趁年轻去旅游吧

　　The other night I had a conversation with a young woman who had a number of decisions ahead of her, one of which was whether she should go to grad school or travel the world.

　　不久前的一个晚上，我和一个年轻女孩聊天，她有很多事情拿不定主意，其中一个是她不知道是去研究所工作还是环游世界。

　　I told her to travel. Hands down. No excuse. Just go.

　　我告诉她应该去旅行。放下手头的一切。没有任何理由，去旅游吧。

　　She sighed. “Yeah, but…”

　　她叹了口气。“是的，但是……”

　　Never were more fatal words spoken.

　　但接下来，她并没有再说出什么致命性的话。

　　Yeah, but… what about debt?

　　是的，但是……欠的钱怎么办呢?

　　Yeah, but… what about my job?

　　是的，但是……工作呢?

　　Yeah, but… what about my boyfriend (or dog or car or whatever)?

　　是的，但是……我的男朋友呢(或小狗，汽车以及其他的东西)?

　　“Yeah, but…” is pernicious. Because it makes it sound like we have the best of intentions when really we are just too scared to do what we should. It allows us to be cowards, while sounding noble.

　　“是的，但是……”这句话很不好。听起来就好像我们很多美好的想法没有实现只是因为顾虑太多。 这句话听起来冠冕堂皇，其实只不过表明我们是懦夫。

　　Most people I know who waited to travel the world never did. Be careful of the yeah-but. The yeah-but will kill your dreams. I was so stirred by this conversation that I shared it with a group of about thirty young adults last night, many who were asking these very questions.

　　我认识的大多数人都有环游世界的愿望，却一直没有付诸行动。当心“是的，但是...” 这句话，它会扼杀你很多梦想。这次聊天在我心中掀起很大波澜，昨晚我跟一群30岁左右的年轻人说起这个话题，他们当中很多人问的也是这些问题。

　　When you get older, life seems to just sort of happen to you. Your youth is a time of total empowerment. You get to do what you want. As you mature and gain new responsibilities, you have to be very intentional about making sure you don’t lose sight of what’s important. So if you still have a reasonable amount of control over your circumstances，you should do what really matters. Because life won’t always be just about you.

　　随着年纪的增大，人生似乎愈来愈带着几分宿命的味道。年少的时光是唯一一段自己可以完全做主的时光。你可以做任何你想做的事。随着你逐渐成熟，不断扛起新的责任，你得时刻提醒自己不要忘了什么才是重要的。因此，如果你的生活仍然有一部分能够自由支配的话，应该去做那些重要的事情。因为生活不会永远只属于你一个人。

　　During early adulthood your worldview is still being formed. It’s important to stewardthis time —to give yourself opportunities to grow. A good way to do that is to travel.

　　刚成年时，你的世界观仍在形成期。如何管理这段时期非常重要，要给自己一个成长的机会。一个好办法就是去旅游。