What an extraordinary situation is that of us mortals!

 

人终究一死，我们所面临的情形是多么不同寻常！

Each of us is here for a brief sojourn；

每个人来到这个世界上，都是短暂的停留；

for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he feels it.

至于来的原因，却无人知晓。

But from the point of view of daily life, without going deeper, we exist for our fellowmen.

虽然偶尔自以为对此似有感悟，可是没有深入探讨。

in the first place for those on whose smiles and welfare all our happiness depends,

从日常生活方面来讲，我们是为了同胞而活着—最重要的是这样 一些人，他们的微笑和幸福决定了我们所有的幸福；

and next for all those unknown to us personally with whose destinies we are bound up by the tie of sympathy.

接下来是一些素未谋面的人，他们依靠同情的纽带与我们的命运紧密相连。

A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labors of other men，living and dead，and that I must exert myself in order to give in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.

每天我无数次地告诫自己，他人的劳作，包括那些活着的人和已故的人，支持着我全部的精神生活和物质生活。因此，我一定要全心全意地付出，达到和他们相同的高度，来回报我已经获得并且仍在汲取的恩惠。

I am strongly drawn to the simple life and am often oppressed by the feeling that I am engrossing an unnecessary amount of the labor of my fellowmen.

我十分向往简朴的生活，并且时常心中有愧，因为觉得自己分享了我同胞们太多的劳动成果。

I regard class differences as contrary to justice and, in the last resort, based on force.

我把阶级不同看成与正义格格不入，而且最终被迫采取强制手段。

I also consider that plain living is good for everybody, physically and mentally.

我同样认为，不管是在肉体上还是在精神上，任何人会因为过朴素的生活而受益匪浅。

In human freedom in the philosophical sense I am definitely a disbeliever.

我根本不相信哲学意义上的那种人类自由。

Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity.

每个人的行为不仅要受到外界强制的局限，而且要合乎内在的必要性。

Schopenhauer saying, that a man can do as he will, but not will as he will,

叔本华曾说，人虽然可以为所欲为，但是不能随心所欲。

has been an inspiration to me since my youth up, and a continual consolation and unfailing well-spring of patience in the face of the hardships of life, my own and others.

从青年时代起，我就总是被这句名言激励着。当自己或别人经历生活中种种磨难时，我总能从这句话中寻得慰藉，从而获得永不干怙的耐心源泉。