The Touchstone

　　寻找点金石——惯性是怎样让你错失良机的

　　When the great library of Alexandria burned, the story goes, one book was saved. But it was not a valuable book; and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers.

　　伟大的亚历山大图书馆被烧毁后，人们从废墟中找回了一本书，故事就是从这本书开始的。这本书没什么价值，于是就被一位读过一点书的穷人花了几枚铜币买了下来。

　　The book wasn't very interesting, but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed. It was a thin strip of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!

　　这本书不是很有趣，但其书页间确实夹着一件非常有意思的东西——一张薄薄的牛皮纸条上记载着一个“试金石”的秘密！

　　The touchstone was a small pebble that could turn any common metal into pure gold. The writing explained that it was lying among thousands and thousands of other pebbles that looked exactly like it. But the secret was this: The real stone would feel warm, while ordinary pebbles are cold.

　　点金石是一种可以将任何普通金属变成纯金的小卵石。纸条上的文字解释说：点金石就隐藏在千千万万看上去与它一模一样的普通卵石中。它的秘密在于：真正的点金石摸起来是温暖的，而普通卵石是凉的。

　　So the man sold his few belongings, bought some simple supplies, camped on the seashore, and began testing pebbles.

　　于是，这个人变卖了自己的一点财物，购买了一些简单的用品，然后在海边安寨扎营，开始从数不清的卵石中找寻点金石的下落。

　　He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles and threw them down again because they were cold, he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times. So, when he felt one that was cold, he threw it into the sea. He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone. Yet he went on and on this way. Pick up a pebble. Cold—throw it into the sea. Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.

　　他知道，如果他捡起的是一块普通卵石，再把它丢回卵石堆中，就有可能数百次捡起同一块卵石。于是，当他捡起一块卵石发现是凉的时，就把它扔进海里。他一整天都是这么做的，但一块点金石也没有找到。然而，他依旧继续着这样的尝试——捡起一块卵石，发现是凉的，扔进海里，再捡起另一块，扔进海里…

　　The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months. One day, however, about mid-afternoon, he picked up a pebble and it was warm. He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done. He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea that when the one he wanted came along, he still threw it away.

　　就这样，他反复地做着同样的尝试，从几天到几周，从几周再到几个月。一天，大约在下午三点左右，他捡起一块卵石，发现是温暖的，但还是把它扔进了海里。扔完之后，他才意识到自己做了什么。他已经养成了捡起一块卵石再扔进海里的习惯，而且这习惯是如此之强大，甚至在他拿到期望已久的试金石时，还是丢了出去。

　　So it is with opportunity. Unless we are vigilant, it's easy to fail to recognize an opportunity when it is in hand and it's just as easy to throw it away.

　　因此，当我们面对机遇时，如果没有保持足够的警醒，就很有可能失之交臂，让机遇轻易地从我们手中溜走。

　　惯性的力量（二）

　　The Elephant rope

　　拴住大象的绳子——惯性思维是怎样让你举步不前的

　　As my friend was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages.

　　当我的一位朋友经过一群大象时，他突然停下了脚步，对眼前的一幕感到非常困惑——这些巨大的生物只被一根细细的绳子绑住了前腿，就被控制住了。没有用枷锁，也没有用笼子。

　　It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not. My friend saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

　　显然，大象可以随时冲破这些绳子的束缚并逃脱，但出于某种原因，它们没有这么做。我的朋友在附近看到了一名驯象员，随即问他为什么这些拥有健硕体型的庞然大物只是呆呆地站在那里，没有尝试逃跑。

　　"Well," he said, "when they are very young and much smaller we used the same size of rope to tie them and, at that age, it's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

　　他说：“当这些大象年龄还很小的时候，它们的体型也很小，我们用同样粗细的绳子把它们栓起来，那时这样做就足够控制住它们了。虽然它们的个头越长越大，但它们却一直习惯性地认为自己是无法逃脱的。它们相信那根绳子仍然可以栓住它们，于是它们就永远不会去尝试挣脱这种束缚。”

　　My friend was amazed. These animals could, at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

　　我的朋友对此感到非常惊讶。这些大象本可以随时挣开绳索，获得自由，但就是因为它们认为自己无法做到，于是就一直这样被拴着。

　　Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? How many of us are being held back by old, outdated beliefs that no longer serve us? How many of us have avoided trying something new because of a limiting belief? Worse, how many of us are being held back by someone else's limiting beliefs? Whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve!

　　与这些大象一样，我们中有多少人坚信生活中有些事情我们是做不到的，只是因为我们曾经在做那些事情时失败过？我们中有多少人被那些陈旧、过时而且不再适合我们的信念阻碍着我们前进的步伐？我们中有多少人因为某种狭隘的信念而选择不去尝试新鲜事物？更糟糕的是，我们中又有多少人被别人的狭隘信念所左右而放慢我们前进的脚步？只要你敢去想，敢去相信，就没有什么做不到。