第一次,当它本可进取时,却故作谦卑;
The first time when I saw her being meek that she might attain height.
第二次,当它在空虚时,用爱欲来填充;
The second time when I saw her limping before the crippled.
第三次,在困难和容易之间,它选择了容易;
The third time when she was given to choose between the hard and the easy, and she chose the easy.
第四次,它犯了错,却借由别人也会犯错来宽慰自己;
The fourth time when she committed a wrong, and comforted herself that others also commit wrong.
第五次,它自由软弱,却把它认为是生命的坚韧;
The fifth time when she forbore for weakness, and attributed her patience to strength.
第六次,当它鄙夷一张丑恶的嘴脸时,却不知那正是自己面具中的一副;
The sixth time when she despised the ugliness of a face, and knew not that it was one of her own masks.
第七次,它侧身于生活的污泥中,虽不甘心,却又畏首畏尾。
And the seventh time when she sang a song of praise, and deemed it a virtue.
来源: 纪伯伦《我曾七次鄙视自己的灵魂》