When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like“If you live each day as if it was your last someday you`ll most certainly be right”.
當(dāng)我17歲的時(shí)候,我讀到一句話說(shuō),假如你把每一天都當(dāng)作最后一天來(lái)過(guò),那么總有一天你是對(duì)的。
It made an impression on me and since then for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself“if today were the last day of my life would I want to do what I am about to do today”. And whenever the answer has been“No”for too many days in a row. I know I need to change something.
我將這句話銘記心中,之后的33年中,每天早晨我都會(huì)對(duì)著鏡子問自己,“假如今天就是我生命中的最后一天,我會(huì)做些什么呢,我還會(huì)這么過(guò)嗎”。一連幾天,我的回答都是“不”。 我知道我需要改變了。
Remembering that I`ll be dead soon is the most important tool I`ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride all fear of embarrassment or failure these things just fall away in the face of death.
提醒自己,人的生命有限。這句話令我一生都收益。讓我能明智的在人生的重大問題上做出抉擇。因?yàn)檫@一切的一切,一切的追求,一切的榮耀,一切惶恐,一切挫折在死亡面前都會(huì)顯得微不足道。
Leaving only what is truly important, remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow yours heart.
記住自己總會(huì)死去,是避免自己被種種擔(dān)心所羈絆的最好辦法。你既然將一無(wú)所有,那還有什么理由違背自己的意愿。
About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn`t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer this is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.
大約一年前,我被診斷出患有癌癥。我早上7:30做了個(gè)掃描,顯示我的胰腺上有個(gè)腫瘤。我甚至不知道胰腺是什么。醫(yī)生告訴我,幾乎可以肯定是一種癌癥,這是無(wú)法治愈的,我的生命還剩三到六個(gè)月。
My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order which is doctor`s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you`d have the next 10 years to tell them, in just a few months.
我的醫(yī)生建議我回家,把我的事情處理好,這是醫(yī)生表達(dá)“你可以等死”的暗號(hào)。這意味著你要在短短幾個(gè)月把你認(rèn)為你以后10年要說(shuō)的話全部告訴你的孩子。
It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible foryour family. It means to say your goodbyes.
把一切安排妥當(dāng),讓你的家庭可以安穩(wěn)的接受。你還要和你的親友一一道別。
I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
這個(gè)診斷的陰霾籠罩了我一整天。當(dāng)晚我做了切片檢查,醫(yī)生將內(nèi)窺鏡送入我的喉嚨,通過(guò)胃部然后進(jìn)入腸道,用一根針在我的腫瘤上取了些細(xì)胞樣本。
I was sedated, but my wife who was there told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctors stared crying, because it turned out to be a very rare from of pancreatic cancer, that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and thankfully I`m fine now.
我當(dāng)時(shí)被麻醉了,但我的太太在場(chǎng),她后來(lái)告訴我,當(dāng)醫(yī)生用顯微鏡觀察這些細(xì)胞時(shí),他們?nèi)滩蛔】蘖?,他們判定我患有一種罕見的胰腺癌,但是可以通過(guò)手術(shù)治愈。后來(lái)我做了手術(shù),感謝,我現(xiàn)在痊愈了。(題外話:實(shí)際上他并未痊愈,2011年,最終還是因此病逝去)
This was the closest I`ve been to facing death and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades.
那是我最接近死亡的一次經(jīng)歷。也希望今后的幾十年我能離它遠(yuǎn)一點(diǎn)。
Having lived through it I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept. No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don`t want to die to get there.
與死神擦肩而過(guò)我可以告訴大家,相比當(dāng)初,死亡只是個(gè)概念的時(shí)候,沒人想死,即便是那些想上天堂的人,也不想通過(guò)死到達(dá)天堂。
And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It`s life`s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.
然而我們每個(gè)人都會(huì)面對(duì)死亡。沒人能逃避,而且生命就應(yīng)該如此,因?yàn)樗劳鼍褪巧詈玫陌l(fā)明。他是生命更迭的媒介,推送世界的“新陳代謝”。
Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now. You will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
現(xiàn)在的你們代表著“新”,但是不久以后,你們也會(huì)變成“陳”,然后被“代謝”掉。
Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don`t waste it living someone else`s life. Don`t be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people`s thinking. Don`t let the noise of other`s opinions drown out your own inner voice.
抱歉說(shuō)的有些不近人情,但這都是事實(shí)。你們的時(shí)間是有限的。所以不要浪費(fèi)時(shí)間在別人身上。不要被教條束縛。那只是根據(jù)別人的思維結(jié)果而生活。不要讓他人的喧囂紛繁淹沒了自己內(nèi)心的聲音。
And most important have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
最重要的是你要有勇氣去聽從你心靈的呼喚和直覺。其實(shí)他們最明白,你想成為什么樣的人。其他一切都是次要的。
When I was young. There was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand, not far from here in Menlo Park. And he brought it to life with his poetic touch.
當(dāng)我年輕的時(shí)候。有一本很棒的出版物叫《全球目錄》。這是我們這一代人的圣經(jīng)之一。它是由一個(gè)叫斯圖爾特· 布蘭德的家伙創(chuàng)造的,就在離門洛帕克不遠(yuǎn)的地方。他用詩(shī)意的筆觸賦予了它生命。
This was the late 1960`s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewrites scissors and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback from 35 years before Google came along.
那是20世紀(jì)60年代末,個(gè)人電腦和桌面出版業(yè)還沒出現(xiàn),所以它都是用打字剪刀和拍立得相機(jī)制作的。有點(diǎn)像google出現(xiàn)之前35年的平裝版google。
It was idealistic and overflowing with neat tools and great notions, Stewart and his team put out several issues of Whole Earth Catalog and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s and I was your age.
它充滿理想注意色彩,該書簡(jiǎn)潔實(shí)用,見解獨(dú)到,斯圖爾特團(tuán)隊(duì)出版了幾期《全球目錄》。當(dāng)他后來(lái)要??臅r(shí)候,他們出了最后一版,那是七十年代中期,我就像你們這么大。
On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road. The kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”.
他們最后一期的封底是一張清晨鄉(xiāng)間小路的照片。那種你搭車旅行也會(huì)遇到的村路。如果你有冒險(xiǎn)精神的話。照片下邊有這么一段話,“求知若饑,虛心若愚”。
It was their farewell message as they signed off Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin a new. I wish that for you . Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish. Thank you all very much.
這是他們的告別演說(shuō),他們結(jié)束了,求知若饑,虛心若愚。我一直以此激勵(lì)自己。在你們即將畢業(yè)開始嶄新旅程的時(shí)刻,我也希望你們能做到。求知若饑,虛心若愚。非常感謝大家。