[交流] 【Lucy每周一送】中英文对照美文：要把握自己的节奏 已有14人参与

Who is setting your living standards for you?
是谁来为你制定你的生活标准呢？

A true story has it that one elder man decided to jog around the local high school’s football field. As he huffed and puffed along, a football team was in practice. The players soon started running sprints up and down the field. The man told himself, “I'll just keep running until they quit.”

有这样一个真实的故事：一位年长者决定绕着当地中学里的足球场慢跑。当他跑得气喘吁吁时，一支足球队正在训练。不久，队员们便开始从球场的一端跑到另一端，练习全速冲刺。这位老人自言自语道：“我要等他们不跑了再停下来。”

So he went on running. And they did the same. And he ran some more. And they kept running. He also kept running until he could finally run no more. He stopped in exhaustion. One of the players, equally exhausted, approached him and said, “Boy, I'm glad you finally stopped. The coach told us we had to keep running as long as the old guy was jogging!” He was watching them. They were watching him. He was letting them set his standard. They allowed him to set theirs.

于是他不停地跑，他们也不停地跑。他还在跑，他们也继续跑。最后他终于跑不动了，只好精疲力竭地停了下来。其中一个队员也累得精疲力竭，走过来对他说：“老兄，我很高兴你终于停下来了。教练告诉我们，只要那个老家伙还在跑，我们就不能停！”他看着他们，而他们也在看着他。他任由他们设定了自己的标准，而他们也把决定权交予了他。

My questions are these: Are you keeping pace with somebody else? Are you allowing other people to set your standards? What about your standards, or principles, for moral behavior? Or guidelines for what kind of attitudes you want? Do you keep pace with those around you, or do you decide yourself just how you will live your life? The truth is only you are qualified to determine what your standards will be.

我的问题是：你在跟着别人的节奏吗？你在让别人来设定你的标准？那么你自己在道德水准上的标准和原则呢？你想采取什么样的态度作为指导？你是跟着周围人的节奏，还是自己决定生活？事实上，只有你自己才有资格决定你的标准是什么。

Set your standards too low, and you'll know only discontent. Set them too high, and you may live an immeasurably full and worthwhile life, or you may not. Only when you reach for the best that is within yourself will you experience great living.

将你的标准定得太低，你只会感到不满；将标准定得太高，你也许会过上无比充实和意义非凡的生活，也许不会。只有当你达到自己内心的最高境界时，你才能过得很好。