第4句見：Day4
《哲學的故事》的第5句：序言中的第1段第5句。

Introduction
On the uses of Philosophy
There is a pleasure in philosophy, and a lure even in the mirages of metaphysics, which every student feels until the coarse necessities of physical existence drag him from the heights of thought into the mart of economic strife and gain. Most of us have known some golden days in the June of life when philosophy was in fact what Plato calls it, “that dear delight”; when the love of a modestly elusive Truth seemed more glorious, incomparably, than the lust for the ways of the flesh and the dross of the world. And there is always some wistful remnant in us of that early wooing of wisdom. "Life has meaning,”we feel with Browning—“to find its meaning is my meat and drink.” So much of our lives is meaningless, a self-cancelling vacillation and futility; we strive with the chaos about us and within; but we would believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but decipher our own souls. We want too understand; “l(fā)ife means for us constantly to transform into light and flame all that are or meet with”; we are like Mitya in The Brothers Karamazov —“one of those who don’t want millions, but an answer to their questions”; we want to seize the value and perspective of passing things, and so to pull ourselves up out of the maelstrom of daily circumstance. We want to know that the little things are little, and the big things big, before it is too late.We want to see things now as they will seem forever—"in the light of eternity." We want to learn to laugh in the face of the inevitable, to smile even at the looming of death. We want to be whole, to co?rdinate our energies by criticizing and harmonizing our desires; for co?rdinated energy is the last word in ethics and politics, and perhaps in logic and metaphysics too."To be a philosopher," said Thoreau, "is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust." We may be sure that if we can but find wisdom, all things else will be added unto us. "Seek ye first the good things of the mind," Bacon admonishes us, "and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt." Truth will not make us rich, but it will make us free.
浙江大學版本：*生命的大半難尋所謂“意義”，我們優(yōu)柔寡斷，碌碌無為，不停地與來自內(nèi)心和周圍環(huán)境的混亂無序作斗爭；但是我們愿意相信，假使能夠讀懂自己的靈魂，我們身上那種不可或缺、意義重大的東西必將呈現(xiàn)。

解析

這句話探討了人生意義與否，看似無意義看似亂糟糟的，但總想看透里面的價值及意義。
1、So much of our lives is meaningless, a self-cancelling vacillation and futility;句首So，起勢就很高，為后面鋪墊。同時這句也是首短So much of our lives，尾長(meaningless, a self-cancelling vacillation and futility)都來說大多數(shù)我們生活。我們的生活時常毫無意義，時常猶豫不決，時常徒勞。
vacillation： Vacillation is when you constantly change your opinion. It also refers to swinging back and forth physically. 游離不定；猶豫不決

You might think that the government's vacillations are ancient history or that doing the right thing is more important than saying it.你可能會認為政府的猶豫不決已是過去式，相比下做對的事情比把事情做對更重要。

Futility: Futility is a total lack of purpose or usefulness. [oft N of n/-ing]無益；無用；徒勞；白費

His speech focused on the futility of violence.他的演講聚焦于暴力的無用處。

2、we strive with the chaos about us and within;此處有省略，完整是：the chaos about us and the chaos within us. “我們身邊周遭及內(nèi)心的混亂”。

3、but we would believe all the while that there is something vital and significant in us, could we but decipher our own souls. all the while = all the time = always
vital and significant 疊用，兩個詞都表示“重要”
could we but deciper：虛擬省略句： 完整= if we could, but decipher our own souls. if 省略，需要將if后面的句子倒裝，這里we could變成could we。
but不表示轉(zhuǎn)折，could ... but... 固定搭配，表示“能夠……”，用于強調(diào)

I could but sing.我能夠唱歌/我只能唱歌。

decipher：to find the meaning of (something that is difficult to read or understand)

When it comes to deciphering body language, norming is crucial.當需要破譯身體語言的時候，模式化的分析方法至關(guān)重要。

總之，“我們生命的很大部分都是無意義的，是自相矛盾的，是徒勞的；我們與周圍以及自身作斗爭；但是我們相信，如果我們能破譯我們自己的靈魂，我們內(nèi)心總是有那么些東西是至關(guān)重要的?！?/p>

冥冥之中，覺得自己存在是有意義的，到底是何種意義，總?cè)綦[若現(xiàn)?？偸侨鄙傩┠托娜鄙傩﹦恿θ?nèi)省。生命太短了，一旦定了就堅持吧，堅持沒準就能看到成果。