我已是一個中年的人。一到中年,就有許多不愉快的現象,眼睛昏花了,記憶力減退了,頭發開始禿脫而且變白了,意興,體力,什么都不如年青的時候,常不禁會感覺到難以名言的寂寞的情味,尤其覺得難堪的是知友的逐漸減少和疏遠,缺乏交際上的溫暖的慰藉。
不消說,相識的人數是隨了年齡增加的,一個人年齡越大,走過的地方當過的職務越多,相識的人理該越增加了,可是相識的人并不就是朋友。我們和許多人相識,或是因了事務關系,或是因了偶然的機緣——如在別人請客的時候同席吃過飯之類。
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 no longer mentally and physically as fit as when I was young. I often suffer from 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 traveled 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 a mere coincidence say. having been at the same table at a dinner party.