Mayhew
生活的道路

Mayhew is a short essay written by William Somerset Maugham, a British playwright and novelist. It tells a story of Mayhew's deplorable yet in Maugham's eyes, significant life. In the beginning paragraph, Maugham comments that most men accept the circumstances amid which fate has thrown them not only with resignation but even with good will. He compares them to streetcars running contentedly on the rails. With due respect, he does not find them exciting. Instead Maugham is fascinated by the men who take life in their own hands and seem to mould it to their own liking, who are like the sprightly flivver that dashes in and out of the traffic and speeds so jauntily across the open country. Mayhew is just one of those interesting people.
《生活的道路》是英国剧作家、小说家威廉·萨默塞特·毛姆写的一则短篇随笔。文章讲述了梅休令人惋惜但在毛姆看来却意义非凡的一生。在文章开头毛姆点评道，大多数人在命运的拨弄面前，不仅逆来顺受，甚至还随遇而安。他们犹如街上的有轨电车，满足于在自己的轨道上运行。虽然尊重他们，但毛姆不觉得这些人有趣。吸引毛姆的，是一些把生活掌握在自己手里，按照自己的意愿创造生活的人。这些人像充满活力的小汽车，在车水马龙的街上横冲直撞，欢快驰骋在广袤的旷野中。梅休就是后者中的一个。

He has been a successful lawyer until he decides to buy a house at Capri overlooking the Bay of Naples under some influence of alcohol. For the island is rich with historic associations and over it broods always the enigmatic memory of Tiberius the Emperor, Mayhew finds his interest and life-long determination in history study. Fourteen years of extreme absorption has consumed his health and an otherwise recreational life. Though he dies unknown to the world, Maugham regards his life as a success because the pattern is good and complete. “He did what he wanted, and he died when his goal was in sight and never knew the bitterness of an end achieved.”
梅休一直是个事业有成的律师，直到有一次喝酒时不无冲动地买下卡普里岛上的一座屋子，从这个屋子可以尽览那不勒斯湾的美景。这座岛上满眼都是容易勾起联想的历史遗迹，总叫人想起提比略大帝的神秘故事。梅休找到了兴趣点，决心毕生研究历史。14年的劳作损伤了他的健康，也剥夺了他一切世间的娱乐和欢纵。虽然死后无名，但他在毛姆心中却是成功的。他的人生图卷既完整又完美。“因为他做了他想做的事。当目标在望时，他与世长辞，也就幸免于达到目标后的心酸与痛苦。”