| My third story is about death. |
我的第三个故事是关于死亡的。 |
| 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. |
当我十七岁的时候，我读到了一句话：“如果你把每一天都当作生命中最后一天去生活的话，那么总有一天你会发现你做对了。”这句话给我留下了很深的印象。从那时开始，过了33 年，我每天早晨都会对着镜子问自己：“如果今天是我生命中的最后一天，我是否愿意去做今天预定要做的事情呢？”每当答案连续多天是“不”的时候，我就知道自己需要些改变了。 |
| 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. |
“记住你即将死去”是我一生中遇到的最重要的箴言。它帮我做出生命中重大的选择。因为几乎所有的事情，包括所有外界的期望、所有荣耀、所有对难堪和失败的恐惧，这些在死亡面前都会消失，留下真正重要的东西。你有时候会想，你将会失去某些东西。记住你即将死去，这是据我所知避免这些思维陷阱的最好方法。你已经赤条条无牵挂了，没有理由不遵从本心行事。 |
| 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，我被诊断出癌症。我在早晨七点半做了一次扫描，检查清楚地显示在我的胰腺有一个肿瘤。我当时都不知道胰腺是什么东西。医生告诉我那很可能是一种无法治愈的癌症，我还有三到六个月的时间活在这个世界上。我的医生叫我回家，然后整理好我的一切，那是医生对临终病人的委婉说法。那意味着你将要把以为会在未来十年里对你的孩子说的话在几个月内说完；那意味着把每件事情都安排好，让你的家人尽可能轻松地生活；那意味着你要说“再见”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. |
我拿着那个诊断书过了一整天，那天晚上我作了一个活切片检查，医生将一个内窥镜从我的喉咙伸进去，通过我的胃，然后进入肠子，用一根针在我的胰腺肿瘤上取了几个细胞。我当时是被麻醉的，但是我的妻子在那里，她后来告诉我，当医生在显微镜下观察这些细胞的时候他们开始尖叫，因为这些细胞最后竟然是一种非常罕见的可以用手术治愈的胰腺癌症细胞。我做了这个手术，现在我痊愈了。 |
| 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时候，希望这也是以后的几十年最接近的一次。从死亡线上又活了过来，比起以前把死亡只当成严肃的抽象概念的时候，我可以更肯定地对你们说： |
| 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. |
没有人愿意死，即使人们想上天堂，也不会为了去那里而死。但是死亡是我们所有人共同的终点。从来没有人能够逃脱它，也理应如此，因为死亡就是生命最好的一个发明。它将旧的清除以便给新的让路。你们现在是新的，但是从现在开始不久以后，你们将会逐渐的变成旧的然后被送离人生舞台。抱歉说得如此戏剧化，但是这是事实。 |
| 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. |
你的时间是有限的，所以不要把它浪费在重复其他人的人生上面。不要受教条的羁绊，那是在遵照别人的思考结果过活。不要让他人的观点淹没你内心的声音。最重要的是，要有勇气听从心灵和直觉的召唤。它们在冥冥中已经知道你真正想要成为的样子。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. |
在我年轻的时候，有一本引人入胜的刊物叫做《地球目录全编》。它是我们那一代人的圣经。一个叫斯图尔特·布兰德的家伙在离这里不远的门罗帕克市创办了这本刊物，赋予它诗意盎然的风格。那是20世纪60年代末，在个人电脑出现之前，所以这本刊物全部是用打字机、剪刀和拍立得相机制作的，类似于纸质的谷歌。当然谷歌真正出现是在35年之后。这是一本理想主义的刊物，充满了巧妙的手段和伟大的想法。 |
| 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. |
斯图尔特和他的团队出版了几期的《地球目录全编》，当这份刊物走到了尽头，他们推出了最后一期。那是在70年代中期，我正是你们的年纪。终刊号的封底是一张清晨乡村公路的照片，就是那种有冒险精神的人搭便车旅行时常常会经过的公路。在照片下面写着：“求知若饥，虚心若愚。”这就是他们终刊的告别语。求知若饥，虚心若愚。我总是希望自己能够这样，现在，在你们即将毕业、开始新的旅程的时候，我也希望你们能够这样。 |
| Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. |
求知若饥，虚心若愚。 |
| Thank you all very much. |
非常感谢你们！ |
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