你該如何面對(duì)艱難選擇演講稿

　　Think of a hard choice you'll face in the near future. It might be between two careers--artist and accountant--or places to live--the city or the country--or even between two people to marry--you could marry Betty or you could marry Lolita. Or it might be a choice about whether to have children, to have an ailing parent move in with you, to raise your child in a religion that your partner lives by but leaves you cold. Or whether to donate your life savings to charity.

　　設(shè)想在不久的未來，你將面對(duì)一個(gè)艱難的決定。這也許是在兩份職業(yè)中做出一個(gè)選擇，藝術(shù)家還是會(huì)計(jì)師;也許是選擇居住的地方，城市還是鄉(xiāng)村;也許是在兩個(gè)人中選擇和誰結(jié)婚，Betty 或者是Lolita;抑或思考是否要孩子;是否讓年老體衰的父母跟你一起住;是否讓你的孩子信奉你配偶信仰的宗教，即便你會(huì)因自身不信奉而被冷落;又或者說，是否將畢生積儲(chǔ)捐贈(zèng)給慈善機(jī)構(gòu)。

　　Chances are, the hard choice you thought of was something big, something momentous, something that matters to you. Hard choices seem to be occasions for agonizing, hand-wringing, the gnashing of teeth. But I think we've misunderstood hard choices and the role they play in our lives. Understanding hard choicesuncovers a hidden power each of us possesses.

　　有可能，你所思考的這些艱難抉擇都十分龐大，十分重要你也十分重視。每當(dāng)困難的選擇出現(xiàn)，他都會(huì)讓你感到痛苦、絕望，讓你咬牙切齒。但我認(rèn)為我們誤解了艱難抉擇的定義，更誤解了其在我們生活中扮演的角色。倘若能理解這些艱難決定，我們每個(gè)人便會(huì)發(fā)掘出 一種隱藏的潛力。

　　What makes a choice hard is the way the alternatives relate. In any easy choice, one alternative is better than the other. In a hard choice, one alternative is better in some ways, the other alternative is better in other ways, and neither is better than the other overall. You agonize over whether to stay in your current job in the city or uproot your life for more challenging work in the country, because staying is better in some ways,moving is better in others, and neither is better than the other overall.

　　一個(gè)抉擇之所以難是由于選項(xiàng)之間相互關(guān)聯(lián)。任何簡(jiǎn)單的抉擇中，總有一種選擇比另一種要好。可在艱難抉擇中，一種選擇在某些方面較好，另一種選擇在其他方面較好，二者各有千秋讓人無法定奪。你痛苦地糾結(jié)于應(yīng)該繼續(xù)呆在這座城市里干這份工作，還是改變一下你的生活方式到鄉(xiāng)村去接受更具挑戰(zhàn)性的工作，因?yàn)榱粝掠辛粝碌暮锰帲x開也有好處，兩種選擇各有千秋難以定奪。

　　We shouldn't think that all hard choices are big. Let's say you're deciding what to have for breakfast. You could have high fiber bran cereal or a chocolate donut. Suppose what matters in the choice is tastiness and healthfulness. The cereal is better for you, the donut tastes way better, but neither is better than the other overall, a hard choice.

　　我們不應(yīng)該認(rèn)為所有的艱難抉擇都很龐大。打個(gè)比方，你正決定吃什么早餐。你可以吃高纖維全谷干麥片，或者吃巧克力甜甜圈。假設(shè)在此抉擇中的決定性因素是美味程度和健康程度。麥片對(duì)你身體好，甜甜圈卻好吃很多，但兩者都有自身優(yōu)勢(shì)，這就是一個(gè)艱難抉擇。

　　Realizing that small choices can also be hard, may make big hard choices seem less intractable. After all, we manage to figure out what to have for breakfast, so maybe we can figure out whether to stay in the city or uproot for the new job in the country.

　　如果意識(shí)到小的選擇也可能會(huì)變得困難，那面對(duì)大的艱難抉擇時(shí)我們可能就不會(huì)覺得那么棘手了。畢竟，我們總能決定早餐吃什么，所以我們也許能夠想明白，究竟要留在市區(qū)，還是到鄉(xiāng)下接手新的工作。

　　We also shouldn't think that hard choices are hard because we are stupid. When I graduated from college, I couldn't decide between two careers, philosophy and law. I really loved philosophy. There are amazing things you can learn as a philosopher, and all from the comfort of an armchair. But I came from a modest immigrant family where my idea of luxury was having a pork tongue and jelly sandwich in my school lunchbox, so the thought of spending my whole life sitting around in armchairs just thinking ... Well, that struck me as the height of extravagance and frivolity.

　　同時(shí)，我們也不應(yīng)該覺得，選擇之所以難是因?yàn)樽约汉苡薮馈Ｔ谖覄偞髮W(xué)畢業(yè)的時(shí)候，我無法從兩種職業(yè)中抉擇，哲學(xué)還是法律。我真心喜歡哲學(xué)，若能成為哲學(xué)家，便能學(xué)到很多驚奇的東西，而且舒舒服服地坐在椅子上就好。可我出生自一個(gè)樸實(shí)簡(jiǎn)素的移民家庭，我對(duì)奢侈的概念，就是能在上學(xué)的午餐盒里找到一塊豬舌和一份果凍三明治。所以這種一輩子僅坐在椅子上思考的想法，其實(shí)，對(duì)我來說只是一種奢侈和輕浮的假象罷了。

　　So I got out my yellow pad, I drew a line down the middle, and I tried my best to think of the reasons for and against each alternative. I remember thinking to myself, if only I knew what my life in each career would be like. If only God or Netflix would send me a DVD of my two possible future careers, I'd be set. I'd compare them side by side, I'd see that one was better, and the choice would be easy.

　　所以我拿出自己黃色筆記本，在中間劃了一條線，然后竭盡所能地寫出每種選擇的利與弊。當(dāng)時(shí)我就想：如果能知道選擇某種職業(yè)后我的人生會(huì)變成怎樣就好了。如果上帝或者網(wǎng)飛公司能送我一張DVD來向我描述這兩種充滿可能性的職業(yè)生涯，那我就能做出選擇了。我就能一一對(duì)比，看看哪種更好，這樣一來抉擇就簡(jiǎn)單多了。

　　But I got no DVD, and because I couldn't figure out which was better, I did what many of us do in hard choices: I took the safest option. Fear of being an unemployed philosopher led me to become a lawyer, and as I discovered, lawyering didn't quite fit. It wasn't who I was.

　　但我沒有收到這種DVD，而且由于我實(shí)在想不出哪一種更優(yōu)，我就和大多數(shù)人一樣：選擇了最安全的一項(xiàng)。成為失業(yè)哲學(xué)家的恐懼，驅(qū)使我成了一名律師。可后來我發(fā)現(xiàn)，當(dāng)律師不大適合我，這不是真正的我。

　　So now I'm a philosopher, and I study hard choices, and I can tell you, that fear of the unknown, while a common motivational default in dealing with hard choices, rests on a misconception of them.

　　所以我現(xiàn)在是名哲學(xué)家，我鉆研艱難抉擇，我可以告訴大家，對(duì)未知產(chǎn)生恐懼是在進(jìn)行困難抉擇時(shí)的自然反應(yīng)，而這種恐懼來源于對(duì)艱難抉擇的誤解。