人的一生什么才是最重要的？我们一直在思考着。过一种有意义的生活不是一件偶然的事情，那不是环境的问题，而是选择的问题。
What will matter?
什么才重要？
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no days, no hours or minutes. All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
无论是否准备好，总有一天它都会走到尽头。 那里没有日出，没有白天，没有小时和分钟。 你收集的所有东西，不管你珍惜或忘记与否，它们都将流入他人手中。
Your wealth, fame and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
不管是你得到的或是你欠别人的，可你的财产、名誉和权势也都会变成和你毫不相干的东西。
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will finally disappear.
你的怨恨、愤慨、挫折和妒忌最终也将消失。
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will all expire.The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
因此，你的希望、抱负、计划以及行动日程表也将全部结束。 当初看得比较重的成功得失也会消失。
It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived.
你来自何方，住在穷人区还是富人区也都不重要了。
It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant. Your gender, skin color, ethnicity will be irrelevant.
你昔日的漂亮与辉煌也都不重要了，你的性别、肤色、种族地位也将消失。
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
因此，什么重要呢？ 怎么衡量你有生之年的'价值呢？
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built; not what you got, but what you gave.
重要的不是你买了什么，而是你创造了什么； 不是你得到了什么，而是你给予了什么。
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
重要的不是你成功了，而是你生命的意义。
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
重要的不是你学到了什么，而是你传授了什么。
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage and sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
重要的是每个行动之中都有正直和勇气的气概，伟大的同情心和牺牲精神，并且鼓励他人遵从榜样。
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
重要的不是你的能力，而是你的性格。
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.
重要的不是你认识多少人，而是在你离开后，别人会认为是个永远的损失。
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories of those who loved you.
重要的不是你想念谁，而是爱你的人想念你。
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
重要的是别人会记你多长时间，谁记着你，为什么记着你。
Living a life that matters doesn’ t happen by accident.
过一种有意义的生活不是一件偶然的事情。
It s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
那不是环境的问题，而是选择的问题。
Choose to live a life that matters.
选择有意义的人生吧！
美文欣赏:Fifty-percent Expectation 50%的希望
“对半理论”？！生活中有苦就有乐，有悲就有喜；乐极生悲，否极泰来大概就是这个道理。无论遇到什么事，都请保持一颗平常心。
Fifty-percent Expectation 50%的希望
I believe in the "50-percent theory". Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe life is a pendulum swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.
我信奉“对半理论”。生活时而无比顺畅，时而倒霉透顶，好坏参半。我觉得生活就像来回晃动的钟摆。读懂生活的常态需要时间和阅历，也正是这样才练就了我面对未来荣辱不惊的生活态度。
Let's benchmark the parameters: Yes, I will die. I've dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale.
让我们掂量这些点点滴滴：是的，我注定会死去。我已经经历了双亲的仙逝，一位友人的亡故，一位敬爱的老板的离逝，还有心爱宠物的死亡。当中一些变故突如其来，直击眼前；有些却长期折磨，痛苦不堪。糟糕的事儿，它们驻留谷底。
Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad things like coaching my son's baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he's swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassion so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered pile of Legos.
当然生活也不乏熠熠光彩：坠入爱河缔结良缘；养育幼子身为人父，训练儿子的棒球队，当他和狗在水中嬉戏时，摇桨划船前瞻后顾，感受他如此强烈的同情心——即使对蜗牛也善待有加，发现他如此活跃的想像力——即使零散的积木也能堆出太空飞船。
But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and thegood flip-flop acrobatically. This is what convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory.
但在它们发生期间有一片宽广的草坪，在那儿上演的各种好事坏事像耍杂技一样地翻新。这就是让我信服对半理论的原因。
One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone thatneighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal-- the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioner died,the well went dry, the marriage ended, the job lost, the money gone. I wasliving lyrics from a country tune -- music I loathed. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed my spirits.
有一年春天，我在一片容易被淹的低洼地过早种下了玉米，邻居们都为此嘲笑我。一番心血付之东流让我懊恼不已。接着我生命中最难熬的酷暑来临了--热浪袭人，酿至旱灾。空调失灵，水井枯竭，婚姻破裂，惨遭失业，积蓄挥空。我正经历某个乡村调频描绘的情节，我讨厌这种音乐。只有一支人气攀升的堪萨斯皇家棒球队的小组因他们的第一次出征世界大赛团结起来使我精神振奋。
Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the bad. Worse than normal wouldn't last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. They reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that I can thrive. The 50 percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals' recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.
回想那个可怕的夏天，我不久就明白了所有的好事坏事不过是正负抵消。不顺心的境遇不会延宕过久。太平时光是我应得的，我要尽情享受。它们给我新的活力以应对突如其来的险境，并确保我再度辉煌。对半理论甚至帮我在我喜爱的皇家棒球队最近的低潮中看到希望——这是一块艰难行进的新手们耕耘的土地，播种了，假以时日我们就可以收获十月的金秋。
Oh, yeah, the corn crop? For that one blistering summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination before heat,withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing corn from floods. That winter my crib overflowed with corn -- fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filled with kernels from heel to tip -- while my neighbors' fields yielded only brown, empty husks.
哦，对了，玉米收成？就那年炎热的夏天，庄稼地的湿度恰到好处，过早的种植使授粉避开酷热在顶梢干枯前完成，雨水稀少使地里长着的玉米免遭水灾。那年冬天，我的粮仓里堆满了玉米--饱满结实的玉米每株秆上结三个，每个玉米从底到顶端长满了玉米粒--而我的邻居们地里长出来的只是暗沉干瘪的壳。
Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.
尽管过去播种的收获没有达到50％的期望，而且将来也可能是这样，我仍然要为经历旱季依然丰收的玉米而坚守阵地。
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