史蒂芬·弗莱 | 我们该如何看待死亡？

What should we think about death? One thing we can be sure of is that we will die. Everybody will.

我们该如何看待死亡？可以肯定的是，我们会死，每个人都会死。

Some people do not like the thought of this and don't accept it. They prefer to think that death is not the end of us but that we might live on, perhaps in another life on earth, or in another place where people are rewarded or punished.

很多人不喜欢这种想法，也不接受它。他们更愿相信死不是生命的终点，而是另一种生，也许是在地球上的另一个生命体中，又或是在一个人们被奖惩的地方继续生存。

But wanting something to be true is not the same as it being true. And there is no evidence to support the idea that our minds could survive the end of our bodies.

但是想让某些事成真并不等同它已然成真。而且没有证据表明，我们的思想在我们身体死后能够保存下来。

What sense could we make of the things that we value -- love, experiences, communication, achievements, the warmth of the sun on our face -- if we were disembodied? And if life were eternal, wouldn't it lose much of what gives it shape, structure, meaning and purpose?

如果脱离了肉体，我们对自己所珍视的东西——爱，经历，交流，成就，脸上阳光的温暖——还有什么意义呢？如果生命是永恒的，难道它不会失去很多赋予其形体，结构，意义和目的的东西吗？

Think about reading a good book or eating a delicious cake. These may be great pleasures, but one of the things that makes them pleasures is that they come to an end. A book that went on and on forever and a cake that you never stopped eating would both soon lose their appeal.

试想你正在读一本好书或者吃着一个美味的蛋糕。这些都让人愉悦，但使它们愉悦的是它们的使命已经完成了。一本永久流传的书和一个你一直吃的蛋糕很快就会失去吸引力。

Death is a natural part of life. It makes sense for us to try not to be afraid of this but instead to come to terms with it.

死亡是生命中自然的一部分。对我们来说，试图不要害怕死亡，去接受它是有道理的。

Then we can focus on finding meaning and purpose in the here and now, making the most of the one life we know we have and helping others to do the same, choosing good over evil without the expectation of reward in some other place.

然后我们就可以专注于寻找生命的意义和目的，充分利用所拥有的生命并帮助其他人也这样去做，择善而从，远离邪恶，在其他一些地方也不期许回报。

When we do die, we will live on in the work we have done and in the memories of the other people whose lives we have been part of. Our bodies will break up and become part again of the cycle of nature. The atoms that form us now will go on to form others things -- trees and birds, flowers and butterflies.

当我们死后，我们将继续活在我们所做过的工作中，活在我们曾经有交集的人的记忆中。我们的身体会分解，然后成为自然循环的一部分。构成我们身体的原子将会继续变成其他东西——树木和小鸟，花朵和蝴蝶。

disembodied

seeming not to have a body or not to be connected to a body 脱离躯体的；由看不见的人发出的

a disembodied voice

不见其人的说话声

come to an end

to finish 完结，结束

Everyone wishes the war would come to an end soon.

每个人都希望战争尽快结束。

come to terms with sth

to gradually accept a sad situation, often the death of someone you love 逐渐接受（常指所爱之人的死）

I think he's still coming to terms with the death of his wife.

我觉得他还没有完全接受妻子去世的事实。