"Dr.Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?"
The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go.
Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.
"I will answer your question."
Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.
And what he said went like this:
"When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.
"I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one, and, by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine---in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.
"I kept the little mirror, and, as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light---truth, understanding, knowledge---is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it.
"I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world---into the black places in the hearts of men---and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."
翻譯：
人生的意義
“帕帕德羅斯博士，人生的意義是什么呢？”
問題照例引來了人們的笑聲，人們騷動著要離開了。
帕帕德羅斯舉手示意，讓教室里的人安靜下來。接著，他久久地注視著我，用眼神詢問我是不是認(rèn)真的，并從我的眼神中得到了肯定。
“我來回答你的問題?！?BR> 他從褲子后袋里掏出錢包，在這個皮夾子里摸索著，然后拿出一片二角五分硬幣大小的小圓鏡。
接著，他說了下面一段話：
我小時候，家里很窮，住在一個偏僻的小村莊。那時正是戰(zhàn)爭時期。一天，我在公路上發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些鏡子碎片。一輛德國摩托車在那里失事了。”
“我試圖找到所有的碎片，把它們拼起來，但這是不可能的，所以我只把的一塊留了下來。就是這塊，我把它在石頭上磨圓了。我開始把它當(dāng)成玩具，十分著迷，因為我能把光線反射到太陽永遠(yuǎn)照不到的漆黑之處，深洞啊、裂縫或者漆黑的壁櫥。對我來說，把光線反射到我所能找到的最隱秘的地方，成了一種游戲?！?BR> ”我一直保存著這塊小鏡子，隨著年齡的增長，我周游四方，還會在閑暇時分把它拿出來，繼續(xù)著這帶有挑戰(zhàn)性的游戲。等我長大成人后，我漸漸懂得了這不僅僅是一個小孩的游戲，而且象征著一種人生觀。我意識到我既不是光也不是光源，可光（真理、理解和知識）就在那兒，只要我反射它，它就會照亮許多漆黑的地方。“
“我是一面鏡子的一塊碎片，我不知道整面鏡子的樣式和形狀。不過，我傾盡所有，能夠把光線反射進(jìn)這個世界漆黑的地方，反射進(jìn)人們心靈的陰暗處，給他們帶來某些改變。也許其他人看到后，也會仿效著做。這就是我之為我，這就是我人生的意義。”
The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go.
Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.
"I will answer your question."
Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.
And what he said went like this:
"When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.
"I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one, and, by scratching it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine---in deep holes and crevices and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.
"I kept the little mirror, and, as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light---truth, understanding, knowledge---is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it.
"I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world---into the black places in the hearts of men---and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."
翻譯：
人生的意義
“帕帕德羅斯博士，人生的意義是什么呢？”
問題照例引來了人們的笑聲，人們騷動著要離開了。
帕帕德羅斯舉手示意，讓教室里的人安靜下來。接著，他久久地注視著我，用眼神詢問我是不是認(rèn)真的，并從我的眼神中得到了肯定。
“我來回答你的問題?！?BR> 他從褲子后袋里掏出錢包，在這個皮夾子里摸索著，然后拿出一片二角五分硬幣大小的小圓鏡。
接著，他說了下面一段話：
我小時候，家里很窮，住在一個偏僻的小村莊。那時正是戰(zhàn)爭時期。一天，我在公路上發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些鏡子碎片。一輛德國摩托車在那里失事了。”
“我試圖找到所有的碎片，把它們拼起來，但這是不可能的，所以我只把的一塊留了下來。就是這塊，我把它在石頭上磨圓了。我開始把它當(dāng)成玩具，十分著迷，因為我能把光線反射到太陽永遠(yuǎn)照不到的漆黑之處，深洞啊、裂縫或者漆黑的壁櫥。對我來說，把光線反射到我所能找到的最隱秘的地方，成了一種游戲?！?BR> ”我一直保存著這塊小鏡子，隨著年齡的增長，我周游四方，還會在閑暇時分把它拿出來，繼續(xù)著這帶有挑戰(zhàn)性的游戲。等我長大成人后，我漸漸懂得了這不僅僅是一個小孩的游戲，而且象征著一種人生觀。我意識到我既不是光也不是光源，可光（真理、理解和知識）就在那兒，只要我反射它，它就會照亮許多漆黑的地方。“
“我是一面鏡子的一塊碎片，我不知道整面鏡子的樣式和形狀。不過，我傾盡所有，能夠把光線反射進(jìn)這個世界漆黑的地方，反射進(jìn)人們心靈的陰暗處，給他們帶來某些改變。也許其他人看到后，也會仿效著做。這就是我之為我，這就是我人生的意義。”