第1571期：学会用英文表达“无常”

海明威的巨著“The Sun Also Rises”《太阳照常升起》是这样开头的：

”One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever. . . . The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose. . . . The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. . . . All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.” – Ecclesiastes（圣经《传道书》）

这段话摘自圣经里的《传道书》，里面的动词还都是中世纪英语的形式，但应该不影响理解：-eth 对应现代英语的 -es，动词的单数第三人称形式。

这段经文也是海明威这部书书名的来源，The sun also rises, and the sun goes down.

这部书出版于1926年，是海明威的第一部小说，在文学史上地位极高。

在线阅读：

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/67138/pg67138-images.html

海明威的编辑说这段引文包含了人类古代文明的全部智慧（”it contained all the wisdom of the ancient world.”)

这个评价或许有点夸张了，但也有道理。这段话描述了我们所处的这个世界的一个真相和亘古不变的事实——everything is changing, everything is repeating, nothing is new.

每一代人都以为自己比上一代聪明，但每一代人最终的结局并没有什么不同。《红楼梦》里妙玉喜欢引用的一句诗：”纵有千年铁门槛，终须一个土馒头。”（宋 范大成）说的也是同一个道理。

Nothing is different today, or tomorrow. Everything is the same as it’s always been.

You are just like the people who came to and left this world before you. You are no different from the people who will come after you. You, and they, and they, all of us, stop briefly in this world and keep going to our destiny.

就像开头的那段引文里说的：The earth abides forever, but we will come and go.

这就是佛家所说的“无常”的概念吧，基督教的经文也表达了同样的哲思——everything is ephemeral. 事事无常。

所有宗教的内核其实都是一致的，都教人去爱，爱世人，不要恨，不抱怨。这也是辨别宗教和邪教的最简单的一个标准：凡是教人恨，总是需要一个敌人供人恨，没有敌人也要创造出来一个敌人的，基本都是邪教。