how to grow old反语？大概是的，让我们心龄永远年轻吧

Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it – so at least it seems to me – is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river – small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past rocks and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will not be unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.


有些老人为死的恐惧所困扰。如果年轻人有这种恐惧，那倒无可厚非。年轻人有理由害怕战死沙场；当他们想到被骗走了生命所能给予的美好生活，他们有理由愤愤不平。但对于一个备尝人生甘苦，业已完成该做的一切的老人来说，怕死就有点不大可取了。克服这种恐惧的最好方法是——至少在我看来如此——使你的兴趣逐渐扩大，越来越超出个人之外，最终你的自我之墙将一点一点地后退，你的生命将越来越和人类的生命之墙融合在一起。一个人的一生应该像一条河——起初很小，被两岸紧紧束缚，猛烈地冲向岩石和瀑布。逐渐地它变宽了，两岸后退了，河水静静地流淌。到最后，不经过任何可见的停留，就和大海汇合在一起，毫无痛苦地失去它自身的存在。一个在老年能这样看待生活的人，将不会感到死的恐惧，因为他所关心的事物将继续下去。如果由于生命力的衰退，倦意日增，安息的想法也许不无可喜之处。我希望我能死于工作之时，并且临终时能知道别人将继续做我不能再做的工作，同时能为自己已完成力所能及的一切而心满意足。