1.So as we toss and turn these rectangular objects in our hands we won't be terribly amiss if we surmise that we fondle,as it were,the urns with our returning ashes.After all,what goes into writing a book is,ultimately,a man's only life.Whoever said that to philosophise is an exercise in dying was right in more ways than one,for by writing a book nobody gets younger.
译：所以，当我们手中摆弄和翻动这些方块形物体的时候，设想我们手里抚弄的不是具体的书本，而是盛着我们自己回归大地的骨灰的瓮，那也没什么不对。
毕竟，写一本书投入进去的，说到底是一个人只有一次的生命。
有人说过进行哲学思考就是一步步趋向死亡。
不管是谁说的，这种说法从几种意义来说都是有道理的，因为一个人绝不会因为写一本书而变年轻。
2.We know which lies and which "truths" to transmit in order to maintain the kind of society the people in power (and many of its citizens) want and need.We lie about our intelligence,appearance,motives for doing or not doing some things.Since there is nothing absolute about lies or truths or facts,they are easily molded to fit our version of reality and truth.
译：我们都十分明白应该传播哪些谎言和哪些“事实”，以维持执政者（以及许多市民们）所企望和需求的社会。
我们在自己的才智、外貌、做或不做某事的动机等等方面说谎。
既然谎话、真话或事实都不是绝对的，所以很容易将它们加工，塑造成合乎我们对现实和真实看法的东西。
3.But how quickly the digital age turned into the age of technological anxiety,with our beloved devices becoming something to fear,not enjoy.What sex was for the Puritans,technology has become for us.We've focused our collective anxiety on digital excess,and reconnecting with the "real" world around us represents one effort to control it.
译：但为何顷刻之间，数字时代就演变成了技术焦虑时代？我们那些心爱的电器那么快就变成了让人恐惧，而不是让人享受的东西！以前，性对于清教徒意味着什么，现在，技术就对我们意味着什么。
我们一门心思地为数字电器的过度使用而忧虑，与我们周围的“现实”世界重新接轨正代表着我们想努力控制这种过度使用。
4.This conclusion was not reached in any spirit of self-abasement，or even of modesty.The time was not two-thirty a.m.,but seven forty-five.I woke from no nightmare,but was in calm and contented possession of my faculties.I experienced a very definite pleasure from the fact that I might remain for several minutes where I was.The conviction of my own ignorance was a sane,happy,and (I think) irrefutable conviction.It did not depress me because there appeared to be good reasons why I need to do nothing about it;good reasons,in fact,for thinking that I am better as I am.
译：这个结论的得出，并非自我贬低，或者甚至是低调之词，当时我醒来时并非夜半三更，而是清澈的早晨。
我不是从噩梦中醒来，而是处于平静满足的清醒状态。
我真切地感受到了愉悦，这种愉悦源自一个事实：我还可以在床上多躺几分钟。
我对自己无知的深信不疑是一个清醒的，愉悦的，且（我认为）不容置辩的事实。
然而我并没有感到沮丧，因为我似乎完全有理由对此无动于衷，而且相信目前自己的无知并无大碍。
5.The schoolmaster is the person who takes the children off the parents' hands for a consideration.That is to say,he establishes a child prison,engages a number of employee schoolmasters as turnkeys,and covers up the essential cruelty and unnaturalness of the situation by torturing the children if they do not learn,and calling this process,which is within the capacity of any fool or blackguard,by the sacred name of Teaching.
译：校长是把孩子从父母手里拿下来考虑的人。
也就是说，他建立了一个儿童监狱，雇佣了一些教师作为狱卒，通过折磨孩子们如果他们不学习，并把这个过程称作是在任何傻瓜或恶棍的能力之内，用神圣的教名来称呼这个过程，从而掩盖了这种情况的根本残酷和不自然。
6.The American model has been regarded as proposing a kind of bargain.This is not Europe;here,idleness and incompetence are sternly punished—but merit gets rewarded.Much more than elsewhere,your class background will neither prop you up nor hold you back.If you deserve to succeed,you will.
译：美国模式向来被视为主张等价交换的契约文化。
这里不是欧洲；懒惰和无能被无情地惩罚——而功绩获得奖赏。
美国比任何地方更甚的是，你的阶级背景即不会有助于你的成功，也不会妨碍你的进步。
如果你有能力获得成功，你就能成功。
7.So how should humanist parents teach their children about good and evil?It is much more useful to offer our children a path to follow than a battery of abstract values.I mean this in the Buddhist and Taoist sense as a "way" of thinking rather than a code of rules to follow.The following path combines self-awareness,empathy,learning, creative compensation,and good works.
译：那么，具有人文主义精神的父母该如何对他们的孩子进行善与恶的教育呢？给孩子指出一条道路远比提供一系列抽象的价值观来得有效。
这里的“道路”类似于佛教和道教中的“道”，即一种思维方式，而不是必须遵守的法则。
下面的道路是自我意识、移情、学习、创造性补偿和善举的结合。