皮包成本核算制度:生命的五份礼物之二

                        生命的五份礼物

3

“Choose again.” It was the fairy speaking.

“The years have taught you wisdom -- surely it must be so. Three gifts remain. Only one of them has any worth -- remember it, and choose warily.”

The man reflected long, then chose Fame; and the fairy, 10)sighing, went her way.

Years went by and she came again, and stood behind the man where he sat 11)solitary in the fading day, thinking. And she knew his thought:

“My name filled the world, and its praises were on every tongue, and it seemed well with me for a little while. How little a while it was! Then came 12)envy; then 13)detraction; then hate; then 14)persecution. Then 15)derision, which is the beginning of the end. And last of all came pity, which is the 16)funeral of fame. Oh, the 17)bitterness and misery of 18)renown!”

“你再选一次吧。”仙女又一次说话了。

“这些年已经教予你智慧—也理当如此。这里还有三份礼物，其中只有一份是有价值的—切记，你好好挑一挑吧。”

他想了很久，然而选择了名声。仙女叹了口气，径自离开了。

岁月流转，仙女又回来了，站到他的身旁。已迈入迟暮之年的他孑然一身，心事重重。他在想些什么，她都了然于心。

“我的名字传遍世界，每个人都争相赞颂，有一阵子好像让我心满意足。可那是多么短暂的一阵子啊！随之而来的是妒忌；然后是诋毁；然后是憎恶；然后是迫害。之后是嘲讽，从此一切开始步入完结。最后便是怜悯，这也是我的名声的葬礼。啊，名声原来是这般苦涩和痛苦！”

4

“Choose yet again.” It was the fairy’s voice.

“Two gifts remain. And do not despair. In the beginning there was but one that was precious, and it is still here.”

“Wealth ? which is power! How blind I was!” said the man. “Now, at last, life will be worth the living. I will spend,19)squander. These mockers and despisers will 20)crawl in the dirt before me, and I will feed my hungry heart with their envy. I will have all 21)luxuries, all joys, all 22)enchantments of the spirit. I will buy, buy, buy! I have lost much time, and chosen badly heretofore, but let that pass; I was 23)ignorant then, and could but take for best what seemed so.”

Three short years went by, and a day came when the man sat 24)shivering in a 25)mean garret; and he was 26)gaunt and 27)wan and 28)hollow-eyed, and clothed in 29)rags; and he was 30)gnawing a dry 31)crust and 32)mumbling:

“Curse all the world’s gifts, for mockeries and gilded lies! And miscalled, every one. They are not gifts, but merely lendings. Pleasure, Love, Fame, Riches: they are but temporary disguises for lasting realities -- Pain, Grief, Shame, 33)Poverty. The fairy said true; in all her store there was but one gift which was precious, only one that was not valueless. How poor and cheap and mean I know those others now to be. Bring it! I am 34)weary, I would rest.”