悠游度過一天的24小時：第三章 開始前的提醒

CHAPTER III Precautions Before Beginning

第三章 開始前的提醒

Now that I have succeeded (if succeeded I have) in persuading you to admit to yourself that you are constantly haunted by a suppressed dissatisfaction with your own arrangement of your daily life; and that the primal cause of that inconvenient dissatisfaction is the feeling that you are every day leaving undone something which you would like to do, and which, indeed, you are always hoping to do when you have "more time"; and now that I have drawn your attention to the glaring, dazzling truth that you never will have "more time," since you already have all the time there is—you expect me to let you into some wonderful secret by which you may at any rate approach the ideal of a perfect arrangement of the day, and by which, therefore, that haunting, unpleasant, daily disappointment of things left undone will be got rid of!

既然我已經(jīng)把你勸服（如果是這樣的話），你承認自己總覺得壓抑，老對自己的生活安排不滿意；之所以這么郁郁不安，主要原因在于你總覺得每天都有很多你想完成的事情無法完成。確實，你總希望要是有“更多時間”就可以做那些想做的事。現(xiàn)在，既然我已經(jīng)讓你們注意到這樣一個扎眼的、炫目的事實：你永遠不會有“更多的時間”，因為你所有的時間就是這些——你一定期望我給你傳授巧妙的秘訣，據(jù)此你至少可以接近理想，把每天的生活安排得盡善盡美，這樣一來，先前那揮之不去的、總覺得事情沒做完的不快與失望就會消散。

I have found no such wonderful secret. Nor do I expect to find it, nor do I expect that anyone else will ever find it. It is undiscovered. When you first began to gather my drift, perhaps there was a resurrection of hope in your breast. Perhaps you said to yourself, "This man will show me an easy, unfatiguing way of doing what I have so long in vain wished to do." Alas, no! The fact is that there is no easy way, no royal road. The path to Mecca is extremely hard and stony, and the worst of it is that you never quite get there after all.

我尚未找到這樣巧妙的秘訣。我不期望自己能找到，也不指望別人能找到，因為那根本就找不到。當(dāng)你最初開始領(lǐng)會我的大意時，也許你心中會涌起希望。也許你心想：“這人會給我指明一條路，怎樣輕松地、不用勞神費力地實現(xiàn)我很久以來渴望實現(xiàn)卻從沒實現(xiàn)的愿望。”哦，不可能！事實上，沒有這種簡便方法，也沒有任何捷徑可走。通往麥加的路極其艱辛不易，最糟的是，你可能最終都不能到達那里。

The most important preliminary to the task of arranging one's life so that one may live fully and comfortably within one's daily budget of twenty-four hours is the calm realisation of the extreme difficulty of the task, of the sacrifices and the endless effort which it demands. I cannot too strongly insist on this.

為了妥善安排生活以便利用好一天24小時這筆財富，過得充實而舒適，最重要的準備工作就是要冷靜地預(yù)見到這件事十分困難，不僅需要犧牲，還需要不懈的努力。這一點我怎樣強調(diào)都不過分。

If you imagine that you will be able to achieve your ideal by ingeniously planning out a time-table with a pen on a piece of paper, you had better give up hope at once. If you are not prepared for discouragements and disillusions; if you will not be content with a small result for a big effort, then do not begin. Lie down again and resume the uneasy doze which you call your existence.

如果你以為用一張紙一支筆別出心裁地作出一張時間表，就可以實現(xiàn)理想，你最好立刻放棄這種想法。如果你還沒準備好去面對失意和幻滅，如果你不情愿付出多、回報少，那就不要開始。繼續(xù)躺著，照樣慵懶卻不安地打瞌睡，這就是你所謂的生存。

It is very sad, is it not, very depressing and sombre? And yet I think it is rather fine, too, this necessity for the tense bracing of the will before anything worth doing can be done. I rather like it myself. I feel it to be the chief thing that differentiates me from the cat by the fire.

很可悲，難道不是嗎？還很壓抑、陰郁？我倒覺得很好，在做任何有價值的事之前，都有必要振作精神，我自己很喜歡這樣。我認為這是我與爐火邊那只貓的主要區(qū)別。

Well, you say, "assume that I am braced for the battle. Assume that I have carefully weighed and comprehended your ponderous remarks; how do I begin?" Dear sir, you simply begin. There is no magic method of beginning. If a man standing on the edge of a swimming-bath and wanting to jump into the cold water should ask you, "How do I begin to jump?" you would merely reply, "Just jump. Take hold of your nerves, and jump."

“好的，”你說，“就算我振作起來準備戰(zhàn)斗，就算我仔細掂量并理解你這番沉重的言辭，我要如何開始呢？”親愛的先生，你開始就是了。對于開始，沒有什么神奇妙方。如果一個人站在游泳池邊，準備跳進冰冷的池水，問你：“我該怎么起跳？”你也不過這樣回答道：“隨便跳吧，鼓起勇氣，跳吧！”

As I have previously said, the chief beauty about the constant supply of time is that you cannot waste it in advance. The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you, as perfect, as unspoilt, as if you had never wasted or misapplied a single moment in all your career. Which fact is very gratifying and reassuring. You can turn over a new leaf every hour if you choose.

如先前所說，時間最美妙之處在于你不能預(yù)支時間拿去浪費。來年、明天、下一小時都為你準備好了，全新的，未被使用過，仿佛你整個生涯都沒浪費或濫用一分一秒的時間。這著實令人無比欣慰。如果愿意，你隨時可以開始嶄新的一頁。

Therefore no object is served in waiting till next week, or even until tomorrow. You may fancy that the water will be warmer next week. It won't. It will be colder.

因此沒有什么事會一直等你到下周，甚至到明天，直到你作出決定。也許你幻想下星期池水會變暖，其實不會，只會更加冰冷。

But before you begin, let me murmur a few words of warning in your private ear.

盡管如此，你開始之前，還是讓我在你耳邊小聲提醒你幾句。

Let me principally warn you against your own ardour. Ardour in welldoing is a misleading and a treacherous thing. It cries out loudly for employment; you can't satisfy it at first; it wants more and more; it is eager to move mountains and divert the course of rivers. It isn't content till it perspires. And then, too often, when it feels the perspiration on its brow, it wearies all of a sudden and dies, without even putting itself to the trouble of saying, "I've had enough of this."

我主要想提醒你不要熱情過度。希望成功的熱情給人誤導(dǎo)，很不可靠，它對你疾呼，讓你使用它；一開始你就無法滿足它，可它的需求越來越大，甚至渴望移山導(dǎo)流；不到汗水涔涔它就不會滿足?？赏钱?dāng)它汗流滿面時，就會瞬間精疲力竭，倒地而亡，甚至懶得說一句：“我受夠了。”

Beware of undertaking too much at the start. Be content with quite a little. Allow for accidents. Allow for human nature, especially your own.

注意開始時不要包攬?zhí)?，要滿足于哪怕是微小的收獲。允許意外事件的發(fā)生，給人之性情留下空間，尤其是你自己的性情。

A failure or so, in itself, would not matter, if it did not incur a loss of self-esteem and of self-confidence. But just as nothing succeeds like success, so nothing fails like failure. Most people who are ruined are ruined by attempting too much. Therefore, in setting out on the immense enterprise of living fully and comfortably within the narrow limits of twenty-four hours a day, let us avoid at any cost the risk of an early failure. I will not agree that, in this business at any rate, a glorious failure is better than a petty success. I am all for the petty success. A glorious failure leads to nothing; a petty success may lead to a success that is not petty.

一兩次的失敗本身是無關(guān)緊要的，只要沒損害你的自尊和自信。就像“一事如意，事事順利；一事失利，事事不利”，大多數(shù)人之所以一敗涂地，是因為他們貪多。因此，我們要在一天24小時這么有限的時間里，經(jīng)營這巨大的事業(yè)，即過上充實愉快的生活，無論如何應(yīng)避免過早失敗。說光輝的失敗勝于渺小的成功，就這件事而言，我無論如何不敢茍同。我百分之百寧愿擁有渺小的成功。偉大的失敗之后，一無所獲；渺小的成功之后，可能還會帶來并不渺小的成功。

So let us begin to examine the budget of the day's time. You say your day is already full to overflowing. How? You actually spend in earning your livelihood—how much? Seven hours, on the average? And in actual sleep, seven? I will add two hours, and be generous. And I will defy you to account to me on the spur of the moment for the other eight hours.

因此，現(xiàn)在讓我們來探討一下每日時間的分配。你說你每天的時間已經(jīng)排得滿滿的。怎么會？實際上你用以維持生計的時間——有多少？平均一天七小時？實際的睡眠時間呢？也是七小時？我慷慨些，給你多加兩小時。接下來，我倒要來請你講講剩下那八小時是如何度過的。