Please excuse me if I’m a little 1)pensive today.

如果我今天有点郁郁寡欢,请原谅我。

Mark is leaving, and I’m feeling kind of sad.

马克要走了,我感到有点难过。

You probably don’t know Mark, but you might be lucky enough to know someone just like him. He’s been the heart and soul of the office for a couple of year combining 2)exemplary professional skills with a sweet nature and gentle 3)disposition. He’s never been all that interested in 4)getting credit for the terrific¹ work he does. He just wants to do his job, and to do it superbly² well.

你或许不认识马克,但如果你认识像他那样的人,那你可能走运了。好几年来,他都是办公室里的核心和灵魂人物,专业技能堪称典范,态度和蔼,性情温柔。工作表现出色的他从不热衷于争风邀功。他只想做他的工作,并出色地完成。

And now he’s moving on to an exciting new professional opportunity. It sounds like it could be the chance of a lifetime, and we’re genuinely, sincerely pleased for him. But that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye to a dear friend and trusted colleague.

而现在,他要向一份令人兴奋的新职迈进。听起来是个一生难得的机会,我们也真心诚挚地替他高兴。但那并没使我们跟这么一位亲爱的朋友、信任的同事告别来得容易一些。

Life has a way of throwing these curve balls at us. Just when we start to get comfortable with a person, a place or a situation, something comes along to alter the recipe. A terrific neighbor moves away. Someone in the family graduates. A child finds new love and loyalties³ through marriage. The family’s principle bread-winner is laid off.

生活用它自己的方式不断向我们抛出曲线球。当我们刚开始和某人融洽相处,或是适应一个地方或一种境况时,某事就发生了,改变了一切。很好的邻居要搬家了;家里的某个成员毕业了;孩子找到新欢,在婚姻殿堂里寻获忠诚;家里养家糊口的主力军被解雇了。

Our ability to cope with change and disruption⁴ determine to a great degree, our peace, happiness and contentment in life.

我们应付变化以及混乱情况的能力很大程度上决定了我们生活的安宁、幸福和满意度。

But how do we do that? Philosophers have considered the question for centurie and their responses have been varied⁵. According to the author of the Biblical book of 5)Ecclesiaste comfort can be found in remembering that “to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” 6)Kahlil Gibran urged his listeners to “let today embrace the past with remembrance, and the future with longing⁶.”

但我们该怎么做?哲人们已经思考这个问题好几个世纪了,他们的回答各不相同。根据《圣经·旧约全书·传道书》的作者,人们可以通过记住“大千世界,万事万物皆有时”来获得安慰。而卡里·纪伯伦也曾敦促他的听众去“让今日用记忆拥抱昨日,用渴望拥抱未来”。

A friend of mine who works for the government is fond of reminding his fellow 7)bureaucrats that “survivabi-lity depends upon adaptability⁷.” And then there’s Chri the California 8)surf-rat, who once told me that the answer to life’s problems can be summed up in four words: “Go with the flow.”

我一个在政府工作的朋友喜欢提醒他的那帮官僚同事们“生存取决于适应性。”还有克里斯,加利福尼亚州的一位冲浪爱好者,他曾告诉我,生活中所有问题的答案都能归为四个字——“随遇而安”。

“It’s like surfing,” Chris explained. “You can’t organize the ocean. Waves just happen. You ride ’em where they take you, then you paddle back out there and catch the next one. Sure, you’re always hoping for the perfect wave where you can get, like, you know, totally 9)tubular. But mostly you just take ’em the way they come. It’s not like you’re trying to 10)nail Jell-O to a tree, you know?”

“就像冲浪,”克里斯解释道,“你无法掌控大海。波浪随意荡起。你乘着浪任其领着你向前冲,然后,你伏身于冲浪板往回划水至某处,接而踏乘下一个浪。当然,你总会希望等到那个完美的浪头,就像你知道的那种滚筒浪。但大多数情况,也就是随波逐流,这不是什么登天难事,你知道的。”

I’m not exactly sure, but I think Chris was saying that life is a series of events—both good and bad. No matter how 11)deft your organizational skill there will always be life-influencing factors over which you have no control. The truly successful person expects the unexpected, and is prepared to make adjustments should the need arise—as it almost always does.

我不太确定,但我想克里斯在说,生活是由一连串事件组成的——其中有好有坏。不论你的统筹技巧有多纯熟,总会有些你无法控制的因素影响着我们的生活。真正的成功者料想到意料之外的事总会发生,并做好准备在必要时做出调整——而这样的情况常常发生。

That doesn’t mean you don’t keep trying to make all your dreams come true. It just means that when things come up that aren’t exactly in your plan, you work around them—and then you move on. Of course, some 12)bumps along the road of life are easier to take than others. A 13)rained-out picnic, for example, is easier to cope with than the sudden death of a loved one. But the principle is the same.

那并不意味着你不需要不断努力去实现你的梦想。意思只是说,当计划以外的事发生时,你得去处理,然后继续前进。当然,人生沿途出现的一些“撞击”要比另一些容易处理。比如,因为下雨要取消野餐,总比自己所爱的人突然去世更容易处理。但原理是相同的。

“Change, indeed, is painful, yet ever needful,” said philosopher 14)Thomas Carlyle. “And if memory have its force and worth, so also has hope.”

“改变确实给人带来痛苦,但改变却是永远必须的。”哲人托马斯·卡莱尔说道,“并且,如果记忆拥有其力量和价值,那么希望也同样拥有。”

We’re going to miss Mark, just like you’ll miss that graduate, that neighbor or that newlywed. But rather than dwell⁸ on the sadness of our parting, we’ll focus on our hopes for a brighter future—for him, and for us. And then we’ll go out and do everything we can to make that future happen.

我们会想念马克,就像你会想念那毕业离家的孩子、那位搬走的邻居或那新婚的儿女一样。但我们与其沉湎于分离所带来的哀伤中,倒不如把期盼聚焦于一个更光明的未 来——为他,也为我们自己。然后,我们将走出去,尽我们的一切力量去实现梦想中的未来。

Until our plans change—again.

直到我们的计划——再次改变。