Connie always had a foreboding of the hopelessness of her affair with Mick, as people called him. Yet other men seemed to mean nothing to her. She was attached to Clifford. He wanted a good deal of her life and she gave it to him. But she wanted a good deal from the life of a man, and this Clifford did not give her; could not. There were occasional spasms of Michaelis. But, as she knew by foreboding, that would come to an end. Mick COULDN'T keep anything up. It was part of his very being that he must break off any connexion, and be loose, isolated, absolutely lone dog again. It was his major necessity, even though he always said: She turned me down!

康妮总预感自己与米克——人们总是这样称呼他——的私情不会有什么结果。可其他男人又很难让她提起兴趣。克利福德对她充满依恋。他需要她将大量精力倾注在自己身上，而她也满足他的要求。但她也需要某个男人的大量精力，可克利福德没有也无法做到这些。她不时与米凯利斯欢愉一番。但预感告诉她，这种关系迟早都将结束。米克做任何事都是有始无终。他的天性就是如此，必须将所有情感的羁绊尽数断绝，重新做回那只自由自在、无牵无挂、绝对孤单的流浪狗。他迫切地需要如此，尽管总是将这样的话挂在嘴边：是她拒绝我的！

The world is supposed to be full of possibilities, but they narrow down to pretty few in most personal experience. There's lots of good fish in the sea...maybe...but the vast masses seem to be mackerel or herring, and if you're not mackerel or herring yourself you are likely to find very few good fish in the sea.

世界本就充满无限可能，但具体到个人经历，就往往变得极其有限。大海里有林林总总的优良鱼种……或许……其中绝大多数似乎都是鲭鱼或者鲱鱼，如果你不在其列，就很可能发现不了多少好鱼。

Clifford was making strides into fame, and even money. People came to see him. Connie nearly always had somebody at Wragby. But if they weren't mackerel they were herring, with an occasional cat-fish, or conger-eel.

克利福德名声日隆，收益颇丰。自然少不了有慕名到访者。康妮几乎天天都要款待各色宾朋。但他们不是鲭鱼，就是鲱鱼，偶尔会见到鲶鱼，或者海鳗。

There were a few regular men, constants; men who had been at Cambridge with Clifford. There was Tommy Dukes, who had remained in the army, and was a Brigadier-General. "The army leaves me time to think, and saves me from having to face the battle of life," he said.

其中也有几位常客，算是克利福德的至交好友，曾在剑桥求学时就已熟稔。名唤汤米·杜克斯的那位仍在军界效力，此时已荣升准将。他说：“置身军旅让我有更多的时间去思考，使我得以摆脱生活的争斗。”

There was Charles May, an Irishman, who wrote scientifically about stars. There was Hammond, another writer. All were about the same age as Clifford; the young intellectuals of the day. They all believed in the life of the mind. What you did apart from that was your private affair, and didn't much matter. No one thinks of inquiring of another person at what hour he retires to the privy. It isn't interesting to anyone but the person concerned.

名叫查尔斯·梅的那位来自爱尔兰，写些介绍天体的科普作品。而叫做哈蒙德的那位同样身为作家。他们都跟克利福德年龄相仿，均是当时年轻有为的知识分子。他们都无一例外地笃信精神生活。除此之外，其他的都是无关痛痒的私事。没人会想去打听人家何时如厕。这种事情只与自己有关，其他人不会有半点兴趣。

And so with most of the matters of ordinary life...how you make your money, or whether you love your wife, or if you have "affairs". All these matters concern only the person concerned, and, like going to the privy, have no interest for anyone else.

多数日常琐事均是如此……你怎么捞钱，与妻子是否恩爱，有没有风流韵事。所有这些都只是个人私事，跟上厕所没啥两样，不会引起他人的兴趣。

"The whole point about the sexual problem," said Hammond, who was a tall thin fellow with a wife and two children, but much more closely connected with a typewriter, "is that there is no point to it. Strictly there is no problem. We don't want to follow a man into the w.c., so why should we want to follow him into bed with a woman? And therein lie the problem. If we took no more notice of the one thing than the other, there'd be no problem. It's all utterly senseless and pointless; a matter of misplaced curiosity.” "Quite, Hammond, quite! But if someone starts making love to Julia, you begin to simmer; and if he goes on, you are soon at boiling point."...Julia was Hammond's wife.

“说到性的问题，其要点就是没有要点。”身材细高的哈蒙德打开话匣子，他跟发妻育有两子，但却跟个打字员搞得火热。“严格来说，这根本就算不得问题。我们不会想跟着人家进厕所，那么干嘛要去关心别人跟哪个女的上床呢？这就是问题所在。如果我们能将二者同等看待，问题自然也就不复存在了。本就是索然寡味至极的事情，不过是好奇心错用了地方而已。”“说的没错，哈蒙德，一针见血！但要是有人试图追求茱莉亚，你准会怒不可遏；要是他还敢纠缠不休，你很快就会怒气冲天了。”，茱莉亚是哈蒙德的妻子。

"Why, exactly! So I should be if he began to urinate in a corner of my drawing-room. There's a place for all these things.” "You mean you wouldn't mind if he made love to Julia in some discreet alcove?” Charlie May was slightly satirical, for he had flirted a very little with Julia, and Hammond had cut up very roughly.

“那当然！如果有人胆敢在我家客厅墙角撒尿，总该在合适的地点做恰当的事。”“你是说如果有人跟茱莉亚背地里卿卿我我，你反倒会毫不介意？”查理·梅语略带讽刺，当日这位仁兄就曾跟茱莉亚眉目传情，搞得哈蒙德大为光火。

"Of course I should mind. Sex is a private thing between me and Julia; and of course I should mind anyone else trying to mix in." "As a matter of fact," said the lean and freckled Tommy Dukes, who looked much more Irish than May, who was pale and rather fat: "As a matter of fact, Hammond, you have a strong property instinct, and a strong will to self-assertion, and you want success. Since I've been in the army definitely, I've got out of the way of the world, and now I see how inordinately strong the craving for self-assertion and success is in men. It is enormously overdeveloped. All our individuality has run that way. And of course men like you think you'll get through better with a woman's backing. That's why you're so jealous. That's what sex is to you...a vital little dynamo between you and Julia, to bring success. If you began to be unsuccessful you'd begin to flirt, like Charlie, who isn't successful. Married people like you and Julia have labels on you, like travellers' trunks. Julia is labelled MRS ARNOLD B. HAMMOND —just like a trunk on the railway that belongs to somebody. And you are labelled ARNOLD B. HHAMMOND, C/O MRS ARNOLD B. HAMMOND. Oh, you're quite right, you're quite right! The life of the mind needs a comfortable house and decent cooking. You're quite right. It even needs posterity. But it all hinges on the instinct for success. That is the pivot on which all things turn.” Hammond looked rather piqued. He was rather proud of the integrity of his mind, and of his NOT being a time-server. None the less, he did want success.

“我当然介意。性爱本是我们夫妻的私事，别人妄想横插一杠，我怎么会无动于衷？”“说实话，”汤米·杜克斯接过话茬，他身材干瘦，满脸雀斑，若论长相，比白皙肥硕的梅更像爱尔兰人，“说实话，哈蒙德，你欲壑难填，骄横自负，对成功充满渴望。因为我身在行伍，便少涉世事，如今却发现世人争名逐利的欲求已经强烈到无可附加的地步。这种趋势如火如荼，不可抑制。几乎人人都沉迷此道。当然，你这样的男人认为有贤内助的支持，会更接近成功。因此才会妒火中烧。性爱对你而言……是台不可或缺的小发动机，用来维系你与茱莉亚的感情，以便获得最终的成功。如果遭遇挫折，就会投身情场，失意的查理便是如此。你和茱莉亚这样的已婚夫妇都贴有标签，好像旅行者拖的行李箱。茱莉亚的标签上面写着‘阿诺德·B·哈蒙德太太’——如同火车上某人托运的皮箱。而你的上面则有如此的字样‘阿诺德·B·哈蒙德，由其夫人转交。’噢，你做得很对，毫无差错！舒适的住处，美味的饭菜都是精神生活的必需品。你的想法无可指摘。繁衍后代更是必不可少的。但对成功的渴望是绝对的轴心。一切都围绕着它运转。”哈蒙德显得异常恼火。他自诩清正高洁，从不屑于趋炎附势，因此也颇为得意。尽管如此，他确实对成功充满渴求。

"It's quite true, you can't live without cash," said May. "You've got to have a certain amount of it to be able to live and get along...even to be free to think you must have a certain amount of money, or your stomach stops you. But it seems to me you might leave the labels off sex. We're free to talk to anybody; so why shouldn't we be free to make love to any woman who inclines us that way?” "There speaks the lascivious Celt," said Clifford.

“说得太对了，没钱确实无法过活。”梅说。“要生存，要度日，可得有不小的一笔钱……甚至自由思考都是如此，否则肚子可不会答应。但依我看，在性爱的领域，你大可把标签揭去。既然可以跟任何人畅所欲言，为何不能跟属意自己的女子尽情欢好呢？”“淫荡无耻的凯尔特人才会这么说。”克利福德说。

"Lascivious! well, why not—? I can't see I do a woman any more harm by sleeping with her than by dancing with her...or even talking to her about the weather. It's just an interchange of sensations instead of ideas, so why not?” "Be as promiscuous as the rabbits!" said Hammond.

“淫荡无耻！哟，为什么不呢——？跟女人同寝也好，共舞……或者谈论天气也罢，我不觉得前者会对她带来更大的伤害。只不过是感觉的交流代替了思想的交换，那么何乐而不为呢？”“像兔子那样肆意苟合！”哈蒙德说。

"Why not? What's wrong with rabbits? Are they any worse than a neurotic, revolutionary humanity, full of nervous hate?” "But we're not rabbits, even so," said Hammond.

“有什么不妥么？兔子招谁惹谁了？比起神经兮兮、叫嚣着革命、满脑袋仇恨的人类，它们难道还要恶劣几分么？”“但我们终归不是兔子。”哈蒙德说。

"Precisely! I have my mind: I have certain calculations to make in certain astronomical matters that concern me almost more than life or death. Sometimes indigestion interferes with me. Hunger would interfere with me disastrously. In the same way starved sex interferes with me. What then?” "I should have thought sexual indigestion from surfeit would have interfered with you more seriously," said Hammond satirically.

“确实如此！我们拥有思想意识，对我而言，计算一些天文学问题甚至比生死来得更重要。有时消化不良会妨碍我的工作。饥饿带来的影响会更加严重。性饥渴也会起到同样的效果。该怎么来应对这些问题呢？”“如果我猜得没错，纵欲过度引起的性消化不良，恐怕对你的影响尤甚。”哈蒙德挖苦道。

"Not it! I don't over-eat myself and I don't over-fuck myself. One has a choice about eating too much. But you would absolutely starve me.” "Not at all! You can marry." "How do you know I can? It may not suit the process of my mind. Marriage might...and would...stultify my mental processes. I'm not properly pivoted that way...and so must I be chained in a kennel like a monk? All rot and funk, my boy. I must live and do my calculations. I need women sometimes. I refuse to make a mountain of it, and I refuse anybody's moral condemnation or prohibition. I'd be ashamed to see a woman walking around with my name-label on her, address and railway station, like a wardrobe trunk.” These two men had not forgiven each other about the Julia flirtation.

“一派胡言！我从不暴饮暴食，也绝不会纵欲过度。人完全可以控制自己的食量。但如果没得吃，就不得不接受成为饿殍的命运。”“才不会呢！你可以娶妻呀。”“你怎么知道我愿意结婚？婚姻或许不太符合我的思想观念。婚姻也许……会让我变得反应迟钝。我还没打定主意要结婚……难道我就该像僧侣一样，把自己锁在狗笼里么？这实在是陈腐不堪的愚蠢念头，我的朋友。我必须存活下去，为的是继续自己的天文学事业。偶尔我也会需要女人。这没什么值得小题大做的，任何人都无权以道德为由，来指责或者阻止我。如果看到哪个女人贴着写有我名字的标牌四处招摇，就像写明地址和火车班次的行李箱，我准会羞愧难当。”这两个男人显然还在为茱莉亚调情的事情耿耿于怀。

"It's an amusing idea, Charlie," said Dukes, "that sex is just another form of talk, where you act the words instead of saying them. I suppose it's quite true. I suppose we might exchange as many sensations and emotions with women as we do ideas about the weather, and so on. Sex might be a sort of normal physical conversation between a man and a woman. You don't talk to a woman unless you have ideas in common: that is you don't talk with any interest. And in the same way, unless you had some emotion or sympathy in common with a woman you wouldn't sleep with her. But if you had...” "If you have the proper sort of emotion or sympathy with a woman, you ought to sleep with her," said May. "It's the only decent thing, to go to bed with her. Just as, when you are interested talking to someone, the only decent thing is to have the talk out. You don't prudishly put your tongue between your teeth and bite it. You just say out your say. And the same the other way.” "No," said Hammond. "It's wrong. You, for example, May, you squander half your force with women. You'll never really do what you should do, with a fine mind such as yours. Too much of it goes the other way.” "Maybe it does...and too little of you goes that way, Hammond, my boy, married or not. You can keep the purity and integrity of your mind, but it's going damned dry. Your pure mind is going as dry as fiddlesticks, from what I see of it. You're simply talking it down.” Tommy Dukes burst into a laugh.

“你的想法可真有趣，查理，”杜克斯说，“性爱只是另一种交流方式，用实际行动把言语表达出来，而不是用嘴巴说出来。依我看，这种观点再正确不过。我们或许可以像交换对天气以及其他问题的看法一样，同异性分享彼此的感觉和情绪。性爱是男女之间习以为常的身体对话方式。如果你与某位异性看法相悖，就不会同她交谈，也就是说沟通要以兴趣为根本的出发点。同样的道理，如果在情感维度缺少共鸣，你也不会产生与异性双宿双栖的欲望。但如果你确实……”“如果确实与某位异性情感相通，一拍即合，就应该跟她共度春宵，”梅说，“和她颠鸾倒凤是唯一该做的事情。就像你跟某人聊得热火朝天，唯一该做的事就是畅所欲言。而不会故作扭捏，闭口不言。只会痛痛快快地将心里的话说出来。两者有异曲同工之处。”“错，”哈蒙德矢口否认，“大错特错。就拿你来说吧，梅，你把半数的精力挥霍在女人身上。虽然才华横溢，但却从未得到淋漓尽致的发挥。在左道旁门上花的心思太多。”“此话或许有理……但哈蒙德，我的朋友，不管婚配与否，你却在男女之事上不够用心。你能够保持心灵的纯洁和正直没错，但它却会逐渐干涸。在我看来，你那颗纯净的心就会枯干得像根小提琴弓。你的高谈阔论恰恰是对自我心灵的贬低。”汤米·杜克斯勃然大笑。

"Go it, you two minds!" he said. "Look at me...I don't do any high and pure mental work, nothing but jot down a few ideas. And yet I neither marry nor run after women. I think Charlie's quite right; if he wants to run after the women, he's quite free not to run too often. But I wouldn't prohibit him from running. As for Hammond, he's got a property instinct, so naturally the straight road and the narrow gate are right for him. You'll see he'll be an English Man of Letters before he's done A.B.C. from top to toe. Then there's me. I'm nothing. Just a squib. And what about you, Clifford? Do you think sex is a dynamo to help a man on to success in the world?” Clifford rarely talked much at these times. He never held forth; his ideas were really not vital enough for it, he was too confused and emotional. Now he blushed and looked uncomfortable.

“别争了，两位大思想家！”他说，“看看我……我从不从事高尚纯洁的思想事业，只是草草记下几个想法。我没结婚，也不去追求女人。我完全认同查理的观点，要是他想追求异性，大可以放手去做，而只需注意适可而止。但我不会阻止他这么做。至于哈蒙德，由于强烈的占有欲作祟，因此对他而言，安分守己和防患未然也是正确的选择。等着瞧吧，有朝一日，他会跻身英国大文豪的行列，从头到脚散发着书卷的气息。而我呢，简直无足轻重。只是喜欢信口胡言而已。你呢，克利福德？性爱是男人功成名就的助推器，对此你怎么看？”每逢这种场合，克利福德都绝少开口说话。从不会滔滔不绝地发表意见，他的观点也的确摆不上台面，往往连他自己都捋不清头绪，又太过感情用事。现在，他的脸涨得通红，表情很是尴尬。

"Well!" he said, "being myself HORS DE COMBAT, I don't see I've anything to say on the matter.” "Not at all," said Dukes, "the top of you's by no means HORS DE COMBAT. You've got the life of the mind sound and intact. So let us hear your ideas.” "Well," stammered Clifford, "even then I don't suppose I have much idea...I suppose marry—and—have—done—with—it would pretty well stand for what I think. Though of course between a man and woman who care for one another, it is a great thing.” "What sort of great thing?" said Tommy.

“呃！”克利福德迟疑道，“我已是残废之人，关于这个问题没什么好说的。”“此言差矣，”杜克斯说，“你的上半身可是完好无缺。且精神生活也没有受到丝毫影响。不妨让我们听听你的高论。”“那好，”克利福德吞吞吐吐地说，“尽管如此，我还是没什么意见……或许‘结婚完事’足以代表我的想法。当然，对于相互倾慕的男女而言，性爱的确至关重要。”“怎么个重要法呢？”汤米追问道。

"Oh...it perfects the intimacy," said Clifford, uneasy as a woman in such talk.

“嗯……它可以拉近彼此的情感。”克利福德说，涉及到这一话题时，他局促不安的样子活像个女人。

"Well, Charlie and I believe that sex is a sort of communication like speech. Let any woman start a sex conversation with me, and it's natural for me to go to bed with her to finish it, all in due season. Unfortunately no woman makes any particular start with me, so I go to bed by myself; and am none the worse for it… I hope so, anyway, for how should I know? Anyhow I've no starry calculations to be interfered with, and no immortal works to write. I'm merely a fellow skulking in the army...” Silence fell. The four men smoked. And Connie sat there and put another stitch in her sewing… Yes, she sat there! She had to sit mum. She had to be quiet as a mouse, not to interfere with the immensely important speculations of these highly-mental gentlemen. But she had to be there. They didn't get on so well without her; their ideas didn't flow so freely. Clifford was much more hedgy and nervous, he got cold feet much quicker in Connie's absence, and the talk didn't run. Tommy Dukes came off best; he was a little inspired by her presence. Hammond she didn't really like; he seemed so selfish in a mental way. And Charles May, though she liked something about him, seemed a little distasteful and messy, in spite of his stars.

“这样啊，我和查理都认为性爱和谈话没啥两样，不过是种交流的方式。要是那名女子要跟我展开性对话，一旦时机成熟，我自然不会放过在床上跟她成其好事的机会。不幸的是，没有女人要和我进行此种交流，因此我只好独守空床，而这也没什么不好的……至少我希望如此，不管怎样，我怎么能够通晓天机呢？我没有天文学问题要去烦忧，也没有不朽著作要去书写。我只是个躲在行伍间、逃避世事的家伙而已……”沉默再度降临。四个男人一声不吭地吸着烟。坐在一旁的康妮继续摆弄着手上的针线活……没错，她就坐在那里！她不得不默不作声地坐在那里。她必须静默得像只老鼠，以免打扰这些才思敏捷的绅士们做出惊世骇俗的推断。但她又必须在场。没有她的存在，男人们的谈论不会如此热火朝天，他们的思路也不会如此敏捷灵活。妻子不在身边，克利福德会变得更加拘谨和胆怯，甚至更快失去发言的勇气，谈话自然也就无法进行下去。汤米·杜克斯的表现最为抢眼，显然是康妮的在场让他颇受鼓舞。她对哈蒙德不太感冒，那家伙的精神太过狭隘。至于查尔斯·梅，虽说也有几分讨她欢喜，但这位仁兄尽管以星辰为研究对象，其谈吐却粗俗无礼，条理混乱。

How many evenings had Connie sat and listened to the manifestations of these four men! these, and one or two others. That they never seemed to get anywhere didn't trouble her deeply. She liked to hear what they had to say, especially when Tommy was there. It was fun. Instead of men kissing you, and touching you with their bodies, they revealed their minds to you. It was great fun! But what cold minds!

无数个夜晚康妮就坐在那里，静静听着这四个男人闲扯。这四位是固定组合，偶尔也会有其他一两人加入其中。他们探讨的话题似乎永无定论，这一点康妮并不怎么在意。她热衷于听他们说出心底的话，尤其是汤米在场的时候。这是种有趣的经历。非是亲吻，非是身体上的爱抚，此刻男人们是在向你吐露自己的心声。这确实是妙趣横生的体验！但是他们的心声竟然也冷酷异常！

And also it was a little irritating. She had more respect for Michaelis, on whose name they all poured such withering contempt, as a little mongrel arriviste, and uneducated bounder of the worst sort. Mongrel and bounder or not, he jumped to his own conclusions. He didn't merely walk round them with millions of words, in the parade of the life of the mind.

有时康妮也会感到忿忿不平。她对米凯利斯的敬重之情远胜这些自命不凡的家伙，可他们却极尽诋毁之能事，将他斥为争名逐利不择手段的小杂种，没有教养的下流胚。杂种也好，无赖也罢，米凯利斯总会快速得出自己的结论。而不会只是漫无边际地夸夸其谈，炫耀自己的精神生活。

Connie quite liked the life of the mind, and got a great thrill out of it. But she did think it overdid itself a little. She loved being there, amidst the tobacco smoke of those famous evenings of the cronies, as she called them privately to herself. She was infinitely amused, and proud too, that even their talking they could not do, without her silent presence. She had an immense respect for thought...and these men, at least, tried to think honestly. But somehow there was a cat, and it wouldn't jump. They all alike talked at something, though what it was, for the life of her she couldn't say. It was something that Mick didn't clear, either.

对于精神生活，康妮倒是颇有好感，并且从中得到极大的愉悦。但在她看来，他们对此有点过分看重。她喜欢呆在那里，置身于烟雾缭绕的良朋之夜——她私底下这样称呼他们的聚会。若她缺席，他们就会失去谈天说地的劲头，为此，康妮觉得着实有趣，也很是得意。她对思想极其敬畏……也对这些男人们心怀敬佩，至少他们还愿意一本正经地去思考问题。但不知何故，她始终无法参透其中的秘密究竟为何。他们周而复始地大谈特谈，但究竟话题的中心是什么，就算穷尽一生的时间，她也不能说出所以然来。就算是米克也搞不清楚。

But then Mick wasn't trying to do anything, but just get through his life, and put as much across other people as they tried to put across him. He was really anti-social, which was what Clifford and his cronies had against him. Clifford and his cronies were not anti-social; they were more or less bent on saving mankind, or on instructing it, to say the least.

不过，米凯利斯已经失去进取之心，只求消磨光阴，若是被人欺骗，就会以彼之道还施彼身。他确实与社会潮流背道而驰，而这正是克利福德及其好友们切齿痛恨他的关键。他们一向依照社会惯例行事，甚至有些决心拯救全人类，或者至少扮演教化世人的角色。

There was a gorgeous talk on Sunday evening, when the conversation drifted again to love.

周日晚间的聚会，大家谈得兴致盎然，话题的焦点再度转回到爱情上。

"Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in kindred something—or—other”— said Tommy Dukes. "I'd like to know what the tie is… The tie that binds us just now is mental friction on one another. And, apart from that, there's damned little tie between us. We bust apart, and say spiteful things about one another, like all the other damned intellectuals in the world. Damned everybodies, as far as that goes, for they all do it. Else we bust apart, and cover up the spiteful things we feel against one another by saying false sugaries. It's a curious thing that the mental life seems to flourish with its roots in spite, ineffable and fathomless spite. Always has been so! Look at Socrates, in Plato, and his bunch round him! The sheer spite of it all, just sheer joy in pulling somebody else to bits… Protagoras, or whoever it was! And Alcibiades, and all the other little disciple dogs joining in the fray! I must say it makes one prefer Buddha, quietly sitting under a bo-tree, or Jesus, telling his disciples little Sunday stories, peacefully, and without any mental fireworks. No, there's something wrong with the mental life, radically. It's rooted in spite and envy, envy and spite. Ye shall know the tree by its fruit.” "I don't think we're altogether so spiteful," protested Clifford.

“祝福那连接心灵的纽带，无论是亲情或是其他情感……”汤米·杜克斯说。“我想搞明白这纽带到底是什么……此刻连接你我的纽带，是彼此心智的角力。然而除此之外，我们之间的联系就少得可怜。一旦分道扬镳，就会恶语相向，像所有其他彼此相轻的文人没啥两样。在这个事情上，任何人都不能免俗，因为现实的状况就是如此。或者，我们会将对彼此的恨意用虚假的甜言蜜语加以掩饰。若非深植于无法理解、难以言喻的怨恨之中，精神生活似乎就很难出现欣欣向荣的景象，原因何在，确实让人无法理解。自古以来就是如此。看看柏拉图（注：约前427年－前347年，古希腊哲学家，思想家）如何评价苏格拉底（注：公元前469年－公元前399年，古希腊哲学家，思想家，柏拉图的老师）吧，还有追随他左右的那帮拥趸！毫不掩饰心中的怨恨，以将对方驳得体无完肤为乐事……普罗塔哥拉（注：约公元前481年－公元前411年，古希腊哲学家，诡辩学派的代表人物），或是管他叫什么呢！还有亚西比德（注：约公元前450年－404年，古希腊政治家，军事家），以及其他参与论战的门徒弟子们！我不得不承认，相对而言，佛陀无疑更值得崇敬，他静坐在菩提树下参悟禅理，还有耶稣基督，他平心静气地向门徒布道，从无意气之争。或者说，精神生活根本就存在着问题。它在怨恨和妒忌，妒忌与怨恨之中生根发芽。正所谓见其果而知其树。”“我不相信大家如此仇视彼此。”克利福德提出异议。