薩拉和我禮貌地岔開了她哥哥的話題。我忽然記起，很多年前的報紙上曾有一篇文章，作者闡述了她對更新的看法。她用墻上的層層壁紙來比喻我們掩藏真實的自我，她說一層一層地剝掉那些偽裝的外表，我們就看到了最里層的真我面目。

我告訴聚精會神的小女兒：“我們經常需要‘蛻皮’，要脫掉身上那些裝飾。當我們成熟之后，就發現某些東西不需要也不必要了。這條蛇不再需要這張皮，也許是蛇覺得它太僵硬、太多皺紋了；也許是它覺得，這張皮穿在身上不再像以前那么光滑了，蛻下一層皮就像買了一件新衣服一樣。”

當然了，我確定這一解釋不能得到真正的博物學家的認可，但薩拉理解了我的意思。在我們的交談中，我知道薩拉開始領會“更新是進步的一部分”這個道理，即便只是細微地理解。她領會了：我們需要好好審視自我、房間、功課，注重創造性以及精神追求；明白了我們需要保留什么，擺脫什么。我小心地指出：這是自然過程，并非被迫的。

我解釋說：“蛇喜歡自己的皮時，就不會蛻掉它。這是它們成長的自然結果。”

薩拉說：“爸爸，我明白了。”接著便從我腿上跳下去，拿著蛇皮跑開了。

我希望她能記住這個道理，那就是：我們長年累月地把自己層層包圍在人情世故中，為了尋找掩藏在底下的真正自我，我們需要檢驗判斷這些外衣，當認識到有些東西是沒有價值的、不必要的或者是有缺陷的，就把它們剝去；或者，最好把那些剝去的東西保存下來，以提醒激勵我們不斷創新，精神上不斷完善。

我們長年累月地把自己層層包圍在人情世故中，為了尋找掩藏在底下的真正自我，我們需要檢驗判斷這些外衣。

1. Everything they see for the_________ time is elementary to their sense of beauty and creativity； they see only merit and excellence in the world_________ educated otherwise.

2. “We often_________ to shed our skins， those coatings and facades that we cover ourselves with.” I said to my now absorbed daughter. “We outgrow some things and find other stuff unwanted or_________. This snake no longer needs this_________. It is probably too stiff and crinkly for him and he probably doesn’t think he looks as smart in it as he once did.Like_________ buying a new suit.”

3. “Snakes don’t peel off their skirl_________ they feel like it.” I explained. “It_________ as a natural consequence of their_________.”

1. 事物往往不是表象所能掩蓋的，除了我們所見的，還有一些更深層次的東西。

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2. 正如往常一樣，最初的話題會導致接二連三的新問題，直到我們所談論的與起先的話題毫不相干。

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3. 羅伯特詼諧地說：“因為它們不喜歡做自己，它們想要變成別人。”

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1. ...and said that by peeling away those layers one by one， we see the underlying original beneath.

one by one：一個接一個地

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2. ...and see what we need to keep and what we need to cast off.

cast off：丟棄；放開，使自由；脫下

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偉大與渺小

Random Thoughts

約翰？博因頓？普里斯特利 / John Boynton Priestley

This matter of other people’s learning and accom-plishments has been worrying me for some time. I never read the life of any important person without discovering that he knew more and could do more than I could ever hope to know or to do in half a dozen lifetimes. To begin with， unless these people chance to be obvious invalids like Stevenson or Chehov， they are always tremendous athletes， with surprising strength， powers of endurance， and so forth.

They could all walk and run and climb our heads off， even when they were 70. Then they all have the gift of tongues. You never catch a glimpse of them sitting down to learn a new language， not even running an eye over its irregular verbs， yet it is admitted that they speak any number with an astonishing fluency and purity of accent. They never confine themselves to one science， but are inevitably masters of several. The big book of Nature they know by heart. Only the other day I was reading an account of a great novelist， a most sophisticated and subtle person， and was told that he knew the name and habits and history of every wild flower and plant and tree and bird in the country. Nor is that all. There is not one of these bigwigs who is not ( I quote the customary phrases ) a sensitive and accomplished musician， or an extraordinarily fine amateur water-colorist， or the possessor of a magnificent prose style. We are always told that， had circumstance been different， their talents were such that they need only have given their serious attention to one or other of these arts to have procured for themselves lasting and perhaps worldwide reputations. So runs the legend of the eulogists.

I am baffled. How is it done？ I ask the question again， my voice rises to a scream of envy and vexation. Consider what is involved in this matter (so lightly touched upon and dismissed) of music or water-color painting or fine writing， what years of serious application， of drudgery at the keyboard， the easel， or the writing desk. It is one thing to strum on the piano， as you and I do， faking the left hand passages as we go along， or to daub a few patchy water colors， or to paste on to clumsy prose some old spangles of rhetoric， and it is quite another thing to be an accomplished musician or artist or writer. If the first were meant， I could understand it； but the second and as a mere recreation， too！ And then to add the athleticism， the sciences， the tongues， the natural history！ I am bewildered and crushed. The very idle rumour of fellow-creatures so wonderfully gifted makes me dwindle in my own estimation to the size of a gnat.

一直以來，對別人的淵博學識及深厚造詣，我感到很憂慮。只要隨便讀一讀某位重要人物的傳記，我就總會發現，他的學問和才能就算我活六輩子也休想學到和做到。第一個理由是，除了像史蒂文森或契訶夫那樣明顯體弱多病的人以外，他們總是像卓越的運動員一樣，有著驚人的氣力和耐力。