第三个故事 关于死亡

When I was 17， I read a quote that went something like： “If you live each day as if it was your last， someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me， and since then， for the past 33 years， I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself： “If today were the last day of my life， would I want to do what I am about to do today？” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row， I know I need to change something.

在17 岁的时候，我读过一句格言，好像是：“ 如果你把每一天都当成你生命里的最后一天，你将在某一天发现原来一切皆在掌握之中。” （笑声）这句话从我读到之日起，就对我产生了深远的影响。在过去的33 年里，我每天早晨都对着镜子问自己：“ 如果今天是我生命中的末日，我还愿意做我今天本来应该做的事情吗？” 当一连好多天答案都否定的时候，我就知道做出改变的时候到了。

Remembering that I‘ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations， all pride， all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death， leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

提醒自己行将入土是我在面临人生中的重大抉择时，最为重要的工具。

因为所有的事情——外界的期望、所有的尊荣、对尴尬和失败的惧怕——在面对死亡的时候，都将烟消云散，只留下真正重要的东西。在我所知道的各种方法中，提醒自己即将死去是避免掉入畏惧失去这个陷阱的最好办法。人赤条条地来，赤条条地走，没有理由不听从你内心的呼唤。

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning， and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn‘t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable， and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order， which is doctor’s code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you‘d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

大约一年前，我被诊断出癌症。在早晨7 ：30 我做了一个检查，扫描结果清楚地显示我的胰脏出现了一个肿瘤。我当时甚至不知道胰脏究竟是什么。医生告诉我，几乎可以确定这是一种不治之症，顶多还能活3至6个月。大夫建议我回家，把诸事安排妥当，这是医生对临终病人的标准用语。这意味着你得把你今后10 年要对你的子女说的话用几个月的时间说完;这意味着你得把一切都安排妥当，尽可能减少你的家人在你身后的负担;这意味着向众人告别的时间到了。

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy， where they stuck anendoscope down my throat， through my stomach and into my intestines， put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated， but my wife， who was there， told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I’m fine now.

我整天都想着诊断结果。那天晚上做了一个切片检查，医生把一个内窥镜从我的喉管伸进去，穿过我的胃进入肠道，将探针伸进胰脏，从肿瘤上取出了几个细胞。我打了镇静剂，但我的太太当时在场，她后来告诉我说，当大夫们从显微镜下观察了细胞组织之后，都哭了起来，因为那是非常罕见的，可以通过手术治疗的胰脏癌。我接受了手术，现在已经康复了。

This was the closest I‘ve been to facing death， and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it， I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept：

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 it should be， because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life‘s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you， but someday not too long from now， you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic， but it is quite true.

这是我最接近死亡的一次，我希望在随后的几十年里，都不要有比这一次更接近死亡的经历。在经历了这次与死神擦肩而过的经验之后，死亡对我来说只是一项有效的判断工具，并且只是一个纯粹的理性概念，我能够更肯定地告诉你们以下事实：没人想死;即使想去天堂的人，也是希望能活着进去。（笑声）死亡是我们每个人的人生终点站，没人能够成为例外。生命就是如此，因为死亡很可能是生命最好的造物，它是生命更迭的媒介，送走耄耋老者，给新生代让路。现在你们还是新生代，但不久的将来你们也将逐渐老去，被送出人生的舞台。很抱歉说得这么富有戏剧性，但生命就是如此。

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‘ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important， have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

你们的时间有限，所以不要把时间浪费在别人的生活里。不要被条条框框束缚，否则你就生活在他人思考的结果里。不要让他人的观点所发出的噪音淹没你内心的声音。最为重要的是，要有遵从你的内心和直觉的勇气，它们可能已知道你其实想成为一个什么样的人。其他事物都是次要的。

When I was young， there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog， which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park， and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960’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 before Google came along： it was idealistic， and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

在我年轻的时候，有一本非常棒的杂志叫《全球目录》（The Whole Earth Catalog），它被我们那一代人奉为圭臬。这本杂志的创办人是一个叫斯图尔特。 布兰德的家伙，他住在Menlo Park，距离这儿不远。他把这本杂志办得充满诗意。那是在60 年代末期，个人电脑、桌面发排系统还没有出现，所以出版工具只有打字机、剪刀和宝丽来相机。这本杂志有点像印在纸上的Google ，但那是在Google 出现的35 年前;它充满了理想色彩，内容都是些非常好用的工具和了不起的见解。

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog， and then when it had run its course， they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s， and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road， the kind you might 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 begin anew， I wish that for you.

图尔特和他的团队做了几期《全球目录》，快无疾而终的时候，他们出版了最后一期。那是在70 年代中期，我当时处在你们现在的年龄。在最后一期的封底有一张清晨乡间公路的照片，如果你喜欢搭车冒险旅行的话，经常会碰到的那种小路。在照片下面有一排字：物有所不足，智有所不明（Stay Hungry ，Stay Foolish. 求知若饥，虚心若愚）这是他们停刊的告别留言。物有所不足，智有所不明—— 我总是以此自省。现在，在你们毕业开始新生活的时候，我把这句话送给你们。

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much