"Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?"
“Papaderos博士，生命的意义是什么？”

Immediately, there was a typical burst of laughter, and people began to prepare to leave.
随即传来了一阵惯常的笑声，人们开始准备离开。

Dr. Papaderos raised his hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet. He looked at me, his gaze seemed to ask whether I was serious. From his eyes, I could see the answer—I was serious.
Papaderos举起手，示意大家安静下来，他凝视着我，目光里似乎在问我是否是认真的，我从他的眼神中看到了答案——我是真的在问。

"Let me answer your question."
“我来回答你的问题。”

He took out his wallet from his pants pocket and pulled out a very small round mirror, about the size of a coin.
他从裤兜里拿出钱包，从皮夹里摸出一面非常小的圆形镜子，大约和一枚硬币差不多大小。

He continued:
接下来他是这么说的：

"When I was a little boy, during the war, my family was very poor, and we lived in a remote village. One day, I found some broken pieces of a mirror on the road. It was after a German motorcycle had an accident there, and the pieces were left behind."
“当我还是个小孩子时，战争时期，我们家非常贫穷，住在一个偏远的小村庄。有一天，我在路上发现了一些破碎的镜子片。那是一个德国摩托车在那个地方发生事故后留下的碎片。

"I tried to collect all the pieces and put them together, but I couldn't. So, I kept the biggest piece. I started rubbing it on a stone to make it round. I began using it as a toy, and I found that I could reflect light into dark places—deep caves, cracks, and dark cupboards. I treated it like a game, trying to shine light into the hardest-to-reach places."
“我尽力找到所有的碎片，想把它们拼起来，但没能成功，于是我只留下了最大的一片。就这样，我把它在石头上摩擦，弄成了圆形。我开始把它当作玩具玩，发现自己能把光反射到那些阳光永远照不进去的黑暗地方——深深的洞里、裂缝里，还有阴暗的柜子里。我就当作游戏，试图把光照进那些最难到达的地方。

"I kept this small mirror as I grew older, and whenever I had free time, I would take it out and continue this game. As I grew into an adult, I gradually realized that this was not just a child’s game, but a metaphor for something I could do with my life. I understood that I am not the light, nor the source of the light. But the light—truth, understanding, knowledge—is there, and it can shine into many dark places, as long as I can reflect it."
“我一直保留着这面小镜子，随着我成长，我会在空闲时拿出来，继续挑战这个游戏。随着我长大成人，我逐渐明白，这不仅仅是个孩子的游戏，而是我可以用我的一生去做的事情的比喻。我明白了，我不是光，也不是光的来源。但光——真理、理解、知识——是存在的，它能照亮很多黑暗的地方，前提是我能把它反射出来。

"I am a fragment of the mirror. I don’t know what the whole mirror looks like. But with the piece I have in my hand, I can reflect the light into the dark places of the world—into the darkness in people's hearts—and change a few people, a few things. Perhaps, after seeing it, others will do the same. This is my mission, this is the meaning of my life."
“我是一个镜子的碎片，完整的镜子到底是什么样子我并不知道。尽管如此，凭借我手中的这一片，我能将光反射到这个世界的黑暗地方——那些人心中的黑暗——并改变一些人，一些事情。或许，其他人看到后也会做同样的事情。这就是我的使命，这就是我生命的意义。”

知识点：

1. 词汇

• burst of laughter

• 这个短语意味着“突然的笑声”，可以用来描述一群人突然爆发出笑声。

• 例句：There was a burst of laughter when the teacher told a funny joke.

• 大家可以学习类似的表达，描述情绪的短语，比如 a burst of applause（一阵掌声），a burst of excitement（一阵激动）。

• gaze

• "Gaze" 是指 "凝视"。它表示深沉、集中注意力地看某物。

• 例句：She gazed at the stars all night.

• 大家可以练习用 gaze 描述不同情境下的注视，如 gaze at the horizon（凝视着地平线），gaze into someone's eyes（凝视某人的眼睛）。

• reflect

• "Reflect" 的意思是 "反射"，常用于光线、镜子等。

• 例句：The lake reflected the beautiful sunset.

• 这个词还可以引申为“思考，反思”，例如：reflect on one's actions（反思自己的行为）。大家可以学习如何将 reflect 用在不同的上下文中。

• metaphor

• "Metaphor" 是“隐喻”的意思，它指的是将一种事物描述成另一种事物。

• 例句：The teacher used a metaphor to explain life.

• 大家可以用 metaphor 来描述比喻的句子或表达方式，比如 "Life is a journey"（生命是一次旅程）。

2. 语法

• Relative Pronouns (关系代词)
  在这个句子里有很多用到关系代词 that 和 which：

  关系代词用于连接两个句子，表示前后句之间的关系。大家可以通过这种结构学习如何用 who, which, that 来连接主句和定语从句。

• "The light that shines into the darkness."

• "The piece that I kept."

• Past Simple and Past Perfect Tenses (过去时和过去完成时)
  故事中使用了过去时（如 found, kept, tried），同时也有过去完成时（如 had accident）。大家可以通过这个例子理解不同的时间表达：

• 例句：By the time I arrived, they had already left.

• 例句：I found a broken mirror.

• Past Simple：用来描述一个具体的过去事件。

• Past Perfect：用来描述在过去某一时刻之前已经发生的动作。

3. 句子结构

• Use of Complex Sentences (复杂句)
  故事中的句子结构很复杂，大家可以从中学到如何用 and、but、so 等连接词构建复杂句子，增强写作表达：

• 例句：He kept the biggest piece, and he started rubbing it on a stone to make it round.

• 这个句子是由两个独立主句通过 and 连接而成，大家可以练习这样的句式。

• Conditional Sentences (条件句)
  在故事最后提到：

  这是一个 first conditional 句型，表示一种可能发生的情况。大家可以从这个句子学习如何表达“如果...，就...”的结构。

• 例句：If I study hard, I will pass the exam.

• "Perhaps, after seeing it, others will do the same."

4. 习语与表达方式

• A piece of the puzzle (拼图的一块)
  这是一个常见的比喻表达，表示事物的一部分，通常用于描述事物的复杂性。

• 例句：This is just a small piece of the puzzle, we need more information to solve it.大家可以用这个表达来描述需要更多信息才能解决的问题。

• A game (游戏)
  这里的“游戏”不仅仅是指玩耍的行为，更多是指一种目标或者活动的方式。大家可以从这个例子学习如何用 game 来描述生活中的挑战或目标：

• 例句：Life is not just a game, it’s a journey to discover who we are.