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One day, Seneca visited his house in the countryside after a long absence. He was baffled about how his estate was crumbling, and the garden trees had lost all their leaves.
一天，塞涅卡久别后回到乡下的房子。他对自己庄园的破败感到困惑，花园里的树木都掉光了叶子。
He took it out on the landlord, who then explained that even though he did everything in his power to maintain the place, the trees and house were old.
他把气撒在房东身上，房东解释说，尽管他尽了一切努力来维护这个地方，但树木和房子都太老了。
Bewildered about how fast his property had fallen apart, the reality of aging became apparent to Seneca.
塞涅卡对自己的庄园如此迅速地倒塌感到困惑，他意识到了衰老的现实。
"Wherever I turn, I see evidence of my advancing years," he wrote to his friend Lucilius.
“无论我走到哪里，都能看到我年华老去的证据，”他在给朋友卢西利厄斯的信中写道。
The crumbling stones and the dying trees were proof of how all things decay and that he, himself, isn't an exception to this rule.
摇摇欲坠的石头和枯死的树木证明了万物都会腐烂，他自己也不例外。
But instead of being depressed, Seneca decided to cherish old age, stating that it's full of pleasure if one knows how to use it.
但塞涅卡并没有沮丧，而是决定珍惜老年，他说，如果一个人知道如何利用它，老年就会充满乐趣。
Two millennia after Seneca walked the earth, people are living longer lifespans, and many often worry about how to spend old age and how to cope with their reducing vitality.
塞涅卡逝世两千年后，人们的寿命越来越长，许多人常常担心如何度过晚年以及如何应对他们逐渐减少的活力。
Is life worth living when you're old? According to Seneca, it is. This video explores Seneca's Stoic views on old age and how to enjoy the years we've got left.
当你老了，生活还值得过吗？根据塞涅卡的说法，是的。这段视频探讨了塞涅卡对老年的斯多葛学派观点以及如何享受我们剩下的岁月。
How can anyone possibly enjoy getting older? After all, our bodies are disintegrating, our memory is getting worse by the day, and thus we cannot function the way we used to.
怎么会有人享受变老的乐趣呢？毕竟，我们的身体日渐衰弱，我们的记忆力一天比一天差，因此我们无法像以前那样正常生活。
Like children, we're becoming increasingly dependent on other people, sometimes to the point we cannot wash ourselves anymore.
就像孩子一样，我们越来越依赖别人，有时甚至到了无法再自己洗澡的地步。
How dreadful it is to fall apart, witnessing ourselves getting dragged away from the arena of life towards the dark pit of eternal non-existence.
衰老是多么可怕，目睹自己被拖离生活的舞台，走向永恒的不存在的黑暗深渊。
It's almost as if Fate has given us the best first and saved the worst for last as if being young is to experience and being old to endure.
命运几乎把最好的给了我们，把最坏的留到最后，就好像年轻就是要经历，而年老就是要忍受。
In his work The Shortness of Life, Seneca wrote how he sees people clinging to life, wasting their time as if they were still young.
塞涅卡在他的著作《论生命之短暂》中写道，他看到人们执着于生，浪费时间，仿佛他们还年轻。
He described an older man dying in the act of finally receiving his part of a long-delayed inheritance and another elder dying amid his duties.
他描述了一位老人在终于收到一份拖延已久的遗产时死去，另一位老人在履行职责时死去。
It's as if these people spent their days chasing trivialities like wealth and respect, sacrificing their limited time and inner tranquility to obtain these things.
这些人似乎整天都在追逐财富和尊重等琐事，牺牲了他们有限的时间和内心的平静来获得这些东西。
Seneca argued that old age has its enjoyments to offer, although they differ from when we were young.
塞涅卡认为，老年有其乐趣，尽管与我们年轻时不同。
I quote: Each pleasure reserves to the end the greatest delights which it contains.
每一种快乐都会把它所包含的最大快乐保留到最后。
Life is most delightful when it is on the downward slope, but has not yet reached the abrupt decline.
生命在走下坡路但还没有突然衰落时是最快乐的。
And I myself believe that the period which stands, so to speak, on the edge of the roof, possesses pleasures of its own.
我自己也相信，站在屋顶边缘的那个时期拥有自己的乐趣。
Or else the very fact of our not wanting pleasures has taken the place of the pleasures themselves.
或者，我们不想要快乐的事实已经取代了快乐本身。
How comforting it is to have tired out one's appetites, and to have done with them! End quote.
厌倦了欲望，摆脱它们是多么令人欣慰啊！
When we're young, we tend to chase after pleasures and achievements. Our vitality inclines us to establish ourselves in the world, procreate, and leave a mark.
年轻时，我们倾向于追求快乐和成就。我们的活力使我们倾向于在世上立足、繁衍后代并留下印记。
But such desires also have downsides: they make us restless, and acting upon them will cost us time and energy.
但这种欲望也有缺点：它们使我们焦躁不安，而付诸行动会耗费我们的时间和精力。
In his work The Shortness of Life, Seneca argues that by chasing external things like fame and wealth,
塞涅卡在他的著作《论生命之短暂》中指出，通过追逐名誉和财富等外在事物，
people forget to live, and when their time has come, they realize they've spent their time chasing trivial things.
人们忘记了生活，当他们的时间到了，他们意识到他们把时间花在了追逐琐碎的事情上。
During old age, many of these desires erode. As Seneca mentioned: we're standing "on the edge of the roof."
在老年时期，许多这样的欲望会逐渐消失。正如塞涅卡所说：我们站在“屋顶的边缘”。
If we're standing on the edge, knowing that we could fall anytime, we're probably less interested in adding more money to our fortune or making sure all sorts of people we don't even know pat us on the back.
如果我们站在边缘，知道自己随时可能跌落，我们可能就不会那么有兴趣增加财富，也不会确保从各种我们甚至不认识的人那里获得称赞。
Most important in this situation is the ability to enjoy the time we've left. And, so argues Seneca, merely ceasing the desire for countless pleasures is pleasurable in itself.
在这种情况下，最重要的是能够享受我们剩下的时光。正如塞涅卡所说，仅仅停止对无数快乐的渴望本身就是一种享受。
I quote: Let us cease to desire that which we have been desiring. I, at least, am doing this: in my old age I have ceased to desire what I desired when a boy.
让我们停止渴望我们一直渴望的东西。至少，我正在这样做：在我年老的时候，我不再渴望我小时候渴望的东西。
To this single end my days and my nights are passed; this is my task, this the object of my thoughts, – to put an end to my chronic ills.
我的日日夜夜都是为了这个目的；这是我的任务，这是我思想的目标——结束我的慢性病。
When entering old age, looking back at our younger years tends to evoke feelings of nostalgia. Life used to be beautiful and vibrant when we still had energetic, strong bodies.
步入老年时，回顾年轻岁月往往会唤起怀旧之情。当我们还精力充沛、身体强壮时，生活曾经是美好而充满活力的。
The world was our oyster, and we had a whole life ahead of us, with countless possibilities. But now, our lives have passed to a great extent.
可以随心所欲，我们拥有一生，拥有无数的可能性。但现在，我们的生命已经过去了很大一部分。
We've made our choices, had our chances. Some things turned out to be as we expected; other things did not.
我们做出了选择，有了机会。有些事情如我们预期的那样；其他事情则不然。
But chances are most of us have accumulated a collection of life experiences (good and bad) when we reach old age.
但当我们步入老年时，我们大多数人都可能积累了一系列生活经验（好坏兼有）。
According to Seneca, the fact that we have lived is a reason for celebration on its own. We've had happy, enjoyable moments to reflect on and for which we can be grateful.
根据塞涅卡的说法，我们活过这件事本身就是值得庆祝的。我们有过愉快的时刻，值得我们反思，并为此心存感激。
We may also have had painful periods of hardship, and we can be satisfied and proud we've managed to endure them.
我们也可能经历过痛苦的艰难时期，我们可以感到满足和自豪，因为我们成功忍受了这些艰难时期。
