| My third story is about death. |
我的第三個故事是關于死亡的。 |
| When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. |
當我十七歲的時候，我讀到了一句話：“如果你把每一天都當作生命中最后一天去生活的話，那么總有一天你會發現你做對了。”這句話給我留下了很深的印象。從那時開始，過了33 年，我每天早晨都會對著鏡子問自己：“如果今天是我生命中的最后一天，我是否愿意去做今天預定要做的事情呢？”每當答案連續多天是“不”的時候，我就知道自己需要些改變了。 |
| Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. |
“記住你即將死去”是我一生中遇到的最重要的箴言。它幫我做出生命中重大的選擇。因為幾乎所有的事情，包括所有外界的期望、所有榮耀、所有對難堪和失敗的恐懼，這些在死亡面前都會消失，留下真正重要的東西。你有時候會想，你將會失去某些東西。記住你即將死去，這是據我所知避免這些思維陷阱的最好方法。你已經赤條條無牽掛了，沒有理由不遵從本心行事。 |
| About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. |
大概一年以前，我被診斷出癌癥。我在早晨七點半做了一次掃描，檢查清楚地顯示在我的胰腺有一個腫瘤。我當時都不知道胰腺是什么東西。醫生告訴我那很可能是一種無法治愈的癌癥，我還有三到六個月的時間活在這個世界上。我的醫生叫我回家，然后整理好我的一切，那是醫生對臨終病人的委婉說法。那意味著你將要把以為會在未來十年里對你的孩子說的話在幾個月內說完；那意味著把每件事情都安排好，讓你的家人盡可能輕松地生活；那意味著你要說“再見”了。 |
| I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now. |
我拿著那個診斷書過了一整天，那天晚上我作了一個活切片檢查，醫生將一個內窺鏡從我的喉嚨伸進去，通過我的胃，然后進入腸子，用一根針在我的胰腺腫瘤上取了幾個細胞。我當時是被麻醉的，但是我的妻子在那里，她后來告訴我，當醫生在顯微鏡下觀察這些細胞的時候他們開始尖叫，因為這些細胞最后竟然是一種非常罕見的可以用手術治愈的胰腺癌癥細胞。我做了這個手術，現在我痊愈了。 |
| This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: |
那是我最接近死亡的時候，希望這也是以后的幾十年最接近的一次。從死亡線上又活了過來，比起以前把死亡只當成嚴肅的抽象概念的時候，我可以更肯定地對你們說： |
| No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. |
沒有人愿意死，即使人們想上天堂，也不會為了去那里而死。但是死亡是我們所有人共同的終點。從來沒有人能夠逃脫它，也理應如此，因為死亡就是生命最好的一個發明。它將舊的清除以便給新的讓路。你們現在是新的，但是從現在開始不久以后，你們將會逐漸的變成舊的然后被送離人生舞臺。抱歉說得如此戲劇化，但是這是事實。 |
| Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma -- which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. |
你的時間是有限的，所以不要把它浪費在重復其他人的人生上面。不要受教條的羈絆，那是在遵照別人的思考結果過活。不要讓他人的觀點淹沒你內心的聲音。最重要的是，要有勇氣聽從心靈和直覺的召喚。它們在冥冥中已經知道你真正想要成為的樣子。其他的一切都是次要的。 |
| When I was young, there was an amazing publication called "The Whole Earth Catalog," which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions. |
在我年輕的時候，有一本引人入勝的刊物叫做《地球目錄全編》。它是我們那一代人的圣經。一個叫斯圖爾特·布蘭德的家伙在離這里不遠的門羅帕克市創辦了這本刊物，賦予它詩意盎然的風格。那是20世紀60年代末，在個人電腦出現之前，所以這本刊物全部是用打字機、剪刀和拍立得相機制作的，類似于紙質的谷歌。當然谷歌真正出現是在35年之后。這是一本理想主義的刊物，充滿了巧妙的手段和偉大的想法。 |
| Stewart and his team put out several issues of "The Whole Earth Catalog," and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. |
斯圖爾特和他的團隊出版了幾期的《地球目錄全編》，當這份刊物走到了盡頭，他們推出了最后一期。那是在70年代中期，我正是你們的年紀。終刊號的封底是一張清晨鄉村公路的照片，就是那種有冒險精神的人搭便車旅行時常常會經過的公路。在照片下面寫著：“求知若饑，虛心若愚?！边@就是他們終刊的告別語。求知若饑，虛心若愚。我總是希望自己能夠這樣，現在，在你們即將畢業、開始新的旅程的時候，我也希望你們能夠這樣。 |
| Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. |
求知若饑，虛心若愚。 |
| Thank you all very much. |
非常感謝你們！ |
