EN: When the child was a child...it walked with its arms swinging. It wanted the stream to be a river...the river a torrent...and this puddle to be the sea. When the child was a child...it didn't know it was a child. Everything was full of life...and all life was one. When the child was a child...it had no opinion about anything. It had no habits. It often sat cross-legged, took off running...had a cowlick in its hair...and didn't pull a face when photographed. Look! The consolation of lifting one's head out here in the open...the consolation of seeing the color...enlightened through the sun in all men's eyes. At last mad, at last no longer alone! At last mad, at last redeemed! At last mad, at last at peace!
CN: 当孩子还是孩子时，摇晃双臂行走，希望小溪是河流，河流是大川，而这洼水坑就是大海。当孩子还是孩子时，不知道自己还只是个孩子，以为万物皆有灵，而所有灵魂都是同一的。当孩子还是孩子时，对于一切未有成见，没有惯习，时常盘腿而坐，又匆匆跑开，有着蓬松乱发，即使拍照也不作脸色。瞧啊，在户外，扬程远行给人慰藉，大自然的色彩使人赏心悦目，人们神采奕奕，仿佛豁然开朗，最终欣喜若狂，最终不再孤独，最终欣喜若狂，最终得到救赎，最终欣喜若狂，最终回归静谧。
EN: When the child was a child...it woke up once in a strange bed...and now time and time again. Many people seemed beautiful then...but not so many anymore, only if it's lucky. It had a precise picture of Paradise...and now can only guess at it. It couldn't imagine nothingness...and today shudders at the idea. When the child was a child...it played with enthusiasm...and now with such involvement...only when it concerns its work.
CN: 当孩子还是孩子时，难以下咽菠菜，豌豆，米布丁，还有水煮花椰菜，现在，他也吃这些，却不再是因为必须，当孩子还是孩子时，偶然在陌生的床上醒来，如今反复发生，许多人曾经看起来美丽，至今只有少数人依旧，纯然只是幸运，曾经清晰看见天堂的模样，而今只能勉力猜想，曾经不能够理解虚无，如今一想就颤栗不已，当孩子还是孩子时，在游玩时热衷，而如今，同样的热衷只在工作上如是。
EN: When the child was a child...it was the time of these questions. Why am I me...and why not you? Why am I here, and why not there? When did time begin, and where does space end? Isn't life under the sun just a dream? Isn't what I see, hear, and smell...just the mirage of a world before the world? Does evil actually exist...and are there people who are really evil? How can it be that I, who am I...wasn't before I was...and that sometime I, the one I am...no longer will be the one I am?
CN: 当孩子还是孩子时，开始有了这些问题：为何我是我，而不是你？为何我在这里，为何不在那里？时间从什么时候开始，空间尽头又在何方？阳光下的生命是否只是一场幻梦？我所看到的，听到的，闻到的，并非只是面前这个世界的幻象吗？邪恶是否真的存在，以及人们之中是否真有恶人？这怎么可能，我这个人，在我成为我之前并不存在，而到了有一天，我这个人，将不再是现在的我？
EN: When the child was a child. it lived on apples and bread, that was enough. And it is still that way. When the child was a child...berries fell only like berries into its hand...and they still do now. Fresh walnuts made its tongue raw...and they still do now. Atop each mountain, it was longing...for a higher mountain. And in each city, it was longing...for a bigger city...and it still does. Reached in the treetop for the cherries...as elated...as it still is. Was shy...in front of strangers. And it still is. Waited for the first snow...and still waits that way. When the child was a child...it threw a stick, like a lance, into a tree. And it's still quivering there today.
CN: 当孩子还是孩子时，吃一颗苹果，面包，足矣，即使现在也是一样。当孩子还是孩子时，手里盛满浆果，现在还会这样，新鲜的核桃使他的舌头发疼，现在依然。每次登上山顶，便渴望攀爬更高的山，去攀登更高的山峰，每到一座城市，便渴望前往更大的城市，现在还是。从最高的树梢上骄傲地摘下樱桃，现在依然拥有那样洋洋得意的表情，在陌生人面前感到害羞，至今依然如此。等待每年初雪到来，如今还是那样。当孩子还是孩子时，他朝向大树掷起棍棒如长矛，而今依然颤动地插在那。
EN: On the Lilienthaler Chaussee, a man walks slowly...and looks over his shoulder into space. At Post Office 44, someone who wants to put an end to it today...has stuck collectors' stamps on his farewell letters. A different one on each. Then he spoke English with an American soldier... for the first time since his schooldays, very fluently. A prisoner at Plötzensee...just before dashing his head against the wall...said, "Now!"
CN: 在44号邮局，一个想在当日终结自己生命的男人，把集邮者的邮票，贴在他的遗书上，每一份上面贴的都不同，然后他用英语，对一名美国士兵说话...这是他离开学校后，第一次流利地开口说英语，一个在普罗真斯的在押犯人，对着墙猛撞头，说， "现在"。
EN: It's great to live by the spirit, to testify day by day...for eternity, only what's spiritual in people's minds. But sometimes I'm fed up with my spiritual existence. Instead of forever hovering above...I'd like to feel a weight grow in me...to end the infinity and to tie me to earth. I'd like, at each step, each gust of wind, to be able to say "now." "Now and now"...and no longer "forever" and "for eternity."
CN: 靠精神活着有多好啊，日复一日，只有人的精神思想，是亘古永恒的，但有时我对精神生活感到厌倦，我不想永远地脱离现实，我想让身体里，有种实在的感觉，以此来结束目前的虚无状态，让我亲近尘世，如果每个脚步，每阵微风，都能够说"现在"，"现在，现在"，不再是"永远"和"永恒"。
EN: To sit at the empty place at a card table...and be greeted, even by a nod. Every time we participated, it was a pretense. Wrestling with one...allowing a hip to be put out in pretense...catching a fish in pretense...in pretense sitting at tables...drinking and eating in pretense. Having lambs roasted and wine...served in the tents out there in the desert, only in pretense.
CN: 在空旷之处，坐在牌桌前，人们对你致意，还有人向你点头，每当我们分享的时候，那不过是虚情假意，和人一对一时，假装让出髋部，假装在钓鱼，假装坐在餐桌前，边吃边喝，吃着烤羊，喝着美酒，就在那荒漠的帐篷里，可仅仅是在逢场作戏。
EN: We can only be savages in as much as we keep serious. Do no more than look! Assemble, testify, preserve! Remain spirit! Keep your distance. Keep your word.
CN: 我们不过是谨小慎微的野蛮人，仅仅是观察、聚集、证明、验证和保存而已，灵魂不灭，保持距离，言而守信。
EN: The storyteller...who has been thrust to the edge of the world...both an infant and an ancient...and through him reveal everyman. With time... those who listened to me became my readers. They no longer sit in a circle...but rather sit apart...and one doesn't know anything about the other.
CN: 起初，上帝创造了，天和地，大地荒芜，他已经快到了世界的边缘，混沌初开，又饱经沧桑，每个人通过他而展现出来。随着时间的流逝，那些聆听我的人，成了我的读者，他们不再围坐一圈，而宁愿单人独坐，互相之间形同陌路。
EN: I waited an eternity...to hear a loving word. Then I went abroad. Someone who'd say, "I love you so much today." That would be wonderful. I just lift my head...and the world appears before my eyes...and fills my heart. As a child...I wanted to live on an island. A woman alone, gloriously alone. That's it. Emptied, incompatible. Fear.
CN: 我等了一生一世，只为聆听爱的誓言，然后，我远走他乡，有人会说，今天我是多么爱你啊，那就太美妙了，我抬起头，世界出现在我眼前，我的心里充满了感动，当我还是孩子的时候，我想住在海岛上，一个女人形单影只，遗世独立，就那样，空虚，难以调和，空虚。
EN: The spots of the first drops of rain. The sun. The bread and wine. Hopping. Easter. The veins of leaves. The blowing grass. The color of stones. The pebbles on the stream's bed. The white tablecloth outdoors. The dream of the house in the house. The dear one asleep in the next room. The peaceful Sundays. The horizon. The light from the room in the garden. The night flight. Riding a bicycle with no hands. The beautiful stranger. My father. My mother. My wife. My child. The world seems to be sinking into dusk...
CN: 第一滴雨水、太阳、面包和葡萄酒、跳房子、复活节、树叶的纹理、被风吹动的青草、石头的颜色、河床上的鹅卵石、屋外的白色桌布，梦见房中房，亲密的人在隔壁房间里酣睡，多么祥和的星期天。地平线、从花园房间里射出微光、夜幕降临、脱把骑车、多好的陌生人、我的父亲、我的母亲、我的妻子、我的孩子，整个世界似乎沉浸在薄暮之中。
EN: Every proprietor, or even tenant...sticks up his nameplate like a coat of arms...and studies the morning paper as if he were a world leader. The German people have divided into as many states as there are individuals. And these small states are mobile. Each one takes his own with him...and demands a toll when another wants to enter. A fly caught in amber, or a leather bottle. So much for the border. But one can only enter each state with the password. The present-day German soul can only be conquered and governed...by he who arrives at each small state with the password. Fortunately, no one now has that power. So everyone migrates...and raises his own flag all over the world. Their children already shake their rattles...and trail their filth around them in circles.
CN: 每个业主，甚至每个房客，都竖起自己的名牌，仿佛那是盾徽一般，每天都看早报，好像自己是个世界领袖。德国分成了几个独立的部分，而它们是很不稳定的，每一个都各自为政，其他地方的人想进入，则必须缴纳通行税，就像苍蝇掉进琥珀里，边界也是如此，你需要通行证，才能进入每一个州，今天德国人的灵魂，只能被知晓每个州通行证的人征服和统治，幸运的是，还没人有这种权力，人人都试图越过边界，向四面八方举起自己的身份标志，孩子们也举着拨浪鼓，没精打采地跟在大人后面。
EN: "Why, if I didn't have it, I'd miss it"...said the general to the whore, Thewhore also said this to the general.
CN: 生命？如果我不拥有它，那我就会想念它...将军曾对妓女这样说，妓女也对将军这样说。
EN: History had not yet begun. We let both mornings and evenings go by, and we waited. It was a long time before the river found its bed...and the stagnant water began to flow. Valley of the primeval river. One day, I still remember...the glacier melted, and the icebergs drifted to the north. A tree passed by, still green, with an empty bird's nest. Over myriad years, only the fish had leapt. Then came the moment when the swarm of bees drowned. Some time later, the two stags fought on this bank. Then the cloud of flies...and the antlers, like branches, flowing down the river. All that ever grew again was the grass...growing over the bodies of wild cats, of wild boar, and buffalos. Do you remember, one morning...how, out of the savanna, its forehead smeared with grass...appeared the biped, our image, so long awaited. And its first word was a shout. Was it "ah" or "oh"...or was it merely a groan? We were at last able to laugh for the first time...and through this man's shout and the call of his followers...we learned to speak.
CN: 历史还未开始，我们看着白天与黑夜，在身边匆匆流过，河流找到河床，是很久以前的事了，停滞的河水开始奔流不息，冰川形成山谷，有一天，我还记得...冰河融化了，浮冰飘向北方，树影掩映在水面，依旧碧绿，只留下一窝空空的鸟巢，时光荏苒，只有鱼翔浅底，然后，一大群蜜蜂溺水而亡，后来，两只牡鹿，在岸边争斗，一团苍蝇...还有树杈样的鹿角，随流而下，春风吹又生的，是那离离的绿草，它覆盖在野猫、野猪和野牛的尸体上。你是否还记得，某个清晨...那热带大草原，郁郁葱葱，一望无垠，出现了一头，我们盼望良久的两足动物，它发出了第一声喊叫，是"啊"、"唔"或者"哦"？要么仅仅是一声低吟？我们终于能够，第一次放声大笑，通过此人的呼喊，对追随者的召唤，我们学会了说话。
EN: I couldn't say who I am, I haven't the slightest idea. I'm someone with no roots...no story, no country. And I like it that way. I'm here, I'm free. I can imagine anything. It's all possible. I only have to raise my eyes...and once again, I become the world. Now...in this very place...a feeling of happiness...that I could always have.
CN: 我说不出我究竟是谁，我一点概念都没有，我是个四处漂泊的人，没有经历，没有故乡，我喜欢那样，在这儿，我无拘无束，能让思绪，天马行空般地驰骋，一切都是有可能的，我只要抬起目光，现在...在这样的一个地方，一种幸福的感觉...我能持久地拥有。
EN: I was never lonely...neither when I was alone, nor with others. But I would have liked to be alone at last. Loneliness means I'm finally whole. Now I can say it...as tonight, I'm at last alone. I must put an end to coincidence. The new moon of decision. I don't know if there's destiny...but there's a decision.
CN: 我从未孤独，一个人也好，和别人在一起也一样，但我宁可，最终归于孤独寂寞，孤独意味着我最终的完整人格。现在我能说...今夜，我终究孤独，我必须终止巧合。