This single stick now is ingloriously lying in that neglected corner.

Once it was in a forest, full of sap, leaves and boughs1; now in vain someone has tried to compete with nature by tying that withered2 bundle of twigs3 to its trunk. It is now the reverse of what it was: a tree turned upside down, the branches on the earth, and the root in the air. It is now handled by a maid, and makes other things clean but itself dirty. In the end, worn out in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out, or used as firewood.

When I saw it I sighed, and said within myself: surely man is a broomstick. Nature sends him into the world strong and lusty. He wears his own hair, just like a tree with flourishing leaves and branches. Later, the axe5 of intemperance6 cuts off his green branches and leaves him a withered trunk, and he puts on a wig4 and covers himself with powder. This broomstick is proud of all the branches added to him; yet they are covered with dust. Though the dust is from the finest lady's chamber7, we ridicule8 it, and despise its vanity. We are partial judges, that is, partial to our own excellencies and other men's faults.

一根掃帚把灰溜溜地躺在無人注意的角落。

曾經在樹林里，它樹液充沛，枝葉繁茂;如今變了樣，卻還有人自作聰明，想靠手藝同大自然競爭，拿來一束枯枝捆在它的身上，結果卻是枉費心機。不過是顛倒了它原來的位置，使它枝干朝地，根梢向天。它在女仆的手里使用，從此受命運擺布，把別人打掃干凈，自己卻落得個又臟又臭。而在女仆們的手里折騰過多次之后，或者被扔出門外，或者作為引火的柴禾被燒掉了。

我看到了這一切，不盡興嘆，自言自語一番：人不也是一根掃帚么?大自然送他入世之初，他是強壯有力的，精力充沛，滿頭的好發，就像一株枝葉齊全的植物。但不久貪婪就像一把斧子砍掉了他的青枝綠葉，只留給他一根枯株。他趕緊戴上頭套，擦上香粉。這把掃帚因為把一些別的樹條收集到身上而得意洋洋，其實這些枝條上盡是灰土。即使是最高貴的夫人房里的塵土，我們也一定會嘲笑它的虛榮吧!我們就是這樣偏心的審判官，偏于自己的優點，別人的毛病。

This single stick now is ingloriously lying in that neglected corner.

Once it was in a forest, full of sap, leaves and boughs1; now in vain someone has tried to compete with nature by tying that withered2 bundle of twigs3 to its trunk. It is now the reverse of what it was: a tree turned upside down, the branches on the earth, and the root in the air. It is now handled by a maid, and makes other things clean but itself dirty. In the end, worn out in the service of the maids, it is either thrown out, or used as firewood.

When I saw it I sighed, and said within myself: surely man is a broomstick. Nature sends him into the world strong and lusty. He wears his own hair, just like a tree with flourishing leaves and branches. Later, the axe5 of intemperance6 cuts off his green branches and leaves him a withered trunk, and he puts on a wig4 and covers himself with powder. This broomstick is proud of all the branches added to him; yet they are covered with dust. Though the dust is from the finest lady's chamber7, we ridicule8 it, and despise its vanity. We are partial judges, that is, partial to our own excellencies and other men's faults.

一根掃帚把灰溜溜地躺在無人注意的角落。

曾經在樹林里，它樹液充沛，枝葉繁茂;如今變了樣，卻還有人自作聰明，想靠手藝同大自然競爭，拿來一束枯枝捆在它的身上，結果卻是枉費心機。不過是顛倒了它原來的位置，使它枝干朝地，根梢向天。它在女仆的手里使用，從此受命運擺布，把別人打掃干凈，自己卻落得個又臟又臭。而在女仆們的手里折騰過多次之后，或者被扔出門外，或者作為引火的柴禾被燒掉了。

我看到了這一切，不盡興嘆，自言自語一番：人不也是一根掃帚么?大自然送他入世之初，他是強壯有力的，精力充沛，滿頭的好發，就像一株枝葉齊全的植物。但不久貪婪就像一把斧子砍掉了他的青枝綠葉，只留給他一根枯株。他趕緊戴上頭套，擦上香粉。這把掃帚因為把一些別的樹條收集到身上而得意洋洋，其實這些枝條上盡是灰土。即使是最高貴的夫人房里的塵土，我們也一定會嘲笑它的虛榮吧!我們就是這樣偏心的審判官，偏于自己的優點，別人的毛病。