Lesson 11

How to grow old

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death.
一些老年人被对死亡的恐惧所压迫。
In the young there is a justification for this feeling.
在年轻人中，这种感觉是有正当理由的。
Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer.
那些有理由担心自己会在战斗中丧生的年轻人，想到自己被剥夺了生活所能提供的最好的事物，感到痛苦是情有可原的。
But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble.
但在一位经历过人类悲欢、且已完成其力所能及之工作的老人身上，对死亡的恐惧在某种程度上是卑微且卑劣的。
The best way to overcome it—so at least it seems to me—is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life.
克服它的最好方法——至少在我看来是这样——就是让你的兴趣逐渐变得更广阔、更客观，直到自我的围墙一点一点地退去，你的生活也越来越融入到普遍的生命之中。
An individual human existence should be like a river—small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls.
一个个体的人类存在应该像一条河流——起初很小，狭窄地被限制在河岸内，并充满激情地奔流越过巨石和瀑布。
Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.
河流逐渐变宽，河岸后退，水流变得更加静谧，最终，在没有任何明显的断层的情况下，它们融入了大海，并无痛地失去了各自的存在。
The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue.
那个在老年时能以这种方式看待自己一生的人，将不会遭受对死亡的恐惧，因为他在乎的事物将继续存在。
And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will be not unwelcome.
如果随着活力的衰退，疲劳感增加，那么休息的想法将会是受欢迎的。
I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.
我希望在工作中死去，知道别人会继续我无法再做的事，并满足于那些可能的事已经完成的想法。