THE BEST OF LIFE

 You say, my dear Anushka, that you have nothing but your dreams; you are full of dreams; drunk every day with ideals. And you speak of this as if it were a weakness, something to be ashamed of.

 

You are young. All your years slant¹ upward. Before you life stretches out as a vast untried adventure. Love is yet to come, and success, and a career. Let me, who am over the hillcrest and on the westering slope, talk to you a bit.

 

And looking back on all that I have had and felt and lived, let me say to you that the best of all was the dream. Not what I got but what I longed for, not what I attained² 119 unto but what I aimed at, these are my harvest, my treasures.

 

I fished in the sea, but the biggest fish got away. I hunted in the wood, but the brightest birds, the fleetest deer, were those I glimpsed and saw as they vanished.

 

The things I have seen, gazed at with full vision, were cheap and tawdry compared to those that flashed by and were caught only by the tail of my eye.

 

What I have done is a poor compromise. What I dreamed of doing was wonderful. I have composed music such as the angels might covet³ to sing. I have painted pictures, carved statues, built palaces, such as no hands of flesh could accomplish.

 

I have said words that broke hearts with their infinite tragedy, and healed them again with their divine accent of consolation⁴. I have written books that swayed the world’s 120 heart as the summer wind bends the wheat-field.

 

But it was all in the realm of might-have-been, beyond the mountains of the possible.

 

This real self I am afraid for you to know. It is so commonplace. I am just a man, and the worse for wear. I am not a bit splendid nor dazzling, but by way of being shop-worn.

 

It is only my beautiful secret that comforts me to take of what I dreamed; it is only this that encourages me to take my journey hopefully among the stars when my release comes; perhaps there, in some cozy⁵ planet among the Pleiades, or dwelling⁶ as a pure flame among the fire-spirits that play about the petals⁷ of Dante’s Rose of Heaven, perhaps there I shall find a pot of gold at the end of my rainbow.

 

But as far as this earthly career is concerned, 121 Anushka, the rainbow has been more worth than the gold. Yet I am not sad nor disillusioned⁸, for, listen, I still have my dreams, my skies of may-be still overarch with infinitude my earth that is.

 

What I have is pitiful enough. Ah, but what I thought I was getting! I am as one who gathers shells and sea-beauties and takes them home, and finds them withered⁹, yet remembers the day on the shore. You recall what the poet said?

 

“I wiped away the weeds and foam¹⁰,

I fetched my sea—born treasures home,

But the poor, unsightly, noisome¹¹ things

Had left their beauty on the shore

With the sun and the sand and the wild uproar¹².”

So hold your dreams, Anushka, and never let them go, for when you are old they will be the best residue¹³ of life.

 

1 slant   

v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向

参考例句：

• The lines are drawn on a slant.这些线条被画成斜线。
• The editorial had an antiunion slant.这篇社论有一种反工会的倾向。

2 attained   

（通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况）

参考例句：

• She has attained the degree of Master of Arts. 她已获得文学硕士学位。
• Lu Hsun attained a high position in the republic of letters. 鲁迅在文坛上获得崇高的地位。

3 covet   

vt.垂涎；贪图(尤指属于他人的东西)

参考例句：

• We do not covet anything from any nation.我们不觊觎任何国家的任何东西。
• Many large companies covet these low-cost acquisition of troubled small companies.许多大公司都觊觎低价收购这些陷入困境的小公司。

4 consolation   

n.安慰，慰问

参考例句：

• The children were a great consolation to me at that time.那时孩子们成了我的莫大安慰。
• This news was of little consolation to us.这个消息对我们来说没有什么安慰。

5 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

6 dwelling   

n.住宅，住所，寓所

参考例句：

• Those two men are dwelling with us.那两个人跟我们住在一起。
• He occupies a three-story dwelling place on the Park Street.他在派克街上有一幢3层楼的寓所。

7 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 disillusioned   

a.不再抱幻想的，大失所望的，幻想破灭的

参考例句：

• I soon became disillusioned with the job. 我不久便对这个工作不再抱幻想了。
• Many people who are disillusioned in reality assimilate life to a dream. 许多对现实失望的人把人生比作一场梦。

9 withered   

adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The grass had withered in the warm sun. 这些草在温暖的阳光下枯死了。
• The leaves of this tree have become dry and withered. 这棵树下的叶子干枯了。

10 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

11 noisome   

adj.有害的，可厌的

参考例句：

• The air is infected with noisome gases.空气受到了有害气体的污染。
• I destroy all noisome and rank weeds ,I keep down all pestilent vapours.我摧毁了一切丛生的毒草，控制一切有害的烟雾。

12 uproar   

n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸

参考例句：

• She could hear the uproar in the room.她能听见房间里的吵闹声。
• His remarks threw the audience into an uproar.他的讲话使听众沸腾起来。

13 residue   

n.残余，剩余，残渣

参考例句：

• Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
• Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期，就会导致残留问题。