For my brothers Carl and Johann Beethoven
獻給我的兄弟卡爾和約翰貝多芬
Oh you men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn, or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you. From childhood on, my heart and soul have been full of the tender feeling of goodwill, and I was even inclined to accomplish great things. But, think that for six years now I have been hopelessly afflicted, made worse by senseless physicians, from year to year deceived with hopes of improvement, finally compelled to face the prospect of a lasting malady (whose cure will take years or, perhaps, be impossible).
啊，世人！你們將我視為或者描述成一位脾氣古怪，懷揣敵意的厭世者。這對我而言何其不公！你們不了解我外表下隱藏的秘密。從童年起，我對別人出于善意的溫情總是欣然接受，滿懷感激；我甚至奢求做出一番驚天動地的事業（以回報他們的厚愛）。但是，請換位思考，六年來我備受無望的折磨，庸醫的治療導致我的病情惡化。我年復一年懷著的好轉的希望，全部落空；最后不得不面對這場曠日持久的病癥（治愈需要耗費數年時間；也或許就是不治之癥了）。
Though born with a fiery, active temperament, even susceptible to the diversions of society, I was soon compelled to isolate myself, to live life alone. If at times I tried to forget all this, oh, how harshly was I flung back by the doubly sad experience of my bad hearing. Yet it was impossible for me to say to people, "Speak Louder, shout, for I am deaf". Oh, how could I possibly admit an infirmity in the one sense which ought to be more perfect in me than others, a sense which I once possessed in the highest perfection, a perfection such as few in my profession enjoy or ever have enjoyed. – Oh I cannot do it; therefore forgive me when you see me draw back when I would have gladly mingled with you.
我生就一副火熱和活潑的性格，甚至容易受到社會的干擾。但我很快就被迫把自己孤立起來，去過孤獨的生活。有時我也想將一切置身事外，我那糟糕的聽力所帶來的雙重痛苦的經歷又將我無情擊潰。我畢竟不能向人高呼：喂，請大聲點說！因為我是個聾子！啊，我如何愿意承認，自身的某個感官出了問題。這種感官理應比別人更完美；這感官在我身上曾經到達了巔峰，其完美的程度過去或現在很少能有人匹敵。喔，無法承認！所以，如果你們看到我這個一向愛和你們一起相處的人躲開，請你們必須原諒我；
My misfortune is doubly painful to me because I am bound to be misunderstood; for me there can be no relaxation with my fellow men, no refined conversations, no mutual exchange of ideas. I must live almost alone, like one who has been banished. I can mix with society only as much as true necessity demands. If I approach near to people a hot terror seizes upon me, and I fear being exposed to the danger that my condition might be noticed. Thus it has been during the last six months which I have spent in the country. By ordering me to spare my hearing as much as possible, my intelligent doctor almost fell in with my own present frame of mind, though sometimes I ran counter to it by yielding to my desire for companionship.
要是我此時被人誤解，我的不幸會讓我加倍痛苦。對我來說，我已無法與同行進行深入而輕松的交談，我已不再能與人互吐衷腸。幾乎完全孤獨！即使當我處于十分必要而不得不與人接觸時，我也感到完全地孤獨。我象一個流放者那樣生活著。一旦接近人群，我就害怕萬分，惟恐我的惡疾被人注意。我在鄉下住了半年，情況與此相仿。我那明智的醫生要我盡量保護聽覺，他的建議差不多迎合了我此時的心境。盡管有時我受到想與人交際的沖動的驅使，禁不住去找人作伴。
But what a humiliation for me when someone standing next to me heard a flute in the distance and I heard nothing, or someone standing next to me heard a shepherd singing and again I heard nothing. Such incidents drove me almost to despair; a little more of that and I would have ended my life. It was only my art that held me back. Oh, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had forth all that I felt was within me.
但是，當別人站在我的身旁，聽到了遠方的笛聲，而我卻聽不到，別人聽到了牧人的歌唱，而我還是一無所聞；這對我是何等地屈辱啊！這類事件已使我瀕于絕望，差一點我只能用自殺來收場。是藝術 — 她留住了我。呵！我認為，在我還沒有完成交給我的全部使命以前，就離開這個世界，這簡直是不可能的。
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