in the morning of life came a good fairy with her basket, and said:"here are gifts. take one, leave the others. and be wary, choose wisely! for only one of them is valuable."

　　在生命之初，一位仙女帶著籃子走來，對一位年輕人說道：“這里有幾份禮物，你可以從中選一份，留下其它的。你要小心，做一個明智的選擇；啊，你要明智地進行選擇！因為這里面只有一份禮物是珍貴的。”

　　the gifts were five: fame, love, riches, pleasure, death.the youth, said, eagerly:"there is no need to consider"; and he chose pleasure。

　　一共有五份禮物：名聲，愛情，財富，快樂，還有死亡。年輕人迫不及待地說：“沒有必要多想。”他選了快樂。

　　he went out into the world and sought out the pleasures that youth delights in. but each in its turn was short-lived and disappointing, vain and empty; and each, departing, mocked him. in the end he said:"these years i have wasted. if i could but choose again, i would choose wisely."

　　此后他就開始步入世界，追逐年輕人所喜愛的快樂。然而每一種快樂都是如此短暫，令人感到空虛和失望。每當一種快樂棄他而去時，還要把他嘲弄一番。最后，年輕人感嘆道：“這些年我都浪費了。如果我可以再選一次，我一定會做一個明智的選擇。”

　　the fairy appeared, and said:"four of the gifts remain. choose once more: and oh, remember--time is flying, and only one of them is precious."

　　這時仙女又出現了，她說：“這里還有四份禮物。再選一次吧。噢，記住時間飛逝，而其中只有一件是珍貴的。”

　　the man considered long, then chose love; and did not mark the tears that rose in the fairy's eyes. after many, many years the man sat by a coffin, in an empty home. and he communed with himself, saying:"one by one they have gone away and left me; and now she lies here, the dearest and the last. desolation after desolation has swept over me; but each hour of happiness the treacherous trader, love, sold me i have paid a thousand hours of grief! out of my heart of hearts i curse him!"

　　他思考了很久，最終選擇了愛情；他沒有注意到仙女眼里泛起的淚光。許多許多年之后，這個人坐在一口棺材旁邊，屋子里空蕩蕩的。他自言自語道：“他們一個一個地走了，只剩下我?，F在，她就躺在這兒，我最親愛的人兒，我最后的親人。孤獨一次又一次把我包圍。都是因為愛情這個陰狡詐的商人，他出售給我的每個甜蜜的小時，我現在都要用數千個小時的悲傷來償還！我從心底里詛咒他！”

　　"choose again."it was the fairy speaking."the years have you wisdow-surely it must be so.there gifts remain.only one of them has anyworth-remember it ,and choose warily."

　　“你在選一次吧。”仙女又一次說話了，“這些年已經教予你智慧——也理當如此。這里還有三份禮物，其中只有一份是有價值的——切記，你好好挑吧。”

　　the man reflected long, then chose fame; and the fairy, sighing, went her way. years went by and she came again, and stood behind the man where he sat solitary in the fading day, thinking. and she knew his thought:"my name filled the world, and its praises were on every tongue, and it seemed well with me for a little while. how little a while it was! then came envy; then detraction; then hate; then persecution. then derision, which is the begining of the end. and last of all came pity,which is the funeral of fame. oh, the bitterness and misery of renown!"

　　他想了很久，然而選擇了名聲。仙女嘆了口氣，徑自離開了。歲月流轉，仙女又回來了，站到他的身旁。已邁入遲暮之年的他孑然一身，心情重重。他在想些什么，她都了然于心。“我的名字傳遍世界，每個人都爭相贊頌，有一陣子好像讓我心滿足。可那是多么短暫的一陣子??！隨之而來的是妒忌；然后是詆毀；然后是憎惡；然后是迫害。之后是嘲諷，從一切開始步入完結。最后便是憐憫，這也是我的名聲的葬禮。啊，名聲原來是這般苦澀和痛苦！”