【双语】沈从文·《时间》（上）

时间Time沈从文ShenCongwen一切存在严格地说都需要“时间”。时间证实一切，因为它改变一切。气候...

一切存在严格地说都需要“时间”。时间证实一切，因为它改变一切。气候寒暑，草木荣枯，人从生到死，都不能缺少时间，都从时间上发生作用。

All that exists has, strictly speaking, a time dimension. Time witnesses everything; it changes everything. It imbeds itself in and effectively conditions the coming and going of winter and summer, the budding and withering of vegetation, and the life and death of man.常说到“生命的意义”或“生命的价值”。其实一个人活下去真正的意义和价值，不过占有几十个年头的时间罢了。生前世界没有他，他无意义和价值可言的；活到不能再活死掉了，他没有生命，他自然更无意义和价值可言。

Much has been said about the meaning or value of life. After all, the presumed real meaning or value of a man’s life is but to have a few scores of years roaming the earth, since before his birth and after his death he has no life, and naturally there’s no meaning or value to talk about.正仿佛多数人的愚昧与少数人的聪明，对生命下的结论差不多都以为是“生命的意义同价值是活个几十年”，因此都肯定生活，那么吃，喝，睡觉，吵架，恋爱，……活下去等待死，死后让棺木来装殓他，黄土来掩埋他，蛆虫来收拾他。

Hence, reflective of both the stupidity of the many and the cleverness of the few is a near unanimous conclusion that the meaning or value of a man’s life lies in earning a few scores of years of earthly existence. It follows that what matters is to satisfy your mundane needs, eating, drinking, sleeping, quarreling, falling in love…getting old till one day death knocks on your door, and till you are placed in a casket, buried underground, and consumed by worms.生命的意义解释的即如此单纯，“活下去，活着，倒下，死了”，未免太可怕了。因此次一等的聪明人，同次一等的愚人，对生命的意义同价值找出第二种结论，就是“怎么样来耗费这几十个年头”。虽更肯定生活，那么吃，喝，睡觉，吵架，恋爱，……然而生活得失取舍之间，到底也就有了分歧。

The meaning of life is thus explained in simple terms: to live and to breathe till you drop dead. The eerie simplicity of such an explanation evokes horror. Some other smart guys and some not-too-dumb folks then look for an alternative, focusing on an answer to the question: how should we spend these years? While giving the thumbs up to the virtue of eating, drinking, sleeping, quarreling, falling in love, etc., they also see the difference in approaches to life, as there are choices to be made, and give and take to be balanced.这分歧一看就明白的。大别言之，聪明人要理解生活，愚蠢人要习惯生活。聪明人以为目前并不完全好，一切应比目前更好，且竭力追求那个理想。愚蠢人对习惯完全满意，安于现状，保证习惯。（在世俗观察上，这两种人称呼常常相反，安于习惯的被呼为聪明人，怀抱理想的人却成愚蠢家伙。）两种人即同样有个“怎么来耗费这几十个年头”的打算，要从人与人之间寻找生存的意义和价值，即或择业相同，成就却不相同。同样想征服颜色线条作画家，同样想征服乐器音声作音乐家，同样想征服木石铜牙及其他材料作雕刻家，甚至于同样想征服人身行为作帝王，同样想征服人心信仰作思想家或教主，一切结果都不会相同。因此世界上有大诗人，同时也就有蹩脚诗人，有伟大革命家，同时也有虚伪革命家。至于两种人目的不同，择业不同，那就更容易一目了然了。

The difference is apparent. Generally speaking, the brainy go out of the way to understand life; the dumb try to adapt to life. Unsatisfied with the status quo, the brainy seek to effect change for the better, and are relentless in pursuit of their ideals, whereas the dumb are content with what they have, and stuck in inertia, thus shoring up the established order. (From the perspective of the worldly, however, the labeling of these two kinds of persons is often reversed: those who embrace the status quo are said to be smart, whereas those who are pursuing their ideals are regarded as dumb.) Whatever label they are given, people all have to figure out how best they can spend the years they enjoy, and search for meaning and value in their existence. Even for those who take the same career paths, their achievement gap could be gaping. For those painters bent on conquering color and lines, musicians exploring the outer limits of instrumental or vocal music, sculptors craving to shine in the world of sculpture in wood, stone, bronze, or any other materials imaginable, kings obsessed with controlling the behavior of their subjects, and thinkers or spiritual leaders yearning for shaping your thoughts and beliefs, the outcomes could vary dramatically. That’s why the world has seen great poets and lousy ones, and great revolutionaries and sham ones. It goes without saying that people with different goals in mind and taking different paths would leave entirely different footprints behind.

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