THE RIVER WAS full and sweeping, in some places several miles wide, and to see so much water was a delight. To the north were the green hills, fresh after the storm. It was splendid to see the great curve of the river with the white sails on it. The sails were large and triangular, and in the early morning light there was an enchantment about them, they seemed to come out of the water. The noise of the day had not yet begun, and the song of a boatman almost on the other side of the river came floating across the waters. At that hour his song seemed to fill the earth, and all other sounds were silenced; even the whistle of a train became soft and bearable.
河水丰盈而宽阔， 有的地方几英里宽，看到这么大一片水域，很是开心。 北面是绿色的山丘，暴风雨过后，很是清新。 看到河流优美的曲线，白色的帆船点缀于上，真是太壮观了。 帆很大，呈三角形， 在清晨的阳光下，它们周围有一种魔力， 它们似乎从水中浮出。 白天的喧嚣还没有开始，一个船夫的歌声 几乎从河的另一边飘过了水面。 那一刻，他的歌声似乎充满了大地， 其余的一切声响都安静了。 甚至火车的汽笛声也变得柔和而可以忍受。
Gradually the noise of the village began: the loud quarrels at the water fountain, the bleating of goats, the cows asking to be milked, the heavy carts on the road, the shrill call of the crows, the cries and laughter of children. And so another day was born. The sun was over the palm trees, and the monkeys were sitting on the wall, their long tails almost touching the earth. They were large, but very timid; you called to them, and they jumped to the ground and ran to a big tree in the field. They were black faced and black pawed, and they looked intelligent, but they were not as clever and mischievous as the little ones.
渐渐地，村子的喧嚣开始了： 喷泉的吵闹声、山羊的嘶吼声， 要求挤奶的奶牛、路上沉重的手推车， 乌鸦的尖锐叫声、孩子们的哭声和笑声。 于是，又有一天诞生了。 太阳在棕榈树的头顶， 猴子们坐在墙上，它们的长尾巴几乎触碰到了地上。 他们很大，却很胆小； 你叫他们，他们跳到地上，跑到田野里的一棵大树上。 他们黑脸，黑爪子， 看起来很聪明，却不像小孩子那样聪明和淘气。
“Why is thought so persistent? It seems so restless, so exasperatingly insistent. Do what you will, it is always active, like those monkeys, and its very activity is exhausting. You cannot escape from it, it pursues you relentlessly. You try to suppress it, and a few seconds later it pops up again. It is never quiet, never in repose; it is always pursuing, always analysing, always torturing itself. Sleeping or waking, thought is in constant turmoil, and it seems to have no peace, no rest.”
“为什么思想如此地执着？ 它看起来如此不安，如此令人恼火的顽固。 不管做啥子，它总是很活跃，就像那些猴子一样， 而它的这种活动劳命伤财。 你无法逃避它，它无情地追踪你。 你试图抑制它，几秒钟后它再次蹦出。 它从不安静，从不停歇； 它总是在追逐，总是在分析，总是在折磨它自己。 不论是在睡眠或清醒时期，思想不断地动荡， 似乎无法平静，没有休止。”
Can thought ever be at peace? It can think about peace and attempt to be peaceful, forcing itself to be still; but can thought in itself be tranquil? Is not thought in its very nature restless? Is not thought the constant response to constant challenge? There can be no cessation to challenge, because every movement of life is a challenge; and if there is no awareness of challenge, then there is decay, death. Challenge-and-response is the very way of life. Response can be adequate or inadequate; and it is inadequacy of response to challenge that provokes thought, with its restlessness. Challenge demands action, not verbalization. Verbalization is thought. The word, the symbol, retards action; and idea is the word, as memory is the word. There is no memory without the symbol, without the word. Memory is word, thought, and can thought be the true response to challenge? Is challenge an idea? Challenge is always new, fresh; and can thought, idea, ever be new? When thought meets the challenge, which is ever new, is not that response the outcome of the old, the past?
思想可以平静吗？ 它可以思考平静，并试图平静，迫使自己静止； 但思想本身可以安宁吗？思想的本质难道不是躁动的吗？ 思想难道不是对持续的挑战的不断回应吗？ 挑战不能停止，因为生命的每一个运动都是一个挑战； 如果意识不到挑战，那么就是腐烂、死亡。 挑战与回应，恰好是生命的旅程。 回应可以是充分的，也可以是不充分的； 正是对挑战的不充分回应，激发了思考，以及它所拥有的不安。 挑战需要行动，而不是言语化。 言语化是思想。 词语、符号，阻碍着行动； 思想就是言词，如同记忆就是字句。 没有符号，没有文字，就没有记忆。 记忆是文字，思想，思想可以成为挑战的真正回应吗？ 挑战是一个想法吗？挑战总是崭新的、清鲜的； 而思想、想法，能永远崭新吗？ 当思想迎接挑战，迎接这个崭新的东西时， 思想的回应，难道不是旧的、过时的结果吗？
When the old meets the new, inevitably the meeting is incomplete; and this incompleteness is thought in its restless search for completeness. Can thought, idea, ever be complete? Thought, idea, is the response of memory; and memory is ever incomplete. Experience is the response to challenge. This response is conditioned by the past, by memory; such response only strengthens the conditioning. Experience does not liberate, it strengthens belief, memory, and it is this memory that responds to challenge; so experience is the conditioner.
用旧的来对付新的，这种应对必然是不完整的； 这种不完整性，就是思想，里面包涵了它对完整的无止歇的追逐。 思想、想法，有可能完整吗？ 思想、想法，是记忆的回应；而记忆永远是不完整的。 曾经的体验，就是对挑战的回应。 这个回应受到过去、记忆的捆绑。 这种回应只会强化这个捆绑。 过往的体验不是解放军，它强化信念、记忆， 正是这个记忆，对挑战做出了回应； 因此，过往的体验是绑架者。
“But what place has thought?”
呢？”
Do you mean what place has thought in action? Has idea any function in action? Idea becomes a factor in action in order to modify it, to control it, to shape it; but idea is not action. Idea, belief, is a safeguard against action; it has a place as a controller, modifying and shaping action. Idea is the pattern for action. “Can there be action without the pattern?”
你是问，思想在行动中的地位吗？ 在行动中，想法有什么用？ 在行动中，想法变成一个因素，以便于修改、控制、塑造行动； 但想法不是行动。想法、信念，是抗拒行动的防护装置； 它的地位就是一个控制者，修改和塑造行动。 想法是行动的准则。 “没有准则，能有行动吗？”
Not if one is seeking a result. Action towards a predetermined goal is not action at all, but conformity to belief, to idea. If one is seeking conformity, then thought, idea, has a place. The function of thought is to create a pattern for so-called action, and thereby to kill action. Most of us are concerned with the killing of action; and idea, belief, dogma, help to destroy it. Action implies insecurity, vulnerability to the unknown; and thought, belief, which is the known, is an effective barrier to the unknown. Thought can never penetrate into the unknown; it must cease for the unknown to be. The action of the unknown is beyond the action of thought; and thought, being aware of this, consciously or unconsciously clings to the known. The known is ever responding to the unknown, to the challenge; and from this inadequate response arise conflict, confusion and misery. It is only when the known, the idea, ceases that there can be the action of the unknown, which is measureless.
如果一个人正在寻求一个结果，就没有。 朝着预定目标的行动根本不是行动， 而是对信念、想法的遵循。 如果一个人在寻求遵循，那么思想，想法，就有一个地位。 思想的用途是，为所谓的行动制造一种准则， 从而扼杀行动。 我们大多数人都关心的是对行动的谋杀； 而想法、信仰、教条，有助于摧残它。 行动意味着不安全，对未知的敏感； 而思想，信仰，也就是已知，是阻挡未知的有效的栅栏。 思想永远无法穿透未知； 它必须停止，未知才能出现。 未知的行动，超越了思想的行动； 而思想，意识到这一点，有意或无意地攀附于已知。 已知总是在回应这个未知、这个挑战； 而从这种不充分的回应中，升起了冲突、困惑与悲苦。 只有当那些已知、那些想法停下时， 才能出现这种未知的行动，而未知，是无量的。