2. David Foster Wallace大卫·福斯特·华莱士

　　Novelist 小说家

　　Kenyon College 肯尼恩学院

　　May 21, 2005 2005年5月21日

　　There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, “Morning, boys. How's the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, “What the hell is water?”

　　... simple awareness; awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, all the time, that we have to keep reminding ourselves over and over:

　　“This is water.”

　　“This is water.”

　　It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive in the adult world day in and day out.

　　有两条小鱼一起在水里游，碰到一条老鱼迎面游过来。老鱼向他们点点头，并说：“早上好，孩子们。水怎么样?”这两条小鱼继续往前游了一会儿后，其中一条小鱼实在忍不住了，看了一下另一条小鱼，问道：“水到底是什么东西?”

　　……简单的意识;对我们生活中如此真实、如此必不可少、无处不在、无时不在的事物的意识，需要我们一遍一遍地提醒自己：

　　“这是水。”

　　“这是水。”

　　天天都保持意识清醒而鲜活，在成人世界中做到这点，是不可想象地难。