双语美文|人生处处是转角

■人生处处是转角

Always Changing

◎ Anonymous

Please excuse me if I’m a little pensive today.

Mark is leaving, and I’m feeling kind of sad.

You probably don’t know Mark, but you might be lucky enough to know someone just like him. He’s been the heart and soul of the office for a couple of year combining exemplary[21] professional skills with a sweet nature and gentle disposition. He’s never been all that interested in getting credit for the terrific work he does. He just wants to do his job, and to do it superbly[22] well.

And now he’s moving on to an exciting new professional opportunity. It sounds like it could be the chance of a lifetime, and we’re genuinely, sincerely pleased for him. But that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye to a dear friend and trusted colleague.

Life has a way of throwing these curve balls at us. Just when we start to get comfortable with a person, a place or a situation, something comes along to alter the recipe. A terrific neighbor moves away. Someone in the family graduates. A child finds new love and loyalties through marriage. The family’s principle bread-winner[23] is laid off.

名 人 语 库

Growth and change are the law of all life. Yesterday’s answers are inadequate for today’s problems—just as the solutions of today will not fill the needs of tomorrow.

~Franklin Roosevelt

生长与变化是一切生命的法则。昨日的答案不适用于今日的问题——正如今天的方法不能解决明天的需求。

——富兰克林·罗斯福

如果我今天有点忧郁，请原谅我。

马克要走了，我感到有些难过。

你可能不认识马克，但如果你认识像他那样的人，你可就走运了。好几年来，他都是办公室里的核心和灵魂人物，专业技能堪称模范，态度和蔼，性格温和。他的工作表现十分出色，却对于争风邀功从无兴趣。他只想做他的工作，并能出色地完成。

而现在，他要向一份令人振奋的新职迈进。这听起来就像一个千载难逢的机会，我们也真心诚挚地替他高兴。但是，那并没使我们跟这样一位亲爱的朋友、信任的同事告别来得容易些。

生活用它的方式不断向我们抛出曲线球。当我们刚开始与某人融洽相处，或是适应一个地方或一种情境时，某事就发生了，并改变了这种境况。很棒的邻居要搬家了。某个家庭成员要毕业了。孩子们找到新欢，通过婚姻找到忠诚。家庭的支柱失业了。

Our ability to cope with change and disruption determine to a great degree, our peace, happiness and contentment in life.

But how do we do that? Philosophers have considered the question for centuries and their responses have been varied. According to the author of the Biblical book of Ecclesiaste , comfort can be found in remembering that “to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Kahlil Gibran urged his listeners to “let today embrace the past with remembrance, and the future with longing”.

A friend of mine who works for the government is fond of reminding his fellow bureaucrats that “survivabi-lity depends upon adaptability”. And then there’s Chris, the California surf-rat, who once told me that the answer to life’s problems can be summed up in four words: “Go with the flow”.

“It’s like surfing,” Chris explained. “You can’t organize the ocean. Waves just happen. You ride ’em where they take you, then you paddle back out there and catch the next one. Sure, you’re always hoping for the perfect wave where you can get, like, you know, totally tubular. But mostly you just take ’em the way they come. It’s not like you’re trying to nail Jell-O to a tree, you know?”

I’m not exactly sure, but I think Chris was saying that life is a series of events—both good and bad. No matter how deft[24] your organizational skill there will always be life-influencing factors over which you have no control. The truly successful person expects the unexpected, and is prepared to make adjustments should the need arise—as it almost always does.

我们应付变化和混乱的能力，在很大程度上决定了我们生活的安宁、幸福和满意度。

但我们应该怎么做？哲学家们已经思考这个问题好几个世纪了，而他们的回答各有不同。根据《圣经·旧约全书·传道书》的作者，人们可以通过记住“大千世界，万物皆有时”来获得安慰。而卡里·纪伯伦也曾敦促他的听众去“让今日用记忆拥抱过去，用渴望拥抱未来”。

我一个在政府工作的朋友喜欢提醒他那帮官僚同事“生存取决于适应性”。还有克里斯，加利福尼亚州的一位冲浪爱好者，他曾告诉我说，生活中所有问题的答案都可以总结为四个字——“顺其自然”。

“就像冲浪，”克里斯解释道，“你无法掌控大海。波浪随时都可能荡起。你乘浪而行，任随它领你前行，然后，你伏身于冲浪板往回，接而踏乘下一个浪。当然，你总会希望等到那个完美的浪头，就像你知道的那种滚筒浪。但大多数情况，也就是随波逐流，这并不是什么登天难事，知道吗？”

我不太确定，但我想克里斯是在说生活是由一连串事件组成的——其中有好也有坏。无论你的组织技能有多娴熟，总会有些你无法控制的因素在影响你的生活。真正的成功者能够预计意料之外的事，并准备好在必要时做出调整——这种情况总是发生。

That doesn’t mean you don’t keep trying to make all your dreams come true. It just means that when things come up that aren’t exactly in your plan, you work around them—and then you move on. Of course, some bumps along the road of life are easier to take than others. A rained-out picnic, for example, is easier to cope with than the sudden death of a loved one. But the principle is the same.

“Change, indeed, is painful, yet ever needful,” said philosopher Thomas Carlyle. “And if memory have its force and worth, so also has hope.”

We’re going to miss Mark, just like you’ll miss that graduate, that neighbor or that newlywed[25] . But rather than dwell on the sadness of our parting, we’ll focus on our hopes for a brighter future—for him, and for us. And then we’ll go out and do everything we can to make that future happen.

Until our plans change—again.

那并不意味着你不需要不断努力使你的梦想成真。它只是说，当计划之外的事发生时，你得去应付，然后继续前行。当然，人生沿途出现的一些波折要比另一些容易处理。比如，因为下雨要取消野餐，总比自己所爱的人突然去世更容易应付。但原则是相同的。

“的确，改变会给人带来痛苦，但改变却是永远必需的。”哲学家托马斯·卡莱尔说道，“而且，如果记忆拥有力量和价值，那么希望也同样拥有。”

我们会想念马克，就像你会想念毕业离家的孩子、那位搬走的邻居或那新婚的儿女一样。但我们与其沉湎于离别带来的悲伤，不如把期望专注于一个更光明的未来——为他，也为我们自己。然后，我们将走出去，尽我们所能，去实现梦想中的未来。

直到我们的计划——再次改变。