The most classic passage in The Pianist on the Sea (Chinese and English versions) - Let’s review

All that city. You just couldn't see the end to it. The end Please

You please just show me where it ends It was all very fine on that

gangway. And I was grand too, in my overcoat. I cut quite a figure.

p>

And I was getting off. Guaranteed. There was no problem. It wasn't

what I saw that stopped me, Max. It was what I didn't see. You

What I saw that stopped me, Max. p>

understand that What I didn't see. In all that sprawling city there

was everything except an end. There was no end. What I did not see

was where the whole thing came to an end. The end of the world...

Take a piano. The keys begin, the keys end. You know there are

eighty- eight of them, nobody can tell you any different. They are

not infinite. You are infinite. And on these keys the music that you

can make is infinite. I like that . That I can live by.

You get me up on that gangway and you're rolling out in front of me

a keyboard of millions of keys, millions and billions of keys that

never end, and that's the truth, Max. That they never end. That

keyboard is infinite. And if that keyboard is infinite, then on that

keyboard there is no music you can play. You're sitting on the wrong

bench. That's God's piano.

Christ! Did, did you see the streets Just the streets …

There were

thousands of them! And how do you do it down there How do you

choose just one One woman, one house, one piece of land to call

your own, one landscape to look at, one way to die...

All that world is weighing down on me, you don't even know where it

comes to an end, and aren't you ever just scared of breaking apart

at the thought of it The enormity of living it

I was born on this ship, and the world passed me by, but two

thousand people at a time. And there were wishes here, but never

more than fit between prow and stern. You played out your happiness,

p>

but on a piano that was not infinite. I learned to live that way.

Land Land is a ship too big for me. It's a woman too beautiful;

it's a voyage too long, a perfume too strong. It's a music I don't

know how to make. I could never get off this ship. At best, I can

step off my life. After all, I don't exist for anyone. You're an

exception, Max, you're the only one who knows I'm here. You're a

Minority, and you better get used to it. Forgive me, my friend, but

I'm not getting off.

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper

——T·S·Eliot

Translation

All those cities, you are No end in sight. The end? Please! Please show me where it ends? At that time, it was okay to stand on the gangway and look out. I was wearing my coat, and I felt great. I felt like I had a bright future, and then I was about to get off the boat.

rest assured! No problem at all! However, what stopped me was not what I saw, but what I could not see. Do you understand? The ones I can’t see. In that infinitely spreading city, there is everything, but there is no end. There is no end at all. What I can’t see is the end of it all, the end of the world.

Take a piano as an example. It starts with the keys and ends again. You know that the piano only has 88 keys, so any piano is fine. They are not infinite. You are infinite, and the music you can make on the keys is infinite. I like this, I'm used to it.

You push me up the gangway and throw me a piano with millions of keys, millions and millions of keys with no end, that's the truth, max, they have no end. That keyboard is infinitely extendable. But if the keys are infinite, then there is no music you can play on that piano. You are sitting in the wrong place. It is God's piano.

Oh my God! Have you...have you seen those streets? There are thousands of streets alone! What should you do if you go down? How do you choose which way to go? How to choose a woman, a house, a piece of land that is "your own", or choose a landscape to enjoy, or choose a way to die.

That world is so heavy, it’s pressing on me. You don't even know where it ends. Have you never been so scared that you're living with endless choices?

I was born on this ship, and the whole world walks side by side with me, but I only carry two thousand people at a time. There is desire here too, but it is not so vain that it goes beyond the bow and the stern. You express your happiness on the piano, but the notes are not infinite. I'm used to living like this.

Land? Land is a ship too big for me, a woman too beautiful, a journey too long, a perfume too pungent, a music I cannot compose. I could never abandon the ship, but thankfully, I could abandon my life. No one remembers that I existed anyway, except you, Max, you're the only one who knows that I'm here. You're the only one, and you'd better get used to it. Forgive me, friend, I won’t get off the boat

A classic among classics