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Silence, like all the best things, is best appreciated in its absence. If noise is the signature tune of the world, the silence is the music of the other world, the closest thing we know to the harmony of the spheres. But the greatest charm of noise is when it ceases. In silence, suddenly, it seems as if all the windows of the world are thrown open and everything is as clear as on morning after rain.

Silence, then, could be said to be the ultimate province of trust: it is the place where we trust ourselves to be alone; where we trust others to understand the things we do not say; where we trust a higher harmony to assert itself. We all know how treacherous are word, and how often we use them to paper over embarrassment or emptiness, or fear of the larger spaces that silence brings. “Word, word, word,” words commit us to positions we do not really hold, the imperative of chatter. Word are what we use for lies, false promise and gossip. We babble with strangers; with intimates we can be silence. We “make conversation” when we are at a loss; we unmake it when we are alone, or with those so close to us that we can afford to be alone with them.

In love, we are speechless; in awe, words fail us.

像所有优秀的东西一样，沉默在喧嚣的环境中显得弥足珍贵。如果说噪声是这个世界标志性的曲调，那么沉默便是另一个世界的音乐，是我们已知的最接近宇宙大同的东西。噪声最精彩之处在于它停止的那一瞬间。在沉默中，好像忽然间所有的窗户都被打开了，每一样东西都像雨后的早晨那样清晰。

   沉默可以说是信任的最高境界：沉默中，我们相信我们能独自面对；沉默中，我们相信别人能理解我们没说出的东西；沉默中，我们相信更高的和谐是不言自明的。我们都知道语言有多么虚伪，我们记不清有多少次我们语言去掩饰自己的窘迫、空虚或对沉默带来得更大空间产生的恐惧。“语言，语言，语言，”语言把我们置于本不属于我们的位置。语言成了饶舌的需要，我们用语言撒谎，作出口是心非的承诺，搬弄是非，对陌生人胡言乱语，对亲近的人我们却可以默默无语。手足无措时我们“找话说”，无人陪伴时我们不说话，和那些关系亲密得可以相对无言的人在一起时我们也可以不说话。

   相爱时我们无言，心怀敬畏时我们也说不出话来。