Human life like a poem

林語堂

I think that,from a biological standpoint,human life almost reads like a poem.It has its own rhythm and beat,its internal cycles of growth and decay衰敗.No one can say that a life with childhood,manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement.The day has its morning,noon and sunset,and the year has its seasons,and it is good—that it is so.There is no good or bad in life,except what is good according to its own season.

And if we take this biological view of life and try to live according to the seasons,no one but a conceited驕傲自大的fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem.

我以為，從生物學(xué)角度看，人的一生恰如詩歌。人生自有其韻律和節(jié)奏，自有內(nèi)在的成長與衰亡。人生有童年、成年和老年，誰也不能否認(rèn)這是一種美好的安排。一天要有清晨、正午和日落，一年要有四季之分，如此才好。人生本無好壞之分，只是各個季節(jié)有各自的好處。

如若我們持此種生物學(xué)的觀點(diǎn)，并循著季節(jié)去生活，除了狂妄自大的傻瓜和無可救藥的理想主義者，誰能說人生不能像詩一般度過呢？

林語堂（1895.10.10～1976.3.26），福建龍溪（今漳州）人，原名和樂，后改玉堂，又改語堂，中國現(xiàn)代著名作家、學(xué)者、翻譯家、語言學(xué)家，新道家代表人物。林語堂于1940年和1950年先后兩度獲得諾貝爾文學(xué)獎提名。作品包括小說《京華煙云》《啼笑皆非》。散文和雜文文集《人生的盛宴》《生活的藝術(shù)》，以及譯著《東坡詩文選》《浮生六記》等。