自由不仅仅是随心所欲的机会；也不仅仅是在既定选项之间选择的机会。自由首先是制定可用选择的机会，对它们进行辩论——然后，才是选择的机会。

The first fruit of this imagination—and the first lesson of the social science that embodies it—is the idea that the individual can understand his own experience and gauge his own fate only by locating himself within his period, that he can know his own chances in life only by becoming aware of those of all individuals in his circumstances.

这种想象力的第一个成果——以及体现它的社会科学的第一个教训——是个人只有将自己定位在他的时代中，才能理解自己的经历并衡量自己的命运，只有意识到他所在环境中所有个体的机会，他才能知道自己的生活机会。

Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.

如果不理解两者，就无法理解个人的生活或社会的历史。

The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society.

社会学的想象力使我们能够把握历史和传记以及两者在社会中的关系。