第37章 生存还是毁灭 Six Famous Words

威廉·里昂·菲尔普斯/William Lyon Phelps

“To be or not to be.” Outside the Bible, these 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 for himself but also 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 ever saw did 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 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 loses a friend. But we gain new life by contacts and 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 life, 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're 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, merely to exist, that depends on ourselves. Let widen and intensify our relations. While we live, let live!

“生存还是毁灭。”出自《圣经》的这六个字在文学界可谓赫赫有名。哈姆雷特自言自语地说出了这六个字，从此它们成为莎士比亚作品中最著名的台词，因为哈姆雷特不仅道出了自己的想法，也道出了世间千万人的心声。生存还是毁灭，生活还是放弃，是热情充实地活着还是枯燥乏味地存在。一位哲学家曾问自己是否活着，我们每个人也应不时地这样问问自己。这位哲学家用一句谚语作了回答：“我思，故我在。”

然而，对于生存，我所知道的最佳定义却是出自另一位哲学家之口：“生存就是联系。”如果这是事实，那么一个生命体拥有越多的联系，就越具生机。也就是说，只有扩大和加强我们的各种联系，我们才能生活得丰富充实。但陷入陈规旧套之中的我们，天资还不够丰厚。除了正常的工作外，我们有多少生活的时间呢？如果你只对正常的工作感兴趣，那你生活的范围也就仅仅局限于此。因此，在其他相关方面——如诗歌、散文、音乐、美术、运动、无私的友谊、政治、国际事务等——你已经麻木了。

反之，每当你获得一种兴趣——甚至是一种新的技艺——你生活的能力也会有所提高，这是千真万确的。一个对多种事物都深感兴趣的人总会是快乐的，只有那些失去兴趣的人才是真正的悲观者。

培根说过，对人而言，失去朋友就意味着死亡。通过结交新的朋友，我们能获得新生。这个道理对活着的人而言是千真万确的，但却不适用于活跃的思维。你的思维所在也就是你的生命所在。如果你的思维仅仅局限于事业范围、物质利益或所在城镇的狭隘生活圈，那你一生的生活都是狭隘局限的。如果你对中国当下发生的事感兴趣，那你就活在中国；如果你对一本绝妙小说中的角色感兴趣，那你就生活在这些非常有趣的人物中间；如果你集中精力聆听优美的音乐，那你将会从周围环境中超脱，活在一个充满热情和想象的世界中。

生存还是毁灭——热情充实地生活，还是仅仅存在于世上，完全取决于我们自己。让我们的各种联系更加宽广稳固。只要我们活着，就要生活！

只有扩大和加强我们的各种联系，我们才能生活得丰富充实。但陷入陈规旧套之中的我们，天资还不够丰厚。除了正常的工作外，我们有多少生活的时间呢？如果你只对正常的工作感兴趣，那你生活的范围也就仅仅局限于此。

1.They were spoken__________Hamlet when he was thinking aloud, and they are the__________famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet was speaking__________only for himself but also for every thinking man and__________.

2.Contrariwise, it is__________that every time you acquire a__________interest—even more, a new accomplishment—you increase your power of__________. No one who is deeply interested in a large variety__________subjects can remain unhappy, the__________pessimist is the person who has lost interest.

1.哈姆雷特不仅道出了自己的想法，也道出了世间千万人的心声。

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2.那么一个生命体拥有越多的联系，就越具生机。

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3.培根说过，对人而言，失去朋友就意味着死亡。

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1.But apart from our regular occupation how much are we alive?

apart from：离开；除了……之外；缺少；且不说

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2.No one who is deeply interested in a large variety of subjects can remain unhappy...

a large variety of：大量

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