Vocabulary
1. sham 虚伪
2. delusion 欺骗
3. fabulous 荒诞无稽的，不存在的
4. exhilarating 令人高兴的
5. sublime 崇高的
6. slumber 睡眠
7. Hindoo 印度
8. Brahma 婆罗门（贵族）
9. come, fall, go to pieces 崩溃，垮台
10. culminate 达到顶点
11. lapse 时间的推移/消逝
12. apprehend 领悟，理解
13. instill （慢慢地）滴注，灌输
14. drench 浸泡，使湿透
15. posterity 子孙后代
16. look to 指望，注意
难句译注
1. If men would steadily observe realities only, and not allow themselves to be deluded, life, to compare it with such things as we know, would be like a fairy tale and the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments.
[结构简析] 虚拟条件句，主句中to compare it with… know是插入语，也有假设之意。
[参考译文] 如果人们坚持只观察现实，不让自己被蒙蔽，那么生活，把它和我们知道的事情相比较，就象神话，象一千零一夜中描述的一切。
2. When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, --that petty fears and petty pleasure are but the shadow of reality.
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[参考译文] 在我们冷静和明智时，我们会感到只有伟大的和有价值的东西才能永恒绝对地存在，而那些微不足道的恐惧和欢乐仅仅是现实的阴影而已。
3. By closing the eyes and slumbering, by consenting to be deceived by shows, men establish and confirm their daily life of routine and habit everywhere, which still is built on purely illusory foundation.
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4. So soul, from the circumstances in which it is placed, mistakes its own character, until the truth is revealed to it by some holy teacher, and then it knows itself to be Brahme.”
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[参考译文] 从它所处的环境中出发，灵魂把自己的身份搞错了。直到某个神圣的先生揭示的事实，那时它才知道自己是个贵族。
5. We think that that is which appears to be.
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[参考译文] 我们想那就是看起来那个样子（情况似乎就是那样）。
写作方法与文章大意
这是一篇从哲学角度探讨人应重视现实的论说文。采用以对比，具体实例说明的写作手法。先用虚伪和欺骗被尊为至高无上的真理一事，跟正视现实，尊重必然的东西对比，引出后者是美好生活的来源。再以大人和孩子对比，孩子更能分辨生活的规律。最后从过去，未来和现在对比，人们对过去认为就是这么一回事，崇拜遥远的一切。作者提醒人们——此时此地的现实是最重要的。
