“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 （皮夹子）and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.

“帕帕德罗斯博士，生命的意义是什么？”我问。 帕帕德罗斯长久地望着我，从后兜里掏出钱包，从皮质钱夹里摸出一小面圆形的镜子，大概就是二十五美分硬币那么大。

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.”

然后他说：“我小时候，当时还在打仗，我们家很穷，住在一个偏远的村子里。有一天，在路上，我发现了一面镜子的碎片。一辆德国产的摩托车在那儿出了事。”

“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 （裂缝）and dark closets.

“我努力找到了所有的碎片，想把它们拼起来，可是根本拼不完整，我就把最大的那个碎片保留了下来。我把它在石头上打磨成圆形，然后当玩具玩。我用它把光反射到太阳照不到的黑暗的地方，如深深的洞穴里、岩石的裂缝里或是光线昏暗的储藏室里，这让我觉得很有趣。

“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.

成人以后，我明白了这不光是一个给孩子玩的游戏，更是一个比喻，这个比喻告诉我这一生应该做些什么。

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、知识这些光，只要我肯反射，这光就会照亮许多黑暗的地方。”

反射”是一种美德，它意味着肯“反射”的人拒绝将真理据为己有。

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