雙語美文|生活的不確定性

■ 生活的不確定性

The Uncertainty Principle

◎ Adam Khan

Two sailors ran into each other in a pub. Over a few beers, one of the men told the other about his last voyage: “After a month at sea,” he said, “we discovered our masts had been eaten through by termites! Almost nothing left of them.”

“That’s terrible,” said the second sailor.

“That’s what I thought at first too,” the first sailor said, “but it turned out to be good luck. As soon as we took the sails down to fix the masts, we were hit by a squall so suddenly and so hard, it would surely have blown us over if our sails were up at the time.”

“How lucky!”

“That’s exactly what I thought at the time, too. But because our sails were down, we couldn’t steer ourselves, and because of the wind, we were blown onto a reef. The hole in the hull was too big to fix. We were stranded.”

“That is bad luck indeed.”

“That’s what I thought, too, when it first happened. But we all made it to the beach alive and had plenty to eat. But now here’s the real kicker: while we were on the island whining about our terrible fate, we discovered a buried treasure!”

名 人 語 庫

We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope.

~Martin Luther King

我們必須接受失望，因為它是有限的；但千萬不可失去希望，因為它是無窮的。

——馬丁·路德·金

兩名水手在一間酒吧里偶遇對方。幾瓶啤酒下肚后，其中一個人向另一個說起了他的最后一次航行：“在海上的一個月后，”他說，“我們發(fā)現(xiàn)我們的桅桿都被白蟻啃透了！它們幾乎啃得一干二凈，什么都沒有留下?！?

“這真是太可怕了。”另一個水手說。

“我最開始也是這么想的，”第一個水手說，“但它原來卻是幸運的事兒呢。正當我們把帆拿下來，準備修復桅桿時，突然遭受到一股強勁的陣風，如果我們的帆當時還掛在上面的話，它肯定會將我們都吹走的。”

“多么幸運?。　?

“我當時也是這么想的。但因為我們的帆都取下來了，我們不能引導自己的方向，而且因為這陣大風，我們都被吹到了礁石上。船體上的洞太大而無法修復。所以我們被困住了?！?

“那還是運氣不好?！?

“那時我也是這么想的。但我們到海灘上的所有人都活著，還有足夠的東西吃。而這里才是真正棒的地方：當我們在島上抱怨命運的可怕時，我們卻發(fā)現(xiàn)了埋藏的寶藏！”

As this story illustrates, you don’t know if an event is “good” or “bad” except maybe in retrospect, and even then you don’t really know because life keeps going. The story’s not over yet. Just because something hasn’t turned out to be an advantage yet doesn’t mean it is not ever going to.

Therefore, you can simply assume whatever happens is “good”.

I know that sounds awfully airy-fairy, but it’s very practical. If you think an event is good, it’s easy to maintain a positive attitude. And your attitude affects your health, it affects the way people treat you and how you treat others, and it affects your energy level. And those can help pave the way for things to turn out well. A good attitude is a good thing. And a bad attitude does you no good at all.

So get in the habit of saying “That’s good!” Since you don’t know for sure whether something will eventually work to your advantage or not, you might as well assume it will. It is counterproductive to assume otherwise. Think about it.

If someone ahead of you in line at a store is slowing everything down, say to yourself, “That’s good!” They may have saved you from getting into an accident when you get back in your car. Or maybe, because you slowed down, you might meet a friend you would have missed. You never know.

The truth is, life is uncertain. And even that can work to your advantage.

這個故事說明，一個事件是“好事”還是“壞事”你并不知道，也許只有在回想起來時才明白；因為生活總會繼續(xù)下去，所以你根本無從得知它的好壞。這個故事還沒有結(jié)束。因為有些事情還沒有被證明是好事，但這并不意味著它永遠都不是好事。

因此，你可以簡單地假設，無論發(fā)生什么，它都是“好事”。

我知道這聽起來像是空談，但它的確很奏效。如果你認為一件事是好事，你就很容易保持積極的態(tài)度。你的態(tài)度會影響你的健康，會影響人們對你的方式以及你對待他人的方式，它會影響你的能量高度。那些能幫你鋪平道路，讓事情變好。一個好態(tài)度是件好事。糟糕的態(tài)度對你毫無益處。

所以，養(yǎng)成說“那很好”的習慣。既然你不確定某件事是否最終會對你有利，你不妨假設它會。否則的話，它會適得其反。想一想。

如果商店里排在你前面的人慢下來時，對自己說：“那很好！”他們可能因此在你返回車里時救你脫離一場交通意外?；蛘?，因為你放慢速度，你可能會遇到一個本會錯過的朋友。你永遠不知道會發(fā)生什么。

事實是，生活是不確定的。而且甚至常常充滿了好運。