英语PK台 第500期:一枚改变命运的耳环

 　　Around twenty years ago I was living in Seattle and going through hard times. I could not find satisfying work and I found this especially difficult as I had a lot of experience and a Master's degree.

　　大约二十年前，我住在西雅图，经历着人生中非常艰难的时光。我找不到满意的工作，尤其是我经历丰富还手握一个硕士学位，这感觉尤其令人难熬。
　　To my shame I was driving a school bus to make ends meet and living with friends. I had lost my apartment. I had been through five interviews with a company and one day between bus runs they called to say I did not get the job. I went to the bus barn like a zombie of disappointment.
　　说来惭愧，我靠着开校车这份工作来勉强维持生活，然后在朋友家蹭住。我已经没有了自己的公寓。我在一家公司面试了五次，然后有一天，我在出车途中被告知无法得到这份工作。我走进车库时，如同一个失魂落魄的僵尸。
　　Later that afternoon, while doing my rounds through a quiet suburban 1 neighbourhood I had an inner wave—like a primal 2 scream—arise from deep inside me and I thought "Why has my life become so hard?" "Give me a sign, I asked... a physical sign—not some inner voice type of thing."
　　那天下午晚些时候，当我例行出车经过一个安静的郊外街区时，内心突然一阵涌动——如同一声原始的尖叫，从内心深处升腾起来，我想：“我的生活为何如此艰难？”“给我一个信号好吗？”我恳求道，“一个看得见摸的着的信号，而不是什么内在的声音启示你之类虚幻的东西。”
　　Immediately after this internal scream I pulled the bus over to drop off a little girl and as she passed she handed me an earring 3 saying I should keep it in case somebody claimed it. The earring was stamped metal, painted black and said 'BE HAPPY'.
　　就在这声内心的尖叫刚过去，我停下校车，放下一个小姑娘，就在她经过我身旁时，她递给我一只耳环，说让我先保存着以防万一有人来认领。这个耳环是金属片质地，黑色，上面写着：“请快乐一点”。
　　At first I got angry—yeah, yeah, I thought. Then it hit me. I had been putting all of my energies into what was wrong with my life rather than what was right! I decided 4 then and there to make a list of 50 things I was grateful for.
　　一开始我很愤怒，是的，是的。我想。随后，它真正击中了我，原来我把所有的精力投诸到我的生活为什么一团糟上，而不是感恩那些顺境上。当即我就决定列一个表写出让我感激的人生50件事。
　　At first it was hard, then it got easier. One day I decided to up it to 75. That night there was a phone call for me at my friend's house from a lady who was a manager at a large hospital. About a year earlier I had submitted a syllabus 5 to a community college to teach a course on stress management. (Yup, you heard me.) She asked me if I would do a one-day seminar for 200 hospital workers. I said yes and got the job.
　　一开始有些难，慢慢地就容易多了。有一天我决定要扩增到75条。那天晚上，在朋友家有一个电话找我，来电者是一位女士，她是一家大医院的经理。大约一年前，我曾向社区大学提交了一份教授压力管理的课程提纲。（呵呵，就是你听到的没错）她问我是否可以为200个医院员工做一个一天的研讨会。我说没问题就接下了这个活。
　　My day with the hospital workers went very well. I got a standing 6 ovation 7 and many more days of work. To this day I KNOW that it was because I changed my attitude to gratitude 8.
　　和医院员工相处这天过得非常顺利，我获得了他们长时间地起立鼓掌，然后我又多得到了几天的工作。直到此时，我终于明白了，一切都是因为我改变了心态，心怀感激。
　　Incidentally, the day after I found the earring the girl asked me if anyone had claimed it. I told her no and she said "I guess it was meant for you then."
　　更巧的是，就在我拿到耳环的第二天，那个女孩儿问我是否有人认领它。我告诉她没有，然后她说：“那么我想它也许就是为你准备的。”
　　I spent the next year conducting training workshops all around the Seattle area and then decided to risk everything and go back to Scotland where I had lived previously 9. I closed my one-man business, bought a plane ticket and got a six-month visa from immigration. One month later I met my wonderful English wife and best friend of 15 years now. We live in a small beautiful cottage, two miles from a paved road in the highlands of Scotland.
　　接下来第二年的时间，我都用来在西雅图各地办培训专题讨论会，然后决定孤注一掷回到以前居住过的苏格兰。我结束了我的单身生意，买了一张机票，并从移民局获得了六个月的签证。一个月后，我就遇到了我那位理想的英国妻子，她也是我十五年的好友。我们定居在一个距大路约两英里远的苏格兰高地的一个美丽的小村舍中。
　　'THE ONLY ATTITUDE IS GRATITUDE' has been my motto for years now and yes, it completely changed my life.
　　“感恩是唯一的心态”多年来已经成为了我的座右铭，是的，它彻头彻尾地改变了我的人生。