This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few moredecades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than whendeath was a useful but purely intellectual concept:
這是我距離死亡最近的一次,我希望它也是未來幾十年里我離死亡最近的一次。經(jīng)歷了這件事,死亡對我而言已經(jīng)不再只是一種有益卻僅限于純粹想象的概念,因此我可以更加確信地跟你們談起我對死亡的看法:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as itshould be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's changeagent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but somedaynot too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be sodramatic, but it is quite true.
沒有人想要死,即使人們想上天堂, 他們也不會為了去那里而死,但是死亡是我們共同的終點,從來沒有人能夠逃脫它。而這也是合理的,因為死亡很可能是生命最好的一項發(fā)明,它是生命變化的推動者,它清除老朽而為新生代開路?,F(xiàn)在的你們就是新生代,但是在不久之后的某天,你們就會漸漸變成老朽而被清除出人生的舞臺。抱歉說得這么夸張,但是這是事實。
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma ?which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinionsdrown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heartand intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else issecondary.
你的時間有限,別浪費生命過別人的生活。不要被教條所束縛,因為那是別人生活的目的。別讓其他人的不同意見壓過你自己內(nèi)心的聲音。最重要的是,要勇于追隨自己的內(nèi)心和直覺,它們其實早已知道你想要成為什么,除此以外都是次要的。
When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which wasone of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not farfrom here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters,scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years beforeGoogle came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.
當我年輕的時候,有一份非常精彩的刊物,叫做《全球概覽》(Whole Earth Catalog),那是我們那一代人視為圣經(jīng)的讀物之一。它由斯圖爾特·布蘭德(Stewart Brand)在離這里不遠的門洛帕克創(chuàng)辦,他把詩意帶進雜志,賦予它鮮活的生命力。那是在1960年代末,這本刊物全部由打字機、剪刀和寶麗來相機制作出來。有點像平裝版的谷歌,但早于谷歌問世35年。這就是理想主義,充滿著整潔的工具和偉大的奇想。
Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it hadrun its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On theback cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind youmight find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry.Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to beginanew, I wish that for you.
斯圖爾特和他的團隊出版了幾期《全球概覽》之后,順其自然地出版了最后一期。那是1970年代中期,而我正如你們這般年紀。在最后一期的封底上,是一條清晨鄉(xiāng)間小路的照片,如果你富有冒險精神,它可能就是你要搭車的那種小路。照片下面是一行字:“求知若饑,虛心若愚”。那就是他們??呐R別贈言。求知若饑,虛心若愚。我總是對自己抱著這樣的期望。而現(xiàn)在,在你們畢業(yè)即將踏上新生活的一刻,我也這樣祝愿你們。
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.
求知若饑,虛心若愚。
Thank you all very much.
非常感謝你們。