"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."
翻译:
人生的意义
“帕帕德罗斯博士,人生的意义是什么呢?”
问题照例引来了人们的笑声,人们骚动着要离开了。
帕帕德罗斯举手示意,让教室里的人安静下来。接着,他久久地注视着我,用眼神询问我是不是认真的,并从我的眼神中得到了肯定。
“我来回答你的问题。”
他从裤子后袋里掏出钱包,在这个皮夹子里摸索着,然后拿出一片二角五分硬币大小的小圆镜。
接着,他说了下面一段话:
我小时候,家里很穷,住在一个偏僻的小村庄。那时正是战争时期。一天,我在公路上发现了一些镜子碎片。一辆德国摩托车在那里失事了。”
“我试图找到所有的碎片,把它们拼起来,但这是不可能的,所以我只把的一块留了下来。就是这块,我把它在石头上磨圆了。我开始把它当成玩具,十分着迷,因为我能把光线反射到太阳永远照不到的漆黑之处,深洞啊、裂缝或者漆黑的壁橱。对我来说,把光线反射到我所能找到的最隐秘的地方,成了一种游戏。”
”我一直保存着这块小镜子,随着年龄的增长,我周游四方,还会在闲暇时分把它拿出来,继续着这带有挑战性的游戏。等我长大成人后,我渐渐懂得了这不仅仅是一个小孩的游戏,而且象征着一种人生观。我意识到我既不是光也不是光源,可光(真理、理解和知识)就在那儿,只要我反射它,它就会照亮许多漆黑的地方。“
“我是一面镜子的一块碎片,我不知道整面镜子的样式和形状。不过,我倾尽所有,能够把光线反射进这个世界漆黑的地方,反射进人们心灵的阴暗处,给他们带来某些改变。也许其他人看到后,也会仿效着做。这就是我之为我,这就是我人生的意义。”