正文
“Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?” I asked. Papaderos looked at me for a long time, and taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished（摸出） into a leather billfold （皮夾子）and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.
“帕帕德羅斯博士，生命的意義是什麼？”我問。 帕帕德羅斯長久地望著我，從後兜裡掏出錢包，從皮質錢夾裡摸出一小面圓形的鏡子，大概就是二十五美分硬幣那麼大。
And what he said was 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.”
然後他說：“我小時候，當時還在打仗，我們家很窮，住在一個偏遠的村子裡。有一天，在路上，我發現了一面鏡子的碎片。一輛德國產的摩托車在那兒出了事。”
“I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. By polishing 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 （裂縫）and dark closets.
“我努力找到了所有的碎片，想把它們拼起來，可是根本拼不完整，我就把最大的那個碎片保留了下來。我把它在石頭上打磨成圓形，然後當玩具玩。我用它把光反射到太陽照不到的黑暗的地方，如深深的洞穴裡、岩石的裂縫裡或是光線昏暗的儲藏室裡，這讓我覺得很有趣。
“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.
成人以後，我明白了這不光是一個給孩子玩的遊戲，更是一個比喻，這個比喻告訴我這一生應該做些什麼。
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 as long as I reflect it.”
但是我有真理、理解力、知識這些光，只要我肯反射，這光就會照亮許多黑暗的地方。”
反射”是一種美德，它意味著肯“反射”的人拒絕將真理據為己有。
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