My Library
It is no doubt a pleasant thing to have a library left you. The present writer will disclaim（放弃）no such legacy（遗赠）, but hereby undertakes（承担，许诺）to accept it, however dusty. But good as it is to inherit（继承）a library, it is better to collect one. Each volume（卷，册）then, however lightly a stranger's eye may roam（漫游）from shelf to shelf, has its own individuality（个性）, a history of its own. You remember where you got it, and how much you gave for it; and your word may safely be taken for the first of these facts, but not for the second.
The man who has a library of his own collection is able to contemplate（凝视，沉思）himself objectively（客观地）, and is justified in believing in his own existence. No other man but he would have made precisely such a combination（结合）as his. Had he been in any single respect different from what he is, his library, as it exists, never would have existed. Therefore, surely he may exclaim（大声宣布）, as in the gloaming（黄昏）he contemplates the backs of his loved ones, "They are mine, and I am theirs."
如果别人留给你一间书室，这无疑是一件令人高兴的事。本文作者绝不拒绝这样的遗产，而是立马答应接受，不管它布满多少尘土。继承一间书室虽然很好，但比不上自己收集图书汇成书室。不管陌生人的眼光多么漫不经心地从一个书架游移到另一个书架上，但是这里的每一卷书都有自己的独到之处和属于自己的一段历史。你记得是从哪里找到这本书的，为它付了多少代价；你说的关于这些书的事，人们必定会相信它们的来源地，而不相信它们的费用。
一个拥有自己藏书室的人可以客观地审视自己，完全有理由相信自己的存在。没有别人而只有他自己才可以得出这样的结论：是自己造就了自己。只要他在任何一方面与眼下的自己有所不同，现有的藏书室就不会存在。因此，在黄昏下，当他凝视着这些心爱之物时就可以宣布：“它们是我的，而我也属于它们。
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