In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said:"Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others. And be wary¹, choose wisely! For only one of them is valuable."

在生命之初，一位仙女带着篮子走来，对一位年轻人说道：“这里有几份礼物，你可以从中选一份，留下其它的。你要小心，做一个明智的选择；啊，你要明智地进行选择！因为这里面只有一份礼物是珍贵的。”

The gifts were five: Fame, Love, Riches, Pleasure, Death.The youth, said, eagerly:"There is no need to consider"; and he chose Pleasure。

一共有五份礼物：名声，爱情，财富，快乐，还有死亡。年轻人迫不及待地说：“没有必要多想。”他选了快乐。

He went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youth delights in. But each in its turn was short-lived 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."

此后他就开始步入世界，追逐年轻人所喜爱的快乐。然而每一种快乐都是如此短暂，令人感到空虚和失望。每当一种快乐弃他而去时，还要把他嘲弄一番。最后，年轻人感叹道：“这些年我都浪费了。如果我可以再选一次，我一定会做一个明智的选择。”

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."

这时仙女又出现了，她说：“这里还有四份礼物。再选一次吧。噢，记住时间飞逝，而其中只有一件是珍贵的。”

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 coffin², 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 treacherous³ trader, Love, sold me I have paid a thousand hours of grief! Out of my heart of hearts I curse him!"

他思考了很久，最终选择了爱情；他没有注意到仙女眼里泛起的泪光。许多许多年之后，这个人坐在一口棺材旁边，屋子里空荡荡的。他自言自语道：“他们一个一个地走了，只剩下我。现在，她就躺在这儿，我最亲爱的人儿，我最后的亲人。孤独一次又一次把我包围。都是因为爱情这个阴狡诈的商人，他出售给我的每个甜蜜的小时，我现在都要用数千个小时的悲伤来偿还！我从心底里诅咒他！”

"Choose again."It was the fairy speaking."The years have you wisdow-surely it must be so.There gifts remain.Only one of them has anyworth-remember it ,and choose warily⁴."

“你在选一次吧。”仙女又一次说话了，“这些年已经教予你智慧——也理当如此。这里还有三份礼物，其中只有一份是有价值的——切记，你好好挑吧。”

The man reflected long, 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 solitary⁵ in the fading day, thinking. And she knew his thought:"My name filled the world, and its praises were on every tongue, and it seemed well with me for a little while. How little a while it was! Then came envy; then detraction⁶; then hate; then persecution⁷. Then derision, which is the begining of the end. And last of all came pity,which is the funeral of fame. Oh, the bitterness and misery⁸ of renown⁹!"

他想了很久，然而选择了名声。仙女叹了口气，径自离开了。岁月流转，仙女又回来了，站到他的身旁。已迈入迟暮之年的他孑然一身，心情重重。他在想些什么，她都了然于心。“我的名字传遍世界，每个人都争相赞颂，有一阵子好像让我心满足。可那是多么短暂的一阵子啊！随之而来的是妒忌；然后是诋毁；然后是憎恶；然后是迫害。之后是嘲讽，从一切开始步入完结。最后便是怜悯，这也是我的名声的葬礼。啊，名声原来是这般苦涩和痛苦！”

"Choose yet again." It was the fairy's voice。

“不过你还可以重新现挑一次。”仙女的声音再度响起。

"Two gifts remain. And do not despair. In the begining there was but one that was precious, and it is still here。

“还剩下两份礼物。不要灰心丧气，从一开始就只有一份是宝贵的，而现在它还在那里啊。”

"Wealth-which is power! How blind I was!" Said the man, "Now, at last, life will be worth the living. I will spend, squander¹⁰, dazzle. 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."

“财富——财富就是力量！我过去多盲目啊！”他说，“现在，终于，我的生命将要变得有意义。我要纵情欢度此生，我要挥霍我的人生。那些对我冷嘲热讽，轻蔑诋毁我的人将要在我面前的泥土里挣扎，而我空乏的心也将因为他们的妒忌而得到满足。我将要享尽荣华富贵，所有欢乐和所有销魂的时光。我要买，买！以前我做错了选择，失去了许多时间，就让它过去吧；当时我很无知，我只能选我觉得最好的东西。”

Three short years went by, and a day came when the man sat shivering in a mean garret; and he was gaunt and wan¹¹ and hollow-eyed, and clothed in rags; and he was gnawing¹² a dry crust and mumbling:"Curse all the world's gifts for mockeries and gilded¹³ lies! And miscalled, every one. They are not gifts, but merely lendings. Pleasure, Love, Fame. Riches: they are but temporary disguises for lasting¹⁴ 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."

短短的三年又过去了。到了这么一天，这个人蜷缩在一个简陋的小阁楼里，古瘦如柴，苍白无力，双眼深陷，身上裹着碎布衣衫，浑身颤抖不停。他一边啃着一块干面包皮，一边咕哝着：“该死的礼物，都是为了让我受人嘲笑和欺诈！每一样都叫错了！它们都不是礼物，根本只是租借品！快乐，爱情，名声还有财富－都只不过是长久现实的暂时伪装－它们其实是永远的痛苦，悲哀，耻辱和贫穷！那个仙女说的没错啊，她所有的东西里只有一样是珍贵的，只有那么一样不是毫无价值的。我现在才明白，其它礼物是多么低贱与卑劣！把它带来吧－那真正宝贵的礼物！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."

仙女出现了，带着以前的那四件礼物，但惟独没有最后那一件——死亡。她说道：“我把它给了一位母亲的宠儿子：一个小孩子。他什么也不懂，但他相信我，让我来帮他挑选。而你并没有这么做。”

"Oh, miserable¹⁵ me! What is left for me ?"

“啊，我多可悲啊！那还剩下什么给我呢？”

"What not even you have deserved: the wanton insult of Old Age."

“一件你也不配得到的东西：接受年老体衰的折磨。”