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133. VALUE OF THE PRESENT
第133课 现在的价值
Such are the days, the earth is the cup, the sky is the cover, of the immense bounty of nature which is offered us for our daily aliment;
假如，我们的生活是这个样子的--土地是一个杯子，天空是杯盖，杯子里装着为人类提供每日必需品的大自然，
but what a force of illusion begins life with us, and attends us to the end!
但是我们始于生活的误解的影响力太大，而且一直伴随我们到达人生的终点！
We are coaxed, flattered, and duped, from morn to eve, from birth to death; and where is the old eye that ever saw through the deception?
从早晨到夜晚，从出生到死亡，我们被欺骗、被奉承、被愚弄。那双曾看透欺骗的上古之眼在哪里呢？
The Hindoos represent Maia, the illusory energy of Vishnu, as one of his principal attributes.
印度教教徒将迈亚--毗湿奴虚幻的力量--看作是他创造的最重要的神之一。
As if, in this gale of warring elements, which life is, it was necessary to bind souls to human life
似乎生活就是势不两立的东西互相影响的结果，那么把灵魂和人类生活结合在一起，
as mariners in a tempest lash themselves to the mast and bulwarks of a ship, and Nature employed certain illusions as her ties and straps,
就如同海员们在暴风雨中把自己捆绑在船的桅杆和舷墙上一样，这都是必然而然的，自然凭借某种幻象作为她的带子和绳子，
a rattle, a doll, an apple, for a child; skates, a river, a boat, a horse, a gun, for the growing boy;
送给孩子的摇铃、洋娃娃、苹果；送给正在成长的少年的轮滑鞋、小河、小船、一匹马和一杆枪，
and I will not begin to name those of the youth and adult, for they are numberless.
我并不想说出这些孩子和大人到底需要什么，因为这些东西的数量实在太多了。
Seldom and slowly the mask falls, and the pupil is permitted to see that all is one stuff, cooked and painted under many counterfeit appearances.
虚伪的面具缓慢地掉落下来，学生们有幸看到掩藏在面具后面的东西是什么，在众多仿制品的表面肆意涂抹画画。
Hume's doctrine was that the circumstances vary, the amount of happiness does not;
休谟认为，尽管环境有所改变，但是快乐的数量不会变。
that the beggar cracking fleas in the sunshine under a hedge, and the duke rolling by in his chariot, the girl equipped for her first ball,
太阳底下的乞丐躺在篱笆下挠着身上的跳蚤，公爵的马车潇洒地驶过，女孩打扮好去参加她的第一次社交舞会，
and the orator returning triumphant from the debate, had different means, but the same quantity of pleasant, excitement.
而演讲者带着从辩论会上击败对手的荣耀胜利而归，它们的意义虽不同，但是快乐和刺激的程度却是一样的。
This element of illusion lends all its force to hide the values of present time.
错误观念的这一特征能促使其运用所有的力量来掩盖现在的价值。
Who is he that does not always find himself doing something less than his best task?
那个总是发现自己所做的事不尽如人意的人是谁？
"What are you doing?"
“你在做什么？”
"Oh, nothing; I have been doing thus, or I shall do so or so, but now I am only..."
“噢，没什么，我一直忙着做这个，或是我一直在忙碌，但是我现在就只是...”
Ah! poor dupe, will you never slip out of the web of the master juggler?
噢！可怜的家伙，你永远都不会逃离杂耍师人为编织的网！
never learn that, as soon as the irrecoverable years have woven their blue glory between to-day and us,
永远不要试图搞清楚其中的奥秘，一旦在今天和我们之间，那些不可挽回的岁月编织出耀眼的蓝图，
these passing hours shall glitter and draw us, as the wildest romance and the homes of beauty and poetry?
这些正在流逝的时光就会散发出亮丽的光芒，牢牢地吸引我们，如同最狂野的浪漫和美丽、诗情的滥觞一样！
How difficult to deal erect with them!
正确处理这些事情是多么不容易啊！
The events they bring, their trade, entertainments, and gossip, their urgent work, all throw dust in the eyes and distract attention.
因他们而导致的事情，他们的生意，享乐和流言蜚语，他们想要做的事情，所有这些都让人们的眼睛蒙上了灰尘，转移了注意力。
He is a strong man who can look them in the eye, see through this juggle, feel their identity, and keep his own;
他是个坚强的人，尽管把这些事都看在眼里，却能看透欺骗，感知事情的本质，并且按自己的方式行事。
who can know surely that one will be like another to the end of the world, nor permit love, or death, or politics, or money, war, or pleasure, to draw him from his task.
有谁知道对于世界末日来说，人和人之间都是相同的，不允许爱或死亡、政治、金钱、战争、快乐来阻碍他去履行他的义务。
The world is always equal to itself, and every man in moments of deeper thought is apprised that he is repeating the experiences of the people in the streets of Thebes or Byzantium.
这个世界始终与其自身特性相一致，每一个有较深邃思想的人都发现自己正在重复着过去底比斯或拜占庭大街上人民的生活。
An everlasting Now reigns in nature, which hangs the same roses on our bushes which charmed the Roman and the Chaldean in their hanging gardens.
永恒的现在主宰着大自然，我们的花丛中盛开着令罗马人和迦勒底人如痴如醉的品种相同的玫瑰，虽然他们的玫瑰栽在空中花园里。
"To what end, then," he asks, "should I study languages, and traverse countries, to learn so simple truths?"
“那么，”他问道，“我学习所有的语言，环游世界各国，以了解如此简单的真理，是想达到什么目的呢？”
