What is liberty?
何为自由？
I have long had an image in my mind of what constitutes liberty. Suppose that I were building a great piece of powerful machinery, and suppose that I should so awkwardly and unskilfully assemble the parts of it that every time one part tried to move it would be interfered with by the others, and the whole thing would buckle up and be checked. Liberty for the several parts would consist in the best possible assembling and adjustment of them all, would it not? If you want the great piston of the engine to run with absolute freedom, give it absolutely perfect alignment and adjustment with the other parts of the engine, so that it is free, not because it is let alone or isolated, but because it has been associated most skilfully and carefully with the other parts of the great structure.
长久以来，我一直思忖，到底是什么铸就了自由？试想，我正在安装一台高性能设备，但由于手笨眼拙、技不从心，导致机器运转时，零件之间相互干扰，最终只好逼停安检。对于这些零件来说，他们的自由不就是能够实现最优组配及相互契合吗？想要引擎活塞自由运动，不受一点阻力，就需要使零件之间精密配合、完美协作。因此，活塞的自由不是源自放任不管或孤立运行，而是因为它能够与庞大结构中的其他部件巧妙相连、精心运作。
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