"We are all at the mercy of a falling tile," Julius Caesar reminds us in Thornton Wilder's Ides of March. None of us knows at what hour something we may love may suffer some terrible blow by a force we can neither anticipate nor control.

在桑顿.怀尔德的《三月的爱德斯》中，朱利叶斯.恺撒这样提醒我们：“我们所有人都处在落瓦的掌控之下。”没有人知道，我们的所爱会在何时遭到难以估量与控制的力量的沉重打击。

Fifty-five years of living, much of the time in trouble centers of a highly troubled era, have not taught me how to avoid being hit by falling tiles. I have sustained some very server blows. My mother died when I was three years old. My first-born son, a gifted and idealistic youth, was killed in the war. While I was still cherishing the hope that he might be alive, circumstance beyond my control made it impossible for me to continue work into which I had poured my heart's blood for twenty years.

55年来，我的绝大多数日子都是在多事的年月中度过，然而，我还是没有学会如何避免遭到落瓦的重击。我经历了好几次沉痛的打击。母亲在我3岁时离开人世。我的长子——一个拥有天赋的理想主义青年，在战争中阵亡。而我依然抱着他可能存活的希望，倾尽心血苦苦寻找了20年，最终，在无法控制的环境的逼迫下，我放弃了努力。

I speak of such things here in the hope of helping¹ others to believe with me that there are resources within one's grasp which enable one to sustain such blows without being crushed or embittered² by them.

我之所以讲这些事情，是希望人们能够像我一样，坚信人一定要有精神依托，这样才能在遭受严重打击时，不致被打垮或是痛苦不堪。

I believe the best hope of standing³ up to falling tiles is through developing a sustaining philosophy and state of mind all through life. I have seen all sorts of people sustain all sorts of blows in all sorts of circumstances by all sorts of faiths, so I believe anyone can find a faith that will serve his needs if he persists in the quest.

我相信，人一生中若能信仰并保持一种哲学与思想状态，便拥有了能够承受起落瓦打击的最大希望。我看见过拥有各种信仰的形形色色的人们，在各种不同的环境中承受着各种不同的打击。因此我相信，只要坚持不懈地寻求，每个人都能找到需求的信仰。

One of the best ways I know of fortifying⁴ oneself to withstand the vicissitudes⁵ of his insecure and unpredictable era is to school oneself to require relatively⁶ little in the way of material possessions, physical satisfactions or the praise of others. The less one requires of such things the better situated⁷ one is to stand up to changes of fortune.

对物质拥有、身体满足及他人的赞赏不予奢求，这是我所知道的最佳办法之一，它能使我们更坚强地承受不安全、难以预知的时代兴衰。人的所求越少，那他对命运变化的应对能力就越强。

I am singularly rich in friendships. Friends of all ages have contributed enormously to my happiness and helped me greatly in times of need. I learned one of the great secrets of friendship early in life - to regard each person with whom one associates as an end in himself, not a means to one's own ends. That entails⁸ trying to help those with whom one comes in contact to find fulfillment in their own way while seeking one's own fulfillment in one's own way.

友谊是我最大的财富。不同年龄段的朋友带给我莫大的愉悦，在我需要时给予我最大的帮助。孩提时，我便明白了维持友谊的最大秘诀之一——将每一位朋友都视为自己最重要的人，而不是利用他们来达到自己的目的。当我们在用自己的方式实现自我价值时，也应帮助身边的人通过他们的途径来实现自身的价值。

Another ethical⁹ principle that has stood me in good stead is: Know thyself! I try to acquaint myself realistically with my possibilities and limitations. I try to suit my aspirations¹⁰ to goals within my probable capacity to attain¹¹. I may have missed some undiscovered possibilities for growth but I have spared myself much by not shooting for stars it clearly was not given me to attain.

认知自己，这是令我颇为受益的另一个道德准则。我总是努力实事求是地了解自己的能力与局限，并在自己的能力范围之内树立目标。也许我会错过一些发展自我潜能的机会，但我并没有浪费精力去奢求遥不可及的事物。

I have seen much inhumanity, cheating, corruption¹², sordidness¹³ and selfishness but I have not become cynical¹⁴. I have seen too much that is decent, kind and noble in men to lose faith in the possibility for a far finer existence than yet has been achieved. I believe the quest for a better life is the most satisfying pursuit of men and nations.

我看到过无数的残暴、欺诈、腐败、肮脏与自私，但我并未因此变得愤世嫉俗。我看到过太多正直、善良与高尚的人们失去了创造更美好生活的信念。我相信，无论是对人类，还是国家而言，更美好的生活都是最令人满意的追求目标。

I love life but I am not worried about death. I do not feel that I have lost my son and a host of others dear to me by death. I believe with William Penn that "they that love beyond the World cannot be separated by it. Death is but Crossing the World, as Friends do the Seas; they live in one another still." Death, I believe, teaches us the things of deathlessness.

我热爱生命，但我不惧怕死亡。我并不认为，死亡让我失去了儿子与其他的许多亲人。我相信威廉.佩恩所说的话，“在那个世界中，死亡无法将那些有爱心的人分开。死亡不过是去另一个世界的过渡，就像朋友跨越海洋一样；他们依然活在另一个世界里。”我坚信，是死亡教会了我们永生。