英語美文：五條年老你才會明白的道理

　　摘要：當你想追尋值得做的事情并準備學習最好的經驗時，生活并不是簡單的。大多數(shù)的時候，我們從老者和智者那里學習經驗，因為他們也曾經和我們一樣年輕過，也曾做過我們現(xiàn)在做的事情。

　　Life is not easy when you are pursuing something worthwhile and ready to learn from the best experiences. Most of the time, we learn the lessons from the old and wise as they have already been where we are and have done what we do. But we hardly take their advice in advance. We never think of this as a precaution. We always learn it from our life and rarely does life teach us something in a easy way. It always takes tests and then fails us to learn anything worthwhile. Here are five life lessons which people will learn the hard way in majority of cases.

　　當你想追尋值得做的事情并準備學習最好的經驗時，生活并不是簡單的。大多數(shù)的時候，我們從老者和智者那里學習經驗，因為他們也曾經和我們一樣年輕過，也曾做過我們現(xiàn)在做的事情。但是我們很難提前采取他們的建議。我們從未把這當做預防措施。我們總是從自己的生活中去學習，而生活也很少用簡單的方式來教我們。它總是測試我們，讓我們通過失敗來學習有價值的東西。下面的這五個教訓，大部分的情況下人們都是費一番苦功才會學到。

　　1.It takes consistent time and effort to be anexpert in any area.

　　無論想成為哪個領域的專家，都需要付出同樣的時間和努力。

　　This is the first and foremost thing to keep in mind.People usually get discouraged when it takes moretime than they thought it will. One thing to keep inmind is that people refer only to people who havealready achieved what you want to be, which most people fail to do. They look at otherunsuccessful people and apply those criteria to them even before they take action. Look at anysuccessful person and you’ll notice one thing common in all of them. They took time to learnand mastered their craft like no one else. There is no elevator to success; you have to takethe stairs.

　　這是你要記住的第一件事，也是最重要的一件事。當人們覺得所用的時間比預想的要長時，通常都會垂頭喪氣。但要記住一點，人們只會提起已經取得成功的人，而大部分的人都以失敗告終。人們看著其他沒成功的人，自己還未行動，就把那些準則用到他們身上。隨便找出一個成功的人，你就會發(fā)現(xiàn)成功人士的共同點。他們都比常人努力，拿時間去學習并掌握技能。通往成功的路上沒有電梯，你只能去一級一級爬樓梯。

　　2.You don’t have to live your life in a waysociety wants you to.

　　你不必以社會想讓你生活的方式去生活

　　Decades of old beliefs, superstitions and rituals arebeing performed these days and are followed blindlywithout questioning their rationale. Parentssometimes force their children to select a career theydon’t want because other children have selected thatcareer. Girls are made to follow some rituals in their family which makes no sense to them at all.Worst of all, people follow them without even asking. There is no harm in old rituals and beliefsbut when you pursue them before your interest, sooner or later you’ll realize that you shouldfirst do what you think is right.

　　幾十年的舊習、迷信和規(guī)矩最近又開始風行，人們盲目地跟風而不去質疑這樣做的理論依據。父母們有時會強迫孩子選擇孩子不喜歡的專業(yè)就因為其他孩子選擇了那個專業(yè)。女孩們在家里要守一些對她們來說無任何意義的規(guī)矩。最糟糕的是，人們連問都不問，就這樣做。老規(guī)矩和舊習俗并無什么害處，但當你在感興趣之前就去做時，不久你就會意識到你應該先做自己認為是正確的事情。

　　3.We don’t care about the things we get easily.

　　我們不在乎容易得到的東西

　　This is true in all the areas of life. Take health forexample. Very few people take their health seriously.They know that if their health is lost, they won’t behappy, still they eat junk food and never exercise,keep accumulating fat and keep spending on weightloss programs. Still nothing works. Why? Becausethey don’t take their health seriously and the real reason behind that is they have got it forfree. We spend thousands on cars and take care of them nicely. Imagine what would have beenthe price of human body if we had to pay for it? And then imagine how well we would take careof it if we had paid a huge amount of money to get our body.

　　這一點放之四海而皆準。就拿健康為例吧。很少有人把健康當回事兒。他們知道當他們不健康時，會不開心，但是他們還是會吃垃圾食品，不去鍛煉，不斷積攢脂肪，又不斷去減肥。但仍是毫無效果。為什么?因為他們不拿自己的身體當回事，因為他們沒有付出任何代價就擁有了身體。我們在車上花了成千上萬元，所以會好好保管車。假如人的身體是有價的，那我們得付出多少錢呢?然后再想一下，如果我們得付出很大一筆錢才能得到自己的身體，我們會怎樣對待自己的身體呢?

　　4.In a world where everyone is trying to be likesomeone else, it takes great amount of courageto take the road less traveled.

　　在一個大家都想成為別人的世界中，需要很大勇氣才能走少有人走的路。

　　In our whole life, we are always asking ten peoplebefore taking any step. We always want to validatethat we are sure and do not make any mistake. Weare too scared to fail hence, we follow the same path that everyone suggests, do the samething everyone does, take the same career path everyone takes, wear the same clotheseveryone wears, and hang out with the same people we work with. Why? Because we arescared. But when you get bored of life, you realize that you are not meant to do what everyonedoes and that your destiny is different than anyone else’s out there in the world. But the pricewe pay to realize this is high because it takes a tremendous amount of guts to follow your owntrail by listening to your heart.

　　在我們的生活中，我們總是在行動前問10個人的看法。我們總是想確保這樣做是可以的，這樣做是不會犯任何錯誤的。我們太害怕失敗了，所以我們按著別人建議的道路去走，做別人做的事情，走別人走的職業(yè)路線，穿和別人一樣的衣服，和同事一起出去玩。為什么?因為我們太害怕了。但是，當你覺得生活無聊時，你會意識到，你不該去做別人做的事情，你的命運和世界上其他人的命運都不同。但是我們意識到這一點所需要花費的代價太高了，因為這需要大量的勇氣去傾聽自己的內心來走自己的道路。

　　5.You have to break the rules sometimes.

　　有時你需要打破規(guī)則。

　　We follow rules so that things are in order and noone is disturbed unnecessarily. This is true in caseof traffic and other company rules but when it comesto your life, there are rules made by people who arescared to do something apart from their routine andtherefore they made rules to prevent others doingso. But when time passes by and you think you are not being directed towards your goal andthese so called rules are your biggest obstacles, BREAK THEM. Sometimes, we need to be boldand act courageously.

　　我們遵守規(guī)則，這樣事情就會有序，沒人會受到不必要的干擾。這適用于交通規(guī)則和公司的一些規(guī)則。但是在你的生活中，有些規(guī)則是由一些除了日?；顒油馐裁匆膊桓易龅娜嗽O定的，他們設定規(guī)則來阻止其他人這樣做。但是隨著時間的流逝，你認為自己沒有朝著目標前進，那些所謂的規(guī)則是你最大的障礙。那就打破它們吧。有時，我們需要大膽一點，需要勇敢地行動起來。

　　After all, life lessons are always learned the hard way. However, if you are smart enough to learn early and wish not to waste your precious time learning them the hard way, learn them now and apply it to your life as soon as possible.

　　畢竟，生活中的教訓總是需費一番苦功才能學到。然而，如果你足夠聰明想早點兒學到它們，不想把寶貴的時間浪費在費勁去學這些教訓上，那么你現(xiàn)在就可以學習它們，并可以盡早把它們用到你的生活中。

　　A simple truth about happiness

　　After I gave a talk on the subject of happiness，a woman in the audience stood up and said“I wish my husband had come.”“Much as I loved him，”she explained，“it wasn’t easy being married to someone so unhappy.”This woman enabled me to put into words what I had been searching for--altruistic1)，as well as the personal，reasons for taking happiness seriously.I told her that each of us owes it to our spouse2)，our children，our friends to be as happy as we can.

　　I was not a particularly happy child，and like most teenagers，I took pleasure in my anguish.One day，however，it occurred to me that I was taking the easy way out.Anyone could be unhappy;it took no courage and effort.True achievement lay in struggling to be happy.The notion that we have to work at happiness comes as news to many people.We assume it’s a feeling that comes as a result of good things that just happen to us，things over which we have little or no control.But the opposite is true：happiness is largely under our control.It is a battle to be fought and not a feeling to be awaited.To achieve a happy life，it’s necessary to overcome some stumbling blocks，three of which are：

　　Comparison with Others Most of us compare ourselves with anyone we think is happier--a relative，an acquaintance or，often someone we barely know.I once met a young man who struck me as particularly successful and happy.He spoke of his love for his beautiful wife and their three daughters，and of his joy at being a radio talk-show host in a city he loved.

　　I remember thinking that he was one of those lucky few for whom everything goes effortlessly right.Then we started talking about the Internet.He blessed its existence，he told me ，because he could look up information on multiple sclerosis3)--the terrible disease afflicting his wife.I felt like a fool for assuming nothing unhappy existed in his life.

　　Images of Perfection Almost all of us have images of how life should be.The problem，of course，is that only rarely do people’s jobs，spouses and children live up to these imagined ideals.Here’s a personal example：no one in my family had ever divorced.

　　I assumed that marriage was for life.So when my wife and I divorced after five years of marriage and three years after the birth of our son，my world collapsed.I was a failure in my own eyes.I later remarried and confided to my wife that I couldn’t shake the feeling that my family life had failed.She asked me what was wrong with our family now(which included her daughter from a previous marriage and my son).

　　I had to admit that，aside from the pain of being with my son only half the time (my ex-wife and I shared custody4))，our family life was wonderful.“Then why don’t you celebrate it?”she asked.That’s what I decided to do.But first I had to get rid of a “perfect” family.

　　“Missing Tile5)” Syndrome6)

　　One effective way of destroying happiness is to look at something and focus on even the smallest flaw.It’s like looking at the tiled ceiling and concentrating on the space where one tile is missing.As a bald man told me ，“whenever I enter a room，all I see is hair.”Once you’ve determined what your missing tile is，explore whether acquiring it will really make you happy.

　　Then do one of the three things：get it，replace it with a different tile，or forget about it and focus on the tiles in your life that are not missing.

　　We all know people who have had a relatively easy life yet are essentially unhappy.And we know people who have suffered a great deal but generally remain happy.The first secret is gratitude.All happy people are grateful.

　　Ungrateful people cannot be happy.We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to complain，but it’s truer to say that complaining leads to people becoming unhappy.

　　The second secret is realizing that happiness is a byproduct7) of something else.The most obvious sources are those pursuits that give our lives purpose--anything from studying insects to playing baseball.The more passions we have，the more happiness we are likely to experience.Finally，the belief that something permanent transcends8) us and that our existence has some larger meaning can help us be happier.We need a spiritual faith，or a philosophy of life.Whatever your philosophy，it should include this truism9)：if you choose to find the positive in virtually every situation，you will be blessed，and if you choose to find the awful ，you will be cursed.As with happiness itself，this is largely your decision to make.

　　參考譯文：

　　快樂的簡明道理

　　在我做了一場以快樂為主題的報告之后，一位女士聽眾站起來說：“我丈夫也能來聽這個報告就好了。”她解釋說：“盡管我非常愛他，可是同一個不快樂的人做夫妻真不是件容易的事情。”這位女士用語言表達出了我一直在探索的一個道理---認真對待快樂，既可有利于自己，也可有利于他人。我告訴她，我們每個人為了我們的配偶、我們的孩子、我們的朋友，都應當盡可能快樂。

　　我不是一個特別快樂的孩子，像大多數(shù)十幾歲的少年一樣，我在苦中求樂。然而，有一天，我突然意識到，我是在貪圖省事。任何人都可以不開心，這不需要勇氣和努力。真正的成就在于努力奮斗以獲得快樂。對許多人來說，我們必須努力去爭取快樂這一概念像是一件新鮮事，因為我們以為，快樂是一種感覺，是我們碰到好事的結果，對于它我們很難控制。然而，事實恰好相反：在很大程度上我們可以控制快樂。這是一場需要奮爭的戰(zhàn)斗，而不是一種坐等的感覺。要想獲得幸福的生活，需要克服一些障礙，其中的三個是：

　　與別人相比 我們大多數(shù)人把自己與我們認為比我們更快樂的任何人相比---親戚、熟人，或者經常是我們不大了解的人。有一次，我遇到一個年輕男子，他給我的印象是特別成功和快樂。他說他愛他漂亮的妻子和他們的3個女兒，并說在他喜歡的城市里做廣播脫口秀節(jié)目的主持人令他感到快樂。我記得我當時認為他是屬于少數(shù)一切都順順當當?shù)男疫\兒。之后我們開始談論因特網。他告訴我，他對因特網心存感激，因為他可以在網上查找醫(yī)治多發(fā)性硬化癥的信息---這種可怕的疾病正在折磨著他的妻子。我當時覺得自己像個傻瓜，還以為他的生活中沒有不快樂的事情。

　　想像中的完美無缺 幾乎我們所有的人都想像生活應是什么樣。問題自然是人們的工作、配偶以及孩子都很難達到想像中的理想標準。這兒有我自身的例子：我們家里從來沒有人離過婚。我本以為婚姻應持續(xù)終生。所以，當妻子與我婚后5年，兒子3歲我們離婚時，我的世界崩潰了。在我眼里，我是個失敗者。我再婚后向妻子吐露，我擺脫不了“我的家庭生活是失敗的”這一感覺。她問我，我們現(xiàn)在的家(包括她與前夫生的女兒和我的兒子)怎么了?我不得不承認，除了只能一半時間跟兒子(我和前妻共同監(jiān)護孩子)在一起的痛苦之外，我們的家庭生活很愉快。“那你為什么不慶賀這種生活呢?”她問道。那就是我決定要做的?？墒?，我首先得擺脫“十全十美”的家庭這種幻想。

　　“缺瓦”綜合征 一種毀壞快樂的有效辦法是：只看某事的壞處，甚至注意到最細小的缺陷。這就像看瓦房頂一樣，注意力集中于那缺瓦的地方。正如一位禿頂?shù)南壬嬖V我的那樣：“無論何時我進入一個房間，我所看到的都是頭發(fā)。”當你確定了你丟失的那片瓦是什么時，探究一下獲得這片瓦是否真的會讓你快樂，之后做下列三件事之一：取回那片瓦;用一片不同的瓦替換它;或者忘了它，把注意力集中在你生活中那些未丟失的瓦上。我們都認識一些人，他們過著相對安逸的生活卻根本不快樂。

　　我們也認識一些人，他們經歷了巨大的痛苦卻往往仍然是快樂的。第一大奧秘是感恩的心境。所有快樂的人是有感恩之心的。沒有感恩之心的人不可能快樂。我們往往認為，不快樂會導致人們抱怨，但是更正確的說法是，抱怨導致人們不快樂。

　　第二大奧秘是，要認識到快樂是別的事情的副產品，其最顯而易見的來源是那些賦予我們生活以目的的追求---任何事情，從研究昆蟲到打棒球。我們的激情越多，我們有可能體驗的快樂就越多。最后，要相信有一種永恒的東西超越我們，我們的存在有著某種更廣大的意義，這種信念能幫助我們更加快樂。我們需要一種精神信仰或者一種人生哲學。不管你的哲學是什么，它應該包括這個自明之理：如果你決心去發(fā)現(xiàn)每種情況的積極面(事實上都有)，你就會得福;如果你決心去發(fā)現(xiàn)其消極面，你就會遭殃。如對快樂本身一樣，這主要取決于你自己。