英国新闻听力 对周日时代富豪榜的思考（在线收听）

The Sunday Times Rich List was published this week. It’s always good for a giggle and I like to have my annual grump about not being on it. This year’s list comes with the status-crushing statistic that you need 100 million pounds to join the country’s richest 1000 people. Although, apparently, a list that was once dominated by inherited wealth is now largely made up of self-made men and women. So perhaps there’s hope for us all.

The idea that as individuals we can be self-made is one of the most persuasive in our culture. Seen by some as something to aspire to. On the surface, it seems admirable enough. That someone of humble origins breaks out of their social position and achieves wealth or status by their own efforts has romantic appeal. But I confess, whenever someone is described as self-made a little alarm goes off in my head.

Not least because I think it contains a delusion. No one is really self-made. Much as we’d all love to make out that we’ve got to where we’ve got to because of our own efforts, we are all shaped and moulded by the people and circumstances we encounter in our lives. The most individualistic, self-driven, talented person will at some point need other people to help them succeed. Even if it’s to exploit them.

There’s a healthy perspective in recognising that the good things that come our way are not always of our own making. The idea that someone can be entirely self-made offends this reality. It also offends our humanity, for it begs the questions: was a self-made person a person before they made it? And what about the person who never makes it?

If there’s pride in the humble bragging of the self-made, perhaps the real peril lies in self-worship. This danger was precisely observed by Disraeli who when told that the radical politician John Bright had a humble background and was an entirely self-made man, answered, ‘I know he is – and he adores his maker too.’

Scripture offers a helpful corrective here: ‘Everyone who exalts themselves will be humbled and everyone who humbles themselves will be exalted.’ The problem for the self-made person isn’t the riches, or the status, it’s the danger of forgetting who helped them get there. It can be a good thing to be fruitful, to find purpose and fulfilment in work, and even riches, but we need to keep checking to see Who it is that made us what we are.

I end with some advice I once heard. Whether you are doing well or even if you’re not, a good way of keeping perspective, and a sense of who you are, is to stand naked in front of a mirror and repeat the verse from Psalm 139 that says: ‘I will give thanks to You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.’ I guarantee you will see yourself more clearly.

《周日时代富豪榜》本周出版了，这总是值得一笑的，因为自己不在名单之上，我准备发下年度牢骚。伴随今年名单的有一个关于地位的统计数据，即你需要一亿英镑才能加入这个国家最富有的1000人行列。不过这个曾经由继承财产的富豪为主的名单上如今在很大程度上是白手起家的富人们，所以我们大家可能都有希望名列其中。

作为个人，我们可以自力更生、白手起家，这可能是我们文化中最有说服力的观念，这被一些人看来是可以追求向往的。从表面上看来这足以令人钦佩，因为出生卑微之人可以冲破社会地位的束缚，凭借一己之力获得财富和地位，这样的故事很有吸引力。但我承认，无论什么时候听到有人被称作是白手起家，我的头脑里总会响起些许的警告声。

我认为这种观念中含有一种错觉，因为没有人是真正白手起家的，正如我们都喜欢凭借自身的力量去获得自己想获得的东西一样，我们要被我们生命中所遇到的人和环境所塑造。那些最具有个人主义、自强不息有才华者总会在某个时点上需要别人助力成功，即使是在剥削他们。

有一种健康的观念承认，我们遇到的美好事物并不总是我们自己创造的，那种认为一个人可以完全凭一己之力成功的观念与之相矛盾，也与我们的人性相抵触，因为这引发了一个问题：一个自力更生的人在成功之前是真正的人吗？那些从未成功的人又是怎样的人呢？

如果说在对自力更生做谦虚的自夸中有骄傲的成分，可能真正的危险在于自我崇拜。迪斯雷利就曾经精确地观察到这种危险，当时他听说极端主义政客约翰·布莱特出身卑微，且完全是白手起家的，当时他回答说，“我知道这一点，而且他也仰慕成就他的人。”

在这个问题上圣经也给了我们有益的修正，“凡自高的、必降为卑．自卑的、必升为高。”那些白手起家者的问题并不在于财富或地位，而是忘记了是谁曾经助力自己成功的，这就很危险。在工作中获得收益、发现意义、有所成就甚至获得财富都是件好事，但我们需要不断反省是谁帮助成就了我们。

最后我分享一些曾经听到过的建议，无论你做得好坏，明察事理、认清自我的一个好办法就是裸体站在镜子面前，然后重复圣歌139节里的话，“我要称谢你，因我受造，奇妙可畏。”我敢保证你肯定能更清楚地看清自己。