Sand and Foam 沙与沫 （12）

作者：Kahlil Gibran（纪伯伦）

译文：冰心

配乐：사랑도 잠시 휴식이 필요하다 - Phase

诵读：Bryan

图片来源网络

You are indeed charitable when you give, and while giving, turn your face away so that you may not see the shyness of the receiver.

当你施与的时候你当然是慈善的，在授与的时候要把脸转过一边，这样就可以不看那受者的羞赧。

The difference between the richest man and the poorest is but a day of hunger and an hour of thirst.

最富与最穷的人的差别，只在于一整天的饥饿和一个钟头的干渴。

We often borrow from our tomorrows to pay our debts to our yesterdays.

我们常常从我们的明天预支了来偿付我们昨天的债负。

I too am visited by angels and devils, but I get rid of them.

When it is an angel I pray an old prayer, and he is bored;

When it is a devil I commit an old sin, and he passes me by.

我也曾受过天使和魔鬼的造访，但是我都把他们支走了。

当天使来的时候，我念一段旧的祷文，他就厌烦了；

当魔鬼来的时候，我犯一次旧的罪过，他就从我面前走过了。

After all this is not a bad prison; but I do not like this wall between my cell and the next prisoner's cell;

Yet I assure you that I do not wish to reproach the warder not the Builder of the prison.

总的来说，这不是一所坏监狱；我只不喜欢在我的囚房和隔壁囚房之间的这堵墙；

但是我对你保证，我决不愿责备狱吏和建造这监狱的人。

Those who give you a serpent when you ask for a fish, may have nothing but serpents to give. It is then generosity on their part.

你向他们求鱼而却给你毒蛇的那些人，也许他们只有毒蛇可给。那么在他们一方面就算是慷慨的了。

Trickery succeeds sometimes, but it always commits suicide.

欺骗有时成功，但它往往自杀。

You are truly a forgiver when you forgive murderers who never spill blood, thieves who never steal, and liars who utter no falsehood.

当你饶恕那些从不流血的杀手，从不窃盗的小偷，不打诳语的说谎者的时候，你就真是一个宽大的人。

He who can put his finger upon that which divides good from evil is he who can touch the very hem of the garment of God.

谁能把手指放在善恶分野的地方，谁就是能够摸到上帝圣袍的边缘的人。

If your heart is a volcano how shall you expect flowers to bloom in your hands?

如果你的心是一座火山的话，你怎能指望会从你的手里开出花朵来呢？

A strange form of self-indulgence! There are times when I would be wronged and cheated, that I may laugh at the expense of those who think I do not know I am being wronged and cheated.

多么奇怪的一个自欺的方式！有时我宁愿受到损害和欺骗，好让我嘲笑那些以为我不知道我是被损害、欺骗了的人。

What shall I say of him who is the pursuer playing the part of the pursued?

对于一个扮作被追求者的角色的追求者，我该怎么说他呢？

Let him who wipes his soiled hands with your garment take your garment. He may need it again; surely you would not.

让那个把脏手擦在你衣服上的人，把你的衣服拿走吧。他也许还需要那件衣服，你却一定不会再要了。

It is a pity that money-changers cannot be good gardeners.

兑换商不能做一个好园丁，真是可惜。

Please do not whitewash your inherent faults with your acquired virtues. I would have the faults; they are like mine own.

请你不要以后天的德行来粉饰你的先天的缺陷。我宁愿有缺陷；这些缺陷和我自己的一样。

How often have I attributed to myself crimes I have never committed, so that the other person may feel comfortable in my presence.

有多少次我把没有犯过的罪都拉到自己身上，为的让人家在我面前感到舒服。

Even the masks of life are masks of deeper mystery.

就是生命的面具也都是更深的奥秘的面具。