为你读书：Life is Like a Coffee 《生活是一杯咖啡》

如果生活是杯中的咖啡，工作、财富和社会地位就是那些杯子。它们只是维持生活的工具而已，并不改变生活质量。有时候，我们在过于关注杯子却忘了去品味咖啡。所以，不要成为杯子的奴隶……好好享受生活。

 

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and in life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - chatelaine, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

一群毕业生，各自在事业上都已有所建树，相约一起去看望他们年老的大学教授。谈话一会儿就变成了各自对工作和生活压力的抱怨。在用咖啡招待这些客人时，教授去厨房端来一大壶咖啡，并拿出各式各样的咖啡杯——陶瓷的、塑料的、玻璃的、水晶的，有看上去普通的、有价值不菲的、有做工精细的——让他们自己倒咖啡喝。

 

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

当所有学生手中都端了一杯咖啡后，教授发话了：

 

If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

“如果你们注意一下，就会发现所有好看的昂贵的杯子都被挑走了，剩下的只是那些普通的和便宜的。当然，每个人都只想拥有最好的，这很正常，但这也正是你们的问题和压力的根源所在。”

 

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other's cups.

“其实你们真正想要的是咖啡，而不是杯子，但你们却又都下意识去挑选最好的杯子，并观察别人拿到的杯子。”

 

Now consider this: Life is the coffee and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and do not change the quality of life. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided. So, don't let the cups drive you... enjoy the coffee instead.

“现在设想一下：如果生活是杯中的咖啡，工作、财富和社会地位就是那些杯子。它们只是维持生活的工具而已，并不改变生活质量。有时候，我们在过于关注杯子的同时却忘了去品 味上帝賜予的咖啡。所以，不要成为杯子的奴隶…好好品味杯中的咖啡。”

 

词汇点津：

alumni [ə'lʌmnaɪ] n. （统称）校友，毕业生

例句：I remember we took all these alumni around to look at all this stuff.  

我记得当时我们让所有校友，都围在那看这东西。

exquisite [ɪk'skwɪzɪt] adj. 精致的

例句：The Indians brought in exquisite beadwork to sell.

印地安人带了精美的珠饰来销售。

an assortment of 一些；一堆

例句：There was a huge assortment of groceries, a wide choice of dairy products, and seafood.  

那里有许多食品杂货店，有各种各样的乳制品，还有许多海鲜。