五十二
可这有什么用么？通常的嘲笑和迷惑就在这里：人不可能永生，这一切又有什么用呢？爱有什么用？心魂的敞开有什么用？热情又有什么用呢？But what's the use? The usual ridicule and confusion are here: people cannot live forever, so what's the use of all this? What's the use of love? What is the use of opening the heart and soul? What's the use of enthusiasm?
但，什么是有用？若仅仅做一种活物，衣食住行之外其实什么都可以取消，然而，乖张如人者偏不安守这样的地位，好事如上帝者偏不允许这样的寂寞，无限膨胀的宇宙偏偏孕育出一种不衰的热情。But what is useful? If you only do one kind of living creature, you can actually cancel everything except for food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. However, people who are as eccentric as humans are not willing to stay in such a position, and good things like God do not allow such loneliness. The infinitely expanding universe has just bred an unfailing passion.
先哲有言：“人是一堆无用的热情。”人即热情，这热情并不派什么别的用场。人就是飘荡在宇宙中的热情消息，这就是宇宙之热情的体现，或者，惟宇宙之热情称为人。The ancient sages said, "People are a bunch of useless enthusiasm." People are passionate, and this enthusiasm does not serve any other purpose. Man is the passionate message floating in the universe, which is the embodiment of the passion of the universe, or only the passion of the universe can be called man.
若问“热情何用”，等于是问“人何用”，等于问“宇宙何用”，“无用何用”。从必死的角度看，衣食住行又有何用？不如早早结束这一场荒诞。If you ask "what is the use of enthusiasm", it is equivalent to asking "what is the use of people", "what is the use of the universe", and "what is the use of uselessness". From the perspective of mortality, what is the use of clothing, food, shelter, and transportation? It's better to end this absurdity early.
说人就是为了活着，也对，衣食住行是为了活着，梦想也是，倘发狠去死，一切真都是何必？但是，说人只是为了活着，意思就大不一样，丰衣足食地关在监狱里如何？To say that people live for the sake of living is correct. Clothing, food, shelter, and transportation are all for the sake of living. Dreams are also for the sake of living. If you are determined to die, why bother with all these things? However, to say that people only live to survive is a very different meaning. How about being locked up in prison with enough food and clothing?
五十三
但是死，那么容易吗？我是说，谁能让“无用的热情”死去？谁能让宇宙的热情的消息飘散？谁能用一瓶安眠药让世界永远睡去？But is death that easy? I mean, who can let "useless enthusiasm" die? Who can let the passionate message of the universe float away? Who can use a bottle of sleeping pills to make the world sleep forever?
宇宙这只花瓶是一只打不烂的魔瓶，它总能够自我修复，保持完整，热情此消彼长永不衰减。The universe is an indestructible magic bottle that can always repair itself and maintain its integrity. Its enthusiasm never wanes.
人间这出戏剧是只杀不死的九头鸟，一代代角色隐退，又一代代角色登台，仍然七情六欲，仍然悲欢离合，仍然是探索而至神秘，欲知而终于知不知。各种消息都在流传，万古不废。This human drama is a nine-headed bird that cannot be killed. Generations of characters retire, and generations of characters come on stage. There are still emotions, joys and sorrows, and mysteries that are explored and finally known. All kinds of news are circulating, and they will never be abandoned.
五十四
这也许荒诞。荒诞如果难逃，哀叹荒诞岂不更是荒诞！荒诞如果难逃，自然而然会有一种猜想：This may be absurd. If absurdity is inevitable, it would be even more absurd to lament it! If the absurdity cannot be avoided, there will naturally be a speculation:
或许这人间真的不过是一座炼狱？我们是来服刑的，我们是来反省和锻炼的，是来接受再教育的（改造客观世界的同时改造主观世界）。Perhaps this world is really just a purgatory? We are here to serve our sentences, to reflect and exercise, and to accept re-education and reform the objective world while reforming the subjective world.
下放与下凡异曲同工。迷信和神话中常有这类说法：天神有罪，被谴人间，譬如猪八戒。Devolution and descent are similar in their essence. There are often such statements in superstition and mythology: the gods are guilty and condemned to the world, such as Pigsy.
天神何罪？多半都是“天蓬元帅”一般受了红尘的引诱。好吧，你就去红尘走一遭，在肉体的牢笼中再加深一回对苦难的理解。What is the fault of the gods? Most of them are "canopy marshals" who have been seduced by the worldly temptations. Well, you should go to the mortal world and deepen your understanding of suffering in the cage of the flesh.
贾宝玉和孙悟空这一对女娲的弃物，也都是走了这条路，不过比八戒多着自愿的成分。Jia Baoyu and Sun Wukong, these two discarded things by Nüwa, also took this path, though they had a more voluntary element than Zhu Bajie.
这样的猜想让人长舒一口气，仿佛西绪福斯的路终于可以有头，终有一天可以放假回家万事大吉，但细想这未必美妙，彻底的圆满只不过是彻底的无路可走。Such speculation makes one breathe a sigh of relief, as if the path of Sisyphus could finally come to an end and one could go home on holiday and everything would be fine. But on closer thought, it's not necessarily wonderful. Complete perfection is just complete dead end.
