Six Famous Words
(William Lyon Phelps)
点评：
本文闪烁着作者的智慧，蕴含着深刻的人生哲理。作者知识渊博，引经据典，如莎士比亚的“to be or not to be”，迪卡尔的“I think, therefore I am”等。读者对这些名言均耳熟能详，作者凭藉他们阐述“生活在于不断扩展和增强各种联系”（“To be is to be in relations”）之观点。
“To be or not to be”. Outside the Bible, there six words are the most famous in all the literature of the world. They were spoken by Hamlet when he was thinking aloud, and they are the most famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet was speaking not only foe himself but for every thinking man and woman. To be or not to be－to live or not to live, to live richly and abundantly and eagerly, or to live dully and meanly and scarcely. A philosopher once wanted to know whether he was alive or not, which is a good question for everyone to put to himself occasionally. He answered it by saying:“I think, therefore I am.”
But the best definition of existence I ever saw was one written by another philosopher who said:“To be is to be in relations.”If this is true, then the more relations a living thing has, the more relations a living thing has, the more it is alive. To live abundantly means simply to increase the range and intensity of our relations. Unfortunately we are so constituted that we get to love our routine. But apart from our regular occupation how much are we alive? If you are interested only in your regular occupation, you are alive only to that extent. So far as other things are concerned－poetry and prose, music, pictures, sports, unselfish friendships, politics, international affairs－you are dead.
Contrariwise, it is true that every time you acquire a new interest－even more, a new accomplishment－you increase your power of life. No one who is deeply interested in a large variety of subjects can remain unhappy, the real pessimist is the person who has lost interest.
Bacon said that a man dies as often as he loss a friend. But we gain new life by contacts, new friends. What is supremely true of living objects is only less true of ideas, which are also alive. Where your thoughts are, there will your life be also. If your thoughts are confined only to your business, only to your physical welfare, only to the narrow circle of the town in which you live, then you live in a narrow circle of the town in which you live, then you live in a narrow circumscribed life. But if you are interested in what is going on in China, then you are living in China; if you are interested in the characters of a good novel, then you are living with those highly interesting people; if you listen intently to fine music, you are away from your immediate surroundings and living in a world of passion and imagination.
To be or not to be－to live intensely and richly, or merely to exist, that depends on ourselves. Let us widen and intensify our relations. While we live, let us live!
背景介绍：
威廉•里昂•费尔浦斯（1865－1943年），美国耶鲁大学教授与学者，以博学与智慧闻名于世，著作涉及小说理论研究等多方面，著有《现代小说家评论集》、《20世纪戏剧》等。此处所选的《六字名言》讲述人生哲理，充分展示了作者的博学与机智，语言简洁精练，自然纯朴。
参考译文：
六字名言
“是活还是不活”。除《圣经》之外，这六个字就是整个世界文学中最有名的六个字了。这六个字是哈姆雷特在一次喃喃自语时所说，它们是莎士比亚作品中最有名的六个字，因为它不仅是哈姆雷特的心声，同时也道出了一切有思想的男女的心声。是活还是不活——是生活下去还是不生活下去，是要活得富足充实，热情向上呢，还是要活得枯燥卑微，贫乏索然呢。曾经有一位哲学家想弄清楚自己是否活着。这是个不错的问题，每个人不妨都时常问问自己。他对此的回答是：“我思故我在。”
但是我所见过的对生存最好的定义出自于另一位哲学家之手，他说：“生活即是联系。”若果真如此的话，那么一个生命的联系越多，它就越有生气了。要活得富足充实意味着只要扩大和加强我们的各种联系就行了。不幸的是，我们的天性如此，容易陷入自己的陈规俗套。然而，除去我们的日常工作，我们又在多大程度上是活着的？如果你只对自己的日常工作又兴趣，那你的生趣也就只限于此了。而至于其他方面——如诗歌、散文、音乐、美术、体育、无私的友谊、政治、国际事务——你是没有生命的。
相反地，每当你获得一种新的兴趣，甚至一种新的造诣，你就增长了你的生活能力。一个对许多不同事物有着浓厚兴趣的人不可能一直闷闷不乐，真正的悲观主义者只能是那些丧失兴趣的人。
培根曾说过，人失去朋友即是死亡。但是，凭着与人交往，凭着交新朋友，我们再获新生。这对活着的人而言是千真万确的道理，在一定程度上也适应于人的思想，因为它们也是活的。你的思想所在也就是你的生命所在。如果你的思想仅仅限囿于你的生意，仅仅限囿于你的物质利益，仅仅限囿于你所居住的那个小镇，那么，你的一生便是狭隘鄙陋的一生。但是，如果你对目前中国的所发生的事情感兴趣，那么你便可以说活在中国。如果你对某本不错的小说中人物感到兴趣，你便是与那群极为生动有趣的人物生活在一起。如果你全神贯注地倾听优美的音乐，那么你便超脱了周围的环境而活在一个充满激情与幻想的世界之中。
是活还是不活——活得激情充实，还是简单地存在着，这全由我们自己决定。让我们不断扩展和增强我们的各种联系。只要我们活着，就让我们生活吧！ |
