In 1982 Steven Callahan was crossing the Atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank. He was out of the shipping lanes and floating in a life raft, alone. His supplies were few. His chances were small. Yet when three fishermen found him seventy-six days later (the longest anyone has survived a shipwreck on a life raft alone), he was alive-much skinnier than he was when he started, but alive. 1982年史蒂文·卡拉汉独自驾驶着帆船横渡大西洋，途中帆船遇难下沉。他在救生艇里孤独地漂浮着，远离了航道。当时他身上的食物所剩无几，生存机会非常渺茫。但76天后，三个渔民发现了他，他还活着 （他是世界上遭遇海难，在救生艇上存活最长时间的人），他当时瘦骨嶙峋，与出航前相比简直判若两人，然而他还活着。 His account of how he survived is fascinating. How he ingeniously managed to catch fish, how he fixed his solar still, which evaporates seawater to make fresh water, is very interesting. 关于他大难不死的故事让人惊叹。其中他是如何巧妙地抓鱼，如何固定太阳蒸馏器来提取淡水的事情都非常有趣。 But the thing that caught my eye was how he managed to keep himself going when all hope seemed lost, when there seemed no point in continuing the struggle, when he was suffering greatly, when his life raft was punctured and after more than a week struggling with his weak body to fix it, it was still leaking air and wearing him out to keep pumping it up. He was starved. He was desperately dehydrated. He was thoroughly exhausted. Giving up would have seemed the only sane option. 但我最感兴趣的还是在他感到彻底绝望的时候，当一切抗争都似乎已毫无意义的时候，当灾难苦苦折磨着他的时候，他是如何支撑着活下来的？救生艇穿了洞，他强撑着虚弱的躯体，花了一周多的时间去修理，可救生艇仍然漏气，于是他耗尽了所有的力气去吹气。饥肠辘轳的他极度脱水，精疲力竭，就算放弃也完全在情理之中。 When people survive these kinds of circumstances, they do something with their minds that gives them the courage to keep going. Many people in similarly desperate circumstances give in or go mad. Something the survivors do with their thoughts helps them find the guts to carry on in spite of overwhelming odds. 如果人们能够战胜这种情况，那么他们的脑海中一定有什么信念支撑着他们。许多人在遭遇类似的绝境时会选择放弃或精神失常，但幸存下来的人，靠的是心中的信念，是信念给予了他们战胜一切恶劣情况的勇气和决心。