雙語哲理美文：青年應該知道的事
摘錄：以前，我很容易失去信心。失敗對我來說代表着輸家，一時的失敗好似餘生都會窮困潦倒。呵!那時我離真相有多遠?失敗能夠幫你塑造人格。助你成長爲比以往更強大的人。失敗無價。並且坦白講，每個人都應該經歷一段時期的失敗。
雙語哲理美文：青年時期應該知道的10件事情
我的青年時期於我來說複雜且混沌。那時很敏感，又經常受挫，對每件事情都充滿焦慮。我對個人理財不屑一顧，也沒有心思跟別人真心交流。毫無疑問，我渴望太多的事情在我青少年時期就已知曉。所以我決定與其裝在心裏，默默緬懷，不如拿出來與大家分享。我也下定決心不再後悔—豐富的智慧和對當下更高的崇尚，將是我列出清單的動力。
Life as a teenager was complicated and chaotic for me. I had too many feelings, frustrations, and too much anxiety about everything. I had placed no value on personal finance, and I had no desire to really talk with anyone. Needless to say, there are a lot of things I wish I knew when I was still in my teens. Instead of bottling them all up and just wishing for the best to come, I’ve decided to share them with you. I’ve decided that there will be no more regrets–an ample amount of wisdom and a greater appreciation for today will be my greatest drivers in the production of this list.
心跳加速?那根本不是愛情。
Those butterflies in your stomach? That’s not love at all.
The top item on my “things I wish I knew when I was a teenager” list is about attraction. I wish I had known that feeling flushed, embarrassed and flustered mean you are nervous, not that you’re in love. It’s not that I was too young to fall in love: it’s that I was too self-absorbed and caught up in my own world that caring for someone else didn’t really make sense back then.
關於吸引，我列在了“那些我希望在青少年時期知道的事情”清單之首。我希望我當時可以明白臉紅，尷尬和慌張只是意味着緊張，而非愛情。這不是說我那會太年輕，承擔不了愛：而是我太自以爲是，太過於沉迷在自己的世界裏，以爲關心別人沒有實際意義。
不要鋪張浪費-那錢不是你掙來的!
Don’t go into a spending frenzy–you didn’t earn that money!
回首往昔，過去的消費習慣讓我不寒而慄。那會兒只要我拿到了生活費，就沒有節制地去花，從來沒考慮過存一點。我希望我當時明白—並且真正重視—錢是如何掙來的。
Looking back, I shudder and cringe when I remember my past spending habits. Whenever I received my allowance back then, I never stopped and thought about saving some of it. I wish I had known–and really valued–the way money was earned.
Failure doesn’t mean you’re weak.
失敗並不意味着你是弱者。
I was easily discouraged. I thought that failing meant losing and that being a failure meant you were going to be poor for the rest of your life. Ha! How far was I from the truth? Failure is helpful in shaping your character. It helps you develop and come out stronger than before. Failure is priceless. And frankly, everyone deserves to fail once in a while.
以前，我很容易失去信心。失敗對我來說代表着輸家，一時的失敗好似餘生都會窮困潦倒。呵!那時我離真相有多遠?失敗能夠幫你塑造人格。助你成長爲比以往更強大的人。失敗無價。並且坦白講，每個人都應該經歷一段時期的失敗。
You’re never too young to invest.
投資趁年輕。
I know I said no regrets–but come on. Whenever I think about the thousands I’ve lost, the thousands I could have invested, I can’t resist slapping myself for being too ignorant. If you’re still in your teens, please. Do yourself a favor and start investing!
我知道自己沒有後悔—但聽我說。每當我想到與本該收穫的幾千塊擦肩而過時，我都恨不得因先前的忽視來扇自己幾耳光。如果你現在還出於青春年華，拜託了。爲自己做點好事，開始投資吧!
You can be who you want to be. I promise you.
你可以成爲你想成爲的人。我保證。
Sure, this sounds false, with all the bullies putting you down, all the mean teachers attacking your character and all the failures stressing you out, but it’s true. Don’t let anyone bring your dreams don’t need gold (gold-plated) medals, a bunch of certificates or an A+ every single time! People–or people who do matter–won’t really care about that.
當然，這聽起來像無稽之談，畢竟那些惡人打擊過你，刻薄的老師抨擊過你的人格，歷經的失敗又耗盡了你的精力。但別讓任何人貶低了你的夢想。你不需要金牌(鍍金)，不需要一堆的證書，也不需要每次都得A+!人們—或者有分量的人—不會在乎那些。
Gossiping, while fun, can be an energy-drainer.
用八卦來取樂只會消耗精力。
You need your energy so that you can do a lot of things. If you spend all your time and your energy gossiping, you’ll have imaginary power but little control over your life. Sure, there’s a bit of a fun in this activity, but all the negativity and emotional stress you’ll get aren’t going to be worth it.
你的精力是用來做許多事情的。如果你把所有的時間和精力都花在八卦上，那麼你的能量將化爲烏有，人生也會脫離掌控。當然，八卦可以帶來樂趣，但也會帶來不值得的消極情緒和緊張。
Emergencies happen. Please prepare for it in advance.
意外隨時發生。請提前做好準備。
Just imagine: if I had saved up at least 5% of my monthly allowance, I could have been better off financially by the time I graduated college. By that time, I would have an emergency fund already! I really wish I had known to save up early in my teens. Granted, I started when I was 19, but imagine if I had started at 13!
想象一下：如果我每月至少存下5%的生活費，那我大學畢業後的經濟狀況會更樂觀。那時，我早就該有一定的應急金了!我真希望在青少年時期能早早地存錢。還好，我19歲着手開始，那要是我早在13歲的時候就存了會是怎樣呢!
Read about the Law of Attraction.
理解“萬有引力”
No, I’m not talking about physical attraction here. What I’m saying is that it would have been better if I had known that my thoughts can be manifested through my actions! I would have spent more time thinking positively.
不，我這裏說的不是物理上的那個引力。我是說如果我早知道思想可以通過行動來產生引力的話，那會更好!我也將花更多的時間來積極思考。
It’s okay to not conform sometimes.
有時離經叛道一點也沒關係。
“Study hard, get good grades and find a great company to work for.” –No, you can actually consider entrepreneurship as well. “Don’t strive to be rich or you’ll be evil.”–It just depends on the person. Money just magnifies your inherent character. “Help will always come.”–Not necessarily. No one owes you anything, really, so it’s better for you to depend on yourself instead of other people.
“努力學習，取的好成績，然後找家好的公司工作。”—不，實際上你也可以考慮一下創業。“不要爲錢努力，否則你會成爲惡魔。”—這僅取決於個人。錢只會放大你的本質。“幫助總會來的。”—並不然。沒有人欠你什麼，真的，所以你最好還是依靠自己而非別人。
Start something.
開始一些事情。
Your teen years are the best time for you to create projects: put up a blog, write a novel, donate to charity, produce a song, read non-fiction books and basically start owning your life. You’re still young. You’ll still make mistakes. But the most important thing is that you’re making an effort, that you’re not afraid to try. Don’t wait until you’re old enough. This time will never happen! Now, let me ask you: are the things on this list also on your list?
對你來說青年時期是發揮創造的最佳階段：開通博客，寫小說，捐助慈善機構，寫歌，閱讀非小說類書籍，並且開始基本主宰自己的人生。你還年輕，仍會犯錯誤。但最關鍵的是你要努力做到不害怕去嘗試。不要等到行將就木才醒悟。時光一去不返!現在，容我問你：這列表上的事情會同樣出現在你的列表中嗎?
