父亲分享的30堂人生智慧课（一）

 　　My father is one of the wisest men I know. Over the past year he has been dispensing¹ bits of wisdom to friends, business partners and family members via his Facebook wall and private Twitter stream. I’d share some of his advice with you today.

　　我的父亲是我认识的最有智慧的人之一。在过去的一年里，他通过Facebook留言板和个人推特向朋友、商业伙伴和家人传播点滴智慧。我想要与你们分享一些他的建议。

　　1. You can’t make choices for other people. Don’t let other people make choices for you.

　　你不能为他人做选择。也不要让他人为你做选择。

　　2. There are an unlimited² number of ‘Dr. No’ folks that you will encounter in this life. If you have a personal inspiration, idea or goal, don’t let a ‘Dr. No’ deter³ you! Trust your gut⁴, do the planning and then DO IT!

　　你会在一生中遇到无数个对你说“不”的家伙。如果你有个人的灵感、想法或目标，不要让那个说“不”的家伙打消你的念头！相信你的胆量，做好计划然后放手去做！

　　3. Opportunities are often disguised as work, so most people don’t recognize them.

　　机遇常常伪装成工作，所以大多数人都认不出它们。

　　4. The Chinese character for the word ‘crisis’ literally⁵ means ‘danger and opportunity.’

　　汉语中，“危机”的字面意思是“危险和机遇”。

　　5. Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small pieces. -Henry Ford⁶ - Same concept configured as a question: How do you eat an elephant? Answer: One bite at a time.

　　如果你把事情分成很多小份，那么没有什么事情是特别困难的--亨利?福特。有一个问题也表达了同样的观念：你怎么吃掉一只大象？答案：一次咬一口。

　　6. Learn from the past, but don’t dwell in the past. In other words, don’t abuse the precious ‘now’ by not being in it.

　　从过去中学习，但是不要停留在过去。换言之，不要沉溺于过去而毁掉珍贵的“当下”。

　　7. Worry is a misuse⁷ of the imagination.

　　烦恼是在糟蹋你的想象力。

　　8. Perfect is the enemy of good.

　　完美是良好的敌人。

　　9. Education and knowledge are invaluable⁸. But do we need to know everything? Is it possible in a specialized⁹ world to know everything? For instance, do you need to have a comprehensive understanding of dentistry to go to a dentist to have a cavity filled? In many instances, ‘not knowing’ is a wise approach - it’s like cleaning out a crowded closet to make space for something useful.

　　教育和知识是无价的。但是我们有必要知晓一切吗？有可能知晓一个专业领域中的一切吗？例如，你有必要为了去牙科诊所补个牙洞而对牙科学有全面的了解吗？在许多情况下，“不知道”是个明智的方法--这就像是清理一个堆满东西的壁橱来为一些有用的东西腾出空间一样。

　　10. Big results come when you narrow your focus. Concentrate your efforts on smaller and smaller areas.

　　当你将焦点缩小时就会有大收获。把你的努力集中在更小的领域中。

　　11. You can’t do it all yourself.

　　你无法只凭自己就做成所有的事。

　　12. Don’t try to impress everyone. Purposely impressing people is an act that brings nothing but a momentary¹⁰ ego¹¹ boost. Be real with people instead. Connect with fewer people on a level that is deeper and more profound.

　　不要试图给每个人都留下印象。有目的地给人留下印象只不过是一种带来短暂的自我膨胀的行为。要真实地与人交往。在一种更深厚更长远的层次上与更少的人交往。

　　13. Short lecture on happiness and contentment: Check out what you do have and be satisfied with it for today. There is an infinite list of what you could want and don’t have. I like Shakespeare’s line in the play Hamlet, when the young prince tells us that “I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself king of infinite space.” The trick is what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable¹², or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.

　　关于幸福和满足：看看你现今都拥有什么和对什么感到满意。对于你想要但还未得到的东西，你会列出个无限长的清单。我喜欢莎士比亚的戏剧《哈姆雷特》中的一句话，年轻的王子告诉我们“即便是被关在胡桃核里，我也可自命为一个拥有广土的帝王。”这就重点。我们要么让自己痛苦不堪，要么让自己幸福快乐。要做的都是一样的。

　　14. Manage your time. Your situation and environment is ever changing, so be careful not to confuse things that are urgent with things that are important.

　　管理你的时间。你的处境和环境随时都在改变，因此要注意不要混淆了紧急的事情和重要的事情。

　　15. A healthy paradox¹³ of life that I find personally challenging: There is ENLIGHTENMENT to be gained from the ability to live in the moment, but if you don’t have a time management system, or an event control system, you are at a significant disadvantage in achieving goals.

　　对我来说很有挑战性的一个人生悖论：人们需要从活在当下的能力中获得启蒙，但是如果你没有一个时间管理体系，或者事件控制体系，你在达到目标的过程中就会处于一个非常严重的劣势。

 

1 dispensing   

v.分配( dispense的现在分词 )；施与；配（药）

参考例句：

• A dispensing optician supplies glasses, but doesn't test your eyes. 配镜师为你提供眼镜，但不检查眼睛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The firm has been dispensing ointments. 本公司配制药膏。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 unlimited   

adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的

参考例句：

• They flew over the unlimited reaches of the Arctic.他们飞过了茫茫无边的北极上空。
• There is no safety in unlimited technological hubris.在技术方面自以为是会很危险。

3 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

4 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

5 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

6 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

7 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

8 invaluable   

adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的

参考例句：

• A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
• This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。

9 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。

10 momentary   

adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的

参考例句：

• We are in momentary expectation of the arrival of you.我们无时无刻不在盼望你的到来。
• I caught a momentary glimpse of them.我瞥了他们一眼。

11 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

12 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

13 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。