During my last year at university, I panicked. I realised that I was about to be sent into the world almost entirely ignorant. (Commenters, please fill in own joke here.) I had half-absorbed a few tiny bits of western history, and I’d read and then mostly forgotten some German novels and poems. I knew nothing about science. I hadn’t the faintest idea how the world worked. I wasn’t even entirely sure what interest rates were.
大學(xué)最后一年，我感到彷徨不安。我意識(shí)到自己就要近乎一無所知地被送入這個(gè)世界。(各位網(wǎng)友，歡迎在此補(bǔ)充你們自己的笑話。)我略懂西方歷史的一點(diǎn)皮毛，讀過一些德國(guó)的小說和詩歌，不過也忘得差不多了。我對(duì)科學(xué)一無所知。我對(duì)世界如何運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)毫無頭緒。我甚至不是很確定利率是什么東西。
Shortly before graduating, I confessed my anxieties to a high-powered thirtysomething at a dinner in London. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I knew nothing when I graduated either, so I’ve just kept learning. Now my employer is paying for me to study Arabic.” That same evening, I resolved to pursue a project of life-long learning. Twenty-five years on, I’m still ignorant, but still at it.
臨畢業(yè)前，我在倫敦與一位三十幾歲的成功人士共進(jìn)晚餐時(shí)向他袒露了我的焦慮。“別擔(dān)心。”他說：“我畢業(yè)的時(shí)候也什么都不懂，于是我就繼續(xù)學(xué)習(xí)?，F(xiàn)在我老板還花錢送我去學(xué)阿拉伯語?！蹦翘焱砩衔易隽藗€(gè)決定：我要展開一個(gè)終生學(xué)習(xí)計(jì)劃。二十五年過去了，我依然無知，但仍在學(xué)習(xí)。
Because I graduated in Britain, I missed out on the traditional American commencement ceremony at which a middle-aged bore intones, “You can be whatever you want to be.” Instead, a middle-aged bore droned on at us in Latin for an hour. But if any American university is still looking for a middle-aged-bore speaker this commencement season, here’s what I’d tell the graduates:
由于我畢業(yè)于英國(guó)，所以我無緣于傳統(tǒng)的美國(guó)畢業(yè)典禮：一個(gè)絮絮叨叨的中年人緩慢而莊重的說，“你能成為你想成為的任何人?！蔽耶厴I(yè)時(shí)是一個(gè)絮絮叨叨的中年人用拉丁語對(duì)我們嘮叨了一個(gè)鐘頭。但如果有哪所美國(guó)大學(xué)還在為這個(gè)畢業(yè)典禮季尋找一個(gè)絮絮叨叨的中年演講者，以下是我想對(duì)畢業(yè)生們說的話：
“After graduating, I decided to find out what interest rates were, so I began reading a newspaper I’d never opened before: the Financial Times. I kept going, hoping I’d eventually learn the thing I most wanted to know: why some people and countries were rich and others poor. In 1994, trying to accelerate the learning process, I joined the FT. I thought that after a few years I’d know enough to go on and do something more useful than journalism, but it never happened.
“畢業(yè)后，我決定搞清楚利率是怎么回事，于是我開始讀一份我從來沒翻開過的報(bào)紙：英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》。我堅(jiān)持讀它，希望最終能弄清自己最想知道的一件事：為什么有些人和國(guó)家富，而有些人和國(guó)家窮?1994年，為了加快這一學(xué)習(xí)進(jìn)程，我加入了英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》。我那時(shí)想，要不了幾年我就懂得多到可以走人，然后做點(diǎn)比記者更有用的事兒，然而這一幕從未發(fā)生過。
“Like me back then, you are graduating almost entirely ignorant. This isn’t your fault. Your most fecund educational years were aged nought to three, when your brain was fairly porous, but the opportunity was probably wasted. You then spent each school day surrounded by up to 30 other people, each with their own problems and ability levels. Since high school, you’ve been additionally handicapped by hormones, smartphones and early-morning starts.
“就像當(dāng)初的我一樣，你們幾乎一無所知就要畢業(yè)了。這不是你們的錯(cuò)。你們的最佳受教年齡是0到3歲，這個(gè)時(shí)候你們的大腦就像海綿一樣，但這一機(jī)會(huì)多半都被浪費(fèi)了。然后你們上學(xué)的每一天都要被多達(dá)30個(gè)人包圍著，他們每個(gè)人都有自己的問題，每個(gè)人的能力水平也不同。上了高中后，你還會(huì)遇到荷爾蒙、智能手機(jī)和早起的妨礙?！?/p>
“In short, you’re going to have to keep learning all your life. Here are a few tips:
“總之，你們終生都要堅(jiān)持學(xué)習(xí)。以下是幾個(gè)小建議：
Just shut up and listen. Whenever you think, ‘I know about that’, you don’t. When you hear yourself saying something you’ve said before, don’t bother. When someone worthwhile tells you something about North Korea, don’t sit there waiting till you can interrupt with your one factoid about North Korea. Pre-rehearsed anecdotes will keep you dumb.
閉嘴好好聽。每當(dāng)你覺得’這個(gè)我知道’的時(shí)候，你其實(shí)不知道。如果你發(fā)覺自己要說的話以前已經(jīng)說過了，那就別再說了。當(dāng)一個(gè)重要的人告訴你一些關(guān)于朝鮮的事情時(shí)，不要坐在那兒等著用你知道的一個(gè)朝鮮小段子插話。提前排練這些段子會(huì)讓你保持緘默。
Also avoid all house-price talk, route talk, diet talk, name-dropping and current-affairs clichés. Over a lifetime, this can save you years.
還要避開一切有關(guān)房?jī)r(jià)、路線、減肥的談話，不要炫耀自己認(rèn)識(shí)的名人，也不要對(duì)時(shí)事發(fā)表一些陳詞濫調(diào)的看法。終你一生，這條可以幫你省出好幾年時(shí)間。
Listen hardest to people younger than you. They are ignorant and generally have lowly jobs, but their fragments of knowledge will be more cutting-edge than yours. If you’re ever tempted to kid yourself that your knowledge will hold good over time, listen to aged relatives recite the race theories they picked up in the 1940s.
努力去聽歲數(shù)比你小的人說話。他們無知，職位通常也不高，但他們的知識(shí)碎片要比你的先進(jìn)。如果你曾企圖欺騙自己，以為你的知識(shí)儲(chǔ)備經(jīng)得住時(shí)間考驗(yàn)，就去聽聽那些上了年紀(jì)的親戚大聊他們?cè)?0世紀(jì)40年代學(xué)到的種族理論。
When you meet someone who likes pontificating, you might pick up his tiny bit of expertise, if he has any. You’ll probably never have a productive conversation with him, and he won’t have learnt much from other people, so best to avoid.
當(dāng)你遇到一個(gè)自命不凡的人，你或許能學(xué)到他的一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)專業(yè)知識(shí)——如果他有的話。你可能永遠(yuǎn)無法與他進(jìn)行富有成效的對(duì)話，他也不會(huì)從其他人身上學(xué)到多少東西，所以最好避免與這樣的人對(duì)話。
When you discover you were wrong about something, don’t fight it. Treasure the moment: you’ve learnt something.
當(dāng)你發(fā)現(xiàn)自己在某件事上錯(cuò)了，你就認(rèn)了。珍惜這一刻，因?yàn)槟銓W(xué)到了東西。
Don’t let conflicts derail your working life. Frequent changes of career will stop you from increasing your competence in one particular field. If you have to work with somebody irritating, deal with it. If you find lots of people irritating, then you’re the problem.
不要讓沖突破壞你的職業(yè)生涯。頻繁轉(zhuǎn)行會(huì)阻礙你在某個(gè)領(lǐng)域提高自己的能力。如果你不得不與受不了的人共事，想辦法解決。如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)好多人你都受不了，那就是你有問題。
Even if you become an expert, you’ll still be pretty ignorant. What experts know about any topic is always infinitely less than what they don’t know.
即使你成為一名專家，你依然相當(dāng)無知。對(duì)于任何話題，專家們不知道的總是比他們知道的多得多。
Obviously, you can’t be whatever you want to be. The trick is to work out what you should be.
顯然，你不能成為你想成為的任何人。關(guān)鍵是要弄清楚你應(yīng)該成為什么人。
