I am already a middle-aged man. At middle age, I feel sad to find my eyesight and memory failing, my hair thinning and graying, and myself to longer mentally and physically as fit as when I was young. I often suffer from a nameless loneliness. The most intolerable of all is the lack of friendly warmth and comfort due to the gradual passing away and estrangement of more and more old pals.

Needless to say, the number of acquaintances increases with one's age. The older one gets, the more widely travelled one is and the more work experience one has, the more acquaintances one is supposed to have. But not all acquaintances are friends. We come to know many people either in the way of business or by mere chance - say, having seen at the same table at a dinner party. We may be on nodding or hand-shaking terms, call each other "friend", sometimes write to each other with the salutation of "Dear So-and-So", etc., etc. All these are, in fact, nothing but civilities of social life, as hypocritical as the polite formula dunshou (kowtow) or baibai (a hundred greetings) used after the signature in old-fashioned Chinese letter-writing. We may call them social intercourse, but they seem to have very little in common with genuine friendship.

Real friendship between two persons originates perhaps from the time of life when they were children playing innocently together. Real friendship is easily formed in primary or middle school days when, being socially inexperienced and free from the burden of life, you give little thought to personal gains or losses, and make friends entirely as a result of similar tastes and interests or congenial disposition. It is sort of "friendship for friendship's sake" and is relatively pure in nature. Friendship among people in their 20's, however, is more or less coloured by personal motives. And friendship among those aged over 30 becomes correspondingly still less pure as it gets even more coloured. Though this is not necessarily due to "degeneration of public morality", I do have good reasons to call it the tragedy of life. People at middle age, with the heavy burden of life and much experience in the ways of the world, have more scruples about this and that, and cannot choose but become more calculating in social dealings till they start scheming against each other. They always keep a wary eye, as it were, on each other in their association. Such association is of course fragile, especially in this modern age of prevailing sharp conflicts.

Of all my friends, those I have known since childhood are most worthy of remembrance. They are few in number. Some of them live far away and we seldom have an opportunity to see each other. Some of them are older than I am, and some a few years younger. But all of us are in late mid-life. Since we have each followed a different course in life, our ways of thinking, interests and circumstances are bound to differ, and often we lack mutual understanding somehow or other in our conversation. Nevertheless, when we talk over old times, we will always agree on things in the past - mostly about things in our childhood days. While we retell the dream-like childhood days in the course of our conversation, numerous scenes and persons of bygone days will unfold again before our eyes, and we will feel like reliving the old days. Often at this moment, I'll feel at once happy and sad - like an old lady suddenly fishing out from her drawer or chest a photo of her taken in the bloom of her youth.

When chatting away with my old friends, I am in the habit of unwittingly channeling the topic of conversation toward things of former days. From that I unknowingly derive some sort of warm solace. But old friends are dwindling away year by year. They are originally few in number, so the disappearance of any of them is an irreparable loss to me. The news of any old pal's death will invariably make me sad in my heart for a long, long time.

The imparting of knowledge is not the sole advantage of school education. Its greatest advantage is perhaps the opportunity it affords us for making friends. It was not until I had already left school that I began to realize this advantage. And in recent years I have come to understand it even more deeply. I much regret having carelessly frittered away my school days without making many friends. Recently, every morning or evening, whenever I see school kids with satchels walking in twos and threes, hand in hand or shoulder to shoulder, I always envy them from enjoying happy friendship, and inwardly offer them my best wishes.

estrangement n. 疏远（的一段时间）；分居（期） estrangement (from sb/sth): a period of estrangement from his wife     estrangement (between A and B): This misunderstanding had caused a severe-year estrangement between them.

salutation n. 1. 招呼；致意；打招呼；致意的动作 2.（信函中如Dear Sir之类的）称呼语

hypocrite n. 伪君子；伪善者；虚伪的人

kowtow v. ~ (to sb/sth) 叩头；磕头；卑躬屈膝；唯命是从

intercourse n. 1. = sexual intercourse 2.(old-fashioned) （人、国家等之间的）往来，交往，交际 the importance of social intercourse between different age groups

congenial a. 1.（of a person）意气相投的；志趣相投的；合得来的 2. ～(to sb)相宜的；合意的；适宜的 3. ～(to sth)适合的；适宜的

disposition 1.性格；性情 -SYN temperament- to have a cheerful disposition 2. ~ to/towards sth| ~ to do sth 倾向；意向 to have / show a disposition towards violence 3. 排列；布置；安排 -SYN arrangement- 4.（财产、金钱的）处置，让与

scruple n. （道德上的）顾忌，顾虑

wary a. （对待人或事物时）小心的，谨慎的，留神的，小心翼翼的-SYN cautious- ~ (of sb/sth) Be wary of strangers who offer you a ride. ~ (of doing sth) She was wary of getting involved with him.

prevailing a. 1. 普遍的；盛行的；流行的 -SYN current; predominant- the prevailing economic conditions  2.（指风）某地区常刮的，盛行的

remembrance n. 1.纪念；记忆；回忆 A service was held in remembrance of local soldiers killed in the war.  a remembrance service纪念仪式 2.纪念品；纪念物；一段记忆 The cenotaph stands as a remembrance of those killed during the war. 

bygone a.很久以前的；以往的 a bygone age/era

bloom n. 1.（常指供观赏的）花 the exotic blooms of the orchid 2.健康有精神的面貌 the bloom in her cheeks    IDIOMS in (full) bloom鲜花盛开 v. 1.开花 -SYN flower- Most roses will begin to bloom from late May. 2. 变得健康（或快活、自信） -SYN blossom- The children had bloomed during their stay not he farm.

solace n. 安慰；慰藉；给以安慰的人（或事物） -SYN comfort- He sought solace in the whisky bottle.

dwindle v. （逐渐）减少，变小，缩小 ~ (away)(to sth) Support for the party has dwindled away to nothing. ~ (from sth)(to sth) Membership of the club has dwindled from 70 to 20.

irreparable a.无法弥补的；不能修复的；不可恢复的 Her death is an irreparable loss. 

impart v. 1. ~ sth (to sb)通知；透露；传授 -SYN convey- 2.~ sth (to sth)把（某性质）赋予；将...给予 -SYN lend- The spice impart an Eastern flavour to the dish.

frittered v. ~ sth away (on sth)浪费（时间、金钱）；挥霍 He frittered away the millions his father had left him.

satchel n.书包；肩背书包 

inwardly adv. 在内心；秘密地 She groaned inwardly.

my hair thinning：头发开始变秃。指头发变稀，可译为，my head balding。

nameless：难以名言的。意同indescribable，但nameless常用来指不好的事物，如：a nameless fear, nameless atrocities.

gradual passing away：逐渐减少。在原文中指逐渐作古，如直译为the gradual dwindling away，则未能明确表达“死去”。

We come to know many people either in the way of business or by mere chance：我们和许多人相识，或是因了事务关系，或是因了偶然的机缘。in the way of为成语，作“为了”解，有多种意思，根据上下文决定：关于、以......方法、为了。

Real friendship between two persons originates perhaps from the time of life when they were children playing innocently together：真正的朋友，恐怕要算“总角之交”或“竹马之交”。“总角之交”或“竹马之交”意译，合而为一。

It is sort of "friendship for friendship's sake" ：差不多可以说是“无所为”的。sort of用来表达“差不多可以说”。无所为，即，无其他目的或无条件的，译为，friendship for friendship's sake为友谊而友谊。

Though this is not necessarily due to "degeneration of public morality"：这并不一定是“人心不古”，也可以译为：Though this should not be ascribed exclusively to "degeneration of public morality"。

till they start scheming against each other：结果彼此都“勾心斗角”。till指结果，意即so that、finally或and at last。

They always keep a wary eye, as it were, on each other in their association：像七巧板似地只选定了某一方面和对方去接合。不宜直译，按“人们在交往中互相提防，互存戒心”意译。as it were作似乎、可以说，插入语。

and we will feel like reliving the old days：这时好像自己仍回归到少年时代去了。to relive-（凭想象）重新过......的生活，to experience ...again, especially in imagination解。