To all my friends and loved ones
Love from me
Useful Perspective
謹(jǐn)以此文獻(xiàn)給我至親至愛的人們
這是一份愛的禮物
也是一席金玉良言
If the world is a Village of 100 People
——David J.Smith
Shelath Armstrory
If we could shrink①the earth's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the existing human ratios② remaining the same, it would look something like the following:
There would be:
57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 from the Western Hemisphere③, both north and south
8 Africans
52 would be female
48 would be male
70 would be non-white
30 would be white
70 would be non-Christian
30 would be Christian
89 would be heterosexual④
11 would be homosexual⑤
6 people would possess 59% of the entire world' s wealth and all 6 would be from the United States.
80 would live in substandard⑥ housing
70 would be unable to read
50 would suffer from malnutrition⑦
1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth
1(yes, only 1) would have a college education
1 would own a computer
When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.
The following is also something to ponder...
If you woke up this morning with more health than illness...you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week.
If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment⑧, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation...you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.
If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep... you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in dish someplace...you are among the top 8% of the world's wealth.
If your parents are still alive and still married...you are very rare, even in the United Stated and Canada.
Someone once said: What goes around comes around.
So...
Work live you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.
譯文對照
如果世界是一個一百人的村落
大衛(wèi)·史密斯
謝拉·阿姆斯壯
如果我們把全世界的人口按照現(xiàn)有壓縮為一個100人的村子,情況就會如同以下:
這個村子里有:
57人是亞洲人
21人是歐洲人
14人來自西半球的南、北美洲
8人是非洲人
52人是女性
48人是男性
70人是有色人種
30人是白人
70人是非基督教徒
30人是基督徒
89人是異性戀者
11人是同性戀者
6人擁有全世界59%的財(cái)富而且這6人全是美國人
80人的居住環(huán)境不達(dá)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)
70人是文盲
50人苦于營養(yǎng)不良
1人瀕臨死亡;1人正要出生
1人(是的,只有1人)會接受大學(xué)教育
1人擁有電腦
透過這個壓縮圖來放眼我們的世界,就會明曉接納他人、諒解以及教育是何等重要。
再從以下角度來想想看……
如果你早上醒來的時候健康無恙……那么,比起活不過這一周的百萬人來說,你真是幸運(yùn)多了。
如果你未曾經(jīng)歷過戰(zhàn)爭的危險、入獄的孤獨(dú)、嚴(yán)刑的苦楚、饑餓的痛苦……那么,比起世界上5億人來,你真是幸運(yùn)多了。
如果你冰箱里有食物,身上有衣服可穿,有屋篷遮蔽,有地方睡覺……那么,比起世界上75%的人來,你真是富足多了。
如果你銀行中有存款,錢包中也有錢,還能到某處消費(fèi)習(xí)菜……你便躋身在世界上最富有的8%人口當(dāng)中了。
如果你的父母依然健在,而且還在一起生活的話……這可是非常難得的事,即使是在美國與加拿大。
有人說過:我所付出的終將會回歸。
所以……
去工作時,猶如你不執(zhí)迷于金錢。
去愛他人,猶如你從未曾被傷害。
去舞蹈吧,猶如無人在一旁觀看。
去歌唱吧,猶如無人在一邊諦聽。
好好地生活,猶如這里是人間樂土。
細(xì)節(jié)鏈接
1.shrink:收縮, (使)皺縮, 縮短。例如:The dress shrank when I washed it.(這件衣服洗后縮水了。)/ The cloth shrinks in the wash.(這布一洗要縮水)/ He shrank with cold.(他冷得縮成一團(tuán))。此外,shrink還有退縮、回避之意。如:A shy man shrinks from meeting strangers.(羞怯的人怕見生人。)在美國俚語中,shrink也有神經(jīng)科醫(yī)生、心理醫(yī)生的意思。
2.ratio比, 比率, [財(cái)政]復(fù)本位制中金銀的法定比價。
3.Western Hemisphere: 西半球。
4.heterosexual:異性戀者。在口語表達(dá)中,人們經(jīng)常用I am straight來表示自己是異性戀者。
5.homosexual:同性戀者。具體的說法是:gay(男同性戀);lesbian(女同性戀)。
6.substandard: 標(biāo)準(zhǔn)以下的, 不合規(guī)格的。
7.malnutrition:營養(yǎng)失調(diào), 營養(yǎng)不良。
8.imprisonment:關(guān)押。
思晴小語
看了這段文字過后才恍然意識到自己是多么的幸福。甚至覺得,平時抱怨生活中不盡如人意的地方也是種罪過。It's really important to know that you have time to be a human being. Whatever happens, you're still in the mood to smell the flowers. A pity that not everyone realizes this beauty of relaxing.有時候想想,我們能夠作為一個獨(dú)立的靈魂生存在這個世界上,其實(shí)就是一種幸運(yùn)。我們應(yīng)當(dāng)心存感激地過好每一天才是。
所以,誠心地希望你——我的朋友,無論平常多么忙,記得給自己保留一個自然的空間,靜靜品味生活的各種滋味。有時候可能就是一杯清茶,一個孩子天真爛漫的笑容,都會給我們帶來特別美妙的感受。Every morning you open the window and greet the first beam of sunshine, a new day comes! 每天清晨,當(dāng)你推開窗,感受到清晨的第一縷陽光,這時你會發(fā)現(xiàn),嶄新的一天來了……