I am no bird; and no net ensnares me. I am a free human being with an independent will. I have as much soul as you, and full as much heart. And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh. It is my spirit that addresses your spirit. 我不是鸟，没有罗网能将我捕获。我是一个拥有独立意志的自由人。我的灵魂和你一样丰盈，我的内心和你同样饱满。倘若上帝赐予我美貌与财富，我会让你难以离开我，就像我现在难以离开你。此刻我不是凭借习俗、惯例，甚至血肉之躯与你对话。是我的灵魂，在与你的灵魂交谈。

It’s not about what happened in the past, or what you think happened in the past. It is about what you choose to become now. You can close your eyes, and bury your shame, pretend it never existed. Or you can take responsibility, and try to redeem what you have broken. Redemption is not a gift handed to you. It is a path you must walk by yourself. 重要的不是过去发生了什么，或是你以为过去发生了什么。而在于你此刻选择成为什么样的人。你可以闭上眼睛，掩埋羞耻，假装一切从未发生。或者你可以承担责任，试着弥补你所毁坏的一切。救赎不是别人赠予你的礼物，而是一条你必须独自踏上的道路。

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. The man who listens to reason will never change the world. He accepts what is given and makes the best of it. It is the stubborn dreamer who refuses to accept limits and pushes humanity forward. 理智的人使自己适应这个世界；不理智的人却硬要世界适应自己。因此，一切进步都仰仗不理智的人。听从理性的人永远不会改变世界。他接受现状，尽力将就。只有固执的梦想家拒绝接受局限，推动人类向前。

Life, although it may only be an accumulation of anguish, is dear to me, and I will defend it. I remember the first time I became aware of the nature of my being. I was amazed by the light and the warmth of the sun. I learned to distinguish between the gentle breeze and the bitter wind. I discovered the difference between the singing birds and the howling of wild beasts. Even when I suffered rejection, I still clung to the wonder of existence. 生命纵然只是无尽苦难的堆砌，于我而言依旧珍贵，我会守护它。我还记得第一次意识到自身存在的时刻。阳光与温暖让我感到惊奇。我学会分辨柔和微风与凛冽寒风。我分清了飞鸟的歌唱与野兽的嚎叫。即便遭受一次次的拒绝，我依旧眷恋存在本身的奇妙。

Maybe even the most seemingly perfectly intense or worthwhile lives ultimately felt the same. Acres of disappointment and monotony and hurts and rivalries but with flashes of wonder and beauty. Maybe that was the only meaning that mattered. To be the world, witnessing itself. To feel the ache and the joy and know that both are part of being alive. 也许，那些看上去热烈又圆满的人生，到头来感受也并无二致。漫长的失望、单调、伤痛与纷争，其间点缀着转瞬即逝的奇迹与美好。或许这才是唯一重要的意义：让世界看见它自己。去感受痛苦与喜悦，并且明白二者都是活着的一部分。

To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” then surely we are also permitted to doubt. But we must move on. 选择怀疑作为生活哲学，就如同选择静止作为旅行方式。怀疑在一段时间内是有用的。我们所有人都必须经过客西马尼园。倘若基督也曾心生怀疑，我们自然也可以。倘若基督在十字架上痛苦呼喊：“我的神，我的神，为什么离弃我？”那我们当然也允许怀疑。但我们必须继续向前。

We are each of us alone in this world. We are imprisoned in a tower of bronze, and we can only communicate our thoughts to others by means of symbols. These symbols have no common value, so their meaning is vague and uncertain. We try pitifully to pass on the treasures of our hearts, yet others have no power to receive them. We walk side by side yet not together; we cannot understand others, nor can we be understood by them. 我们每个人生在世界上都是孤独的。每个人都被囚禁在一座青铜铁塔里，只能靠一些符号同别人传达自己的思想。而这些符号并没有共同的价值，因此它们的意义是模糊的、不确定的。我们非常可怜地想把自己心中的财富传送给别人，但是他们却没有接受这些财富的能力。我们只能孤独地行走，尽管身体互相依傍却并不在一起，既不了解别人，也不能为别人所了解。

日子过得真快，春去夏来，秋意渐浓，又是一年中秋，愿我们都在自己的生活里，好好的。

But a man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated. I am sorry that I killed the fish though. Now the bad time is coming and I do not even have the harpoon. The dentuso is cruel and able and strong and intelligent. But I was more intelligent than he was. Perhaps not. Perhaps I was only better armed. 人不是为失败而生的。一个人可以被毁灭，但不能被打败。不过我很后悔杀死了这条鱼。厄运现在就要到来，而我连鱼叉都没有了。这条灰鲭鲨残忍、能干、强壮又聪明。可我比它更聪明。也许并不。也许我只是武器比它强。

However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the almshouse as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. 不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。