Once, years ago, I got into a dogfight. I was wheeling a baby carriage, my pet cocker spaniel trotting beside me. Without warning, three dogs — an Afghan, a St. Bernard and a Dalmatian — pounced on the cocker and started tearing him to pieces. I shrieked for help. Two men in a car stopped, looked, and drove on.
多年前，我曾经历了一场恶狗大战。当时，我正推着婴儿车，短脚长耳的宠物犬一路小跑地跟在身边。毫无预兆的，3只狗——一只阿富汗猎犬、一只圣比纳救护犬和一只达尔马提亚狗突然向我的狗扑来，拼命地撕咬它。我大叫着请求帮忙，只见两个人停车看了看又开走了。
When I saw that I was so infuriated that I waded in and stopped the fight myself. My theatrical training never stood me in better stead. My shouts were so authoritative, my gestures so arresting, I commanded the situation like a lion-tamer and the dogs finally slunk away.
看到这些，我顿时愤怒不已，于是亲自上阵去阻止这场恶战。我的戏剧训练从未有过这样的震撼力。我怒声呵斥，动作惹眼，像驯兽师那样控制住混乱的局面，最终3只狗落荒而逃。
Looking back, I think I acted less in anger than from a realization that I was on my own, that if anybody was going to help me at that moment, it had to be myself.
回想起来，我觉得自己的行为与其说是愤怒之举，不如说是一种发自于意识到必须依靠自己的力量。自己帮助自己的举动。
Life seems to be a series of crises that have to be faced. In summoning strength to face them, though, I once fooled myself into an exaggerated regard of my own importance. I felt very independent. I was only distantly aware of other people. I worked hard and was "successful." In the theater, I was brought up in the tradition of service. The audience pays its money and you are expected to give your best performance — both on and off the stage. So I served on committees, and made speeches, and backed causes. But somehow the meaning of things escaped me.
生活看起来就像是一连串必须要面对的危机。但在集中精力面对它们时，我曾自欺欺人地夸大了自我的重要性。我觉得自己可以独立面对危机，却又隐约还能感觉到周围有其他人存在。我努力奋斗着，最终获得“成功”。在戏剧圈中，我很小就懂得了为观众服务的规矩。无论台上台下，观众付了钱，就期待你献出最佳的表演。于是，我加入了委员会，发表演讲，支持公益事业。然而，不知何故，做这些事情的意义却荡然无存。
When my daughter died of polio, everybody stretched out a hand to help me, but at first I couldn't seem to bear the touch of anything, even the love of friends; no support seemed strong enough.
患小儿麻痹的女儿夭折时，所有人都向我伸出了援手。然而，最初我简直无法接受这一切，甚至难以接受朋友的关爱;所有的支持似乎都显得苍白无力。
While Mary was still sick, I used to go early in the morning to a little church near the hospital to pray. There the working people came quietly to worship. I had been careless with my religion. I had rather cut God out of my life, and I didn't have the nerve at the time to ask Him to make my daughter well — I only asked Him to help me understand, to let me come in and reach Him. I prayed there every morning and I kept looking for a revelation, but nothing happened.
玛丽尚在病中时，我常会早起到医院附近的小教堂祈祷。一些干粗活的人也常会静静地去那里祈祷。之前，我从未在意过自己的宗教信仰，甚至将上帝排除在我的生活之外。因此，我没有勇气请求上帝保佑我的女儿康复，只是祈求他理解我，让我进来靠近他。每天早晨，我都会去那里祈祷，渴望着能得到一个启示，然而什么都没有出现。
And then, much later, I discovered that it had happened, right there in the church. I could recall, vividly, one by one, the people I had seen there — the solemn laborers with tired looks, the old women with gnarled hands. Life had knocked them around, but for a brief moment they were being refreshed by an ennobling experience. It seemed as they prayed their worn faces lighted up and they became the very vessels of God. Here was my revelation. Suddenly I realized I was one of them. In my need I gained strength from the knowledge that they too had needs, and I felt an interdependence with them. I experienced a flood of compassion for people. I was learning the meaning of "love thy neighbor."
后来，过了很久，就在那个教堂里，我看到了转机。我依然生动地记得那些在教学里见到的人。他们中有疲惫而严肃的劳工，也有双手粗糙的老妇。他们饱尝生活的艰辛，但就在那短暂的一瞬间，他们的灵魂得到了升华，顿时显得精神百倍。在祈祷的时候，他们成了上帝真正的子民，那饱经风霜的面容也立刻容光焕发起来。这便是我得到的启示。突然，我意识到自己也是他们中的一员。当知道他们也需要慰藉时，寻求中的我从中得到了力量，我觉得自己与他们相依相存。我感到有一种对人们的同情在心中涌动，也顿时明白了“爱你的邻人……”的真正意义。
Truths as old and simple as this began to light up for me like the faces of the men and women in the little church. When I read the Bible now, as I do frequently, I take the teachings of men like Jesus and David and St. Paul as the helpful advice of trusted friends about how to live. They understand that life is full of complications and often heavy blows and they are showing me the wisest way through it. I must help myself, yes, but I am not such a self-contained unit that I can live aloof, unto myself. This was the meaning that had been missing before: the realization that I was a living part of God's world of people.
像小教堂中男男女女的面容一样，古朴而简单的真理照亮了我的心灵(让我豁然开朗)。如今，我常常阅读圣经，将耶稣、大卫与圣保罗的教诲当作是可信的朋友对如何生活的有益忠告。他们知道，生活错综复杂，常会给人类带来沉重的打击，他们正在为我指明一条最明智的人生之路。是的，我必须自助，但我并不能够离群索居，只做自给自足的个体。我意识到自己是上帝所创造的人世间一个有生命的部分，这是我之前从未意识到的生存意义。
I think the center of my faith is an absolute certainty of good. Like everyone else, I get low and there are times when I feel as if I have my fins backwards and am swimming upstream in heavy boots.
我认为，对人性本善的绝对信仰便是我信仰的核心。同其他人一样，我也有遇到挫折、情绪低落的时候，那感觉就像是穿着沉重的靴子向上游，却被脚蹼拖着后腿一样。
But even in these dark times, even though I feel cut off, perhaps, and alone, I am aware - even if distantly - that I am part of a whole and that the whole is true and real and good.
然而，就算是在那些黑暗的日子里，即使我有一种被孤立或者孤独的感觉，我依然会隐隐意识到自己是真实、正确且善良的整体的一部分。
I have never had any difficultly in believing in God. I don't believe in a personal God and I don't quite see how it is possible to believe in a God who knows both good and evil and yet to trust in Him. I believe in God, Good, in One Mind, and I believe we are all subject to and part of this oneness.
我对上帝的信仰从未改变过。但我不相信肉身上帝，也难以明白怎么有可能去信仰一个善恶共存的神。我信仰上帝、善良、还有一神论，我也相信我们皆属于这个唯一，是它的.一部分。
It's taken me time to understand words like "tolerance" and "understandind." I have given lip service to "tolerance" and to "understanding" for years but only now do I think I begin to understand a little what they mean.
为了理解“容忍”及“理解”这样的词，我花了好些时间。几年来，我一直口头信奉着“容忍”与“理解”，但我觉得，直到今天我才开始对他们的含义有了些许的了解。
If we are all one of another, and this, though uncomfortably, is probably the case, then sooner or later we have got to come to terms with each other. I believe in the individuality of man, and it is only by individual experience that we can, any of us, make a contribution to understanding.
如果我们都能够成为对方，虽然这很难但也许是有可能的，那么迟早我们都能学会互相谦让。我相信每个人都有自己的个性，也只有亲身经历，我们才会真正理解别人。
I've always been a bit confused about self and egotism because I instinctively felt both were barriers to understanding. And so in a sense they are.
对于自我及自负，我总是有些迷惑，因为我直觉上认为它们都会妨碍理解。而且从某种意义上来说，的确如此。
I used to worry a lot about personality and that sort of egotism. I noticed that certain artists - musicians, for instance - would allow their personalities to get between the music and the listener.
我过去常为个性以及那种自负担忧不已。我发现，某些艺术家，比如音乐家，总会让听众从音乐中了解他的个性。
But others, greater and therefore humbler, became clear channels through which the music was heard unimpeded.
而其他更伟大、也因此更谦逊的音乐家，则成为了使人们轻松了解音乐全貌的畅通渠道。
And it occurred to me, not very originally, that the good we know in man is from God so it is a good thing to try to keep oneself as clear as possible from the wrong sort of self. And it's not very easy, particularly if you are on the stage!
我们知道人性的善良来源上帝，因此最明智的做法就是，努力使自己远离自身不道德因素的玷污。我并非第一个有此想法的人，这实为难事，尤其是当你身在舞台上的时候。
I am one of those naturally happy people even when they get low soon bounce back. In minor things like housekeeping and keeping in sight of letters to be answered I am a Planny-Annie.
我是一个生性乐观的人，就算情绪低落，也会很快振作起来。我总会按计划来做一些小事，例如操持家务、查看需回复的信件。
That is to say I get through the chores in order to enjoy the space beyond. But I do find that, believing in the operation of good as I do, I cannot make plans - important ones, I mean - but I must prepare the ground and then leave the way free as far as possible.
这就是说我会做完这些事以便享受以后的空间。然而我发现，在对行善的信仰及实践上，我却无法做出任何计划，我的意思是重要的计划，但我必须为之预留空间，并尽可能保持通道畅通无阻。
This, of course, means being fearless and isn't fatalistic, because you see I believe that when I am faithful enough to be still and to allow things to happen serenely, they do. And this being still isn't a negative state but an awareness of one's true position.
这自然就是说，要无所畏惧而不是听天由命。因为你明白，我相信当我满怀诚意，静静等待事情发生时，它们便会发生。这并不是一种消极的状态，而是对自己真正处境的了解。
Friends are the most important things in my life - that and the wonder of being necessary to someone. But these things pass and in end one is alone with God. I'm not nearly ready for that yet, but I do see it with my heart's eye.
在我的生命中，朋友最为重要，为人所需时的惊奇也同样重要。但是这一切都会消逝，最终只会留下你与上帝单独在一起。对此，我还没有做好准备，但我已在心中看到了那一幕。
I don't understand it entirely, but I believe there is only now and our job is to recognize and rejoice in this now.
这一点我并没有彻底明白，但我相信唯有的只是现在，我们必须认识并享受现在。
Now... Not, of course, the man-measured now of Monday, Friday, or whenever, but the now of certain truth. That doesn't change. Surely everything has been done - is done. Our little problem is to reveal and enjoy.
此刻……当然不是指人们规定的所谓的周一、周五或任何时候，而是确确实实的现在。这是不会改变的。所有的一切的确都已完成。发现与享受便是我们需要解决的小问题。