In the eternal universe, every human being has a one-off chance to live—his existence is unique and irretrievable,

在茫茫宇宙间，每个人都只有一次生存的机会，都是一个独一无二、不可重复的存在。

for the mold with which he was made, as Rousseau said, was broken by God immediately afterwards.

正像卢梭所说的，上帝把你造出来后，就把那个属于你的特定的模子打碎了。

Fame, wealth and knowledge are merely worldly possessions that are within the reach of anybody striving for them.

名声、财产、知识等等是身外之物，人人都可求而得之，

But your experience of and feelings about life are your own and not to be shared.

但没有人能够代替你感受人生。

No one can live your life over again after your death.

你死之后，没有人能够代替你再活一次。

A full awareness of this will point out to you that the most important thing in your existence is your distinctive individuality or something special of yours.

如果你真正意识到了这一点，你就会明白，活在世上，最重要的事就是活出你自己的特色和滋味来。

What really counts is not your worldly success but your peculiar insight into the meaning of life and your commitment to it, which add luster to your personality.

你的人生是否有意义，衡量的标准不是外在的成功，而是你对人生意义的独特领悟和坚守，从而使你的自我闪放出个性的光华。

It is not easy to be what one really is.

真正成为自己不是一件容易的事。

There is many a person in the world who can be identified as anything either his job, his status or his social role that shows no trace about his individuality.

世上有许多人，你说他是什么都行，例如是一种职业，一个身份，一个角色，惟独不是他自己。

It does do him justice to say that he has no identity of his own, if he doesn’t know his own mind and all his things are either arranged by others or done on others’ suggestions;

如果一个人总是按别人的意见生活，没有自己的独立思索，总是为外在事务忙碌，没有自己的内心生活，

if his life, always occupied by external things, is completely void of an inner world.

如果他的生命被外在事物占据，没有自己的内心世界，

You won’t be able to find anything whatever, from head to heart, that truly belongs to him.

从他的头脑到他的心灵，你在其中已经找不到丝毫真正属于他自己的东西了，

He is, indeed, no more than a shadow cast by somebody else or a machine capable of doing business.

那事实上，他只是别人的一个影子或一架办事的机器罢了。

单词详解

universe [ˈjuːnɪvɜːrs]

n. 宇宙；天地万物

例：The idea of a parallel universe is hard to take in.

平行宇宙的概念很难理解。

irretrievable [ˌɪrɪˈtriːvəbl]

adj. 不能挽回的； 不可弥补的

例：The money already spent is irretrievable.

花出去的钱，泼出去的水。

distinctive [dɪˈstɪŋktɪv]

adj. 独特的；特别的；有特色的

例：The bird has distinctive red markings on its head.

这只鸟头上有独特的红色斑纹。

peculiar [pɪˈkjuːliər]

adj. 特有的；特殊的

例：She has her own peculiar style which you’ll soon get used to.

她有她独特的风格，你很快就会习惯的。

commitment [kəˈmɪtmənt]

n. 承诺; 献身; 不得不做的事

例：A career as a teacher requires one hundred percent commitment.

教师这个职业需要百分百的投入。