There’s no rose without a thorn. This thought is absolutely necessary to prepare you to experience less pain and more joy in your journey of life.
人生固然有歡樂，但也一定不乏痛苦。有了這種認識和思想準備也是非常必要的，因為這樣會使你的生活增加歡樂而減少痛苦。
With a bird’s-eye view, you may realize something meaningful. During your school years, while joyfully acquiring knowledge you are also under the pressure of homework, examinations, and ranking. You face crises and agony. Meanwhile, all sorts of intricate affairs may happen between you and your classmates. In your youth, puberty may fill you with unrealized desires and send you into deeper perplexity.
鳥瞰人生，可略有領悟。上學時，有獲得知識的樂趣，便有做功課、考試、排名次的危機與痛苦。同樣，也有同學間相處的融合與糾結。青年時，春心萌動，幻想聯翩，難以實現，亦難免陷入困擾。
Entering marriage, you are actually in the center of all the contradictions—the matching of different personalities, enduring of family members, children’s schooling, financial management and so on, you may also fall into marriage crisis. As you age, your health may deteriorate and various troubles in your career and family may gradually emerge. Mid-life and old-age crisis will follow, leading you to your eternity.
結婚之後，實際進入了更多的矛盾之中；思想的落差、相處的困難、子女的教育、財務的爭執等等，也會陷入婚姻危機。隨後，年齡愈大，健康愈差，事業、家庭中的許多潛在矛盾會日益突出，因而又會有中年危機和老年危機，直至步入死亡。
We may therefore conclude that much of our life may not be spent in contentment. However, the things that discontent are, in fact, not useless since you may learn more from them than from the things that cheered you up.
所以說，人生在世，如意的事不足一二，不如意的則十有八九。但這“八九”不是負擔，而是有用的，因為人在痛苦中所學到的，要比在歡樂中所學到的多得多。
美文閱讀:成功就在彼岸
Everybody wants success. Some people aim for it; others just talk about it. We all know what it looks like when someone else has it. Often times it just seems like something too far out of reach.
每個人都渴望成功。有的人努力去爭取，有的人只是說說而已。我們都知道一個真正成功了的人是什麼樣的，但很多時候那個樣子看起來是那麼遙不可及。
The truth to success is closer than you think. It's just on the other side you have to want it enough, and be willing enough to get it.
實際上成功並沒有你想象的那麼遙遠。成功就在彼岸，只要你足夠期望、足夠想要實現它。
Fear is your biggest obstacle fear of failure, fear of the judgment of others; fear of actually succeeding. It will trip you up every time. It will cause you to make decisions that may seem “right” at the time, but they're preventing you from actually getting over that wall.
恐懼是你最大的障礙：害怕失敗，害怕他人的評判，害怕真正的成功。這些障礙會經常絆倒你，會讓你在看似正確的時候做出決定，但實際上他們卻阻礙了你真正翻越那道牆。
Success has no excuses. You either get it or you don't. The minute you find a reason not to take another step towards success is the moment you stop being successful. In the symphony of success, excuses are just noise.
成功沒有藉口。要麼真的實現，要麼就是未能實現。當你找到一個理由決定停止走向成功時，便是你停止成為成功之人的那一刻。在成功的交響樂中，藉口只是噪音。
On the other side of obstacles
成功在障礙的另一邊
Everyone faces changes; different ones at different times. We all handle the same challenges differently; we all have different results. It's how you handle each one and what you do with the results that count. An obstacle is something you either find a way around or allow to stop you. Remember, you've got to get passed obstacles in order to succeed.
每個人都會面臨改變，只是不同的人會在不同的時間（面臨改變）。我們都需要迎接同樣的挑戰，但結果卻不盡相同。差別在於你是如何應對每一個挑戰的，以及你如何應對每一個挑戰的結果。你要麼找到方法來解決它，要麼停止不前，這是你通往成功的一大障礙。記住，你必須跨越障礙才能走向成功。
On the other side of failures
成功在失敗的另一邊
Not everything works; even if it works for other people, the same thing just doesn't work for us. So what? Failure can either become an obstacle and an excuse or it can become your teacher in what not to do.
你並不是每件事都能成功；即使是同一件事，在別人身上或許成功了，但是在你身上卻不能。但那又怎麼樣？失敗要麼成為你的阻礙或者藉口，要麼成為你的良師益友，告訴你什麼該做什麼不該做。
It takes effort, commitment and follow-through
成功需要付出，需要承諾，需要堅持到底地不停嘗試
They call it aladder of success for a reason… because you need to climb it in order to get somewhere. It's not an escalator. You just don't stand there and let it do the work for you. You have to do the work yourself. Sometimes it will be easy; other times you'll be carrying a heavy load on your shoulders. The ladder remains the same. Success still waits on the other side. It's going to take determination and persistence on your part to get up and over that wall.
人們把通往成功的路稱作階梯，因為你需要不停地往上攀爬才能達到某個地方。但它不是自動扶梯，你不能只是站在上面並期待它直接將你運上去，你必須自己親自往上爬。有時候會很容易，有時候你會肩負重擔往上走。但梯子並沒有變，成功仍然在另一頭等著你。你需要做出決定，堅持不懈往上爬，並翻越那道牆。
Which side do you want to be on?
成功或者失敗，你想站在哪一邊呢？
美文賞析:夢想成就偉大
The question was once asked of a highly successful businessman, “How have you done so much in your lifetime?”
曾經有人問一個非常成功的商人“你的人生為何如此成功？”
He replied, “I have dreamed. I have turned my mind loose to imagine what I wanted to do. Then I have gone to bed and thought about my dreams. In the night I dreamt about my dreams. And when I awoke in the morning, I saw the way to make my dreams real.
他回答道：“因為我有夢想。我放飛我的心靈馳騁想象，想象我要做的事情。之後，帶著這些想象進入夢鄉，在夢裡我再次看見了我的夢想。當我第二天醒來時，我便找到了我實現夢想的'途徑”。
While other people were saying, 'You can't do that, it is impossible,' “I was well on my way to achieving what I wanted.” As Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the U.S., said: “We grow great by dreams.
而其他人則說“你做不到，那不可能”。“而我總是堅持實現自己夢想的路。”就像美國第28屆總統伍德羅·威爾遜所說“夢想成就偉大”。
“All big men are dreamers.” They see things in the soft haze of a spring day, or in the red fire on a long winter's evening.
“所有偉大的人都是夢想家。”他們在春天的迷霧中看到生機，在冬日夜晚的火苗裡看到希望。
Some of us let these dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nourish them through bad days until they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
而我們中的一些人卻讓夢想死去。而另一些人則養育和呵護著他們的夢想，哪怕經歷磨難，他們仍不放棄，直到有一天重見光明。所以只有那些真心希望並堅持夢想的人最終才能讓夢想成真。
So please, don't let anyone steal your dreams, or try to tell you they are too impossible. "Sing your songs, and dream your dreams, hope your hope and pray your prayer."
因此，請不要讓任何人偷走你的夢想，或者試圖告訴你夢不可能實現。“唱自己的歌，做自己的夢，給你的希望以希望，給你的祈禱以祈禱。”
美文賞析:從本心 做自己
There will never be anyone else like you in the future of the universe. That's why being yourself is more important than anything else.
宇宙中再不會有一個人和你一樣。這就是為什麼做自己比什麼都重要。
That's how life works: two steps forward, followed by one-and-a-half back as those who lost their power try to reverse the process.
生活就是這樣：向前邁兩步，接著後退一步半，而失去權勢的人努力想要逆轉這個順序。
Those who benefit most from the status quo are naturally the least interested in change, and they find allies in the fearful and the authoritarian. Conformity always includes a threat of punishment if you fail to fit in, whether it comes from ridicule, being shunned by others, or direct attack.
從現狀得益最多的人自然是最不希望改變的，他們與畏首畏尾者還有權威主義者結成聯盟。如果你不能適應隨大流，遵從一致往往有遭懲罰的風險，或是受人奚落，或是別人避之不及，甚至是受到直接攻擊。
There’s a more fundamental power behind the urgency with which authoritarian conservatives seek to suppress individuality. That power is lack of trust. Wise leaders and outstanding thinkers are alike in two things: they’re usually non-conformists —and they display a deep trust in the basic goodness, intelligence, and capacity for development of their fellow human beings.
權威主義派的保守者急不可耐要壓抑個性有其更為根本的原因，那就是缺乏信任。明智的領導和傑出的思想家有兩點是相似的：他們不隨大流，他們對他人的本善、才智和能力發展表現出高度信任。
In stark contrast, the most determined proponents of conformity have always been dictatorships. Under a dictatorship, any kind of variation from prescribed ways of thinking or acting is punished. Conservative thinkers often suggest too much freedom will lead to anarchy and the collapse of all standards.
與之對照鮮明的是，順從最為頑固的要素在於獨裁專制。在獨裁控制下，凡有悖既定思維和有違既定行為者都會受到懲處。保守派思想常告誡，過度自由會引發混沌無序、會破壞標準。
Being who and what you are is the most natural thing there is. There may be a cost. Some people, even some friends, will disapprove of you as you truly are and will let you know it. There will be setbacks along the way. Yet the price for being yourself can never be as great as the price you will pay for stepping aside from your basic nature: a price paid in frustration, dissatisfaction, and the hopeless realization of all that you might have been, but now can never attain.
做自己是最自然的事情。也許會有代價，一些人，有些甚至是朋友，會不認可真實的你，並且告訴你，一路都會有挫折。但做自己的代價永遠不會像違揹你的本心代價那麼大，背離自我的代價是挫敗感、不滿不悅、曾經可以企及的目標和願望，如今卻無望實現。
Take up the challenge. Conformity has very little to recommend it. Trust yourself and trust others. Mediocrity and inner frustration are the true price of conforming. Only those with the courage openly to live their dreams can ever hope to find lasting satisfaction with their lives.
接受挑戰吧。循規蹈矩沒什麼可以褒獎的。相信自己，相信他人。平庸無才和內心挫折才是默守陳規真正的代價。只有敢於實現夢想、心懷勇氣的人才能在生命中獲得源源不斷的滿足感。
