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属类: 双语小说 【分类】魔幻小说 -[作者: 乔斯坦·贾德] 阅读:[45177]
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……算命者试图预测某些事实上极不可测的事物……

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苏菲刚才读着德谟克里特斯的理论时,已经留神查看过信箱附近的动静。不过为了保险起见,她决定还是走到花园门口去看看。

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当她打开前门时,看到门前的阶梯上放着一个小信封。不用说,是写给苏菲的。

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这么说,他已经知道了。今天她特地留意信箱附近的动静,但这个神秘客却悄悄从另外一个角度溜到屋前,把信放在台阶上,然后又匆匆躲进树林中。真是的!

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他怎么知道苏菲今天会注意观察信箱?也许他看到她站在窗口了?无论如何,苏菲还是很高兴能在妈妈回家前拿到这封信。

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苏菲回到房里,打开信。信封的边缘有一点潮湿,并且有两个小洞。为何会这样呢?有好几天都没有下雨了呀!

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信封里的纸条写着:

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你相信命运吗?

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疾病是诸神对人类的惩罚吗?

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是什么力量影响历史的走向?

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她相信命运吗?她可不敢说,不过她知道有很多人相信。她班上有一个女生常常看杂志上的星座栏。如果人们相信占星术,他们大概也相信命运,因为占星学家宣称星座的位置会影响地球人类的生活。

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如果你相信在路上遇见黑猫表示运气不好,那么就表示你相信命运,是不是?她思考这个问题时,想到另外几个宿命论的例子。

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举例来说,为什么那么多人会在自夸或谈论好运时,敲一敲木头做的东西以避免带来厄运呢?为什么十三号星期五不吉利?苏菲听说有很多旅馆没有第十三号房。这一定是因为有很多人迷信的缘故。

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“迷信”,多么奇怪的一个名词。如果你信基督教或伊斯兰教,这就叫“信仰”,但如果你相信占星术或十三号星期五不吉利,就是迷信!谁有权利说别人相信的东西就是“迷信”呢?

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不过,苏菲倒可以肯定的一件事:德谟克里特斯并不相信命运,他是个唯物论者,他只相信原子与虚空。

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苏菲又试着思索纸条上的其他问题。

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“疾病是诸神对人类的惩罚吗?”

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今天一定不会有人相信这种说法吧?不过她又想到很多人认为祈祷会帮助疾病痊愈。所以无论如何,他们一定相信上帝有某种力量可以左右哪些人生病、哪些人痊愈。

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至于最后一个问题就更难回答了。苏菲以前从未深思过什么力量会影响历史走向的问题。一定是人类吧?如果是上帝或命运的话,那人类就没有自由意志了。

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自由意志这个观念使苏菲想到别的东西。她为什么要忍受这个神秘的哲学家跟她玩捉迷藏的游戏呢?她为什么不写一封信给他呢?他(或她)非常可能又会在晚上或明天早晨在信箱里放一个大信封。到时她要写好一封信给这个人。

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苏菲立刻下楼。她心想,要写信给一位她从未见过的人可真难呀!她连那人是男是女都不知道呢!也不知道他(她)是老是少。

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讲到这点,说不定这位神秘的哲学家还是她认识的人呢!

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很快的,她已经写好了一封短信。

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可敬的哲学家:

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我很欣赏您所函授的哲学课程,但对于不知您的身分一事甚感困扰。因此请求您具上全名。为了回报,欢迎您前来寒舍小坐并共进咖啡,不过最好利用我母亲不在家时。她的上班时间为周一到周五每天上午七点半到下午五点。同一段时间我也在校上课,但除周四之外,总是在下午两点十五分回到家门。还有,我很擅于煮咖啡,

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在此先谢谢您。

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学生苏菲(十四岁)敬上

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在信纸的最下面,她写上“烦请回函”这几个字。

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苏菲觉得这封信写得太正式了。不过当你写给一个从未谋面的人时,很难决定要使用什么样的字眼。

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她把信放在一个粉红色的信封里,并塞进去。信封上写着:“哲学家启”。

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问题是:她应该把信放在哪里才不会被妈妈看到呢?她得等到妈妈回家后才能把它放在信箱里。还有,她也必须记得在第二天清晨报纸送来前,查看信箱。如果今天傍晚或深夜她没有收到新的信,她就得把那封粉红色的信拿回来。

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事情为什么一定要弄得这么复杂呢?

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那天晚上,虽然是星期五,苏菲还是早早就回房。妈妈拿意大利脆饼和电视恐怖剧引诱她留下来,但苏菲说累了,想上床看书。

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趁妈妈坐在那儿看电视时,她偷偷拿了信溜到信箱那儿。

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妈妈显然很担心她。自从苏菲上次讲过白兔与帽子的事后,妈妈对苏菲讲话的语气都不一样了。苏菲不想让妈妈担心,但她必须上楼观察信箱旁边的动静。

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十一点钟左右,妈妈上楼来时,苏菲正坐在窗子旁,看着下面那条路。

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妈妈说:“你可不是坐在这儿盯着信箱看吧?”

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“我高兴!”

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“我看你一定是谈恋爱了,苏菲。可是就算他会再送信来,也不会挑三更半夜呀!”

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真讨厌,干嘛老讲这些肉麻的事情?不过苏菲只好让妈妈继续这样想了。

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妈妈又说:“他就是告诉你兔子与帽子那些事的人吗?”

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苏菲点点头。

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“他——他没有嗑药吧?”

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现在苏菲真是替妈妈感到难过了。她不能继续让她这样担心下去。虽说妈妈只要听到谁有一些古怪念头,就认为他有嗑药的嫌疑,那也是够神经了。大人有时还真白痴呢!

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她转身看着妈妈,说:“妈妈,我答应你永远不会做那类的事情……‘他’也不会。不过他对哲学非常有兴趣。”

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“他年纪比你大吗?”

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苏菲摇摇头。

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“跟你同年?”

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“嗯,我相信他一定很可爱。现在你应该睡觉了吧?”

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不过苏菲还是继续坐在窗边。时间好像过了好几小时,最后她的眼睛实在睁不开了,已经是半夜一点了。

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她正要上床时,突然看到有一个影子从树林中闪出来。

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虽然外头很黑,但苏菲还是看得出来那是个人,而且是个男人。苏菲心想他看来年纪颇大的,一定不是跟她同年。他头上好像戴着一顶扁帽。

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她发誓他曾经向楼上望了一眼,不过苏菲房间的灯没开。那个男人一直走到信箱旁,将一个大信封丢进里面。这时他突然看到苏菲写的信,他把手伸进信箱,把信拿出来,然后便快步走回树林,沿着树林中的小径慢跑,然后就消失不见了。

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苏菲觉得自己的心“咚!咚!地跳。她的第一个直觉反应是想穿着睡衣出去追他,但她又不敢半夜去追一个陌生人。不过她显然必须出去拿那封信。

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一两分钟后,她蹑手蹑脚地走下楼梯,悄悄打开前门,跑到信箱那儿。一转眼她已经回房,手中拿着那封信。她坐在床上,屏声静气。直到几分钟后屋里仍然静悄悄时,她才打开信封,开始看信。

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她知道这封信不是针对她那封信的回函。那封信要明天才会到。

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命运

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早安,亲爱的苏菲。为了避免你产生任何念头,我先声明:你绝对不可以探查我的身分。有一天我们会见面的,不过要让我来决定时间和地点。就这样说定了,你不会不听话吧?

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现在让我们再谈那些哲学家的理论吧。我们已经看到他们如何试图为大自然的变化寻求自然的解释。在过去,这些现象都是透过神话来解释的。

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然而,其他方面的古老迷信也必须加以破除。我们将谈到他们如何思考疾病与健康以及政治问题。在这些方面,希腊人非常相信宿命论。

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宿命论的意思就是相信所有发生的事都是命中注定的。我们可以发现这种思想遍布全世界,不仅古人这样想,现代人也一样。

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北欧这里的人同样非常相信命运,相信冰岛诗集中的各种神话与传说。

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我们也可以发现,无论是在古希腊或其他地方,人们都相信他们可以借由神谕来得知自己的命运。换句话说,他们相信一个人或一个国家的命运可以用一些方式预算出来。

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现代仍有许多人相信纸牌算命、看手相或观察星座以预知未来等。挪威人有一个用咖啡杯来算命的特别方法。当咖啡喝完后,杯底通常会有一些咖啡粉的残渣。这些渣子可能会形成某种图案——如果我们运用我们天马行空的想象力的话。假使杯底的渣子看来像是一辆车子,那也许就表示喝这杯咖啡的人将驾车远行。

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就这样,“算命仙”试图预测一些非常不可能预测的事情,这是所有预言共同的特征。而正因算命仙所“看”到的是如此模糊,你很难去驳斥他的话。

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当我们抬头看着天上的星星时,我们只能看到许多呈不规则分布状的闪亮小点。尽管如此,千百年来仍有不少人相信可以从星星里看出人类的命运。即使在今天,仍有一些政治领袖在做重要决策前会征求占星学家的意见。

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戴尔菲的神论

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古代希腊人相信人们可以透过著名的戴尔菲(Delphi)神论知道自己的命运。负责神论的神是阿波罗。他透过他的女祭司琵西雅(Pythia)发言。琵西雅坐在土地裂缝上方的一张凳子上,裂缝中会冒出一股催眠般的蒸气,使她进入恍惚的状态,而成为阿波罗的代言人。

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人们来到戴尔菲后,必须将他们的问题呈现给负责神论的祭司,再由祭司将问题转达给琵西雅。而她的回答往往含糊不清、模棱两可,因此必须由祭司加以解释。人们就如此这般得着了阿波罗智慧的恩赐,并相信他无所不知,甚至可以预见未来。

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当时,有许多国家元首要等到求教于戴尔菲的神谕后,才敢打仗或采取一些决定性的步骤。因此阿波罗的祭司们或多或少具有一些外交家的功能,也可以说他们是熟悉人民与国家事务的顾问。

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在戴尔菲神庙的入口处上方有一行著名的铭文:“了解自己!”

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意思是人类绝不可自以为不朽,同时也没有人可以逃避命运。

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希腊有许多故事叙述人们如何逃不过命运的捉弄。久而久之,这些“可怜”人物的故事被写成若干出悲剧。其中最有名的一出是有关伊迪帕斯国王的悲惨故事。

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历史与医学

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古希腊人相信命运不仅操纵个人的生活,也左右世界的历史。

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他们并且相信战争的结局可能因诸神的介入而改变。同样的,在我们这个时代,也有许多人相信上帝或某种神秘的力量会影响历史的走向。

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然而,就在希腊哲学家努力为大自然的变化寻求符合自然的解释时,历史上最早的一批历史学家也开始为历史事件寻求合理的解释。他们不再认为一个国家之所以打败仗是因为神向他们报复。最著名的两位希腊历史学家是贺若多陀斯(Herodotus,公元前484年~公元前424年)与修西德底斯(Thucydides,公元前46O~公元前4OO年)。

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古希腊人相信疾病可能是神降的灾祸,也相信只要人以适当的方式向神献祭,神就可能使生病的人痊愈。

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这个观念并非希腊人独有。在现代医学发达以前,人们普遍认为疾病是由某些超自然的原因所造成。英文influenza(流行性感冒)一词实际上的意思是“受到星星的不良影响”。

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即使是在今天,仍有很多人相信某些疾病——如艾滋病——是上帝对人类的惩罚,也有许多人相信可以用超自然的力量痊愈。

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在希腊哲学朝新方向迈进之际,希腊的医学也开始兴起。这种学问的目的是为疾病与健康寻求合乎自然的解释。据说希腊医学的始祖是大约公元前46O年时,在寇斯岛诞生的希波克拉底(Hipocrates)。

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根据希波克拉底派的医学传统,要预防疾病,最重要的就是饮食起居要节制,同时要有健康的生活方式。他们认为健康是人的自然状态。人之所以生病,是因为身体或心灵不平衡,因而使大自然“出轨”所致。保持健康的方法就是节制饮食、保持和谐,并拥有“健康的身体与健康的心灵”。

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现代人常常谈到“医学伦理”,也就是说医生为人治病时必须遵守若干伦理规范,例如不能开麻醉药品的处方给健康人,同时必须保守职业上的秘密,也就是说,不可以泄漏病人的病情。这些概念都是希波克拉底提出来的。他要求他的学生宣读下列的誓言:

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我将依照自身的能力与判断,采用对病人有利的疗法与处方,绝不施以有害或有毒之物。无论应何人之请,我也绝不给予致命药物或做此类之建议,也绝不协助妇女堕胎。进入病家访视时,我将以病人的福祉为念,不做任何贪渎害人之事,不受男女奴仆之引诱。我在执业时之所见所闻,凡不应泄漏者,我将严予保密。若我遵行此一誓言,不懈不怠,愿上苍使我乐享生命、精进医事并受世人敬重。若我违反誓言,愿我遭相反之命运。

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星期六早上,苏菲醒来时从床上跳了起来。她是在作梦还是她真的见到了那位哲学家?

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她用一只手摸了摸床底下,没错,昨晚收到的信还在那里。不是梦。

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她准是见到那个哲学家了。更重要的是,她亲眼看到他拿走了她写的信。

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她蹲在地板上,把所有的信都从床底下拉出来,咦,那是什么?

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就在墙边,有一样红色的东西,好像是一条围巾吧?

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苏菲钻到床底下,拉出一条红色的丝巾。她肯定这不是她的。

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她仔细加以检查。当她看到丝巾的线缝旁有墨水写的“席德”字样时,不禁目瞪口呆。

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席德!谁又是这个席德呢?她们走的路怎么会如此交错不已呢?

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 the "fortune-teller" is trying to foresee something that is really quite unforeseeable ...

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Sophie had been keeping her eye on the mailbox while she read about Democritus. But just in case, she decided nevertheless to take a stroll down to the garden gate.

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When she opened the front door she saw a small envelope on the front step. And sure enough--it was addressed to Sophie Amundsen.

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So he had tricked her! Today of all days, when she had kept such careful watch on the mailbox, the mystery man had sneaked up to the house from a different angle and just laid the letter on the step before making off into the woods again. Drat!

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How did he know that Sophie was watching the mailbox today? Had he seen her at the window? Anyway, she was glad to find the letter before her mother arrived.

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Sophie went back to her room and opened the letter. The white envelope was a bit wet around the edges, and had two little holes in it. Why was that? It had not rained for several days.

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The little note inside read:

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Do you believe in Fate?

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Is sickness the punishment of the gods?

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What forces govern the course of history?

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Did she believe in Fate? She was not at all sure. But she knew a lot of people who did. There was a girl in her class who read horoscopes in magazines. But if they believed in astrology, they probably believed in Fate as well, because astrologers claimed that the position of the stars influenced people’s lives on Earth.

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If you believed that a black cat crossing your path meant bad luck--well, then you believed in Fate, didn’t you? As she thought about it, several more examples of fatalism occurred to her. Why do so many people knock on wood, for example? And why was Friday the thirteenth an unlucky day? Sophie had heard that lots of hotels had no room number 13. It had to be because so many people were superstitious .

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"Superstitious." What a strange word. If you believed in Christianity or Islam, it was called "faith." But if you believed in astrology or Friday the thirteenth it was superstition ! Who had the right to call other people’s belief superstition?

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Sophie was sure of one thing, though. Democritus had not believed in fate. He was a materialist . He had only believed in atoms and empty space.

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Sophie tried to think about the other questions on the note.

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"Is sickness the punishment of the gods?" Surely nobody believed that nowadays? But it occurred to her that many people thought it helped to pray for recovery, so at any rate they must believe that God had some power over people’s health.

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The last question was harder to answer. Sophie had never given much thought to what governed the course of history. It had to be people, surely? If it was God or Fate, people had no free will.

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The idea of free will made Sophie think of something else. Why should she put up with this mysterious philosopher playing cat and mouse with her? Why couldn’t she write a letter to him. He (or she) would quite probably put another big envelope in the mailbox during the night or sometime tomorrow morning. She would see to it that there was a letter ready for this person.

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Sophie began right away. It was difficult to write to someone she had never seen. She didn’t even know if it was a man or a woman. Or if he or she was old or young. For that matter, the mysterious philosopher could even be someone she already knew. She wrote:

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Most respected philosopher, Your generous correspondence course in philosophy is greatly appreciated by us here. But it bothers us not to know who you are. We therefore request you to use your full name. In return we would like to extend our hospitality should you care to corne and have coffee with us, but preferably when my mother is at home. She is at work from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day from Monday to Friday. I am at school during these days, but I am always home by 2:15 p.m., except on Thursdays. I am also very good at making coffee.

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Thanking you in advance, I remainYour attentive student,Sophie Amundsen (aged 14)

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At the bottom of the page she wrote RSVP.

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Sophie felt that the letter had turned out much too formal. But it was hard to know which words to choose when writing to a person without a face. She put the letter in a pink envelope and addressed it "To the philosopher."

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The problem was where to put it so her mother didn’t find it. She would have to wait for her to get home before putting it in the mailbox. And she would also have to remember to look in the mailbox early the next morning before the newspaper arrived. If no new letter came for her this evening or during the night, she would have to take the pink envelope in again.

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Why did it all have to be so complicated?

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That evening Sophie went up to her room early, even though it was Friday. Her mother tried to tempt her with pizza and a thriller on TV, but Sophie said she was tired and wanted to go to bed and read. While her mother sat watching TV, she sneaked out to the mailbox with her letter.

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Her mother was clearly worried. She had started speaking to Sophie in a different tone since the business with the white rabbit and the top hat. Sophie hated to be a worry to her mother, but she just had to go upstairs and keep an eye on the mailbox.

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When her mother came up at about eleven o’clock, Sophie was sitting at the window staring down the road.

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"You’re not still sitting there staring at the mailbox!" she said.

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"I can look at whatever I like."

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"I really think you must be in love, Sophie. But if he is going to bring you another letter, he certainly won’t come in the middle of the night."

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Yuck! Sophie loathed all that soppy talk about love. But she had to let her mother go on believing it was true.

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"Is he the one who told you about the rabbit and the top hat?" her mother asked.

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Sophie nodded.

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"He--he doesn’t do drugs, does he?"

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Now Sophie felt really sorry for her mother. She couldn’t go on letting her worry this way, although it was completely nutty of her to think that just because someone had a slightly bizarre idea he must be on something. Grownups really were idiotic sometimes.

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She said, "Mom, I promise you once and for all I’ll never do any of that stuff... and he doesn’t either. But he is very interested in philosophy."

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"Is he older than you?"

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Sophie shook her head.

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"The same age?"

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Sophie nodded.

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"Well, I’m sure he’s very sweet, darling. Now I think you should try and get some sleep."

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But Sophie stayed sitting by the window for what seemed like hours. At last she could hardly keep her eyes open. It was one o’clock.

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She was just about to go to bed when she suddenly caught sight of a shadow emerging from the woods.

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Although it was almost dark outside, she could make out the shape of a human figure. It was a man, and Sophie thought he looked quite old. He was certainly not her age! He was wearing a beret of some kind.

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She could have sworn he glanced up at the house, but Sophie’s light was not on. The man went straight up to the mailbox and dropped a big envelope into it. As he let go of it, he caught sight of Sophie’s letter. He reached down into the mailbox and fished it up. The next minute he was walking swiftly back toward the woods. He hurried down the woodland path and was gone.

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Sophie felt her heart pounding. Her first instinct was to run after him in her pajamas but she didn’t dare run after a stranger in the middle of the night. But she did have to go out and fetch the envelope.

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After a minute or two she crept down the stairs, opened the front door quietly, and ran to the mailbox. In a flash she was back in her room with the envelope in her hand. She sat on her bed, holding her breath. After a few minutes had passed and all was still quiet in the house, she opened the letter and began to read.

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She knew this would not be an answer to her own letter. That could not arrive until tomorrow. FATE Good morning once again, my dear Sophie. In case you should get any ideas, let me make it quite clear that you must never attempt to check up on me. One day we will meet, but I shall be the one to decide when and where. And that’s final. You are not going to disobey me, are you?

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But to return to the philosophers. We have seen how they tried to find natural explanations for the transformations in Nature. Previously these things had been ex-plained through myths.

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Old superstitions had to be cleared away in other areas as well. We see them at work in matters of sickness and health as well as in political events. In both these areas the Greeks were great believers in fatalism.

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Fatalism is the belief that whatever happens is predestined. We find this belief all over the world, not only throughout history but in our own day as welt. Here in the Nordic countries we find a strong belief in "lagnadan," or fate, in the old Icelandic sagas of the Edda.

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We also find the belief, both in Ancient Greece and in other parts of the world, that people could learn their fate from some form of oracle . In other words, that the fate of a person or a country could be foreseen in various ways.

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There are still a lot of people who believe that they can tell your fortune in the cards, read your palm, or predict your future in the stars.

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A special Norwegian version of this is telling your fortune in coffee cups. When a coffee cup is empty there are usually some traces of coffee grounds left. These might form a certain image or pattern--at least, if we give our imagination free rein . If the grounds resemble a car, it might mean that the person who drank from the cup is going for a long drive.

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Thus the "fortune-teller" is trying to foresee something that is really quite unforeseeable. This is characteristic of all forms of foreseeing. And precisely because what they "see" is so vague, it is hard to repudiate fortune-tellers’ claims.

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When we gaze up at the stars, we see a veritable chaos of twinkling dots. Nevertheless, throughout the ages there have always been people who believed that the stars could tell us something about our life on Earth. Even today there are political leaders who seek the advice of astrologers before they make any important decisions.

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The Oracle at Delphi The ancient Greeks believed that they could consult the famous oracle at Delphi about their fate. Apollo, the god of the oracle, spoke through his priestess Pythia, who sat on a stool over a fissure in the earth, from which arose hypnotic vapors that put Pythia in a trance. This enabled her to be Apollo’s mouthpiece. When people came to Delphi they had to present their question to the priests of the oracle, who passed it on to Pythia. Her answer would be so obscure or ambiguous that the priests would have to interpret it. In that way, the ieople got the benefit of Apollo’s wisdom, believing that e knew everything, even about the future.

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There were many heads of state who dared not go to war or take other decisive steps until they had consulted the oracle at Delphi. The priests of Apollo thus functioned more or less as diplomats , or advisers . They were experts with an intimate knowledge of the people and the country.

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Over the entrance to the temple at Delphi was a famous inscription : KNOW THYSELF! It reminded visitors that man must never believe himself to be more than mortal--and that no man can escape his destiny.

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The Greeks had many stories of people whose destiny catches up with them. As time went by, a number of plays--tragedies--were written about these " tragic " people. The most famous one is the tragedy of King Oedipus.

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History and Medicine But Fate did not just govern the lives of individuals. The Greeks believed that even world history was governed by Fate, and that the fortunes of war could be swayed by the intervention of the gods. Today there are still many people who believe that God or some other mysterious power is steering the course of history.

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But at the same time as Greek philosophers were trying to find natural explanations for the processes of nature, the first historians were beginning to search for natural explanations for the course of history. When a country lost a war, the vengeance of the gods was no longer an acceptable explanation to them. The best known Greek historians were Herodotus (484-424 B.C.) and Thucydides (460-400 B.C.).

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The Greeks also believed that sickness could be ascribed to divine intervention. On the other hand, the gods could make people well again if they made the appropriate sacrifices.

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This idea was in no way unique to the Greeks. Before the development of modern medicine, the most widely accepted view was that sickness was due to supernatural causes. The word " influenza " actually means a malign influence from the stars.

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Even today, there are a lot of people who believe that some diseases--AIDS, for example--are God’s punishment. Many also believe that sick people can be cured with the help of the supernatural.

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Concurrently with the new directions in Greek philosophy, a Greek medical science arose which tried to find natural explanations for sickness and health. The founder of Greek medicine is said to have been Hippocrates, who was born on the island of Cos around 460 B.C.

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The most essential safeguards against sickness, according to the Hippocratic medical tradition, were moderation and a healthy lifestyle. Health is the natural condition. When sickness occurs, it is a sign that Nature has gone off course because of physical or mental imbalance. The road to health for everyone is through moderation, harmony, and a "sound mind in a sound body."

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There is a lot of talk today about "medical ethics," which is another way of saying that a doctor must practice medicine according to certain ethical rules. For instance, a doctor may not give healthy people a prescription for narcotics . A doctor must also maintain professional secrecy , which means that he is not allowed to reveal anything a patient has told him about his illness. These ideas go back to Hippocrates. He required his pupils to take the following oath:

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I will follow that system or regimen which, according to my ability and judgment , I consider to be for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous . 1 will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked nor suggest any such counsel, and in like manner I will not give to a woman the means to produce an abortion . Whenever I go into a house, I will go for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption , and further, from the seduction of females or males, whether freemen or slaves.

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Whatever, in connection with my professional practice, I see or hear which ought not to be spoken abroad, I will keep secret. So long as I continue to carry out this oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art, respected by all men in all times, but should I violate this oath, may the reverse be my lot.

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Sophie awoke with a start on Saturday morning. Was it a dream or had she really seen the philosopher?

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She felt under the bed with one hand. Yes--there lay the letter that had come during the night. It wasn’t only a dream.

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She had definitely seen the philosopher! And what’s more, with her own eyes she had seen him take her letter!

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She crouched down on the floor and pulled out all the typewritten pages from under the bed. But what was that? Right by the wall there was something red. A scarf, perhaps?

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Sophie edged herself in under the bed and pulled out a red silk scarf. It wasn’t hers, that was for sure!

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She examined it more closely and gasped when she saw HILDE written in ink along the seam.

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Hilde! But who was Hilde? How could their paths keep crossing like this?

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