胡适留学日记卷九六六、致C. W. 书

卷九六六、致C. W. 书

　　（五月廿九日）

　　Indeed I have been drifting—farther and farther away from my main purpose. Not without a plausible pretext perhaps, —that is the worst of it. I have long needed a steersman who can set me on the right course. Yet so far no one, except you, has been able to give me what I am surely in need of. For a time I began to see dimly through mine own eyes this drifting, and was alarmed by it. And then this Sino-Japanese Crisis upset the whole thing and once more I found excuses for my irrelevant activities.

　　You have been very kind. You have done me a great deal of good. I have now determined to live up to what you said to me yesterday…

　　So much for idle wishing—how

　　It steals the time! To business now!

　　To business now!

　　〔中译〕

　　实际上，吾有点放任自流——正日渐远离吾之主要目标。也许，这主要该归于，吾总会找一个似乎言之有理之借口，——这是最为糟糕的。吾早就需要一位“舵手”，他能指明方向，使吾沿着正确之航线前进。然而，迄今为止，除足下之外，还没有人能给予吾如此之帮助，而这正是吾之所极需的。曾经有一段时间，吾自己开始朦朦胧胧地意识到，吾之所作所为似在放任自流。这使吾惊恐不已。可是，此次中日危机把一切都搅乱了，吾再一次为自己开脱，为吾所干的与吾之志向不相干之活动找到了借口。

　　足下为人友善，助人为乐，为吾做了许多于吾有益之事。此刻，吾已下定决心，当按昨日足下告吾之良言行事……

　　一度沉溺于痴心妄想，

　　蹉跎了多少美妙之岁月！

　　现在赶快动手！

　　现在赶快动手！

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