人生不設(shè)限·將生活整個(gè)打包，運(yùn)到地球另一端

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED

我到美國(guó)的頭幾個(gè)星期，就常常感受到文化震撼。其實(shí)在上學(xué)的第一天，當(dāng)全班同學(xué)站著面對(duì)國(guó)旗，背誦效忠誓詞時(shí)，我就有些驚慌，因?yàn)樵诎拇罄麃?，我們從?lái)沒(méi)這么做過(guò)，我覺(jué)得自己好像走錯(cuò)地方了。

Culture shock set in early and often during my first few weeks in America. In fact, on the very first day of school I had a bit of a panic when the entire class stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. We didn't do anything like that in Australia. I felt like I'd walked into a club that I didn't belong to.

還有一天，警報(bào)器突然大響，老師要我們?nèi)慷愕阶雷拥紫?。我還以為是外星人來(lái)襲了，結(jié)果只是地震演習(xí)。地震?
Then one day all the alarms went off and the teachers told us to get under our desks! I thought aliens were attacking, but it was just a disaster drill for earthquakes. Earthquakes?

當(dāng)然了，我這沒(méi)有四肢的身體照例會(huì)引來(lái)神經(jīng)兮兮的眼光、粗魯?shù)膯?wèn)題和怪異的評(píng)論。美國(guó)中學(xué)生對(duì)我如何上廁所這件事的好奇心之強(qiáng)，真是令我難以置信，我甚至開始祈禱地震來(lái)襲，好讓同學(xué)不要再對(duì)我上廁所的問(wèn)題問(wèn)個(gè)不停。

Of course I got the usual nervous glances, rude questions, and odd comments about my lack of limbs. I could not believe how curious American middle-school kids were about how I managed in the restroom. I prayed for an earthquake, just to stop the endless interrogations about my toilet tactics.

我還得適應(yīng)經(jīng)常性的教室變動(dòng)。在澳大利亞上課時(shí)，所有科目都是在同一間教室進(jìn)行，我們不會(huì)像袋鼠一樣整天移來(lái)移去。但是在美國(guó)這里，我們好像不停地從一間教室“跳”到另一間教室。

I had to adjust also to the constant shuffle from class to class. Back in Australia all my subjects were taught in one room. We didn't move around all day like kangaroos in the outback. At Lindero Canyon Middle School, it seemed like all we did was hop from one classroom to the next.

對(duì)于生活中出現(xiàn)的這個(gè)大變化，老實(shí)說(shuō)我處理得不是很好。過(guò)去我一直是好學(xué)生，但是到了新學(xué)校，我很快就落后了。由于正規(guī)的六年級(jí)已經(jīng)沒(méi)有空間容納新學(xué)生，所以學(xué)校安排我去上高級(jí)班，結(jié)果我的成績(jī)退步了?；仡^看看，我想當(dāng)時(shí)只是因?yàn)閴毫μ罅?mdash;—壓力怎么可能不大?我的生活可是被整個(gè)打包，運(yùn)到地球的另一端呢。

I was not handling this major life change very well. I'd always been a good student, but I quickly fell behind in my new school. They had no room in the regular sixth-grade classes so they'd put me in an advanced studies program, but my grades were retreating. Looking back, I can see that I was just stressed out. And why wouldn't I have been? My whole life had been packed up and transported across the globe.

我們甚至不再擁有自己的房子。爸爸為貝塔叔叔工作，我們?nèi)胰烁麄円患乙黄鹱≡谑迨宓拇蠓孔永?，直到有了自己的房子。我不?？匆姲职?、媽媽，因?yàn)樗麄兝鲜敲χ夜ぷ鳌⑼ㄇ谏习?，或是在找住的地方?/p>

We didn't even have our own house anymore. My father was working for Uncle Batta, and we were living with him and his family in their big house until we found our own. I didn't see much of my parents because they were busy finding work, commuting to work, or looking for a place to live.

我討厭這樣。那時(shí)的我身心都承受太多，因此成了一只小烏龜，縮回自己小小的殼里。下課和午餐時(shí)間，我會(huì)逃開，有時(shí)躲到操場(chǎng)附近的灌木叢后面，不過(guò)我最喜歡躲在麥坎更先生管理的其中一間音樂(lè)教室，他是樂(lè)隊(duì)和音樂(lè)老師。

I hated it. I was overwhelmed, mentally, emotionally, and physically. So I made like a turtle and withdrew into my shell. During recess and lunch hours, I went off on my own, sometimes hiding behind the bushes near the playground. My favorite hideout, though, was in one of the music rooms overseen by Mr. McKagan, the band and music teacher.

麥坎更先生是一位很棒的老師。他在學(xué)校一天大概教八九堂課(我覺(jué)得了)，非常受歡迎，簡(jiǎn)直就像搖滾巨星。老師的弟弟杜夫是知名貝司手，曾經(jīng)跟“槍與玫瑰”和其他一些頂尖搖滾樂(lè)團(tuán)合作過(guò)。這正是從澳大利亞移居加州另一個(gè)奇特的地方，我覺(jué)得我們好像把平凡的家庭生活都留在澳大利亞，然后進(jìn)入了一個(gè)超現(xiàn)實(shí)的流行文化王國(guó)。我們就住在洛杉磯和好萊塢外圍，所以常常會(huì)在雜貨店或購(gòu)物中心碰到電影或電視明星。我們班上一半的同學(xué)都想成為演員，或者正在當(dāng)演員。放學(xué)后打開電視，我可能就會(huì)看到歷史課班上某個(gè)還不錯(cuò)的同學(xué)出現(xiàn)在頗受歡迎的電視劇里。

Mr. McKagan, who is still on the staff at Lindero Canyon, is a terrific teacher. He was so popular, he was like a rock star at the school, teaching (I think) eight or nine classes a day. His brother Duff is a legendary bass guitarist who has played with Guns N' Roses and other top rock bands. That was another strange aspect of moving from Australia to California. I felt like we'd left a perfectly normal family existence and landed in some surreal pop culture kingdom. We lived just outside Los Angeles and Hollywood, so we were always bumping into movie stars and television stars in the grocery store or at the mall. Half my classmates were aspiring or working actors. After school, I could turn on the television and watch a nice guy from my history class, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, ham it up on the popular television show Home Improvement.

我的生活在很多方面都改變了，真的讓我難以消受，也失去了好不容易建立起來(lái)的自信心。我在澳大利亞已經(jīng)被同學(xué)接納了，但是在美國(guó)，我是個(gè)身在異鄉(xiāng)的外地人，有著怪異的口音，以及更怪異的身體——至少我當(dāng)時(shí)的感受是這樣。麥坎更先生發(fā)現(xiàn)我躲在他的音樂(lè)教室里，就鼓勵(lì)我走出去，多跟同學(xué)混在一起，但我就是提不起勁兒。

My life had been altered in so many ways, I was simply overwhelmed. I'd lost all the confidence I'd worked so hard to build. My Australian classmates had accepted me, but in America I was a stranger in a strange land with a strange accent and an even stranger body. Or at least that's how I felt. Mr. McKagan saw that I was hiding out in his music rooms, and he tried to encourage me to go out and mix with the other students. But I just couldn't get motivated.

我在對(duì)抗一個(gè)我無(wú)法控制的變化，而沒(méi)有把注意力放在我能調(diào)整的地方——我的態(tài)度和行動(dòng)。我真不該那么笨才對(duì)。當(dāng)時(shí)我只有12歲，但已學(xué)會(huì)把焦點(diǎn)放在我“能”，而不是我“不能”上。我已經(jīng)可以接受缺少四肢的事實(shí)，也努力成為快樂(lè)、自信的孩子。然而，移居這件事讓我感到十分震驚。

I was fighting a change I couldn't control instead of focusing on what I could adjust, my attitude and my actions. Really, I should have known better. I was only twelve years old, but I'd already learned to focus on my abilities instead of my disabilities. I'd accepted my lack of limbs and I'd managed to become a pretty happy and self-sufficient kid. But this move threw me for a loop.

你有沒(méi)有注意到，當(dāng)你進(jìn)入生命重大的轉(zhuǎn)變期時(shí)，你的感受力會(huì)變得比較強(qiáng)?在痛苦地分手后，你會(huì)不會(huì)覺(jué)得好像每部電影、每部電視劇都是演給你看的?收音機(jī)傳來(lái)的每首歌，是不是仿佛都替你唱出你的心痛?這些被強(qiáng)化的情緒和感受可能是你飽受壓力或是被丟入一個(gè)陌生環(huán)境時(shí)觸發(fā)的生存工具，它們讓你保持高度警覺(jué)，所以是很有價(jià)值的。

Have you ever noticed that when you enter into one of those major transitional periods in your life, your senses seem heightened? When you go through a bad breakup, doesn't every movie and television show seem to have a hidden message aimed at you? Don't all the songs on the radio seem to be about your very own aching heart? Those heightened emotions and senses may be survival tools triggered when you are stressed or thrown into unfamiliar situations. They put you on high alert, and they can be valuable.

我仍然記得，即使我因?yàn)殡x開澳大利亞而心傷，我還是能在眺望新居地的群山與海灘落日時(shí)，找到平靜與慰藉。我現(xiàn)在還是覺(jué)得加州很美，但那個(gè)時(shí)候似乎更美。

I still remember that as distressed as I was about leaving Australia, I always found peace and comfort gazing at the mountains or watching the sun set on the beach in my new environment. I still think California is a beautiful place, but it seemed even more beautiful then.

不論是正面或負(fù)面，改變都會(huì)是強(qiáng)而有力且讓人害怕的經(jīng)歷，因此你的第一反應(yīng)總是與之對(duì)抗。我在大學(xué)的商業(yè)課程里學(xué)到，多數(shù)的大企業(yè)都會(huì)指定高階管理人作為“變革推動(dòng)者”，他們的任務(wù)就是在重大轉(zhuǎn)變發(fā)生時(shí)——例如合并、成立新部門，或是采取新的做生意方式——讓心不甘、情不愿的員工振作起來(lái)。

Whether positive or negative, change can be a powerful and scary experience, which is why your first reaction may be to fight it. When I took business classes in college, I learned that most major corporations have executives who are the designated "change agents." Their job is to rally reluctant employees behind big transitions, whether it's a merger, or a new division, or a new way of doing business.

身為自創(chuàng)事業(yè)的總裁，我了解每個(gè)員工在面對(duì)任務(wù)上的變化時(shí)，都有自己的一套應(yīng)變之道?？傆幸恍┤藭?huì)對(duì)新的體驗(yàn)感到興奮，但大部分人其實(shí)是抗拒的，因?yàn)樗麄儼灿诂F(xiàn)狀，或是擔(dān)心生活會(huì)變得更糟。

As the president of my own business, I've learned that each employee has his or her own way of dealing with new initiatives or alterations in our mission. There will always be a few people who get excited about new experiences, but mostly people resist because they are comfortable with the status quo, or they fear their lives will change for the worse.