人生拿趣味做根柢
Taking Interest as the Baseline for Life
文/梁启超 译/李运兴
假如1有人问我：“你信仰的什么主义？”我便答道：“我信仰的是趣味主义。”有人问我：“你的人生观拿什么做根柢？”我便答道：“拿趣味做根柢。”
If I was asked, “What -ism do you believe in?” I would reply, “I believe in interest-ism.” If I was asked, “What is the basis of your outlook on life?” I would again give a similar answer, “I take interest as the baseline for life.”
我生平对于自己所做的事，总是做得津津有味。什么悲观厌世这种字面，我所用的字典里头，可以说完全没有。
Whatever I do, I do it with zest. Words like pessimism or passivity are never included in the dictionary I use in life.
我所做的事，常常失败，可以严格地说没有一件不失败，然而我总是一面失败一面做。因为我不但在成功里头感觉趣味，就在失败里头也感觉趣味。
I often fail in what I have intended to do. Strictly speaking, all my efforts have ended up in failure. However, I always follow up my failure with renewed endeavor, because I find interest not only in achieving success but also in meeting with failure.
我每天除了睡觉外，没有一分钟一秒钟不是积极地活动。然而我绝不觉得疲倦，而且很少生病。因为我每天的活动有趣得很。
I am positively engaged in activities for every minute I am awake, but I have never been visited on by fatigue, much less by illness, because I am interested in whatever I do every day.
精神上的快乐，补得过物质上的消耗2而有余。
The spiritual joy gained more than compensates for the physical effort expended.
趣味的反面，是干瘪，是萧索。
The opposite of interest is dullness and insipidity.
晋朝有位殷仲文3，晚年常郁郁不乐，指着院子里的大槐树叹气，说道：“此树婆娑，生意尽矣。”一棵新栽的树，欣欣向荣，何等可爱。到老了之后，表面上虽然很婆娑，骨子里生意已尽。算是这一期的生活完结了4。
Yin Zhongwen, an official and poet in the Jin dynasty, fell into depression in his late years. One day, pointing at an old Chinese scholar tree in his official mansion, he sighed, “Despite its dense foliage, the tree is running out of life.”A newly planted sapling grows and flourishes with vigor. How lovely it is! Yet when it gets old, its vitality is sapped and it enters the last phase of its life cycle, even though it may still look as leafy as before.
殷仲文这两句话，是用很好的文学技能表达出那种颓唐落寞的情绪。我以为这种情绪是再坏没有的了。无论一个人或一个社会。倘若被这种情绪侵入弥漫，这个人或这个社会算是完了，再不会有长进，何止没长进，什么坏事都要从此孕育出来。
Yin’s remarks, with a literary flavor, vividly capture a gloomy and decadent sentiment, which, I think, is extremely detrimental. If such a passive mood is allowed to take hold of a person or permeate in a community, then both are done for: the person or the community can no longer make any progress, and, even worse, all kinds of evils begin to grow and multiply.
总而言之，趣味是活动的源泉。趣味干竭，活动便跟着停止。好像机器房里没有燃料，发不出蒸汽来，任凭你多大的机器，总要停摆。停摆过后，机器还要生锈，产生许多有害的物质哩。
In sum, interest is the wellspring of human activity. When the spring dries up, the activity ceases. This can be compared to a steam engine, which, without a supply of fuel, will surely stop working no matter how large it is. And, remaining out of operation for some time, the machine parts will rust up, producing many harmful substances.
人类若到把趣味丧失掉的时候，老实说，便是生活得不耐烦。那人虽然勉强留在世间，也不过是具行尸走肉。倘若整个社会如此，那社会便是痨病5的社会，早已被医生宣告死刑6。
Frankly speaking, if men lose their interest in life, they are living a life devoid of any real meaning. Their lives may drag on, but they are no more than walking corpses. If the same thing happens to a community, the community can be diagnosed with an incurable disease and its days are numbered.
注释：
1. 本段均为假设，故译为虚拟语气。
2. 此处应理解为“体力上的付出”之意，不译material consumption。
3. 译文添加了有关殷仲文的必要信息。
4. 这一句融合到上一句的译文中了。
5. 痨病即旧事对肺结核的称谓，当时属不治之症。
6. 此处未直译。