孤独，是忧愁的伴侣，也是精神活动的密友。——纪伯伦【黎】


Hints:
intervals
etiquette
tolerable
fireside
stumble
Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other's way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications. Consider the girls in a factory -- never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live. The value of a man is not in his skin, that we should touch him.
与人交往通常都因唾手可得而毫无价值，在频繁的相处中，我们无暇从彼此获取新价值。我们每日三餐相聚，反复让彼此重新审视的也是依旧故我，并无新奇之处。为此我们要循规蹈矩，称其为懂礼仪，讲礼貌，以便在这些频繁的接触中相安无事，无须论战而有辱斯文。我们相遇在邮局，邂逅在社交场所，围坐在夜晚的炉火旁，交情甚笃，彼此干扰着，纠缠着；实际上我认为这样我们都或多或少失去了对彼此的尊重。对于所有重要的倾心交流，相见不必过频。想想工厂里的女孩，她们虽从不落单，但也少有梦想。像这样方圆一英里仅一人居住，那情况会更好。人的价值非在肌肤相亲，而在心有灵犀。