英语美文-Giving Life Meaning 赋予生命真正的意义

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Giving Life Meaning
给生命以意义


有句话叫做“读史鉴今”。
读过历史之后，你才会发现自己的生命在历史的长河中，显得是多么微不足道。
多少曾经叱咤风云的历史人物，
在漫长的历史长河中，留下的不过是几页纸，或是几行字，
甚至只是个名字。
那么，生命的意义究竟是什么呢？
对于大多数人来说，生命的意义其实只是认知的意义，
有些人的认知，永远定格在了某种身份和标签上，
而有些人的认知，则会随着时间的推移和自我的成长，
不断突破原有的边界，达到新的认知层面。
而这个提升的过程，便是探寻生命意义的过程。 
今天分享一篇英语美文《给生命以意义》。




Have you thought about what you want people to say about you after you’re gone? Can you hear the voice saying, “He was a great man.” Or “She really will be missed.” What else do they say?
你有没有想过，你希望人们在你死后怎样评论你？你能否听到这样的说，“他是个伟大的人”或“人们的确会怀念她”，他们还会说些什么？


One of the strangest phenomena of life is to engage in a work that will last long after death. Isn’t that a lot like investing all your money so that future generations can bare interest on it? Perhaps, yet if you look deep in your own heart, you’ll find something drives you to make this kind of contribution---something drives every human being to find a purpose that lives on after death.
人生最奇异的现象之一就是，你从事的事业在你死后仍将长久存在。这和你用所的钱进行投资以便后人能从中获益不是如出一辙吗？也许，如果你审视自己的内心深处，你就会发现促使你做出这种贡献的驱动力-一种驱使每个人寻找在自己死后仍能继续存在的事业的驱动力。


Do you hope to memorialize your name? Have a name that is whispered with reverent awe? Do you hope to have your face carved upon 50 feet of granite rock? Is the answer really that simple? Is the purpose of lifetime contribution an ego-driven desire for a mortal being to have an immortal name or is it something more?
你希望自己的名字被人记住吗？你希望别人提起你的名字时心怀敬畏吗？你希望自己的面容被雕刻在50英尺高的花岗岩上吗？答案真的那么简单吗？贡献一生的目的难道终将一死之人想要获得不朽名声的自我鞭策的欲望？抑或是其他更伟大的事物？


A child alive today will die tomorrow. A baby that had the potential to be the next Einstein will die from complication is at birth. The circumstances of life are not set in stone. We are not all meant to live life through to old age. We’ve grown to perceive life as a full cycle with a certain number of years in between. If all of those years aren’t lived out, it’s a tragedy. A tragedy because a human’s potential was never realized. A tragedy because a spark was snuffed out before it ever became a flame.
今天活着的孩子明天就会死去。一个有可能成为下一个爱因斯坦的婴儿会死于出生并发症。生命的情形并不是固定不变的。我们并没有注定都要活到老年。我们已经认识到，生命是一个周期，其时间长度是特定的。如果这些时间没有被充分利用，那就是个悲剧，因为人的潜能还未实现，因为火花还没形成火焰就被扑灭。


By virtue of inhabiting a body we accept these risks. We expose our mortal flesh to the l