AmbitionPerri KlassLead in 1 In college, my friend Beth was very ambitious, not only for herself but for her friends. She was interested in foreign relations, in travel, in going to law school. “I plan to be Secretary of State someday,” she would say matter-of-factly. One mutual friend was studying literature, planning to go to graduate school; he would be the Chairman of the Yale English department. Another friend was interested in political journalism and would someday editTimemagazine. I was a biology major. And I was interested in writing fiction. we were all smart-ass (自作聰明的滑頭) college freshmen, pretending the world was ours. We were smart college freshmen, and why should we limit our ambitions?在大學(xué), 我的朋友貝絲是非常有野心的, 不僅為自己, 也為她的朋友。她對(duì)外交關(guān)系、旅行、去法學(xué)院感興趣。我計(jì)劃有朝一日成為國(guó)務(wù)卿, 她說(shuō)得很實(shí)事求是。我們一個(gè)共同的朋友在學(xué)習(xí)文學(xué), 計(jì)劃去研究生院;他將成為耶魯大學(xué)英語(yǔ)系的系主任。另一位朋友對(duì)政治新聞感興趣, 有朝一日會(huì)編輯時(shí)代雜志。我是主修生物學(xué)的我對(duì)寫(xiě)小說(shuō)感興趣。我們都是自作聰明的滑頭大學(xué)新生, 假裝世界是我們的。我們是聰明的大學(xué)新生, 我們?yōu)槭裁匆拗莆覀兊囊靶模?3 Ive always liked ambitious people, and many of my closest friends have had grandiose (宏大的) dreams. I like such people, not because I am desperate to be buddies with a future Secretary of State but because I find ambitious people entertaining, interesting to talk to, fun to watch. And, of course, I like such people because I am ambitious myself, and I would rather not feel apologetic about it.我一直喜歡雄心勃勃的人, 我的許多最親密的朋友都有宏大的。我喜歡這樣的人, 不是因?yàn)槲铱释臀磥?lái)的國(guó)務(wù)卿做朋友, 而是因?yàn)槲野l(fā)現(xiàn)和有野心的人談話(huà)很愉快很有趣, , 只是看著也很有樂(lè)趣。當(dāng)然, 我喜歡這樣的人, 因?yàn)槲乙彩莻€(gè)有野心的人, 我不想對(duì)此感到愧疚。4 Ambition has gotten bad press. Back in the seventeenth century, Spinoza thought ambition and lust were “nothing but species of madness, although they are not enumeratedamong diseases.” Especially in women, ambition has often been seen as a profoundly dislikable quality; the word “ambitious” linked to a “career woman” suggested that she was ruthless, hard as nails, clawing her way to success on top of the bleeding bodies of her friends.野心已經(jīng)有了負(fù)面報(bào)道。早在第十七世紀(jì), 斯賓諾莎認(rèn)為野心和欲望 只是一種瘋狂的物種, 雖然它們沒(méi)有在疾病中被列舉出來(lái)。特別是在女性中, 野心往往被視為一種十分不討人喜歡的品質(zhì); 野心 一詞與 職業(yè)女性 聯(lián)系在一起, 表明她是無(wú)情的, 像釘子一樣堅(jiān)硬, 她是在朋友們的流血的身體之上謀取成功的。5 Then, in the late seventies and the eighties, ambition became desirable, as books with titles likeHow to Stomp Your Way to Successbecame bestsellers. It was still a nasty sort of attribute, but nasty attributes were good because they helped you look out for number one.然后, 在七十年代末和八十年代, 隨著帶著“如何踏著沉重的步子走向成功”標(biāo)題的書(shū)籍成為暢銷(xiāo)書(shū)，野心變得可取了。但它仍然是一個(gè)惡劣的屬性, 但惡劣的屬性是好的, 因?yàn)樗鼈儙椭愣嗵孀约褐搿? But what I mean by ambition is dreaming big dreams, putting no limits on your expectations and your hopes. I dont really like very specific, attainableambitions, the kind you learn to set in the career-strategy course taught by the author ofHow to Stomp Your Way to Success. I like big ambitions that suggest that the world could open up at any time, with work and luck and determination. The next book could hit it big. The next research project could lead to something fantastic. The next bright idea could change history.但我所指的野心是有遠(yuǎn)大的夢(mèng)想, 不去限制你的期望和希望。我真的不喜歡非常具體的, 可實(shí)現(xiàn)的 (可實(shí)現(xiàn)的) 的野心，就是你在職業(yè)戰(zhàn)略課程中學(xué)到的，由“如何踏著沉重的步子走向成功” 的作者所教那種野心。我喜歡大的野心, 這意味著，世界可以在任何時(shí)候開(kāi)放, 工作, 運(yùn)氣和決心。下一本書(shū)會(huì)取得巨大成就。下一個(gè)研究項(xiàng)目可能會(huì)帶來(lái)意想不到的東西。下一個(gè)靈光一現(xiàn)的想法可能會(huì)改變歷史。7 Of course, eventually you have to stop being a freshman in college. You limit your ambitions and become more realistic, wiser about your potential, your abilities, and the number of things your life can hold. Sometimes you get close to something you wanted to do, only to find it looks better from far away. Back when I was a freshman, to tell the truth, I wanted to be Jane Goodall（珍妮古道爾）, go into the jungle to study monkeys and learn things no one had ever dreamed of. This ambition was based on an interest in biology and severalNational Geographictelevision specials; it turned out that wasnt enough of a basis for a life. There were a number of other early ambitions that didnt *pan out（成功）either. I was not fated（命中注定的）to live a wild, adventurous life, to travel alone to all the most exotic（異國(guó)的）parts of the world, to leave behind a string of broken hearts. Oh well, you have to grow up, at least a little.當(dāng)然, 最終你必須停止成為大學(xué)新生。你限制了你的野心, 變得更現(xiàn)實(shí), 更明智, 你的潛能, 你的能力, 和你的生活能容納多少東西。有時(shí)你會(huì)接近你想做的事情, 但卻發(fā)現(xiàn)從遠(yuǎn)處看它看起來(lái)更好。當(dāng)我還是大一的時(shí)候, 說(shuō)實(shí)話(huà), 我想成為簡(jiǎn)古德 (珍妮古道爾), 去叢林里學(xué)習(xí)猴子, 學(xué)習(xí)沒(méi)有人夢(mèng)想過(guò)的東西。這一雄心的基礎(chǔ)是對(duì)生物學(xué)的興趣和幾個(gè)國(guó)家地理電視特輯;結(jié)果是生活的基礎(chǔ)不夠。還有許多其他早期的野心也沒(méi)有成功。我不是命中注定 (命中注定的) 過(guò)著狂野、冒險(xiǎn)的生活, 獨(dú)自前往世界上最奇異的 (異國(guó)的) 的地方, 留下一串顆破碎的心。哦, 你必須長(zhǎng)大, 至少有一點(diǎn)。 11 The world is full of disappointed people. Some of them probably never had much ambition to start with; they sat back and waited for something good and feel cheated because it never happened. Some of them had very set, specific ambitions and, for one reason or another, never got what they wanted. Others got what they wanted but found it wasnt exactly what theyd expected it to be.這個(gè)世界充滿(mǎn)了失望的人們。他們中的一些人可能從開(kāi)始就沒(méi)有什么野心;他們不采取行動(dòng), 坐等好事出現(xiàn), 然后感覺(jué)被欺騙了, 因?yàn)樗鼜奈窗l(fā)生過(guò)。他們中的一些人有固定的特別的的野心, 然而因?yàn)槟撤N原因, 他們從來(lái)沒(méi)有得到他們想要的東西。其他人得到了他們想要的, 但發(fā)現(xiàn)它并不完全是他們所期望的那樣。 12 The world is also full of people so ambitious, so consumed by drive and overdrive that nothing they pass on the way to success has any value at all. Life becomes one long exercise in delayed gratification（滿(mǎn)意）; everything you do, youre doing only because it will one day get you where you want to be.世界上也充滿(mǎn)了如此雄心勃勃，被欲望驅(qū)動(dòng)和超負(fù)荷消費(fèi)的人，他們?cè)诔晒β飞辖?jīng)歷的所有事情一點(diǎn)價(jià)值都沒(méi)有。生活成為了一個(gè)長(zhǎng)期的關(guān)于延遲滿(mǎn)足的訓(xùn)練;你所做的一切, 只是因?yàn)橛幸惶焖鼤?huì)帶你去到你想去的地方。 Medical training is an excellent example of delayed gratification. You spend years in medical school doing things with no obvious relationship to your future as a doctor, and then you spend years in residency, living life on a miserable schedule, staying up all night and slogging 苦干 through the day, telling yourself that one day all this will be over. Its what you have to do to become a doctor, but its a lousy 非常痛苦的或不愉快的 model for life in general. Theres nothing wrong with a little delayed gratification every now and then, but a job you do only because of where it will get youand not because you like itmeans a life of muttering to yourself, “Someday this will be over.” This is bad for the disposition.醫(yī)學(xué)訓(xùn)練是一個(gè)很好的延遲滿(mǎn)足的例子。你花了數(shù)年的時(shí)間在醫(yī)學(xué)院做和你的未來(lái)作為一個(gè)醫(yī)生沒(méi)有明顯的關(guān)系的事兒, , 然后你花了數(shù)年實(shí)習(xí), 按照一個(gè)悲慘的時(shí)間表生活, 晚上熬夜和白天苦干, 告訴自己, 總有一天所有這一切都會(huì)結(jié)束。要成為一名醫(yī)生，這是你必須做的。 但對(duì)于一般生活，它是一個(gè)非常痛苦的生活模式。時(shí)不時(shí)地有一點(diǎn)延遲滿(mǎn)足是沒(méi)有什么錯(cuò)的, 但是你做的工作僅僅是因?yàn)樗茏屇愕玫绞裁?-而不是因?yàn)槟阆矚g它-意味著你過(guò)著一種生活，你對(duì)自己喃喃自語(yǔ)的, 總有一天這會(huì)結(jié)束的。”這樣做是對(duì)性情不好的。 15 Of course, I try to be mature about it all. I dont assign my friends Nobel Prizes or top government posts. I dont pretend that there is room in my life for any and every kind of ambi