Always Changing

人生处处是转角

Please excuse me if I’m a little pensive today.

如果我今天有点郁郁寡欢,请原谅我。

Mark is leaving, and I’m feeling kind of sad.

马克要走了,我感到有点难过。

You probably don’t know Mark, but you might be lucky enough to know someone just like him. He’s been the heart and soul of the office for a couple of year combining exemplary professional skills with a sweet nature and gentle disposition. He’s never been all that interested in getting credit for the terrific work he does. He just wants to do his job, and to do it superbly well.

你或许不认识马克,但如果你认识像他那样的人,那你可能走运了。好几年来,他都是办公室里的核心和灵魂人物,专业技能堪称典范,态度和蔼,性情温柔。工作表现出色的他从不热衷于争风邀功。他只想做他的工作,并出色地完成。

And now he’s moving on to an exciting new professional opportunity. It sounds like it could be the chance of a lifetime, and we’re genuinely, sincerely pleased for him. But that doesn’t make it any easier to say goodbye to a dear friend and trusted colleague.

而现在,他要向一份令人兴奋的新职迈进。听起来是个一生难得的机会,我们也真心诚挚地替他高兴。但那并没使我们跟这么一位亲爱的朋友、信任的同事告别来得容易一些。

Life has a way of throwing these curve balls at us. Just when we start to get comfortable with a person, a place or a situation, something comes along to alter the recipe. A terrific neighbor moves away. Someone in the family graduates. A child finds new love and loyalties through marriage. The family’s principle bread-winner is laid off.

生活用它自己的方式不断向我们抛出曲线球。当我们刚开始和某人融洽相处,或是适应一个地方或一种境况时,某事就发生了,改变了一切。很好的邻居要搬家了;家里的某个成员毕业了;孩子找到新欢,在婚姻殿堂里寻获忠诚;家里养家糊口的主力军被解雇了。

Our ability to cope with change and disruption determine to a great degree, our peace, happiness and contentment in life.

我们应付变化以及混乱情况的能力很大程度上决定了我们生活的安宁、幸福和满意度。

But how do we do that? Philosophers have considered the question for centurie and their responses have been varied. According to the author of the Biblical book of Ecclesiaste comfort can be found in remembering that “to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Kahlil Gibran urged his listeners to “let today embrace the past with remembrance, and the future with longing.”

但我们该怎么做?哲人们已经思考这个问题好几个世纪了,他们的回答各不相同。根据《圣经?旧约全书?传道书》的作者,人们可以通过记住“大千世界,万事万物皆有时”来获得安慰。而卡里?纪伯伦也曾敦促他的听众去“让今日用记忆拥抱昨日,用渴望拥抱未来”。

A friend of mine who works for the government is fond of reminding his fellow bureaucrats that “survivabi-lity depends upon adaptability.” And then there’s Chri the California surf-rat, who once told me that the answer to life’s problems can be summed up in four words: “Go with the flow.”

我一个在政府工作的朋友喜欢提醒他的那帮官僚同事们“生存取决于适应性。”还有克里斯,加利福尼亚州的一位冲浪爱好者,他曾告诉我,生活中所有问题的答案都能归为四个字——“随遇而安”。