你似乎没有意识到美是种风险，而不是

You do not seem to realise that beauty is a liability rather than

资产——精神创造形式，为此我们有理由假设，

   an asset—that in view of the fact that spirit creates form we are justified in supposing

你必定有头脑。对你而言，个体的象征物既坚硬又尖锐，

     that you must have brains. For you, a symbol of the unit, stiff and sharp,

你因为意识到天生的优势而卓尔不群，喜欢事事

    conscious of surpassing by dint of native superiority and liking for everything

自立，喜欢野心勃勃的文明

self-dependent, anything an

可能产生的任何东西：对你而言，独立地、试图通过纯粹的

ambitious civilisation might produce: for you, unaided to attempt through sheer

矜持，去驳斥通过观察对你所做的假设，毫无必要。你无法让我们

   reserve, to confute presumptions resulting from observation, is idle. You cannot make us

认为你是一个愉快的偶然。但是玫瑰，如果你卓越，并

     think you a delightful happen-so. But rose, if you are brilliant, it

不是因为你的花瓣超越一切、不可或缺，如果没有刺，你看上去

   is not because your petals are the without-which-nothing of pre-eminence. You would look, minus

什么都不像，仅仅是一个

thorns—like a what-is-this, a mere

怪物。它们不防虫，不防风火水土，不防霉菌，

peculiarity. They are not proof against a worm, the elements, or mildew

而那掠夺之手呢？没有协作何谈卓越？且守护

   but what about the predatory hand? What is brilliance without co-ordination? Guarding the

你极微小的思想碎片，并强迫观众

     infinitesimal pieces of your mind, compelling audience to

接受这种观点：与其被粗暴地记住，不如被遗忘，

   the remark that it is better to be forgotten than to be remembered too violently,

刺是你最好的部分。

your thorns are the best part of you.