- By William S．Maugham
The lives of most men are determined by their environment. They accept the circumstances amid which fate has thrown them not only resignation but even with good will. They are like streetcars running contentedly on their rails and they despise the sprightly flitter that dashes in and out of the traffic and speeds so jauntily across the open country. I respect them; they are good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers, and of course somebody has to pay the taxes; but I do not find them exciting.
I am fascinated by the men, few enough in all conscience, who take life in their own hands and seem to mould it in to their own liking. It may be that we have no such thing as free will, but at all events, we have the illusion of it. At a cross-road it does seem to us that we might go either to the right or to the left and, the choice once made, it is difficult to see that the whole course of the world's history obliged us to take the turning we did.
参考中文译文
作者：威廉.S.毛姆
大多数人的生活被他们身处的环境所决定。他们不仅接受既定的命运，而且顺从命运的安排。他们就像街上的有轨电车一样，在他们既定的轨道上行驶，而对于那些不时出没于车水马龙间和欢快地奔驰在旷野上的廉价小汽车却不屑一顾。我尊重他们，他们是好市民、好丈夫和好父亲。当然，总得有些人来支付税收，但是，他们并没有令人激动的地方。
另外有一些人，他把生活掌握在自己的手里，可以按照自己的喜好去创造生活，尽管这样的人少之又少，但我却被他们深深地吸引着。可能世界上并没有诸如自由意志这样的事情，但是无论怎样，我们总有关于自由意志的幻想。当我们处在一个十字路口时，我们似乎可以决定向左走还是向右走，可是一旦做出选择，我们却很难意识到，实际上是世界历史的全部进程强迫我们做出了那样的选择。