美文欣赏

人生自有其韵律和节奏，自有内在的成长与衰亡。人生有童年、少年和老年，谁也不能否认这是一种美好的安排。一天要有清晨、正午和日落，一年要有四季之分，如此才好！

Human Life Like a Poem

I think that, from a biological standpoint,
human life almost reads like a poem.

It has its own rhythm and beat,
its internal cycles of growth and decay.

No one can say that a life with childhood,
manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement;

the day has its morning, noon and sunset,
and the year has its seasons, and it is good
that it is so. There is no good or bad in life,
except what is good according to its own season.

And if we take this biological view of life
and try to live according to the seasons,
no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist
can deny that human life can be lived like a poem.
　　——Lin Yutang

参考译文

我以为，从生物学角度看，人的一生恰如诗歌。人生自有其韵律和节奏，自有内在的成长与衰亡。人生有童年、少年和老年，谁也不能否认这是一种美好的安排。一天要有清晨、正午和日落，一年要有四季之分，如此才好！人生本无好坏之分，只是各个季节有各自的好处。如若我们持此种生物学的观点，并循着季节去生活，除了狂妄自大的傻瓜和无可救药的理想主义者，谁能说人生不能像诗一般度过呢？

---林语堂