12 truths I learned from life and writing | Anne Lamott · TED
作者安妮·拉莫特分享了她从生活和写作中领悟的12个真理，涵盖人生、家庭、信仰等主题，适合练习情感表达与人生哲理类英语内容。
My seven-year-old grandson sleeps just down the hall from me, and he wakes up a lot of mornings and he says,
我七岁的孙子就住在走廊那头，他每天早上都会醒来好几次，然后他会说……
"You know, this could be the best day ever."
你知道吗，今天可能会成为有史以来最美好的一天。
And other times, in the middle of the night, he calls out in a tremulous voice, "Nana, will you ever get sick and die?"
还有其他时候，半夜时分，他会用颤抖的声音喊道：“奶奶，你会不会生病然后去世呢？
I think this pretty much says it for me and most of the people I know, that we're a mixed grill of happy anticipation and dread.
我认为，这基本上就说明了我以及我认识的大多数人的感受：我们既充满了对未来的美好期待，同时也充满了恐惧。
So I sat down a few days before my 61st birthday, and I decided to compile a list of everything I know for sure.
在我61岁生日的前几天，我坐下来，决定把自己所确信知道的一切都列成一个清单。
There's so little truth in the popular culture, and it's good to be sure of a few things.
流行文化中的内容往往与事实相差甚远；因此，能够确定一些事情的真假是非常重要的。
For instance, I am no longer 47, although this is the age I feel, and the age I like to think of myself as being.
例如，我其实已经不再47岁了，尽管我仍觉得自己就是这个年纪，也喜欢这样认为。
My friend Paul used to say in his late 70s that he felt like a young man with something really wrong with him.
我的朋友保罗在七十多岁的时候常说，他感觉自己就像一个年轻人，只是身体里出了什么严重的问题。
Our true person is outside of time and space, but looking at the paperwork, I can, in fact,
我们真正的“自我”存在于时间与空间的之外；不过从这些文件来看，我确实能够……
see that I was born in 1954.
请注意，我出生于1954年。
My inside self is outside of time and space.
我的内在自我超越了时间和空间的限制。
It doesn't have an age.
它没有固定的“年龄”（即不受时间限制，可以一直使用）。
I'm every age I've ever been, and so are you,
我同时拥有我曾经经历过的所有年龄阶段；你也是如此。
although I can't help mentioning as an aside that it might have been helpful if I hadn't followed the skin care rules of the '60s,
虽然我忍不住顺便提一下：如果我没有遵循 20 世纪 60 年代的护肤方法，或许会更好一些……
which involved getting as much sun as possible while slathered in baby oil and basking in the glow of a tinfoil reflector shield.
具体做法是：全身涂抹婴儿油，尽可能多地暴露在阳光下，同时借助锡纸制成的反光板来增强阳光的照射效果。
It was so liberating, though, to face the truth that I was no longer in the last throes of middle age,
不过，面对这样一个事实——我早已不再处于中年期的“最后挣扎阶段”——真的让人感到无比解脱。
that I decided to write down every single true thing I know.
于是我决定把我知道的每一件真实的事情都记录下来。
People feel really doomed and overwhelmed these days, and they keep asking me what's true.
如今，人们感到自己仿佛被命运抛弃了，同时也感到不堪重负；他们不断问我：什么是真实的（即什么是事实）。
So I hope that my list of things I'm almost positive about
所以我希望这份我几乎可以确定会成功的任务清单能够有所帮助。
might offer some basic operating instructions to anyone who is feeling really overwhelmed or beleaguered.
或许可以为那些感到不堪重负或陷入困境的人提供一些基本的操作指南。
Number one: the first and truest thing is that all truth is a paradox.
第一点：最重要且最真实的一点是，所有的真理本质上都是矛盾的（即都包含自相矛盾的成分）。
Life is both a precious, unfathomably beautiful gift, and it's impossible here, on the incarnational side of things.
生命既是一份珍贵无比、美得令人难以言喻的礼物；但在现实世界中（即物质层面或肉体存在的状态下），我们却无法完全理解生命的真正意义。
It's been a very bad match for those of us who were born extremely sensitive.
对于我们这些天生就极其敏感的人来说，这场比赛实在是一场糟糕透顶的体验。
It's so hard and weird that we sometimes wonder if we're being punked.
这真的太难理解、也太奇怪了，以至于我们有时会怀疑自己是不是被人捉弄了。
It's filled simultaneously with heartbreaking sweetness and beauty, desperate poverty, floods and babies and acne and Mozart, all swirled together.
它同时蕴含着令人心碎的甜蜜与美好、极度的贫困、洪水、婴儿、痤疮，以及莫扎特的音乐——所有这些元素都被交织在了一起。
I don't think it's an ideal system.
我认为这并不是一个理想的系统。
Number two: almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes --
第二点：如果你把设备拔掉几分钟，几乎所有功能都会恢复正常。
including you.
包括你在内。
Three: there is almost nothing outside of you that will help in any kind of lasting way, unless you're waiting for an organ.
第三点：除了等待器官移植之外，几乎没有任何外界因素能够以持久的方式对你产生帮助。
You can't buy, achieve or date serenity and peace of mind.
你无法通过购买、努力或与他人约会来获得内心的宁静与平和。
This is the most horrible truth, and I so resent it.
这是最可怕的事实，我对此感到非常愤怒（或：非常不满）。
But it's an inside job, and we can't arrange peace or lasting improvement for the people we love most in the world.
但这其实是一种“内部操作”（即需要依靠相关内部力量才能实现目标）；我们无法为我们在这个世界上最珍视的人带来和平或持久的改善。
They have to find their own ways, their own answers.
他们必须自己寻找解决问题的方法，自己找到答案。
You can't run alongside your grown children with sunscreen and ChapStick on their hero's journey.
你无法在孩子们的“成长之旅”中一直陪伴在他们身边——给他们涂防晒霜、润唇膏，然后看着他们独自前行。
You have to release them.
你必须放它们自由。
It's disrespectful not to.
如果不这样做，就是一种不尊重他人的表现。
And if it's someone else's problem, you probably don't have the answer, anyway.
如果那是别人的问题，那么你很可能无论如何都找不到答案。
Our help is usually not very helpful.
我们的帮助通常并没有太大作用（或者说：我们的帮助往往并不能真正解决问题）。
Our help is often toxic.
我们的帮助往往具有“负面影响”（即反而造成伤害）。
And help is the sunny side of control.
帮助其实就是“控制”这一概念中积极、正面的一面。