论美（节选）

Delights in Growing Old

我认识的（包括伊娃和鲁思认识的）和书中读到的科学家们都认为，只要去探寻自然法则，不用多久，必有与美邂逅的一天。“那种美”，用我一位朋友的话来说：“不知能否与夕阳晚照媲美，但感受绝对是一样的”。我的这位物理学家朋友，为破解星体内部之谜耗去了大半辈子的光阴。回想初次顿悟量子力学狄拉克方程式。或爱因斯坦相对论所带给他的那份狂喜，他会说：“真是太美了!一看就知道那必是真理，或至少接近真理”。

At the age of sixty I longed for a life span of seventy, a goal as difficult as a summit to be reached. Who would expect that I had reached it？ Then I dreamed of living to be eighty, a target in sight but as inaccessible as Heaven. Out of my anticipation, I had hit it. As a matter of fact, I am now an old man of eighty-two. Sueh longevity is a grant bestowed by Nature; though nominal and not real, yet it conforms to our tradition. Is it not advocated to pay respect to nowadays？