雙語(yǔ) ● 15 Things You Should Know When You Are Young　年輕人必須知道的15件事

15 Things You Should Know When You Are Young　年輕人必須知道的15件事

◎ Adrian Savage

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.

（1） 擁有一顆平常心。太多的事情曾經(jīng)讓我為之興奮、為之焦慮，浪費(fèi)我的時(shí)間和精力，最后卻被證明是無(wú)關(guān)緊要的。它們只是幸福生活里極其微小的一部分。我多么希望早點(diǎn)知道這些，以便能把精力都投入到這些關(guān)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. Look at all the terrorists and militant groups that hark back to some events long gone, or base their justification for killing on claims of some supposed historical right to a bit of land, or redress for a wrong done hundreds of years ago.

（2） 這個(gè)世界上痛苦與仇恨最大的源泉是對(duì)過(guò)去的執(zhí)迷?？纯茨切┛植澜M織和激進(jìn)分子，他們總是抓住過(guò)去的事情不放，或把一小片土地的歷史歸屬問(wèn)題作為他們進(jìn)行殺戮的理由，甚至是為了糾正幾百年前的所謂的“歷史錯(cuò)誤”而去犯錯(cuò)。

3. Waiting to do something until you can be sure of doing it exactly right means waiting for ever. One of the greatest advantages anyone can have is the willingness to make a fool of themselves publicly and often. There’s no better way to learn and develop. Heck, it’s fun too.

（3） 等待有把握時(shí)再去做一件事，往往意味著永遠(yuǎn)的等待。一個(gè)人能做的最大的冒險(xiǎn)，就是樂(lè)意在公共場(chǎng)合經(jīng)常暴露自己的愚昧。沒(méi)有什么能比這樣學(xué)得更快?！鞍パ健?，這也是一種樂(lè)趣。

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.

（4） 盲目追趕潮流是對(duì)精神和智力的扼殺。你可以成為一個(gè)低級(jí)廉價(jià)的時(shí)尚木偶，也可以成為個(gè)性獨(dú)特的你，這些都在于自己的選擇。信仰不是群眾的鴉片，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. Who wants to live life as a herd animal? The guys in power don’t want you to fit in for your own sake; they want you to stop causing them problems and follow their orders. You can’t have the freedom to be yourself and meekly fit in at the same time.

（5） 如果有人抱怨你太特立獨(dú)行，恭喜你，你正走在正確的路上。誰(shuí)愿意像動(dòng)物一樣活著？那些強(qiáng)有力的家伙不希望你按照自己的意愿去做，他們希望你停止給他們制造麻煩，并聽(tīng)從他們的命令。但你得知道，你無(wú)法做到在卑躬屈膝的同時(shí)又能活出自我，擁有自由。

6. If you make your work equate your life, you’re making your life into hard work. Like most people, I confused myself by looking at people like artists and musicians whose life’s “work” fills their time. That isn’t work. It’s who they are. Unless you have some overwhelming passion that also happens to allow you to earn a living doing it, always remember that work should be a means to an end: living an enjoyable life. Spend as little time on the means as possible consistent with achieving the end. Only idiots live to work.

（6） 如果你將工作等同于生活，那么你將為工作而生活。像大多數(shù)人一樣，當(dāng)看到那些藝術(shù)家和音樂(lè)家的工作幾乎是全部的生活，我感到很困惑。其實(shí)那不是工作，那是他們的自我。除非你有無(wú)法抵擋的激情，恰巧也能讓你從中得以謀生，否則請(qǐng)永遠(yuǎn)記住，工作只是一種手段，而不是目的，我們的最終目的是享受生活。在實(shí)現(xiàn)目的的同時(shí)，盡可能地少花時(shí)間在手段上。只有白癡才是為工作而活著。

7. The quickest and simplest way to wreck any relationship is to listen to gossip. The worst way to spend your time is spreading more. People who spread gossip are the plague-carriers of our day. Cockroaches are clean, kindly creatures in comparison.

（7） 破壞關(guān)系最快捷、最簡(jiǎn)單的方法就是聽(tīng)信謠言。浪費(fèi)時(shí)間最糟糕的方式就是傳播這些謠言。傳播流言的人好比瘟疫的攜帶者。相比之下，蟑螂都比他們干凈和善良。

8. Trying to please other people is largely a futile activity. Everyone will be mad at you sometime. Most of the people you deal with will dislike, disparage, belittle, or ignore what you say or do most of the time. Besides, you can never really know what others do want, so a good deal of whatever you do in that regard will go to waste. Be comforted. Those who love you will probably love you regardless, and they are the ones whose opinions are worth caring about. The rest aren’t worth five minutes of thought between them.

（8） 試圖取悅別人是徒勞無(wú)益的做法。總有些人會(huì)在某個(gè)事件上對(duì)你發(fā)飆。很多你接觸的人，在很多時(shí)候也會(huì)不喜歡、蔑視、忽略或輕視你。另外，你永遠(yuǎn)也無(wú)法知道別人真正的需要，因此你為此所作的所有努力都會(huì)付諸東流。放松些吧，愛(ài)你的人終究會(huì)包容你的過(guò)失，不管怎樣，他們才是值得我們?cè)诤醯娜?。其他那些人，他們甚至都不值得花五分鐘去考慮。

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 for ever. Worst of all is being determined to do so, by any means available.

（9） 沒(méi)有永久的勝利者。登上冠軍寶座是件好事情。但不要夢(mèng)想著可以永久占據(jù)這個(gè)位置。最糟糕的是，你正堅(jiān)定地要為了達(dá)到此目的而不擇手段。

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.

（10） 你很難（幾乎不可能）取悅、安撫、改變或平息一個(gè)混蛋。你能做的最好方式，是和他們敬而遠(yuǎn)之?；斓笆怯袀魅拘缘募膊?。你和他們待的時(shí)間越長(zhǎng)，你也越有可能染上混蛋的習(xí)氣，或者成為其中一員。

11. Everything takes twice as long as you plan for and produces results about half as good as you hoped. There’s no reason to be downhearted about this. Just allow for it and move on.

（11） 努力加倍，期望減半。一切都是花掉你計(jì)劃的兩倍時(shí)間，最后卻只換來(lái)你一半的期望結(jié)果。沒(méi)什么理由要為此沮喪的。讓它去吧，只是你要繼續(xù)前行。

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.

（12） 人是奇怪的偏執(zhí)狂。撒謊者總是撒謊，無(wú)論你怎么斥責(zé)他們，騙子總要行騙。一個(gè)人對(duì)你傾訴的時(shí)候，通常已在其他人面前傾訴過(guò)，只是可能沒(méi)有得到他們想要的答復(fù)。一位忠誠(chéng)的朋友，無(wú)論遭受多大的冤屈，依舊保持忠誠(chéng)。

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?

（13） 接納自己。不管你怎么努力，你都無(wú)法逃避做你自己。除了自己，你還能成為誰(shuí)呢？你可以扮演和假裝，但演戲和假裝的人還是你自己。如果你都無(wú)法接納自己，沒(méi)有努力挖掘自己已有的東西——誰(shuí)還有義務(wù)接納你呢？

14. When it comes to blatant lies, there are none more egregious than budget figures. Time spent agonizing over them is time wasted. Even if (miracle of miracles!) yours are honest and accurate, no one else will have been so foolish.

（14） 談到公眾謊言，沒(méi)有比預(yù)算數(shù)字更令人震驚的了。把時(shí)間折騰在這上面，是浪費(fèi)時(shí)間。即使（奇跡中的奇跡！）你是實(shí)事求是并且準(zhǔn)確的，其他人也不會(huì)那么愚蠢。

15. The loudest noise in the world is the sound of people whining. Don’t add to it.

（15） 世界上最大的噪音是人們的抱怨。不要再增加了。

’m your love man

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