英文自修49：勿急于求成

本篇译者：Young

因本人近日眼疾，未能审读，请朋友们多批评、指正！
Thought for the Day 20140321 Rev Dr Sam Wells
Man United got a great result in Europethis week. They overturned a 2-0 deficit and sneaked into the quarter finals oftheChampionsLeague. The manager, David Moyes, has had a tough firstseason, filling the big shoes of Sir AlexFerguson. Since Christmas, a frenzy’s grown up outsidethe club anticipating his getting the sack. A great result in Europe, it seems,achieves no more than a stay of execution.

曼联球队本周的得分不错。他们以2-0的比分扭转了落后局面，意外晋级欧洲冠军赛1/4决赛。球队主教练大卫·莫耶斯接替前任爵爷弗格森的第一个赛季并不好过。自圣诞节以来，俱乐部之外就有一群狂热的人盼着他被解雇。欧冠赛的好成绩似乎仅仅是让他的下台延迟几天而已。

Not many football managers lastlong. At last count, only three managers out of the top 92clubs had been in post as long as four years. It’s a cut-throat world. Researchsuggests changing manager often produces a short-term boost, but seldom bringsabout any real transformation in fortunes. There’s 20 teams – only one can win theleague each season. Surely, you might say, it’s the players that win you thegame, not the manager. Yet still the ritual sacrifice ofaround a third of the managers is an indelible characteristic of thefootball year.

没有多少足球教练的任期长久。据最新统计，在92个顶级俱乐部中，只有三位主教练的任期达到四年。情况如此残酷。研究表明球队换帅虽然在短期内有用，但很少能真正改变球队的命运。每个赛季有二十支球队参赛，冠军却只有一个。当然了，你可能会说，赢得比赛靠的是球员而不是教练。尽管如此，约三分之一的教练为足球赛季所作出的牺牲仍然是不可磨灭的。

The desire for quick resultsand instant turnaround isn’t limited to football. It’s found all over ourculture. We uphold the myth of the charismatic, gifted leader, who clears outthe dead wood, applies new techniques, wins hearts and minds, unleashes talent,galvanises support, changes the game, and effortlessly performs miracles. Itdoesn’t matter if we’re talking about the country, a FTSE 英国富时指数 100 company, or a parish church; weexpect to see results in three months – six at the outside. And top businessesthrow in inflated salaries and bonuses to match expectations ofinstant achievement.

追求速成和快速好转的现象并不仅限于足球比赛。这种现象在我们的文化里面比比皆是。我们支持魅力超凡，才华横溢的领导者，他们能清除无用之物，采用新技术，一心为赢；他们能解放天性，赢得支持，改变比赛，毫不费力地创造奇迹。不论是整个国家，还是富时100强的公司，我们都希望在三个月，至多是六个月内看到结果。为了追求速成，许多顶级的公司不惜大幅上涨薪水和奖金。

The Bible starts off like aPremier League season. Adam and Eve are fired, then the whole earth is floodedand Noah’s given the job of turning things round. But then God says, ‘Neveragain will I destroy the earth.’ In other words this isn’t going to be done bysackings and sudden changes of plan. God is never again going to trash thewhole project, however much it teeters toward the relegation zone. That’s thedynamic that sets up the whole Bible – the long and painstaking story of God’scostly commitment to walk with the whole creation as long and hard as it takesto help every creature on earth be what only it can be.

《圣经》的开篇就像一场超级联赛。亚当和夏娃被逐出伊甸园，整个地球被洪水淹没，诺亚被赋予扭转形势的重任。但随后上帝说“我再也不会毁坏地球了。”换句话说，他再也不会赶走别人，或者突然改变计划。无论它怎样摇摆前行，走向被降级的境地，上帝也不会放弃整个计划。这就是整部圣经故事发展的动因—一个讲述上帝不惜承诺与宇宙万物同行、帮助万物成为其本身的漫长而又艰苦的故事。

Changing the leader is often alazy and superficial strategy. It preserves the idle fantasy that all will bewell if we just make one simple adjustment. Only when we stop seeking theinstant change or the quick fix do we turn to the real challenge of leadership:which is making the best of what we’ve already got.

换领导者常常是一种偷懒的策略，治标却不治本。它维护了这样一种幻想：只要做些简单的调整，就能万事大吉。只有当我们不再追求快速改变和应急之计，才会转向领导力的真正挑战，即充分利用我们所拥有的一切。