【推薦理由】

本文節(jié)選自著名教授蘭迪?波許(Randy Pausch)在母?？▋?nèi)基梅隆大學(xué)畢業(yè)典禮上的最后演講。2007 年9 月18 日,身患胰腺癌、生命還剩幾個(gè)月的蘭迪教授做了一場(chǎng)風(fēng)靡全美、題為《真正實(shí)現(xiàn)你的童年夢(mèng)想》的講座,感動(dòng)鼓舞了無(wú)數(shù)的美國(guó)青年。與前者不同,在此篇演講中,蘭迪教授給出了更加樸實(shí)的人生建議,讀后讓人受益匪淺,是真正意義上的“最后一課”。他告訴大家,要聽(tīng)從心靈的召喚,追隨激情,最終贏得無(wú)悔的人生。2008年7月25日,蘭迪教授于家中去世。

以下是本次演講的精彩節(jié)選,網(wǎng)站音頻節(jié)目中刊登了本次演講和《真正實(shí)現(xiàn)你的童年夢(mèng)想》演講的全文以及視頻,讀者可登陸下載。

【先記住關(guān)鍵詞句】

1. in all likelihood

意為“十有八九、多半、可能性很大”。

例句:In all likelihood, we shall be away for a week.

我們很可能離開(kāi)一個(gè)星期。

In all likelihood the meeting will be cancelled.

會(huì)議十之八九要取消。

2. push-up

意為“俯臥撐”,在著名講座《真正實(shí)現(xiàn)你的童年夢(mèng)想》中,蘭迪教授幽默地表現(xiàn)自己“體力好”,曾現(xiàn)場(chǎng)做俯臥撐。

例句:He overdid it last night when he did 100 push-ups.

他昨晚做了100個(gè)俯臥撐,做得過(guò)頭了。

3. the Grim Reaper

意為“死神”,也可寫(xiě)做the Reaper。

例句:The Grim Reaper is an imaginary character who represents death. He looks like a skeleton, wears a long, black cloak with a hood, and carries a scythe.

死神是象征死亡的虛構(gòu)人物。他酷似骷髏,身穿黑色連帽斗篷,手持鐮刀。

4. And what I said without even thinking about is we don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well, and living fully.

意為“我毫不猶疑地回答他:僅靠多活幾天是不能戰(zhàn)勝死神的。戰(zhàn)勝死神最好的方式是活得更好,更有意義” 。

5. get round to

意為“設(shè)法找到足夠的時(shí)間去做(某事);說(shuō)服”。

例句:I promised to repair the doorknob, but I had never got round to it.

我答應(yīng)要修門(mén)把, 可我抽不出時(shí)間修。

We should have very little difficulty getting him round to our way of thinking.

要說(shuō)服他接受我們的想法不太難。

6. …it is not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, it is the things we do not.

意為“臨終時(shí)我們不會(huì)后悔做過(guò)某些事,而是后悔沒(méi)有去做某些事”。

7. grab for

意為“試圖抓住”,文中意為竭盡全力爭(zhēng)取。

例句:The climber grabbed for the rope.

那位登山者試圖抓住繩索。

8. be thought well of

意為“被尊敬、被高度評(píng)價(jià)”。

例句:She is very well thought of in England.

她在英國(guó)的口碑很好。

The book is thought well by the critics.

評(píng)論家對(duì)這本書(shū)的評(píng)價(jià)很高。

【原文朗讀】

[…]

Last August I was told that in all likelihood I had three to six months left to live. I am on month nine now and I am not gonna get down and do any push-ups… but there will be a short pick-up basketball game later.

Somebody said to me, in light of those numbers, wow, so you are really beating the Grim Reaper. And what I said without even thinking about is we don't beat the Reaper by living longer. We beat the Reaper by living well, and living fully.

For the Reaper will come for all of us, the question is what do we do between the time we were born and the time he shows up. Because when he shows up it is too late to do all the things that you're always gonna kind of 'get round to.' So, I think the only advice I can give you on how to live your life well is, first off, remember, it's a cliché, but I love cliché, 'it is not the things we do in life that we regret on our deathbed, it is the things we do not'.

Because I assure you I've done a lot of stupid things and none of them bother me. All the mistakes, all the dopy things and all the times I was embarrassed they don't matter. What matter is that, I can kind of look back and say, 'pretty much anytime I got a chance to do something cool, I tried to grab for it.' And that's where my solace comes from.

The second thing I would add to that, and I didn't coordinate on the subject of this word but I think it's the right word that comes up, is passion. And you will need to find you passion. Many of you have already done it, many of you will later, many of you will take till your 30s or 40s. But don't give up on finding it. Alright? Because then all you're doing is waiting for the Reaper. Find you passion and follow it.

And if there's anything I have learned in my life, you will not find that passion in things. And you will not find that passion in money. Because the more things and the more money you have, the more you will just look around and use that as the metric, and there will always be someone with more.

So your passion must come from the things that fuel you from the inside. And honors and awards are nice things but only to be the extent that they regard the real respect from your peers. And to be thought well of by other people that you think even more highly of is a tremendous honor that I've been granted.

Find your passion, and in my experience, no matter what you do at work or what you do in official settings, that passion would be grounded in people. And it will be grounded in the relationships you have with people, and what they think of you, when you time comes. And if you can gain the respect of those around you, and the passion and true love, and I've said this before, but I waited till 39 to get married because I had to wait that long to find someone where her happiness was more important than mine. And if nothing else I hope that all of you can find that kind of passion and that kind of love in your life.

Thank you!