The house was quiet and the world was calm.

房屋寂静，天地安宁

The reader became the book; and summer night

阅读者化身书本，夏天的夜

Was like the conscious being of the book.

像从书中开悟的生灵。

The house was quiet and the world was calm.

房屋寂静，天地安宁。

The words were spoken as if there was no book,

念诵词句，仿佛那儿没有书本，

Except that the reader leaned above the page,

只有阅读者俯看着纸页，

Wanted to lean, wanted much most to be

真想俯在书页上，真想成为那

The scholar to whom his book is true, to whom

博学的人，以书本为真实，

The summer night is like a perfection of thought.

将夏夜当作思想的完整。

The house was quiet because it had to be.

房屋寂静因它从来如此。

The quiet was part of the meaning, part of the mind:

寂静是一段真义，一段精神：

The access of perfection to the page.

是书页中通向完圆之门。

And the world was calm. The truth in a calm world,

天地如此安宁，真理正在其间。

In which there is no other meaning, itself

那儿无有歧义，它自身

Is calm, itself is summer and night, itself

便是安宁，便是夏季与黑夜，

Is the reader leaning late and reading there.

是阅读者俯看书本读到夜深。