名著阅读

"It is excellent how you're able to write," the merchant praised him. "Many a thing we will still have to discuss with one another. For today, I'm asking you to be my guest and to live in this house."
Siddhartha thanked and accepted, and lived in the dealers house from now on. Clothes were brought to him, and shoes, and every day, a servant prepared a bath for him. Twice a day, a plentiful meal was served, but Siddhartha only ate once a day, and ate neither meat nor did he drink wine. Kamaswami told him about his trade, showed him the merchandise and storage-rooms, showed him calculations. Siddhartha got to know many new things, he heard a lot and spoke little. And thinking of Kamala's words, he was never subservient to the merchant, forced him to treat him as an equal, yes even more than an equal. Kamaswami conducted his business with care and often with passion, but Siddhartha looked upon all of this as if it was a game, the rules of which he tried hard to learn precisely, but the contents of which did not touch his heart.
He was not in Kamaswami's house for long, when he already took part in his landlords business. But daily, at the hour appointed by her, he visited beautiful Kamala, wearing pretty clothes, fine shoes, and soon he brought her gifts as well. Much he learned from her red, smart mouth. Much he learned from her tender, supple hand. Him, who was, regarding love, still a boy and had a tendency to plunge blindly and insatiably into lust like into a bottomless pit, him she taught, thoroughly starting with the basics, about that school of thought which teaches that pleasure cannot be be taken without giving pleasure, and that every gesture, every caress, every touch, every look, every spot of the body, however small it was, had its secret, which would bring happiness to those who know about it and unleash it. She taught him, that lovers must not part from one another after celebrating love, without one admiring the other, without being just as defeated as they have been victorious, so that with none of them should start feeling fed up or bored and get that evil feeling of having abused or having been abused. Wonderful hours he spent with the beautiful and smart artist, became her student, her lover, her friend. Here with Kamala was the worth and purpose of his present life, nit with the business of Kamaswami.
The merchant passed to duties of writing important letters and contracts on to him and got into the habit of discussing all important affairs with him. He soon saw that Siddhartha knew little about rice and wool, shipping and trade, but that he acted in a fortunate manner, and that Siddhartha surpassed him, the merchant, in calmness and equanimity, and in the art of listening and deeply understanding previously unknown people. "This Brahman," he said to a friend, "is no proper merchant and will never be one, there is never any passion in his soul when he conducts our business. But he has that mysterious quality of those people to whom success comes all by itself, whether this may be a good star of his birth, magic, or something he has learned among Samanas. He always seems to be merely playing with out business-affairs, they never fully become a part of him, they never rule over him, he is never afraid of failure, he is never upset by a loss."
The friend advised the merchant: "Give him from the business he conducts for you a third of the profits, but let him also be liable for the same amount of the losses, when there is a loss. Then, he'll become more zealous."
Kamaswami followed the advice. But Siddhartha cared little about this. When he made a profit, he accepted it with equanimity; when he made losses, he laughed and said: "Well, look at this, so this one turned out badly!"
It seemed indeed, as if he did not care about the business. At one time, he travelled to a village to buy a large harvest of rice there. But when he got there, the rice had already been sold to another merchant. Nevertheless, Siddhartha stayed for several days in that village, treated the farmers for a drink, gave copper-coins to their children, joined in the celebration of a wedding, and returned extremely satisfied from his trip. Kamaswami held against him that he had not turned back right away, that he had wasted time and money. Siddhartha answered: "Stop scolding, dear friend! Nothing was ever achieved by scolding. If a loss has occurred, let me bear that loss. I am very satisfied with this trip. I have gotten to know many kinds of people, a Brahman has become my friend, children have sat on my knees, farmers have shown me their fields, nobody knew that I was a merchant."
"That's all very nice," exclaimed Kamaswami indignantly, "but in fact, you are a merchant after all, one ought to think! Or might you have only travelled for your amusement?"
"写得真好。"商人夸奖道，"有好多事咱们以后再互相切磋吧。今天，我邀请你做我的客人，并且在我这房子里留宿。"
席特哈尔塔道过谢接受了邀请，并且从此在商人家里住下了。有人给他送来了衣服，还有鞋，一个仆人每天伺候他洗澡。白天有两餐丰盛的饭菜，但席特哈尔塔只吃一餐，而且不吃肉也不喝酒。卡马斯瓦密给他讲自己的生意，给他看货物和仓库，还教他算帐。席特哈尔塔学会了很多新东西，但是他听得多说得少。他牢记卡玛拉的话，从来不对商人低声下气，迫使他对自己平等相待，甚至超过了平等相待。卡马斯瓦密小心谨慎地经营他的生意，往往投入极大的热情，而席特哈尔塔却把这一切视为游戏，他努力学会准确掌握游戏的规则，但游戏的内容却并不使他动心。
他到卡马斯瓦密家不久就参与了主人所做的生意。但是，每天一到卡玛拉跟他约定的时间，他就去拜访她，穿着华丽的衣服，精美的鞋子，不久后还给她带礼物。她那红润、聪明的嘴教会了他许多事。因为他在爱情方面还是个孩子，很容易冒失而不知足地陷入情欲之中，就好像跌入无底的深渊一样，所以卡玛拉就从根本上教给他不付出欢娱就得不到欢娱的道理。每一种手势，每一次抚摩，每一回接触，每一道目光，身体的每一个最细小的部位，都有其秘密，而唤醒这秘密都会带来幸福。她教他，在一次爱的盛典之后，恋人如果没有互相惊叹的感觉，没有既征服了对方又被对方征服的感觉，就不要分开这样双方才兴去产生厌倦与乏味，不会有那种勉强别人或被别人勉强的恶劣情绪。他在美丽而聪慧的女艺术家身边享受了许多美妙的时刻，成了她的学生、爱人和朋友。他现时生活的价值和意义可以说完全是在卡玛拉这儿，而不是在卡马斯瓦密的生意当中。
卡马斯瓦密委托他草拟重要的信函与合同，并且习惯了跟他商量所有重要的事情。他很快就发现，席特哈尔塔对大米和棉花、航运和贸易所知并不多，但是他的手很有运气，而且，席特哈尔塔在沉着镇定方面，在倾听和了解陌生人的技巧方面，胜过了他这个商人。"这个婆罗门，"他对一个朋友说，"不是个真正的商人，将来也不会是。他的心对做生意毫无热情可言。可是，他拥有那些能自动获得成功的人的秘密，也不知是因为他天生福星高照还是他会魔法，或者是由于他从沙门那儿学到的本领。做生意对一塌胡涂他似乎似乎只是游戏，从来不会完占据他的心，从来不会完全控制他，他从来都不怕失败，从来都不担心亏本。"
那朋友给商人出主意："你把生意交给他，从他给你赚的红利中分三分之一给他，若是亏本了，也让他承担同样份额的损失。那么，他就会更热心了。"
卡马斯瓦密采纳了这个建议。但是，席特哈尔塔仍然漫不经心。他得了红利，就不动声色地收下，有了亏损，他也是笑笑，说："嘿，这次又搞砸了！"
事实上，他显得对做生意并不上心。有一次，他到了一个村庄，要在那儿收购一大批稻谷。可是当他到达时，稻谷已经卖给了另一个商人。然而，席特哈尔塔还是在那个村子待了几天，招待农民们给他们的孩子铜币，还参加了一个婚礼，然后才满意而归。卡马斯瓦密责备他没有即刻返回，浪费了时间和金钱。席特哈尔塔答道："别训斥啦，亲爱的朋友！靠训斥从严都达不到什么。既然有了亏损，那就让我承担吧。我很满意这次旅行。我结识了各种各样的人，一个婆罗门成了我的朋友，孩子们骑坐在我的膝上嬉戏，农民们给我看他们的田地，没人把我当成一个商人。"
"这一切都挺不错，"卡马斯瓦密不高兴地嚷道："但实际上你是个商人，就是这话！难道你这次去只是为了消遣？"
背景阅读

本书简介：
古印度贵族青年悉达多英俊聪慧，拥有人们羡慕的一切。为了追求心灵的安宁，他孤身一人展开了求道之旅。他在舍卫城聆听佛陀乔答摩宣讲教义，在繁华的大城中结识了名妓伽摩拉，并成为一名富商。心灵与肉体的享受达到顶峰，却让他对自己厌倦、鄙弃到极点。在与伽摩拉最后一次欢爱之后，他抛弃了自己所有世俗的一切，来到那河边，想结束自己的生命。在那最绝望的一刹那，他突然听到了生命之河永恒的声音……经过几乎一生的追求，悉达多终于体验到万事万物的圆融统一，所有生命的不可摧毁的本性，并最终将自我融入了瞬间的永恒之中。

作者简介：
赫尔曼·黑塞（Hermann Hesse，1877.7.2-1962.8.9）德国作家。1923年46岁入瑞士籍。1946年获诺贝尔文学奖。1962年于瑞士家中去世。爱好音乐与绘画，是一位漂泊、孤独、隐逸的诗人。黑塞的诗有很多充满了浪漫气息，从他的最初诗集《浪漫之歌》的书名，也可以看出他深受德国浪漫主义诗人的影响，以致后来被人称为“德国浪漫派最后的一个骑士”。主要作品有《彼得·卡门青》、《荒原狼》、《东方之行》、《玻璃球游戏》等。

主要生平及创作
出生于德国西南部的小城卡尔夫的一个牧师家庭。自幼在浓重的宗教气氛中长大，1891年，他通过“邦试”，考入毛尔布隆神学校。由于不堪忍受经院教育的摧残，半年后逃离学校。这期间他游历许多城市，从事过多种职业。
　　
在比较广泛地接受东西方文化熏陶之后，1904年，黑塞发表了长篇小说《彼得·卡门青特》，一举成名，从此成为专业作家。这一年他与玛丽结婚，移居巴登湖畔，埋头写作，1906年发表了长篇小说《在轮下》。这一时期的创作以浪漫主义诗歌、田园诗风格的抒情小说和流浪汉小说为主，作品洋溢着对童年和乡土的思念之情，充满对广大自然和人类的爱，同时也表现了青年人的精神苦闷与追求。
　　
第一次世界大战后，黑塞的创作发生了明显的变化，他醉心于尼采哲学，求助于印度佛教和中国的老庄哲学，并对荣格的精神分析产生了深厚的兴趣。他试图从宗教、哲学和心理学方面探索人类精神解放的途径。这时期的长篇小说有《克努尔普》（1916）、《德米安》（1919）、《席特哈尔塔》（1922）、《荒原狼》（1927）和《纳尔齐斯与歌尔德蒙》（1930）等。这些书深受西方读者的喜爱，得到极高的评价，其中《荒原狼》曾轰动欧美，被托马斯·曼誉为德国的《尤利西斯》。
　　
30年代后，法西斯在德国猖獗，黑塞对社会前途陷入深深的怀疑与绝望之中，但他仍不倦地从东西方宗教与哲学中寻求理想世界，《东方之行》（1932）、《玻璃球游戏》（1943）正是这一时期追求与探索的结晶。
　　
黑塞被雨果·巴尔称为德国浪漫派最后一位骑士，这说明他在艺术上深受浪漫主义诗歌的影响。他热爱大自然，厌倦都市文明，作品多采用象征手法，文笔优美细腻；由于受精神分析影响，他的作品着重在精神领域里进行挖掘探索，无畏而诚实地剖析内心，因此他的小说具有心理的深度。1946年，"由于他的富于灵感的作品具有遒劲的气势和洞察力，也为崇高的人道主义理想和高尚风格提供一个范例"，黑塞获诺贝尔文学奖。