Christie’s is auctioning a letter from Albert Einstein in which he spells out his disenchantment with religion.

　　美国佳士得拍卖行对著名科学家阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦离世前一年写下的“上帝之信”进行拍卖。

　　The letter was written to the German philosopher Eric Gutkind regarding his book entitled “Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt”. In it, Einstein said he was proud to be Jewish, but that his pride was not rooted in religion. “The word God is for me nothing but the expression of and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of venerable but still rather primitive legends. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can (for me) change anything about this,” the letter says.

　　这封信是写给德国哲学家埃里克·古特金的，内容是回应他的《选择生命：圣经的反抗召唤》一书。爱因斯坦在信里说，为自己是犹太人而感到骄傲，但是自己的骄傲并非源于宗教。“对我来说，‘上帝’这个词不过是人类弱点的表达和产物。《圣经》是一本珍贵但依然原始的传奇故事集。无论如何巧妙地诠释，(对我而言)都无法改变这一点。”

　　The 1954 letter surfaced in 2008 after being held by Gutkind’s family. It sold for $404,000 at auction. It was listed on eBay for $3 million in 2012, but a Christie’s spokeswoman told The New York Times that sale was unsuccessful. Christie’s pre-sale estimate of the letter is $1 million to $1.5 million.

　　这封写于1954年的信多年来被古特金德的家人保管着，直到2008年才为世人所知，并以40.4万美元(约合人民币277万元)的价格拍卖。2012年，它在eBay上以300万美元的价格被拍卖，但佳士得的一位发言人告诉《纽约时报》，拍卖没有成功。佳士得对这封信的预估价在100万至150万美元之间。

　　Einstein biographer Walter Isaacson warned against considering this letter definitive of Einstein’s beliefs, saying the theoretical physicist had written on the subject multiple times, and was not always consistent. Indeed, in his 2007 biography, Isaacson recounted Einstein’s “passionate zeal for Judaism” in his early life.

　　不过，爱因斯坦的传记作者沃尔特·艾萨克森警告说，不要以此确定爱因斯坦的信仰。他说爱因斯坦曾经多次就这个主题表达自己的观点，并且不尽相同。事实上，艾萨克森曾在2017年的一篇传记里阐述过爱因斯坦早年“对犹太教的热情”。

　　The auction is scheduled to begin at 2 pm in New York.

　　拍卖定于下午2点在纽约开始。