【愛壇文選】英文中的生活格言

 

 

 

(封麵圖片來自秋韻鼠標畫）

 

 

英文中的生活格言

（by晨楓）

 

 

BC有一段關於來自母親的生活格言，挺有意思：

It's not all about you. Take a number and get in line.
中國的獨生子女們似乎特別需要多聽聽這句話。世界不是你一個人的，地球不是為你轉動的。如果你習慣於以自我為中心的話，隻要想一想，別人也一樣以自我為中心，你對世界的理解就向靠譜走了一大步。

Find out for yourself或者Go look it up
好問是好事，但張口就問，不肯下一點起碼的功夫，做一點起碼的調查研究，這就不是好學，還是懶惰了。這樣問來的知識也多半記不住。學習最重要的部分是養成研究的習慣，不光滿足於事實，還要理解來龍去脈。過去可以查百科全書，現在可以上網百度穀歌，對疑問試圖自己解開，至少要試一下，解不開再問，不僅是對別人的尊重，也是對自己的尊重。

Nice or not? How to spot a fake
有人出於各種目的，在人前人後判若兩人。誰都不希望被這樣的人蒙騙，誰都希望會“看人”。看人最簡易的方法是看別人對待弱勢的人，比如店員、飯店上菜的。

I was right or I was right
有人喜歡爭，在誰那裏都要爭個輸贏，自己家裏人也一樣。大是大非問題應該爭個明白，但生活中有太多事情並非大是大非，有時候可以想一想：Do you want to be right, or do you want a relationship? because there will be no relationship if you always seek to be right in life。

Marriage, in a nutshell
有一個媽媽在未來媳婦快要過門的時候說到，if a man can't make himself a sandwich, he should starve。說得太對了！對於生活中起碼的、簡單的事情都不會做或者不屑做，這樣的人不值得親近。

 

（下麵是原文）

The best advice ever, from the mothers of the world.

31 January 2016You’ve heard it before. Probably from your own mum, But, here’s proof, as if you needed it, that she really did have all the answers.

We went to question and answer site, Quora, for some of the best pieces of advice from the world’s wise and long-suffering mums.
‘It’s not all about you’“Brilliant in its simplicity,” start-up lawyer, Antone Johnson, suggested the phrase from his mum: “It's not all about you. Take a number and get in line.”

Johnson’s mother taught him that other people are just as important in their own life-narratives as you are in yours.  The idea, he wrote, is particularly valuable for children as they learn to compromise, share, and live with others.
“No literary critic is standing by to critique your life story scene-by-scene,” he added. “Others are too busy being self-conscious themselves to pay much attention to your item of embarrassment or shame du jour.”

Find out for yourself
Meanwhile, Shannon Holman wrote that because she grew up “before the world wide web was invented. (‘The horror!’)” her parents’ favourite piece of advice was, ‘Go look it up.’

She wrote that her family was fortunate to have enough money to buy a set of encyclopaedias. And she feels lucky that she felt “the world was big enough that we could have a place in it, and it was wide enough that we weren't expected to already know all about it.”  

“So even though the World Book Encyclopedia of 1983, or whatever, didn't give me all the answers by any means,” she wrote, “it taught me that it was okay to ask questions and to not have all the answers, and that is the most valuable lesson I have ever learned.

Nice or not? How to spot a fake
Stephanie Vardavas wrote that when she was a little girl her mother advised her that if you want to find out whether a person is really nice or not, “observe the way that person treats salesclerks, waiters, and other people in service professions who can't defend themselves.”  Vardavas wrote:  “She was 100% correct, and I've never forgotten it. It is very useful in sorting people out.”

I told you I was right
Screenwriter, Ken Miyamoto, wrote that while his family love each other dearly they often have different viewpoints and perspectives which can “lead to many disagreements and overblown arguments, which leaves dear ‘ole mom in the middle.” 

“A few years back, during one of these major debates between my father, brother, and I, my mom said to me, ‘Do you want to be right, or do you want a relationship?’," he wrote.   

Now, when push comes to shove, he comes back to these words “because there will be no relationship if you always seek to be right in life”.  

Marriage, in a nutshell
Michelle Roses wrote that just before she walked down the aisle to marry her son, her mother-in-law told her, "Michelle, if a man can't make himself a sandwich, he should starve."

We couldn’t agree more.

 

 

 

[山菊按]：晨楓大俠也是【愛吱聲】的高產寫手~~~從政經到時尚，幾乎沒有他駕馭不了的領域，而且又快又好。以致世界範圍內有點啥風吹草動，愛友們就發記錄催他寫評論。征得晨楓本人同意，以後會把他的一些大作及時轉來給山菊的親友們分享（下麵的原文鏈接通到本文原址）！還願意讀到更多愛壇文章的朋友請關注shanju2016