home. And he communed with himself, saying: “One by one they have gone away and left me; and now she lies here, the dearest and the last. Desolation after desolation has swept over me; but each hour of happiness the treacherous trader, Love, sold me I have paid a thousand hours of grief! Out of my heart of hearts I curse him!”
這個人思考了很長時間，最終選擇了愛情；他沒有注意到仙女眼里泛起的淚光。經過許多年，這人坐在一口棺材旁邊，屋子里空蕩蕩的。他自言自語道：“他們一個一個地離開了，只剩下我。現在，她就躺在這兒，我最親愛的人，我最后的親人。孤獨荒涼一次次地漫過我全身。都是因為愛情這個奸詐的商人，它出售給我的每一個小時的甜蜜，我現在都要用數千個小時的悲傷來償還！我從心底詛咒它！”
“Choose again.” It was the fairy speaking. “The years have you wisdom—surely it must be so. There gifts remain. Only one of them has any worth—remember it, and choose warily.”
“你再選一次吧?！毕膳忠淮握f道，“這些年已經給予你智慧——也理當如此。這里還有三份禮物，其中只有一份是有價值的——切記，好好選擇。”
The man reflected long, and then chose Fame; and the fairy, sighing, went her way. Years went by and she came again, and stood behind the man where he sat solitary in the fading day, thinking. And she knew his thought: “My name filled the world, and its praise were on every tongue, and it seemed well with me for a little while. How little a while it was! Then came envy; then detraction; then hate; then persecution. Then derision, which is the beginning of the end. And last of all came pity, which is the funeral of fame. Oh, the bitterness and misery of renown!”
他想了很長時間，然后選擇了名聲。仙女嘆了口氣，徑自離開了。時光流逝，仙女又回來了，站到他的身旁。已邁入遲暮之年的他孤身一人，心事重重。她知道他所有的想法：“我的名字傳遍了整個世界，每個人都爭相贊頌，似乎有一陣子我心滿意足?？赡鞘嵌嗝炊虝旱囊魂囎影?！隨后來的就是嫉妒，然后是詆毀，然后是憎惡，然后是迫害，之后是嘲諷，從一切開始步入完結。最后，都是憐憫，也是我的名聲的葬禮。啊，名聲原來是這般苦澀和痛苦！”
“Choose yet again.” It was the fairy’s voice.
“重新再來選擇?！毕膳穆曇粼俣软懫?。
“Two gifts remain. And do not despair .In the beginning there was but one that was precious, and it is still here.
“還剩下兩份禮物。不要絕望，從一開始就只有一份是寶貴的，而現在它還在這里?！?
“Wealth—which is power! How blind I was!” Said the man, “Now, at last, life will be worth the living. I will spend, squander. These mockers and despisers will crawl in the dirt before me, and I will feed my hungry heart with their envy, I will have all luxuries, all joys, all enchant times of the spirit I will buy, buy, buy! I have lost much time, and chosen badly heretofore, but let that pass; I was ignorant then, and could but take for best what seemed so.”
“財富——財富就是力量！我過去多盲目?。 彼f，“現在，最后，我的人生將要變得有意義了。我要縱情歡度此生，我要揮霍我的人生。那些對我冷嘲熱諷、輕蔑詆毀我的人，將要在我面前的泥土里掙扎，而我空乏的心也將因為他們的妒忌而得到滿足。我將要享盡榮華富貴，所有歡樂和所有銷魂的時光。我要買，買，買！以前我作錯了選擇，失去了多少時間，不過算了吧；當時我很無知，我只能選看起來最好的東西?！?
Three short years went by, and a day came when the man sat shivering in a mean garret; and he was gaunt and wan and hollow-eyed, and clothed in rags; and he was gnawing a dry crust and mumbling: “Curse all the world’s gifts for mockeries and gilded lies! And miscalled, every one, they are not gifts, but merely lendings, Pleasure, Love, Fame, Riches: they are but temporary disguises for lasting realities Pain, Grief, Shame, Poverty. The fairy said true; in all her store there was but one gift which was precious, only one that was not valueless. How poor and cheap and mean I know those others now to be, Bring it! I am weary. I would rest.”
短短三年后。到了這么一天，這個人蜷縮在一個簡陋的小閣樓里，骨瘦如柴，憔悴不已，雙眼深陷，衣衫襤褸，渾身顫抖不停。他一邊啃著干面包皮，一邊說：“該死的禮物，都是為了讓我受全世界的嘲笑和欺詐！每一樣都叫錯了！它們都不是禮物，根本只是租借品！快樂，愛情，名聲，財富——都只不過是長久現實的臨時偽裝——它們其實是永遠的痛苦、不幸、恥辱和貧窮！那個仙女說的沒錯啊，她所有的東西里只有一件禮物是珍貴的，只有那么一樣不是毫無價值的。我現在才明白，其他禮物是多么低賤與廉價！把它拿過來吧——那真正寶貴的禮物！我累了，我想休息了?！?
The fairy came, bringing again four of the gifts, but Death was wanting. She said: “I gave it to a mother’s pet, a little child. It was ignorant, but trusted me, asking me to choose for it. You did not ask me to choose.”
仙女出現了，帶著以前的那四件禮物，但唯獨沒有最后那一件——死亡。她說：“我把它給了一位母親的寵兒——一個孩子。他什么也不懂，但他信任我，讓我來幫他挑選。而你并沒有這么做?！?
“Oh, miserable me! What is left for me?”
“啊，我多可悲啊！那還剩下什么給我嗎？”
“What not even you have deserved: the wanton insult of Old Age.”
“一件你也不配得到的東西：接受年老體衰的無盡折磨。”
