The Five Boons of Life

In the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket,and said:"Here are gifts. Take one, leave the others,And be wary,choose wisely!For only one of them is valuable."

The gifts were five :Fame, Love ,Riches,Pleasure,Death.The youth,said,eagerly:"There is no need to consider";and he chose Pleasure.

He went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youth delights in . But each in its turn was short-liyed and disappointing,vain and empty;and each,departing,mocked him .In the end he said:"These years i have wasted.If i could but choose again, I would choose wisely."

在生命之初，一位仙女帶著籃子走來，對(duì)一位年輕人說道："這里有幾份禮物，你可以從中選一份，留下其它的.你要小心，做一個(gè)明智的選擇;啊，你要明智地進(jìn)行選擇!因?yàn)檫@里面只有一份禮物是珍貴的."

一共有五份禮物：名聲，愛情，財(cái)富，快樂，還有死亡.年輕人迫不及待地說："沒有必要多想."他選了快樂.

此后他就開始步入世界，追逐年輕人所喜愛的快樂.然而每一種快樂都是如此短暫，令人感到空虛和失望.每當(dāng)一種快樂棄他而去時(shí)，還要把他嘲弄一番.最后，年輕人感嘆道"這些年我都浪費(fèi)了.如果我可以再選一次，我一定會(huì)做一個(gè)明智的選擇."

2

The fairy appeared,and said:"Four of the gifts remain.choose once more:and oh,remember--time is flying,and only one of them is precious."

The man considered long,then chose Love;and did not mark the tears that rose in the fairy’s eyes.

After many,many years the man sat by a coffin,in an empty home.And he communed with himself,saying:"One by one they have gone away and leftme;and now she lies here,the dearest and the last.Desolation after desolation has swept over me;but each hour of happiness the treacherous trader,Love,sold me i have paid a thousand hours ofo grief!Out of my heart of hearts i curse him!"

這時(shí)仙女又出現(xiàn)了，她說："這里還有四份禮物.再選一次吧.噢，記住時(shí)間飛逝，而其中只有一件是珍貴的."

他思考了很久，最終選擇了愛情;他沒有注意到仙女眼里泛起的淚光.許多許多年之后，這個(gè)人坐在一口棺材旁邊，屋子里空蕩蕩的.他自言自語道："他們一個(gè)一個(gè)地走了，只剩下我.現(xiàn)在，她就躺在這兒，我最親愛的人兒，我最后的親人.孤獨(dú)一次又一次把我包圍.都是因?yàn)閻矍檫@個(gè)陰狡詐的商人，他出售給我的每個(gè)甜蜜的小時(shí)，我現(xiàn)在都要用數(shù)千個(gè)小時(shí)的悲傷來償還!我從心底里詛咒他!"

3

"Choose again."It was the fairy speaking."The years have you wisdow-surely it must be so.There gifts remain.Only one of them has anyworth-remember it ,and choose warily."

The man reflected long,then chose Fame;and the fairy,sighing,went her way.

Years went by and she came again,and stood behind the man where he sat solitary in the fading day,thinking.And she knew his thought:"My name filled the world,and its praiss were on every tongue,and it seemed well with me for a littlewhile.How little a while it was!Then came envy;then detraction;then hate;then persecution.Then derision,which is the begining of the end.And last of all came pity,which is the funeral of fame.Oh ,the bitterness and misery of renown!"

"你在選一次吧."仙女又一次說話了.

"這些年已經(jīng)教予你智慧--也理當(dāng)如此.這里還有三份禮物，其中只有一份是有價(jià)值的--切記，你好好挑吧."

他想了很久，然而選擇了名聲.仙女嘆了口氣，徑自離開了.歲月流轉(zhuǎn)，仙女又回來了，站到他的身旁.已邁入遲暮之年的他孑然一身，心情重重.他在想些什么，她都了然于心.

"我的名字傳遍世界，每個(gè)人都爭(zhēng)相贊頌，有一陣子好像讓我心滿足.可那是多么短暫的一陣子啊!隨之而來的是妒忌;然后是詆毀;然后是憎惡;然后是迫害.之后是嘲諷，從些一切開始步入完結(jié).最后便是憐憫，這也是我的名聲的葬禮.啊，名聲原來是這般苦澀和痛苦!"

4

"Choose yet again."It was the fairy’s voice. "Two gifts remain.And do not despair .In the begining there was but one that was precious,and it is still here.

"Wealth-which is power!How blind i was!"said the man."Now,at last,life will be worth the living.I will spend.squander.These mockers and despisers will crawl in the dirt before me,and i will feed my hungry heart with their envy,I will have all luxuries,all joys,all enchant-times of the spirit I will buy,buy,buy!I have lost much time,and chosen badly heretofore,but let that pass;I was ignorant then,and could but take for best what seemed so."

Three short years went by,and a day came when the man sat shivering in a mean garret;and he was gaunt and wan and hollow-eyed,and clothed in rags;and he was gnawing a dry crust and mumbling:"Curse all the world’s gifts for mockeries and gilded lies!And miscalled,every one,They are not gifts,but merely lendings.Pleasure.Love,Fame.Riches:they are but temporary disguises for lasting realities-Pain,Grief,Shame,Poverty.The fairy said true;in all her store there was but one gift which was precious,only one that was not valueless,How poor and cheap and mean i know those others now to be,Bring it!I am weary.I would rest."

"不過你還可以重新現(xiàn)挑一次."仙女的聲音再度響起.

"還剩下兩份禮物.不要灰心喪氣，從一開始就只有一份是寶貴的，而現(xiàn)在它還在那里啊."

"財(cái)富--財(cái)富就是力量!我過去多盲目啊!"他說."現(xiàn)在，終于，我的生命將要變得有意義.我要縱情歡度此生，我要揮霍我的人生.那些對(duì)我冷嘲熱諷，輕蔑詆毀我的人將要在我面前的泥土里掙扎，而我空乏的心也將因?yàn)樗麄兊亩始啥玫綕M足.我將要享盡榮華富貴，所有歡樂和所有銷魂的時(shí)光.我要買，買!以前我做錯(cuò)了選擇，失去了許多時(shí)間，就讓它過去吧;當(dāng)時(shí)我很無知，我只能選我覺得最好的東西.

短短的三年又過去了.到了這么一天，這個(gè)人蜷縮在一個(gè)簡陋的小閣樓里，古瘦如柴，蒼白無力，雙眼深陷，身上裹著碎布衣衫，渾身顫抖不停.他一邊啃著一塊干面包皮，一邊咕噥著："該死的禮物，都是為了讓我受人嘲笑和欺詐!每一樣都叫錯(cuò)了!它們都不是禮物，根本只是租借品!快樂，愛情，名聲還有財(cái)富-都只不過是長久現(xiàn)實(shí)的暫時(shí)偽裝-它們其實(shí)是永遠(yuǎn)的痛苦，悲哀，恥辱和貧窮!那個(gè)仙女說的沒錯(cuò)啊，她所有的東西里只有一樣是珍貴的，只有那么一樣不是毫無價(jià)值的.我現(xiàn)在才明白，其它禮物是多么低賤與卑劣!把它帶來吧-那真正寶貴的禮物!我累了，我想休息了.

5

The fairy came,bringing again four of the gifts,but Death was wanting.She said:"I gave it to a mother’s pet, a little child.It was ignorant,but trusted me,asking me to choose for it.You did not ask me to choose."

"Oh,miserable me!What is left for me ?"

"What not even you have deserved:the wantoninsult of Old Age."

仙女出現(xiàn)了，帶著以前的那四件禮物，但惟獨(dú)沒有最后那一件-死亡.她說道："我把它給了一位母親的寵兒子：一個(gè)小孩子.他什么也不懂，但他相信我，讓我來幫他挑選.而你并沒有這么做."

"啊，我多可悲啊!那還剩下什么給我呢?"

"一件你也不配得到的東西：接受年老體衰的折磨.