在茫茫宇宙間，每個人都只有一次生存的機會，都是一個獨一無二、不可重複的存在。正像盧梭所說的，上帝把你造出來後，就把那個屬於你的特定的模子打碎了。
In the eternal universe, every human being has a one-off chance to live --his existence is unique and irretrievable, for the mold with which he was made, as Rousseau said, was broken by God immediately afterwards.
名聲、財產、知識等等是身外之物，人人都可求而得之，但沒有人能夠代替你感受人生。你死之後，沒有人能夠代替你再活一次。如果你真正意識到了這一點，你就會明 白，活在世上，最重要的事就是活出你自己的特色和滋味來。你的人生是否有意義，衡 量的標準不是外在的成功，而是你對人生意義的獨特領悟和堅守，從而使你的自我閃放 出個性的光華。
Fame, wealth and knowledge are merely worldly possessions that are within the reach of anybody striving for them. But your experience of and feelings about life are your own and not to be shared. No one can live your life over again after your death. A full awareness of this will point out to you that the most important thing in your existence is your distinctive individuality or something special of yours. What really counts is not your worldly success but your peculiar insight into the meaning of life and your commitment to it, which add luster to your personality.
真正成為自己不是一件容易的事。世上有許多人，你說他是什麼都行，例如是一種 職業，一個身份，一個角色，惟獨不是他自己。如果一個人總是按別人的意見生活，沒 有自己的獨立思索，總是為外在事務忙碌，沒有自己的內心生活，那麼，說他不是他自 己就一點兒也沒有冤枉他。因為確確實實，從他的頭腦到他的心靈，你在其中已經找不到絲毫真正屬於他自己的東西了，他只是別人的一個影子或一架辦事的機器罷了。
It is not easy to be what one really is. There is many a person in the world who can be identified as anything either his job, his status or his social role that shows no trace about his individuality. It does do him justice to say that he has no identity of his own, if he doesn't know his own mind and all his things are either arranged by others or done on others' sugg estions; if his life, always occupied by external things, is completely void of an inner world. You won't be able to find anything whatever, from head to heart, that truly belongs to him. He is, indeed, no more than a shadow cast by somebody else or a machine capable of doing business.
選自《教你如何掌握漢譯英技巧》，主編陳文伯，外交學院英語教授，現已離休。1948年畢業於南京中央大學外文系；1949-1950先後在北京華北人民革命大學、外國語學校學習。隨後參加抗美援朝，獲軍功章。
1955年外交學院成立時即來校任教，直到離休。離休後仍未脫離教學。
20世紀70年代參加《漢英詞典》、《漢英成語詞典》的編纂工作。
20世紀80年代參加中國翻譯工作者協會召開的第二次和第三次全國代表會，並當選為該會第二屆全國理事會理事。
1983年任日內瓦聯合國裁軍委員會中文翻譯組審校。
1986-1987年任《中國翻譯》雜誌『英譯漢練習』專欄撰稿人。
1988年至今任外交學院翻譯專業碩士研究生導師。
現在仍兼任《英語世界》、《英語沙龍》、《英語文摘》三家刊物的顧問。
著作有：
《英語成語與漢語成語》
《簡明英文諺語習語詞典》
《英漢翻譯技巧與練習》
《教你如何掌握漢譯英技巧》
《英漢翻譯教程》
《譯藝——英漢、漢英雙向筆譯》