IT WAS A well-proportioned room, quiet and restful. The furniture was elegant and in very good taste; the carpet was thick and soft. There was a marble fireplace, with a fire in it. There were old vases from different parts of the world, and on the walls were modern paintings as well as some by the old masters. Considerable thought and care had been spent on the beauty and comfort of the room, which reflected wealth and taste. The room overlooked a small garden, with a lawn that must have been mowed and rolled for many, many years.
这是一个比例匀称的房间，安静而祥和。 家具很优雅、很有品味；地毯厚实而柔软。 有一个大理石壁炉，里面有火。 有来自世界各地的旧花瓶， 墙上有现代绘画以及一些古代大师的画作。 在房间的美丽和舒适上，花费了大量的思考和关怀， 这可以从它的豪华和品味中反映出来。 房间俯瞰着一个小花园， 那里有一片草坪，一定被修剪和推割了很多、很多年。
Life in a city is strangely cut off from the universe; man-made buildings have taken the place of valleys and mountains, and the roar of traffic has been substituted for that of boisterous streams. At night one hardly ever sees the stars, even if one wishes to, for the city lights are too bright; and during the day the sky is limited and held. Something definitely happens to the city-dwellers; they are brittle and polished, they have churches and museums, drinks and theatres, beautiful clothes and endless shops. There are people everywhere, on the streets, in the buildings, in the rooms. A cloud passes across the sky, and so few look up. There is rush and turmoil.
城市中的生活奇怪地与宇宙隔绝； 人造建筑物，取代了山谷和山脉， 交通的轰鸣声取代了被喧闹的溪流。 在晚上，人几乎看不到星星， 即使人愿意，因为城市的灯光太亮了。 在白天，天空是受限的、是有所保留的。 城市居民肯定发生了某些事情； 他们是脆弱和精致的， 他们有教堂和博物馆、饮料和剧院、漂亮的衣服和无数的商店。 到处都是人，在街上、在建筑物里、在房间里。 一朵云从天空中掠过，却很少有人抬头看。这里是匆忙而动荡的。
But in this room there was quiet and sustained dignity. It had that atmosphere peculiar to the rich, the feeling of aloof security and assurance, and the long freedom from want. He was saying that he was interested in philosophy, both of the East and of the West, and how absurd it was to begin with the Greeks, as though nothing existed before them; and presently he began to talk of his problem: how to give, and to whom to give. The problem of having money, with its many responsibilities, was somewhat disturbing him. Why was he making a problem of it? Did it matter to whom he gave, and with what spirit? Why had it become a problem?
但在这个房间里，有安静和持久的尊严。 那种氛围是富人特有的， 冷漠的安全感和保证感，以及长期免于匮乏的自由。 他说，他对东方和西方的哲学都感兴趣， 从古希腊开始，是多么荒谬，就好像在他们之前什么都不存在一样。 现在，他开始谈论他的问题：如何给予，以及给予谁。 拥有金钱的问题，以及它的许多责任，在某种程度上让他感到不安。 他为什么要制造一个问题呢？ 赠予给谁，带着怎样的精神，这重要吗？ 为什么它成为一个问题？
His wife came in, smart, bright and curious. Both of them seemed well read, sophisticated and worldly wise; they were clever and interested in many things. They were the product of both town and country, but mostly their hearts were in the town. That one thing, compassion, seemed so far away. The qualities of the mind were deeply cultivated; there was a sharpness, a brutal approach, but it did not go very far. She wrote a little, and he was some kind of politician; and how easily and confidently they spoke. Hesitancy is so essential to discovery, to further understanding; but how can there be hesitancy when you know so much, when the self-protective armour is so highly polished and all the cracks are sealed from within? Line and form become extraordinarily important to those who are in bondage to the sensate; then beauty is sensation, goodness a feeling, and truth a matter of intellection. When sensations dominate, comfort becomes essential, not only to the body, but also to the psyche; and comfort, especially that of the mind, is corroding, leading to illusion.
他的妻子进来了，精致、聪明而好奇。 他们俩似乎都读得很好，老练而世俗。 他们很聪明，对很多事情都感兴趣。 他们是城镇和乡村的产物，但他们的心，大多在城镇里。 那个东西：慈，似乎很遥远。 头脑的品质得到了深入的培养； 有一种锐利，一种残酷的方法，但它并没有走得太远。 她写了一些文章，他是某种政治家； 以及他们说话是多么容易和自信。 犹豫对于发现，进一步的理解至关重要； 但是，当你知道这么多，当保护自我的盔甲如此的精致， 并且所有的裂缝都从内部密闭时，怎么会有犹豫呢？ 线条和形式，对那些被感官束缚的人来说，变得非常重要； 那么美是感觉，善良是一种感觉，而真理是一个智力问题。 当感觉占主导地位时，舒适变得至关重要， 不仅对身体，而且对心灵也是如此； 而舒适，尤其是头脑的舒适，正在腐蚀，导致幻觉。
We are the things we possess, we are that to which we are attached. Attachment has no nobility. Attachment to knowledge is not different from any other gratifying addiction. Attachment is self-absorption, whether at the lowest or at the highest level. Attachment is self-deception, it is an escape from the hollowness of the self. The things to which we are attached – property, people, ideas – become all-important, for without the many things which fill its emptiness, the self is not. The fear of not being makes for possession; and fear breeds illusion, the bondage to conclusions. Conclusions, material or ideational, prevent the fruition of intelligence, the freedom in which alone reality can come into being; and without this freedom, cunning is taken for intelligence. The ways of cunning are always complex and destructive. It is this self-protective cunning that makes for attachment; and when attachment causes pain, it is this same cunning that seeks detachment and finds pleasure in the pride and vanity of renunciation. The understanding of the ways of cunning, the ways of the self, is the beginning of intelligence.
我们是我们所拥有的东西，我们是我们所依恋的东西。 依恋没有贵族气质。 对知识的执着与任何其他令人满意的嗜好没什么区别。 依恋是自我的吸引，无论是在最低水平还是在最高水平。 执着是自我的欺骗，是逃避自我空虚的方式。 我们所依附的事物 —— 财产、人、观念 —— 变得至关重要，因为没有这么多填补空虚的东西，自我就不存在。 对不存在的恐惧，催促人去占据； 而恐惧滋生幻觉、被束缚在结论之中。 所有的结论，无论是物质的还是思想的，都阻碍智慧的结果， 在那自由中，才能出现自在的真理； 没有这种自由，狡猾就取代了智慧。 狡猾的方式总是复杂的、破坏性的。 正是这种自我保护的狡猾使人产生依恋； 当依恋引起痛苦时，同样是这种狡猾，在寻求超脱， 并在弃俗的骄傲和虚荣中，寻找乐趣。 理解狡猾的套路、自我的方式，即是智慧的开始。