The Art of Living生活的艺术.docx

The Art of Living生活的艺术The art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. For life is a paradox; it enjoys us to cling to its many gifts even while it ordains their eventual relinquishment. The rabbis of old put it this way: “A man comes to this world with his first clenched, but when he dies, his hand is open.”懂得如何取舍，这便是生活的艺术。生活本身就是自相矛盾的：它劝诫我们珍惜生活赋予的诸多恩赐，但这一切最终又将会化为乌有。古犹太教士说活：“人握拳而来，撒手而去。”Surely we ought to hold fast to life, for it is wondrous, and full of a beauty that breaks through every pore of God’s own earth. We know that this is so, but all too often we recognize this truth only in our backward glance when we remember what was and then suddenly realize that it is no more.?的确，我们应牢牢地把握生活，因为它是奇妙无穷的，它的美妙存在于上帝所创造的这个世界的每一个角落。虽然我们知道事实果真如此，但常常只有在回首往事时才会懂得这一真理。当我们忆起人生的美妙时，才突然发现早已物是人非。We remember a beauty that faded, a love that waned. But we remember with far greater pain that we did not see that beauty when it flowered, that we failed to respond with love when it was tendered.我们追忆那褪色的美，还有消逝的爱。但回忆时，我们总会深感痛苦，因为我们不曾看到美丽绽放的时刻，也未曾回应爱的呼唤。A recent experience retaught me this truth. I was hospitalized following a severe heart attack and had been in intensive care for several days. It was not a pleasant place.近来的一次经历再次让我领会到了这一真理。由于心脏病发作，病情加重，我必须住进医院特护区接受数天的治疗。医院可不是一个令人愉快的地方。One morning, I had to have some additional tests. The required machines were located in a building at the opposite end of the hospital, so I had to be wheeled across the courtyard on a journey.一天清晨，我必须去做一些额外的检查。而检查所需的仪器放在医院尽头对面的大楼里，因此我不得不坐着轮椅穿过院子去那里。As we emerged from our unit, the sunlight hit me. That’s all there was to my experience, just the light of the sun. And yet low beautiful it was—how warming, how sparkling, how brilliant! I looked to see whether anyone else relished the sun’s golden glow, but everyone was hurrying to and fro, most with eyes fixed on the ground. Then I remembered how often I, too, had been indifferent to the grandeur of each day, too preoccupied with petty and s