人的一生什么才是最重要的？我們一直在思考著。過一種有意義的生活不是一件偶然的事情，那不是環境的問題，而是選擇的問題。
What will matter?
什么才重要？
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no days, no hours or minutes. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
無論是否準備好，總有一天它都會走到盡頭。 那里沒有日出，沒有白天，沒有小時和分鐘。 你收集的所有東西，不管你珍惜或忘記與否，它們都將流入他人手中。
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
不管是你得到的或是你欠別人的，可你的財產、名譽和權勢也都會變成和你毫不相干的東西。
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.
你的怨恨、憤慨、挫折和妒忌最終也將消失。
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will all expire.The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
因此，你的希望、抱負、計劃以及行動日程表也將全部結束。 當初看得比較重的成功得失也會消失。
It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived.
你來自何方，住在窮人區還是富人區也都不重要了。
It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Your gender, skin color, ethnicity will be irrelevant.
你昔日的漂亮與輝煌也都不重要了，你的性別、膚色、種族地位也將消失。
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
因此，什么重要呢？ 怎么衡量你有生之年的價值呢？
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.
重要的不是你買了什么，而是你創造了什么； 不是你得到了什么，而是你給予了什么。
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
重要的不是你成功了，而是你生命的意義。
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
重要的不是你學到了什么，而是你傳授了什么。
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage and sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
重要的是每個行動之中都有正直和勇氣的氣概，偉大的同情心和犧牲精神，并且鼓勵他人遵從榜樣。
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
重要的不是你的能力，而是你的性格。
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.
重要的不是你認識多少人，而是在你離開后，別人會認為是個永遠的損失。
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories of those who loved you.
重要的不是你想念誰，而是愛你的人想念你。
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
重要的是別人會記你多長時間，誰記著你，為什么記著你。
Living a life that matters doesn’ t happen by accident.
過一種有意義的生活不是一件偶然的事情。
It s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
那不是環境的問題，而是選擇的問題。
Choose to live a life that matters.
選擇有意義的人生吧！
美文欣賞:Fifty-percent Expectation 50%的希望
“對半理論”？！生活中有苦就有樂，有悲就有喜；樂極生悲，否極泰來大概就是這個道理。無論遇到什么事，都請保持一顆平常心。
Fifty-percent Expectation 50%的希望
I believe in the "50-percent theory". Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe life is a pendulum swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.
我信奉“對半理論”。生活時而無比順暢，時而倒霉透頂，好壞參半。我覺得生活就像來回晃動的鐘擺。讀懂生活的常態需要時間和閱歷，也正是這樣才練就了我面對未來榮辱不驚的生活態度。
Let's benchmark the parameters: Yes, I will die. I've dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale.
讓我們掂量這些點點滴滴：是的，我注定會死去。我已經經歷了雙親的仙逝，一位友人的亡故，一位敬愛的老板的離逝，還有心愛寵物的死亡。當中一些變故突如其來，直擊眼前；有些卻長期折磨，痛苦不堪。糟糕的事兒，它們駐留谷底。
Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad things like coaching my son's baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he's swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassion so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered pile of Legos.
當然生活也不乏熠熠光彩：墜入愛河締結良緣；養育幼子身為人父，訓練兒子的棒球隊，當他和狗在水中嬉戲時，搖槳劃船前瞻后顧，感受他如此強烈的同情心——即使對蝸牛也善待有加，發現他如此活躍的想像力——即使零散的積木也能堆出太空飛船。
But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and thegood flip-flop acrobatically. This is what convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory.
但在它們發生期間有一片寬廣的草坪，在那兒上演的各種好事壞事像耍雜技一樣地翻新。這就是讓我信服對半理論的原因。
One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone thatneighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal-- the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioner died,the well went dry, the marriage ended, the job lost, the money gone. I wasliving lyrics from a country tune -- music I loathed. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed my spirits.
有一年春天，我在一片容易被淹的.低洼地過早種下了玉米，鄰居們都為此嘲笑我。一番心血付之東流讓我懊惱不已。接著我生命中最難熬的酷暑來臨了--熱浪襲人，釀至旱災。空調失靈，水井枯竭，婚姻破裂，慘遭失業，積蓄揮空。我正經歷某個鄉村調頻描繪的情節，我討厭這種音樂。只有一支人氣攀升的堪薩斯皇家棒球隊的小組因他們的第一次出征世界大賽團結起來使我精神振奮。
Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the bad. Worse than normal wouldn't last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. They reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that I can thrive. The 50 percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals' recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.
回想那個可怕的夏天，我不久就明白了所有的好事壞事不過是正負抵消。不順心的境遇不會延宕過久。太平時光是我應得的，我要盡情享受。它們給我新的活力以應對突如其來的險境，并確保我再度輝煌。對半理論甚至幫我在我喜愛的皇家棒球隊最近的低潮中看到希望——這是一塊艱難行進的新手們耕耘的土地，播種了，假以時日我們就可以收獲十月的金秋。
Oh, yeah, the corn crop? For that one blistering summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination before heat,withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing corn from floods. That winter my crib overflowed with corn -- fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filled with kernels from heel to tip -- while my neighbors' fields yielded only brown, empty husks.
哦，對了，玉米收成？就那年炎熱的夏天，莊稼地的濕度恰到好處，過早的種植使授粉避開酷熱在頂梢干枯前完成，雨水稀少使地里長著的玉米免遭水災。那年冬天，我的糧倉里堆滿了玉米--飽滿結實的玉米每株稈上結三個，每個玉米從底到頂端長滿了玉米粒--而我的鄰居們地里長出來的只是暗沉干癟的殼。
Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.
盡管過去播種的收獲沒有達到50％的期望，而且將來也可能是這樣，我仍然要為經歷旱季依然豐收的玉米而堅守陣地。
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