Human Life Like a Poem | 人生如诗以天真烂漫的童年为序…

Human Life Like a Poem

I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem. It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. It begins with innocent childhood, followed by awkward adolescence trying awkwardly to adapt itself to mature society, with its young passions and follies, its ideals and ambitions; then it reaches a manhood of intense activities, profiting from experience and learning more about society and human nature;

我想，从生物学的观点来说，人生品味起来就像一首诗。它有其自身的韵律和节拍，有其生老病死的内在循环过程。它以天真烂漫的童年为序曲；接着便是青涩的青春期，带着青年人的热情和愚蠢、理想和抱负，羞涩、懵懂地迈向成人的世界；然后便进入一个活力充沛的成年时期，这个时期人们从阅历中获益，对社会及人性也有了更多了解；

at middle age, there is a slight easing of tension, a mellowing of character like the ripening of fruit or the mellowing of good wine, and the gradual acquiring of a more tolerant, more cynical and at the same time a kindlier view of life; then in the sunset of our life, the endocrine glands decrease their activity, and if we have a true philosophy of old age and have ordered our life pattern according to it, it is for us the age of peace and security and leisure and contentment;

到中年之时，压力才稍为减轻，人的性格就像熟透的水果或醇厚的美酒一般，更为圆熟，这时候，对人生的态度也逐渐变得更宽容、更随性、更仁慈。此后，便到了我们的迟暮之年，内分泌腺的活动逐渐趋缓。如果我们对年老持一种真正的达观态度，并以此来安排我们的生活方式，那么，这个时期对我们来说，就是安宁、稳定、闲逸和满足的时期；

finally, life flickers out and one goes into eternal sleep, never to wake up again. One should be able to sense the beauty of this rhythm of life, to appreciate, as we do in grand symphonies, its main theme, its strains of conflict and the final resolution.

最终，生命的火光摇曳不定，之后人将永远地长眠，不再醒来。人应该能够体会这种人生之韵的美，应该能够像欣赏盛大的交响乐那样，去欣赏人生的主旋律，欣赏它的冲突片段和最后的尾声。

The movements of these cycles are very much the same in a normal life, but the music must be provided by the individual himself. In some souls, the discordant note becomes harsher and harsher and finally overwhelms or submerges the main melody.

这些循环过程的运动在每个常人的生命中并无二至，但是生命的乐曲须由我们每个人自己来谱写。在有些人的灵魂之中，不和谐的音符变得愈加刺耳，到最后完全盖过或是湮没了生命的主旋律。

Sometimes the discordant note gains so much power that the music can no longer go on, and the individual shoots himself with a pistol or jumps into a river. But that is because his original leitmotif has been hopelessly over-shadowed through the lack of a good self-education. Otherwise the normal human life runs to its normal end in a kind of dignified movement and procession.

有时候，这种不和谐的音符会如此强大以至于生命的乐曲不能继续演奏，而使人饮弹自尽或者投河而亡。但那是由于缺乏良好的自我修养，人最初的主旋律就已投上了无望的阴影。否则，正常人的生活会以一种尊贵的方式演进而最后得赃常结束。

No one can say that a life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement; the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its seasons, and it is good that it is so. There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season. And if we take this biological view of life and try to live according to the seasons, no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem.

没有人能够说，由童年、成年和老年组成的人生不是一种完美的安排；就像一天有早晨、中午和晚上，一年有四季，如此存在就是美好的。人生并没有好坏之分，只要符合我们所处的阶段，生活就都是人生的大好时光。而如果我们采纳这种看待人生的生物学观点，并且，尽量依照不同的阶段来生活，那么，除了狂妄自大的蠢人或不可理喻的理想主义者之外，没有人能够否认：人生可以活得像一首诗。