After years of searching, the seeker was told to go to a cave, in which he would find a well. "Ask the well what is truth," he was advised, "and the well will reveal it to you." Having found the well, the seeker asked that most fundamental question. And from the depths came the answer, "Go to the village's crossroad; there you shall find what you are seeking."

寻寻觅觅多年，真理追寻者被告知去往一个洞穴中，在那里，他将会找到一口井。“去问那口井什么是真理，”他得到这样的建议，“那口井就会告诉你什么是真理。”追寻者在找到那口井后，问了那个最重要的问题。从井底深处传来一个声音：“去村里的十字路口，在那儿可以找到你想寻觅的答案。”

Full of hope and anticipation1) the man ran to the crossroad to find only three rather uninteresting shops. One shop was selling pieces of metal, another sold wood, and thin wires were for sale in the third. Nothing and no one there seemed to have much to do with the revelation of truth.

追寻者满怀希望和憧憬奔到十字路口，却只看到三家毫不起眼的店铺：一家在卖金属片，另一家在卖木材，第三家则在卖细金属丝。三家店铺里的物品和人似乎都与真理无甚关联。

Disappointed, the seeker returned to the well to demand an explanation, but he was told only, "You will understand in the future." When the man protested, all he got in return were the echoes of his own shouts. Indignant2) for having been made a fool of—or so he thought at the time—the seeker continued his wanderings in search of truth. As years went by, the memory of his experience at the well gradually faded until one night, while he was walking in the moonlight, the sound of sitar3) music caught his attention. It was wonderful music and it was played with great mastery and inspiration.

追寻者感到很失望，回到井边想讨个说法，但井只告诉他：“你将来会明白的。”追寻者继续争辩时，却只能听到自己大喊大叫的回声。追寻者愤愤不平，觉得自己被愚弄了——或者他当时是这么认为的——他继续四处游荡，寻求真理。时光流逝，他渐渐淡忘了井边的那段经历，直到有一天晚上，他沐浴着月光漫步在路上，被耳畔传来的一阵锡塔琴的演奏声吸引住了。那琴声很美妙，弹奏的人琴艺高超，令听者深受鼓舞。

Profoundly moved, the truth seeker felt drawn towards the player. He looked at the fingers dancing over the strings. He became aware of the sitar itself. And then suddenly he exploded in a cry of joyous4) recognition: the sitar was made out of wires and pieces of metal and wood just like those he had once seen in the three stores and had thought it to be without any particular significance.

真理追寻者被深深地打动了，他不由自主地被弹琴的人吸引了过去。看着弹琴人的手指在琴弦上拨动飞舞，他突然注意到了锡塔琴本身。随即，他喜不自禁地叫了出来，因为他发现锡塔琴正是由细金属丝、金属片和木头组成的——这些正和他之前在那三个店铺里看到过却认为没有特别意义的物品一样。

At last he understood the message of the well: we have already been given everything we need; our task is to assemble and use them in the appropriate way. Nothing is meaningful so long as we perceive only separate fragments. But as soon as the fragments come together into a synthesis5), a new entity6) emerges, whose nature we could not have foreseen by considering the fragments alone.

他终于明白了那口井的意思：世界早已给予了我们需要的一切东西，我们只需要将它们组合起来，并以适当的方式去使用它们。如果我们只看到零星的碎片，那一切就都不会有意义。可只要我们将这些碎片组合起来形成一个整体，新的事物便会产生，并且新事物的性质是我们仅从碎片上无法预见的。

1. anticipation [ænˌtɪsɪˈpeɪʃ(ə)n] n. 期望

2. indignant [ɪnˈdɪɡnənt] adj. 愤慨的;愤愤不平的

3. sitar [sɪˈtɑː(r)] n. 锡塔琴(一种形似吉他的印度弦乐器)

4. joyous [ˈdʒɔɪəs] adj. 快乐的，高兴的

5. synthesis [ˈsɪnθəsɪs] n. 综合，结合，综合体

6. entity [ˈentəti] n. 实际存在物，实体，独立存在体