年轻时要知道的十三件事(双语)
1. Most of it doesn’t matter. So much of what I got excited about, anxious about, or wasted my time and energy on, turned out not to matter. There are only a few things that truly count for a happy life. I wish I had known to concentrate on those and ignore the rest.
拥有一颗平常心。太多的我曾经为其兴奋为其焦虑,或是浪费时间及精力的事情,到最后却证明是无关紧要的。它们只是幸福生活里极其微小的一部分。我多么希望早点知道这些,以便能把精力都投入到这些关乎幸福的事,而不是其他。
2. The greatest source of misery and hatred in this world is clinging to past hurts.
这个世界上痛苦与仇恨最大源泉是对过去的执迷。
3. Waiting to do something until you can be sure of doing it exactly right means waiting for ever.
等待有把握时再去做一件事,往往意味着永远的等待。
4. Following the latest fashion, in work or in life, is spiritual and intellectual suicide. You can be a cheap imitation of the ideal of the moment; or you can be a unique individual. The choice is yours. Religion isn’t the opiate of the masses, fashion is.
盲目追赶潮流是对精神和智力的扼杀。你可以成为一个廉价的时尚木偶,也可以成为独一无二的你,这些都在于自己的选择。信仰不是群众的鸦片,流行才是。
5. If people complain that you’re too fond of going your own way and aren’t fitting in, you must be on the right track.
如果有人抱怨你太特立独行不合时宜,恭喜你,你正走在正确的路上。
6. If you make your work your life, you’re making your life into hard work.
如果你将工作等同于生活,那么你将为工作而生活。
7. The quickest and simplest way to wreck any relationship is to listen to gossip.
破坏关系的最快最简单的方法就是听信谣言
8. Trying to please other people is largely a futile activity.
试图取悦别人是徒劳无益的做法。
9. Every winner is destined to be a loser in due course. It’s great to be up on the winner’s podium. Just don’t imagine you can stay there forever. Worst of all is being determined to do so, by any means available.
没有永久的胜利者。踏上冠军宝座是件好事情。但不要梦想着可以永久占据这个位置,最糟糕的莫过于,决定为达此目的而不择手段。
10. You can rarely, if ever, please, placate, change, or mollify an asshole. The best thing you can do is stay away from every one you encounter. Being an asshole is a contagious disease. The more time you spend around one, the more likely you are to catch it and become one too.
你不可能取悦、平息或改造一个混蛋。你能做的最好方式,是和他们敬而远之。混蛋的习性也能传染,你和他们呆的时间越长,你也越有可能染上混蛋的习气并成为混蛋。
11. Everything takes twice as long as you plan for and produces results about half as good as you hoped.
努力加倍,期望减半。任何事情都是花掉你计划的两倍时间,最后却只换来你一半的期望结果。
12. People are oddly consistent. Liars usually tell lies. Cheaters cheat whenever it suits them. A person who confides in you has usually confided in several others first—but not got the response they wanted. A loyal friend will stay loyal under enormous amounts of thoughtless abuse.
人是奇怪的偏执狂。撒谎者总是撒谎,骗子总要行骗。一个人对你倾诉的时候,通常已在其它人的面前倾诉过,只是可能没有得到想要回应。一位忠诚的朋友,无论遭受多大的冤屈依旧忠诚。
13. However hard you try, you can’t avoid being yourself. Who else could you be? You can act and pretend, but the person acting and pretending is still you. And if you won’t accept yourself—and do the best you can with what you have—who then has any obligation to accept you?
接纳自己。不管你怎么努力,你都无法逃避成为自己。除了自己,你还能成为谁呢?你可以扮演和假装,但进行扮演和假装的人还是你自己。如果你都无法接纳自己,没有努力挖掘自己已有的东西,那么谁有义务接纳你呢?