有声美文-14｜Ambition 抱负
01 | Poverty and Richness 贫穷与富有
02 | Chief Seattle's Thoughts 西雅图宣言
03 | A Pair of Precious Hands 宝贵的双手
05 | Facing the Enemies Within 直面内在的敌人
06 | The Goodness of Life 云淡风轻，感受生命的美好
08 | The Warmth of a Glass of Milk —杯牛奶的温暖
09 | Clear Your Mental Space 清理心灵的空间
10 | What is Your Recovery Rate? 你的恢复速率是多少
Ambition
抱负
It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world: without demands, without abrasions, without disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Such work as they did would not be for themselves but for the collective. Competition would never enter in. Conflict would be eliminated, tension become a thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. Art would no longer be troubling, but purely celebratory in its functions. The family would become superfluous as a social unit, with all its former power for bringing about neurosis drained away. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke caused by tumultuous endeavor. Anxiety would be extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart.
一个缺乏抱负的世界将会怎样，这是不难想像的。或许，这 将是一个更加友爱的世界:没有渴求，没有摩擦，没有失 望。人们将会有时间进行反思。他们所从事的工作将不是为了 他们自身，而是为了整个集体。竞争永远不会介入，冲突将被消 除,人们的紧张关系将成为过往云烟。创造的重压将得以终结， 艺术将不再惹人讨厌，其功能将是纯粹的庆典。作为社会单位 的家庭,因失去了原有的导致精神病痛的力量而将荡然无存。人的寿命将更长，因为由激烈拼争而引起的心脏病和中风死亡 将愈加减少。焦虑将会消失。由于抱负早已告别人心，时间将 得以无限伸延。
Ah, how unrelievedly boring life would be!
啊,人生将变得多么乏味无聊！
There is a strong view that holds that success is a myth, and ambition therefore a sham. Does this mean that success does not really exist? That achievement is at bottom empty? That the efforts of men and women are of no significance alongside the force of movements and events? Now not all success, obviously, is worth esteeming, nor all ambition worth cultivating. Which are and which are not is something one soon enough learns on one's own. But even the most cynical secretly admit that success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that the true myth is that the actions of men and women are useless. To believe otherwise is to take on a point of view that is likely to be deranging. It is, in its implications, to remove all motive for competence, interest in attainment, and regard for posterity.
有一种盛行的观点认为，成功是一种神话，因此抱负亦属虚 幻。这是不是说成功不会真正存在？成就本质上是一场空？在 诸多运动和亊件的力量相形之下，世上男男女女的努力微不足 道？显然，并非所有的成功都值得景仰,并非所有的抱负都值得 栽培。对于值得和不值得的选择，一个人自然而然很快就会学 会。但是即使最为愤世嫉俗的人暗地里也承认，成功确实存在， 成就的意义举足轻重,而把世上男男女女的努力说成徒劳无功 才真正是无稽之谈。不相信成功的存在，就等于接纳了_种很 可能造成混乱的观点。这种观点的本意是一笔勾销所有提高能 力的动机、求取业绩的兴趣和对子孙后代的关注。
We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live: courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is about.
我们无法选择出生。我们无法选择父母。我们无法选择出生的历史时期与国家，以及成长的周這环境。我们——我们中的大部分——无法选择死亡，也无法选择死亡的时间与条件。但是在这少有选择余地的领域之内，我们确实可以选择如何生 活:是勇敢无畏还是战战兢兢，是光明磊落还是厚颜无耻，是目 标坚定还是得过且过。我们决定生活中哪些事情至关重要，哪 些无足轻重。由于我们作看决定，因此我们做些什么,或者拒绝做些什么，就显示出我们的重要性。但是不管世界对我们的选 择和决定多么漠不关心，这些选择和决定是由我们作出的。我们作出决定;我们进行选择。在我们作出决定和选择的过程中，我们的生活得以形成。总而言之，构筑我们的命运是抱负的真意所在。
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