110. THE MEANING OF LIFE 生命的意义

The meaning of life生命的意义Life is never just being. It is becoming, a relentless flowing on. Our parents live on through us, and we will live on through our children. The institutions we build endure, and we will endure through them. The beauty we fashion cannot be dimmed by death. Our flesh may perish, our hands will wither, but that which they create in beauty and goodness and truth lives on for all time to come.
Don't spend and waste your lives accumulating objects that will only turn to dust and ashes. Pursue not so much the material as the ideal, for ideals alone invest life with meaning and are of enduring worth. Add love to a house and you have a home. Add righteousness to a city and you have a community. Add truth to a pile of red brick and you have a school. Add religion to the humblest of edifices and you have a sanctuary. Add justice to the far-flung round of human endeavor and you have civilization. Put them all together, exalt them above their present imperfections, add to them the vision of humankind redeemed, forever free of need and strife and you have a future lighted with the radiant colors of hope.
By J. B. Priestly
生命从来不仅仅是存在。它是一个逐渐变化发展的过程，它无情地流逝着。我们的父母通过我们二延续生命，而我们则通过我们的子女而延续它。我们建立的制度、习俗会延续下去，而我们也会通过他们延续。我们创造的美丽不会因死亡而变得暗淡。我们的肉体可能会消亡，我们的双手将干枯，但是人们用美丽、善良和正直所创造的一切将永葆生机。
不要消耗并浪费你的生命去积累那些只会化作尘土与灰烬的东西。不要过分地追求物质，而是应将理想作为目标，只有理想才能赋予生命以意义并具有历久不衰的价值。将爱赋予一座房子，你便会拥有一个家。将正义赋予一座城市，你将赢得全城的居民。将真理赋予那一堆红砖，你便拥有一所学校。给最简陋的大厦添加宗教信仰，你便拥有一座圣殿。将公正赋予久远而漫长的整个人类事业，你会拥有文明。把上面这些汇合成一个整体，改善他们目前尚不完善的方面，赋予到人类赎罪自新的憧憬里，使其永远地摆脱贫困和争斗的煎熬，这样，你会拥有一个被绚丽希望点亮的未来。