IT WAS VERY early in the morning when the plane took off. The passengers were all heavily cloaked, for it was quite cold, and it would be colder still as we gained altitude. The man in the next seat was saying, through the roar of the engines, that these easterners were brilliant, logical, and had behind them the culture of many centuries; but what was their future? On the other hand, the western peoples, while not at all brilliant, except for the few, were very active and produced so much; they were as industrious as ants. Why were they all making so much fuss and killing each other over religious and political differences, and the division of the land? What fools they were! They hadn’t learned anything from history. He thanked God that he was a scholar, and not caught up in it all. The man who was now in power had turned out to be a mere politician, not the great statesman one had hoped he would be; but such was the way of the world. It was strange how, centuries ago, one small group had civilized the West, and another had exploded creatively all over the Orient, giving new and deeper significance to life. But where was it all now? Man had become small-minded, miserable, lost.
飞机起飞的时候是清晨。 乘客们都穿着很厚的外套，因为天气很冷， 而且随着我们高度的提升，温度会更低。 隔壁座位上的人透过发动机的轰鸣声说， 这些东方人才华横溢，合乎逻辑， 背后有许多世纪的文化；但他们的未来是什么？ 另一方面，西方人虽然除了少数人之外，一点也不光彩， 但却非常活跃，生产得如此之多。他们像蚂蚁一样勤劳。 为什么他们都为宗教和政治分歧以及土地的划分 而大惊小怪，互相残杀？ 他们真是个傻瓜！他们没有从历史中学到任何东西。 他感谢上帝，使他成为一个学者，而没有陷入其中。 现在掌权的人只是一个政客， 而不是他所希望的伟大的政治家。 但这就是世界的方式。 奇怪的是，几个世纪前，一小群人使西方文明化， 而另一群在东方各地创造性地爆发， 赋予生命新的和更深刻的意义。 但现在，一切都在哪里？ 人已经变得心胸狭隘、痛苦不堪和迷惑。
“After all, when the mind is bound by authority, it shrinks – which is what has happened to the minds of the scholars,” he added with a smile. “When bound by tradition, philosophy ceases to be creative, meaningful. Most scholars live in a world of their own, a world into which they escape, and their minds are as shrivelled as last year’s fruit dried in the summer sun. But life is like that isn’t it? – full of infinite promise, and ending in misery, frustration. All the same, the life of the mind has its own rewards.”
“毕竟，当头脑被权威束缚时，它就开始萎缩 —— 这就是学者们头脑中发生的事情，” 他微笑着补充道。 “当受到传统的束缚时，哲学就不再是创造性的、有意义的。 大多数学者生活在一个他们自己的世界里，一个他们逃窜的世界， 他们的头脑，就像去年的水果在夏日阳光下炙烤一样萎缩。 但生活就是这样，不是吗？ —— 充满无限的希望，并以痛苦，沮丧告终。 尽管如此，这种头脑的生活也有它自己的回报。”
The sky had been a clear, soft blue, but now clouds were piling up, dark and heavy with rain. We were flying between an upper and a lower layer of clouds; it was clear where we were, but there was no sun, only space in which there were no clouds. Heavy drops of rain were falling on the silver wings from the upper layer; it was cold and bumpy, but we would be landing soon. The man in the next seat had fallen asleep; his mouth was twitching, and his hands jerked nervously. In a few minutes there would be the long drive from the airport, through woods and green fields.
天空曾经是晴朗的，柔和的蓝色， 但现在云层堆叠起来，黑暗而下着大雨。 我们在云的上下层之间飞行。 我们在那里很清楚，但没有太阳，只有无云的空间。 大雨从上层落在银色的翅膀上； 天气寒冷而颠簸，但我们很快就会降落。 隔壁座位上的男人已经睡着了。 他的嘴巴在抽搐，他的手神经性地痉挛着。 几分钟后，从机场开车，经过了树林和绿色的田野。
Like the two who had come with her, she was a teacher, quite young and enthusiastic. “We have all taken college degrees,” she began, “and have been trained as teachers – which may be partly what’s wrong with us,” she added with a smile. “We teach in a school for young children, up to the age of adolescence, and we would like to talk over with you some of the problems of the adolescent period, when the sexual urges begin. Of course, we have read about it all, but reading is not quite the same as talking things over. We are all married, and looking back, we realize how much better it would have been if someone had talked to us about sexual matters and helped us to understand that difficult adolescent period. But we haven’t come to talk about ourselves, though we too have our problems; and who hasn’t?”
同她一起来的两个人一样，她也是一名老师，相当年轻，充满热情。 “我们都拿了大学学位，” 她开始说，“并接受过教师培训 —— 这可能是我们的错误的一部分，” 她微笑着补充道。 “我们在一所针对幼儿的学校教书，直到青春期， 我们想和你谈谈青春期的一些问题， 当性冲动开始时。 当然，我们已经经读过了所有内容， 但读书与谈论事情并不完全相同。 我们都结婚了，回想起来， 我们意识到如果有人和我们谈论性的问题 并帮助我们理解那个艰难的青春期，那会有多好。 但是我们不是来谈论我们自己，尽管我们也有我们的问题。 谁没有呢？”
“For the most part,” added the second one, “children come to that difficult period completely unprepared, with very little help or understanding; though they may know something about it, they are caught up and swept along by the sexual urge. We want to help our students to face it, to understand it, and not become virtual slaves to it, but what with all these cinemas, advertising pictures and sexually provocative magazine covers, it is difficult even for adults to think straightly about it. I am not being respectable or prudish, but the problem is there, and one must be able to understand and deal with it in a practical manner.”
“在大多数情况下，” 第二个补充说， “孩子们完全没有准备，几乎没有帮助或理解； 虽然他们可能对此有所了解， 但他们被性冲动吸引并淹没。 我们希望帮助我们的学生面对它，理解它， 而不是成为它的虚拟奴隶， 但是所有这些电影院、广告图片和性挑逗杂志封面， 即使是成年人也很难直接思考它。 我不是在张扬或大惊小怪，但问题就在那里， 人必须能够以实际的方式理解和处理它。”
“That’s it,” said the third; “we want to be practical, whatever that may mean, but we still don’t know too much about it. Films are now available, telling about sex, and showing from beginning to end how children are born, and all the rest of it; but it’s such a colossal subject that one hesitates to tackle it. We want to teach the children what they should know about sex, without arousing any morbid curiosity, and without strengthening their already strong feelings to the point of encouraging them to make experiments. It’s a kind of tight rope that one has to walk on; and the parents, with some exceptions, of course, are not much help; they are fearful and anxious to be respectable. So it’s not just a problem of adolescence; it includes the parents and the whole social environment, and we can’t neglect that aspect of it either. Also, there’s the problem of delinquency.”
“就是那样，” 第三人说。 “我们希望务实，无论这可能意味着什么，但我们仍然不太了解它。 现在有了电影，谈论性， 并从头到尾展示孩子是如何出生的，以及所有其它细节； 但这是一个如此巨大的主题，以至于人犹豫是否要解决它。 我们想教孩子们他们应该知道的关于性的知识， 不引起任何病态的好奇心， 也不增加他们已经很强烈的感情，以致鼓励他们做实验。 这是一根必须行走的紧绷的绳索； 而父母，除了一些例外，当然，并没有多大的帮助； 他们害怕并渴望受人尊敬。 因此，这不仅仅是青春期的问题； 它包括父母和整个社会环境， 我们也不能忽视它的这一方面。此外，还有犯罪问题。”
Aren’t all these problems interrelated? There’s no isolated problem, and no problem can be resolved by itself; isn’t that so? Then what’s the issue that you want to talk over? “Our immediate problem is how to help the child to understand this period of adolescence, and yet not do anything that might encourage him to go overboard in his relation with the opposite sex.”
这些问题不都是相互关联的吗？ 没有孤立的问题，也没有问题可以独自解决；难道不是那样吗？ 那么你想谈谈的问题是什么？ “我们眼前的问题是，如何帮助孩子理解这段青春期， 却不做任何可能鼓励他在与异性的关系中发生过分的事情。”
How do you now meet the problem? “We hem and haw, we talk vaguely about controlling one’s emotions, disciplining one’s desires – and of course there are always the examples, the heroes of virtue,” ejaculated the first teacher. “We urge on them the importance of following ideals, leading a clean life of moderation, obeying the social order, and all that kind of thing. On some of the children it has a stabilizing effect, on others no effect at all, and a few are frightened; but I suppose the fear soon wears off.”
您现在如何解决这个问题？ “我们经常停顿， 我们含糊地谈论控制自己的情绪，管教自己的欲望 —— 当然总有例子，美德的英雄，” 第一位老师突然说。“我们敦促他们遵循理想， 过上干净的儒雅的生活，服从社会秩序等等。 对一些孩子有稳定作用，对另一些孩子根本没有效果， 少数孩子有恐惧心理；但我想恐惧很快就会消失。”
“We talk about the process of reproduction, pointing it out in nature,” added the second one, “but on the whole we are conservative and cautious.”
“我们谈论繁殖过程，在自然界中指出它，” 第二个补充道，“但总的来说，我们是保守和谨慎的。”
Then what’s the problem? “As my friend said, the problem is how to help the student to cope with the sexual urge when he reaches adolescence, and not be bowled over by it.”
那么问题出在哪里呢？ “正如我的朋友所说，问题在于在他们进入青春期时， 如何帮助学生应对性冲动，而不被它碾压。”
Does the sexual urge arise only when the boy or girl reaches adolescence, or does it exist in a simpler, freer way throughout the years which precede adolescence? Must not the child be helped to understand it from the earliest possible age, not just at a certain later period of his development?
性冲动是只在男孩或女孩进入青春期时才出现的， 还是在青春期之前的几年里，就以更简单，更自由的方式存在？ 难道不能帮助孩子从最早的年龄段就理解它， 而不仅仅是在他发展的某个后期？
“I think you are right,” said the third one. “The sexual urge does undoubtedly manifest itself in different ways at a much earlier age, but most of us haven’t the time or the interest to consider it much before the child reaches adolescence, when the problem tends to become acute.”
“我认为你是对的，” 第三个说。 “毫无疑问，性冲动在更早的年龄就以不同的方式表现出来， 但我们大多数人都没有时间或兴趣去考虑它 直到孩子进入青春期，这时，问题的趋势已经变得尖锐。”
If one comes to adolescence without having been rightly educated, then obviously the sexual urge takes on an overwhelming importance, and becomes almost uncontrollable. “What does it mean to be ‘rightly educated’?”
如果一个人在进入青春期时没有接受过正确的教育， 那么显然，性冲动就具有压倒性的重要性， 并且几乎无法控制。 “'受过‘正确的教育’是什么意思？”
Right education is through the cultivation of sensitivity; and sensitivity must be cultivated, not just at the particular period of growth called adolescence, but throughout one’s life; isn’t that so? “Why this emphasis on sensitivity?” asked the first one.
正确的教育是通过培养灵敏性； 必须培养灵敏性， 不仅在称为青春期的特定成长时期，而且在一个人的一生中； 难道不是那样吗？ “为什么强调灵敏性？” 第一个人问道。
To be sensitive is to feel affection, it is to be aware of beauty, of ugliness; and is not the cultivation of this sensitivity part of the problem you are speaking of? “I hadn’t thought about it before, but now that you point it out, I see they are related.”
处于敏感就是感受亲情，就是觉知美与丑； 这种灵敏性的培养不是你所说的问题的一部分吗？ “我以前没有想过，但现在你指出来，我看到它们是相关的。”
To be rightly educated is not just to have studied history or physics; it is also to be sensitive to the things of the earth – to the animals, to the trees, to the streams, to the sky, and to other people. But we neglect all that, or we study it as part of a project, something to be learned and stored up for use when occasion demands. Even if one has this sensitivity in childhood, it is generally destroyed by the noise of so-called civilization. The child’s environment soon forces him into a mould of the respectable, the conventional. Gentleness, affection, the feeling for beauty, the sensitivity to ugliness – all this is lost; but of course the biological urge is still there.
接受正确的教育，不仅仅是学习历史或物理； 也是要对地球上的事物保持敏感 —— 对动物、对树木、对溪流、对天空和对他人。 但是，我们忽略了所有这些， 或者我们把它作为项目的一部分来研究， 作为某些需要学习并储存的东西，以便在需要之时拿来用。 即使一个人在童年时期有这种灵敏性， 通常，它也会被称之为‘文明’的噪音所摧毁。 小孩子生长的环境很快迫使他进入一个令人尊敬的、传统的模式。 温柔、感情、对美的感觉、对丑的敏感 —— 所有这些都失去了； 但是，当然，生理性冲动仍然存在。
“That’s true,” agreed the third one. “We do seem to neglect all that side of life, don’t we? And we excuse ourselves by saying we have no time for it, we have the curriculum to think of, and all that!”
“那是真的，” 第三个人同意。 “我们似乎忽略了生活的所有方面，不是吗？ 我们借口说我们没有时间， 我们有课程要考虑，等等！”
Isn’t the cultivation of sensitivity at least as important as books and degrees? But we worship success, and we neglect this sensitivity, which destroys the pursuit of success. “Isn’t success necessary in life?”
培养灵敏度难道不是至少与书本和文凭同样重要吗？ 但是我们崇拜成功， 而忽略了这种灵敏性 —— 它摧毁了对成功的追求。 “成功不是生活的必要条件吗？”
Insistence upon success breeds insensitivity, it encourages ruthlessness and self-centred activity. How can an ambitious man be sensitive to other people, or to the things of the earth? They are there for his fulfilment, to be used by him in his climb to the top. And this sensitivity is essential, otherwise you have sexual problems.
对成功的坚持，会滋生不灵敏， 它鼓励无情和以自我为中心的活动。 一个雄心勃勃的人，怎么能对他人或地球上的东西敏感呢？ 他们的存在，是为了他的成就，被他用来攀爬顶峰。 而这种灵敏性是必不可少的，否则你就有性问题。
“How would you cultivate sensitivity in the young?” ‘Cultivation’ is an unfortunate word, but since we have used it we will go on with it. Sensitivity is not something to be practised; it is no good merely telling the young to observe nature, or to read the poets, and all the rest of it. But if you yourself are sensitive to the beautiful and to the ugly, if in you there is a sense of gentleness, of love, don’t you think you will be able to help your students to have affection, to be considerate, and so on? You see, we stifle or neglect all this, while every form of stimulating diversion is indulged in, so the problem becomes increasingly complex.
“你会如何培养年轻人的灵敏性？” ‘培养’是一个不幸的词，但既然我们已经用过它，我们就继续说下去。 灵敏性不是需要实践的东西； 仅仅告诉年轻人观察自然，或者阅读诗，以及所有其它的东西， 是没用的。 但是，如果你自己对美和丑敏感， 如果你内心有一种温柔，爱的感觉，难道你不认为 你能够帮助你的学生有感情、体贴、等等吗？ 你看，我们扼杀或忽视了这一切， 同时，每种形式的刺激性转移，都导致沉溺， 所以，问题变得越来越复杂。
“I see what you say to be true, but I don’t think you fully appreciate our difficulty. We have classes of thirty or forty boys and girls, and we can’t talk to all of them individually, however much we would like to. Moreover, teaching so many at one time is a most exhausting task and we ourselves get tired out and tend to lose whatever sensitivity we have.”
“我知道你说的是真实的， 但我不认为你完全理解我们的困难。 我们有三四十个男孩和女孩的班级， 我们不能单独与他们交谈，无论我们多么想。 此外，一次教这么多人是一项最累人的任务， 我们自己会感到疲惫， 以至于渐渐地失去了我们所拥有的任何灵敏性。”
So what are you to do? Care, tenderness, affection – these are essential if the sexual urges are to be understood. Surely, by feeling out the problem, by talking about it, by pointing it out in different ways, sensitivity is gathered by the teacher and its significance communicated to the young child; and when that child becomes adolescent, he will then be able to meet the sexual urges with wider and deeper understanding. But to bring about the right kind of education for the child, you have also to educate the parents, who after all form society.
那你该怎么办呢？ 关怀、温柔、感情 —— 如果要理解性冲动，这些都是必不可少的。 当然，通过感受问题，通过谈论它，通过以不同的方式指出它， 灵敏性通过老师来汇聚，并将其意义传达给小孩子； 当那个孩子长大成人时， 他将能够以更广泛和更深入的理解来面对性冲动。 但是，为了给孩子带来正确的教育， 你还必须教育父母，毕竟，是他们形成了社会。
“The problem is complex and really mountainous, and what can we three do in this mess? What can the individual do?”
“这个问题很复杂，而且真的是巨大的， 我们三个人在这场混乱中能做些什么？一个人能做些什么？”
It is only as individuals that we can do anything at all. It has always been an individual, here and there, who has really affected society and brought about great changes in thought and action. To be really revolutionary, one must step out of the pattern of society, the pattern of acquisitiveness, envy, and so on. Any reform within the pattern will, in the end, only cause more confusion and misery. Delinquency is but a revolt within the pattern; and the function of the educator, surely, is to help the young to break out of the pattern, which is to be free of acquisitiveness and of the search for power.
只有作为个人，我们才能做任何事情。 总是处于一个自立的人，在这里和那里， 才能真正地影响社会，并带来思想和行动上的巨大改变。 要有真正的革命性， 一个人必须走出社会模式，贪婪、嫉妒等等的模式。 模式内的任何改革，最终都只会造成更多的困惑与痛苦。 不良行为只是模式中的一种反抗； 而教育者的职能，当然就是帮助年轻人打破这种模式， 也就是摆脱贪婪和对权力的追逐。
“I can see that we shall be of little value unless we also feel these things intensely. And that’s one of our major difficulties: we are all so intellectual that our feelings have become paralysed. It is only when we feel strongly that we can really do something.”
“我可以看到，除非我们也强烈地感受到这些东西，否则我们将没有什么价值。 那就是我们的主要困难之一： 我们都非常聪明，以至于我们的感觉已经瘫痪了。 只有当我们强烈地感觉到，我们才能真正做点什么。”