双语·少年维特的烦恼 一七七一年十月二十日
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OCTOBER 20.
We arrived here yesterday. The ambassador is indisposed, and will not go out for some days. If he were less peevish and morose, all would be well. I see but too plainly that Heaven has destined me to severe trials; but courage! a light heart may bear anything. A light heart! I smile to find such a word proceeding from my pen. A little more lightheartedness would render me the happiest being under the sun. But must I despair of my talents and faculties, whilst others of far inferior abilities parade before me with the utmost self-satisfaction? Gracious Providence, to whom I owe all my powers, why didst thou not withhold some of those blessings I possess, and substitute in their place a feeling of self-confidence and contentment?
But patience! all will yet be well; for I assure you, my dear friend, you were right: since I have been obliged to associate continually with other people, and observe what they do, and how they employ themselves, I have become far better satisfied with myself. For we are so constituted by nature, that we are ever prone to compare ourselves with others; and our happiness or misery depends very much on the objects and persons around us. On this account, nothing is more dangerous than solitude: there our imagination, always disposed to rise, taking a new flight on the wings of fancy, pictures to us a chain of beings of whom we seem the most inferior. All things appear greater than they really are, and all seem superior to us. This operation of the mind is quite natural: we so continually feel our own imperfections, and fancy we perceive in others the qualities we do not possess, attributing to them also all that we enjoy ourselves, that by this process we form the idea of a perfect, happy man,—a man, however, who only exists in our own imagination.
But when, in spite of weakness and disappointments, we set to work in earnest, and persevere steadily, we often find, that, though obliged continually to tack, we make more way than others who have the assistance of wind and tide; and, in truth, there can be no greater satisfaction than to keep pace with others or outstrip them in the race.
一七七一年十月二十日
我们昨天抵达此地。公使觉着身体不舒服，要在家里休息几天。他要是脾气随和些，就一切都好了。我发现，一再地发现，命运总是安排给我种种严峻的考验。可要鼓起勇气啊！心情一轻松，便什么都能忍受了。好个心情轻松，这话竟然出自我的笔下，简直令人好笑！唉，岂知我只需心情稍微轻松一点儿，就可以成为天底下最幸福的人。可不是么，别人有一点点能力，一点点才分，便到处夸夸其谈，沾沾自喜，我干吗还要悲观失望，怀疑自己的能力和天赋呢？仁慈的上帝，是你赐予了我这一切；可你为什么不少给我一半才能，多给我一丁点自信与自足哟！
别急！别急！情况会好起来的。告诉你，好朋友，你的意见完全对。自从我每天在人们中间忙忙碌碌，看见他们干什么和怎么干以来，我的心绪已经好多了。的确，我们生来就爱拿自己和其他人反反复复比较；所以，我们是幸福或是不幸，全取决于我们与之相比的是些什么人；所以，最大最大的危险，就莫过于孤身独处了。我们的脑子生就是朝上想的，加之受到诗里的幻境的激发，便常常臆造出一些地位无比优越于我们的人来，好像他们个个都比自己杰出，个个都比自己完美。而且这似乎理所当然。经常地，我们感到自己身上有这样那样的缺陷；在我们看来，我们所欠缺的，别人偏偏都有。不仅如此，我们还把自己所有的品质全加在他们身上，外搭着某种心满意足。这样，一个幸福的人就完成了，只不过是我们自己的创造而已。
反之，如果我们不顾自己的衰弱和吃力，只管一个劲儿往前赶，我们常常便会发现，我们虽然步履踉跄，不断迷路，却仍比其他又张帆又划桨的人走得远——而且，一当你与其他人并驾齐驱，或者甚至超越了他们，你就会真正感觉到自身的价值。
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