生命中什么最重要？

生命中什么最重要？财富？幸福？爱？这些固然重要，但最重要的是良好的价值观。价值观是什么？是我们认为比自己的情感更重要的东西。比如所有人都喜欢吃垃圾食品，但如果你毫无节制地吃，你会落得肥胖和不健康。那么，是什么阻止人们无节制地吃喜爱的食物呢？答案就是良好的价值观。实际上良好价值观之缺乏是世界上几乎一切错事之源。只需五分钟，学习一下为什么我们的行动应基于价值观而非情感。

中英对照文本

翻译：mangosteen | 校对：FungChuh

I'm going to talk to you about the most important thing you will ever have. Now try to guess what that might be.

我要和你谈谈你拥有过最重要的东西。猜猜会是什么？

For example, is it money? Well it's certainly better to have money than not to, but it's definitely not the most important thing you can have -- just ask all the rich people who are very unhappy -- or, even better, read about what happen to most of the people who have won tens of millions of dollars in a lottery. Most of these people actually became less happy, not more. 

比如，是财富吗？有钱当然比没钱好，但这肯定不是你能拥有的最重要的东西——尽管问问那些非常不快乐的富人——甚至最好了解一下大多数中了数百万美元彩票的人发生了什么。这些人中大多实际上变得没那么快乐，而不是更快乐了。

So alright, then, what about love -- is that the most important thing you could ever have? Well, love sure is important. I can't imagine living without it. I treasure the love of my friends and the love of my family, but if you don't have the thing I'm about to tell you, you won't receive much love at all.

那么好吧，那爱呢——这是你能拥有的最重要的东西吗？没错，爱肯定是重要的。我无法想象没有它的生活。我珍惜朋友和家人的爱，但如果你缺乏我即将告诉你的东西，你根本得不到多少爱。

So, let's try a third answer: happiness. Well, that, too, is very, very important. Who wants to be unhappy? But again, without the thing I will tell you about, there would be little happiness in the world. 

那我们试试第三个答案：幸福。对，这个也是非常非常重要。谁愿意不幸福？但同样，缺乏我要告诉你的东西，这个世界不会存在多少幸福。

So, here goes -- the most important thing you will ever have is -- drumroll please -- good values. Yes, good values. Now I know that may sound boring and I realize that it's possible that you may have never really thought about values or even know what I'm talking about.

开始吧——你能拥有的最重要的东西是——请击鼓——良好的价值观。是的，良好的价值观。我知道可能这听起来无聊，我也了解可能你从未真正思考过价值观，甚至不知道我在说什么。

So, let me explain. A value is something you think is more important than anything else -- more important than money, more important even than love, and even more important than happiness. And above all, values are what you consider to be more important than your feelings.

让我来解释一下。价值观是你认为比任何东西都重要的东西——比财富，比爱，甚至比幸福还重要。尤其是，价值观是你认为比你的情感更重要的东西。 

This is very hard for a lot of people to believe because we live in a time when people think that how they feel about something is more important than anything else, but that isn't so.

这对于大多人来说难以置信，因为我们生活在一个人们认为自己对事物的情感比其他东西都重要的时代，但并非如此。

Here's a simple example of the conflict between a feeling and a value. Just about everyone feels like eating junk food, but there's a big problem here. If you eat whatever you feel like eating you will end up obese and unhealthy. So then, what is it that stops people from eating all the food they feel like eating? The answer is a value -- that's right, a value. And what is that value? Not getting obese and staying healthy. 

举个情感和价值观之间冲突的简单例子。几乎所有人都爱吃垃圾食品，但其中有个大问题。如果你毫无节制地吃喝，你会落得肥胖和不健康。那么，是什么阻止人们吃自己喜欢吃的东西？答案就是价值观——没错，一个价值观。什么样的价值观？避免肥胖，保持健康。

There is, in other words, a necessary battle that goes on inside of most people: the battle between what they feel--in this case the desire to eat junk food -- and a value that they hold -- in this case staying healthy and looking good. Now as important as a healthy body is, this conflict between what we feel like doing and values, is even more important when it comes to how we treat other people, not just ourselves.

换言之，多数人心中都有一场无法避免的斗争：他们的感受——在这里是吃垃圾食品的欲望——对抗他们持有的价值观——在这里是保持健康和漂亮的外表。正如健康的体格非常重要，这种想要做的与价值观之间的冲突，在涉及我们如何对待他人，而非仅仅自己时显得尤为重要。

Here's one that will make you think. Imagine you're walking on a beach with the dog you love, when all of a sudden you look out at the water and you see your dog drowning. And imagine, too, that at the same time about 100 feet from your dog, a person you don't know -- a stranger -- is also drowning. Now, which would you try to save first?

这里有一个能让你思考的例子。想象一下你带着你的爱狗漫步在沙滩上，突然之间你望向水面，看到你的狗快要淹死了。再想象一下，与此同时离你的狗约三十米处，有一个陌生人也快要淹死了。你会先救哪个？

Just about anyone who loves their pet would feel like saving their pet first. But what if you value human life even more than an animal's life -- and you probably do. After all, you probably eat animals, but you wouldn't eat a human being. Then your value -- the unique preciousness of human life -- is in conflict with your feelings for your dog. 

几乎所有爱自己宠物的人想要做的是先救自己的宠物。但要是你重视人类的生命胜过动物的生命——你可能会这么想。毕竟，也许你会吃动物，但你不会吃人。那么你的价值观——人类生命独特宝贵——就与你对自己的狗的情感冲突了。

Here's another example. Imagine you are about to take an important test at school. If you cheat on that test, you may be able to avoid failing and maybe even get into a great school. But what if you have a value -- what we call a moral value -- that cheating is wrong? You sure feel like cheating, but if you have moral values, you know it's wrong to. Again, that battle between your feelings and a value. 

再举一个例子。想象一下你就要参加学校里的一项重要测验。如果你作弊，也许你能避免不及格，甚至可能进入一所非常棒的学校。但要是你有一种价值观——我们称之为道德观——认为作弊是不对的呢？你当然想要作弊了，但如果你拥有道德观，你知道这样做是错的。再次，你情感与价值观之间的斗争。

Almost everything that is wrong with the world comes from people either not having higher moral values, or not living by them, because they feel they want to do something else. 

世界上几乎所有的错事都出自要么不具备更高道德观，要么并不依此行事的人，因为他们想为所欲为。

People who murder feel like murdering, and they do what they feel rather than live by the value of preserving human life. People who steal feel that they want the thing that they steal, so they take what they feel like having rather than live by the value of not stealing.

杀人犯想要杀人，他们为所欲为，而非依照保护人类生命的价值观行事。小偷想要得到自己偷的东西，所以他们肆意夺取自己想要的东西，而非依照不要偷盗的价值观行事。

The list is pretty much endless, and that's why good values are the most important thing any of us can ever have. Without them, the world would be a very terrible place.

这样的例子难以穷举，这就是为什么良好的价值观是我们所有人能拥有的最重要的东西。没有它们，这个世界会成为一个非常糟糕的地方。

And finally, know this: the best people you know--meaning the nicest, kindest, and most honest--are people who battle their feelings every day of their lives. So should you. 

最后，明白这点：你认识的最好的人——就是最亲切，最善良，最诚实的人——正是每天与自己的情感作斗争的人。你也应该如此。

I'm Dennis Prager.

我是丹尼斯·普拉格。