“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 tubular. But mostly you just take ’em the way they come. It’s not like you’re trying to 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 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 bumps along the road of life are easier to take than others. A 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 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 dwell 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。
