The painting shows a superficially bucolic scene: Ships are taking sail, a shepherd is tending to his flock, distant cities look prosperous and ordered.

畫表面上展現出一種田園風光：船隻正在啟航，一個牧羊人正在走向他的羊群，遠處的城市看起來繁榮有序。

But in the bottom right hand corner of the canvas, a tragedy is unfolding, all but unheeded.

但在畫的右下角，幾乎沒有人注意到，一場悲劇正在發生。

Reckless Icarus, the legendary figure from Classical mythology, is in the final stages of one of the ancient world's most famous aeronautical disasters.

古典神話中的傳奇人物——魯莽的伊卡洛斯，正在經歷一場古代世界最著名的空中災難。

Together with his father Daedalus, the young man had made himself a pair of wings, glued together with wax.

這位年輕人和他的父親代達洛斯，一起為他自己製作了一對用蠟黏合的翅膀。

Daedalus had warned his son not to fly too close to the sun in case its heat were to melt the structure, but the impetuous boy soared too high anyway, and in the painting, has just tumbled down into the waves to his death.

代達洛斯警告他兒子不要飛到太靠近太陽，以免翅膀被太陽的熱能融化。但是這個魯莽的男孩卻還是往上高飛，所以在畫裡，他正在被海浪吞噬，直到死亡。

Icarus' end is deliberately not the central focus of the painting.

畫家故意把伊卡洛斯的下場放在這幅畫不起眼的位置。

The eye is drawn, instead, to the glittering cities and smart ships in the distance.

觀眾的目光反而被導向遠處亮麗的城市和的整齊的船隻。

As if to emphasize the point, the ploughman at the center of the painting references a popular proverb: "No plough stops for the dying man."

彷彿是在強調一點，畫中間的農夫證明了一句流行的諺語：「農夫不會因垂死之人而停止耕田。」

This neglect of Icarus' tragedy is, at one level, terrifying and sad.

在某種程度上，這種對伊卡洛斯悲劇的忽視是令人恐懼和悲傷的。

We read into it how little the world cares about our own pains.

我們可以解讀成這個世界沒有人在乎我們的痛苦。

And yet, from another perspective, this neglect is deeply gratifying and importantly redemptive.

然而，從另一個角度來看，這種忽視代表令人深感欣慰和重要地救贖。

It is one of the central sources of our unhappiness that we spend so much of our lives fearing for our reputations and wondering what others will think of us when we fail, as we inevitably will at points.

在某些方面，我們會無可避免地花太多時間去擔心自己的名聲、懷疑別人在我們失敗時會怎麼看自己，這是我們不快樂的主要原因之一。

The slightest change in our image in the eyes of others can obsess us.

我們在別人眼中的形象就算只有細微的改變，也會困擾著我們。

We lie awake at night wondering how we could cope without the approval of people we don't even like very much.

我們夜不成眠，想著要怎樣才能得到認同，即使我們不喜歡那些人。

We surrender our freedom to the verdicts of strangers.

我們任由陌生人主宰我們的自由。

But the painter's stroke of consoling genius is, here, to show us how, when we really mess up, almost no one will be looking or caring very much.

但這位畫家用欣慰的筆觸告訴我們，當我們真的陷入困境時，幾乎沒有人會關心或多看一眼。

The farmer is too busy ploughing, the shepherd is too taken up with thinking about the weather, someone else is overwhelmingly intent on fishing.

農夫忙著耕田，牧羊人忙著關心天氣變化，其他人則是一旁心無旁騖的釣魚。

Our tragedies don't occupy society the way we fear they will.

自己的悲劇並不會像我們擔心的那樣，對社會造成影響。

A few people might notice for a moment, then swiftly move on to the next thing.

少數人可能會稍微關注一下，然後他們的注意力很快就會轉移到下一件事。

We are at the center of the galaxy only in our own tortured minds.

我們只是深陷在自我折磨的中心。

The world is still filled with humans who haven't heard of us and never will.

這世界充滿了沒聽過我們的人，永遠都不會認識我們的人。

Those who might be angry or disappointed with you now will have forgotten all about you soon enough.

那些可能對你生氣或失望的人，轉眼就會忘記有關你的一切。

Your disgrace will, in time, be subsumed within the larger amnesia of a consolingly indifferent world.

你的丟臉將會隨著時間淹沒在這個冷漠又健忘的世界之中。

It isn't just Icarus who is being swallowed up and obscured by the waves; some of the same obscurity awaits our greatest errors and embarrassments.

不僅是伊卡洛斯被巨浪吞噬淹沒，同樣晦暗的淵面也正等著用最無法承受的錯誤和尷尬吞噬我們。

We hope you enjoyed this film. For more from The School Of LIfe, you can subscribe to our channel and take a look at our range of products on our website.

希望你喜歡這部影片，如想了解更多 The School Of LIfe，請訂閱我們的頻道，並到網站看看我們一系列的的產品。