【爱坛文选】英文中的生活格言

 

 

 

(封面图片来自秋韵鼠标画）

 

 

英文中的生活格言

（by晨枫）

 

 

BC有一段关于来自母亲的生活格言，挺有意思：

It's not all about you. Take a number and get in line.
中国的独生子女们似乎特别需要多听听这句话。世界不是你一个人的，地球不是为你转动的。如果你习惯于以自我为中心的话，只要想一想，别人也一样以自我为中心，你对世界的理解就向靠谱走了一大步。

Find out for yourself或者Go look it up
好问是好事，但张口就问，不肯下一点起码的功夫，做一点起码的调查研究，这就不是好学，还是懒惰了。这样问来的知识也多半记不住。学习最重要的部分是养成研究的习惯，不光满足于事实，还要理解来龙去脉。过去可以查百科全书，现在可以上网百度谷歌，对疑问试图自己解开，至少要试一下，解不开再问，不仅是对别人的尊重，也是对自己的尊重。

Nice or not? How to spot a fake
有人出于各种目的，在人前人后判若两人。谁都不希望被这样的人蒙骗，谁都希望会“看人”。看人最简易的方法是看别人对待弱势的人，比如店员、饭店上菜的。

I was right or I was right
有人喜欢争，在谁那里都要争个输赢，自己家里人也一样。大是大非问题应该争个明白，但生活中有太多事情并非大是大非，有时候可以想一想：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
有一个妈妈在未来媳妇快要过门的时候说到，if a man can't make himself a sandwich, he should starve。说得太对了！对于生活中起码的、简单的事情都不会做或者不屑做，这样的人不值得亲近。

 

（下面是原文）

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]：晨枫大侠也是【爱吱声】的高产写手~~~从政经到时尚，几乎没有他驾驭不了的领域，而且又快又好。以致世界范围内有点啥风吹草动，爱友们就发记录催他写评论。征得晨枫本人同意，以后会把他的一些大作及时转来给山菊的亲友们分享（下面的原文链接通到本文原址）！还愿意读到更多爱坛文章的朋友请关注shanju2016