我们习惯于做确定性的计划，但人生本就是一场充满不确定的旅程，当下拥有的金钱可能明天会失去，当下拥有的房子可能明天会搬离，当下结婚的对象可能明天会离开，当下健康的身体可能明天就病了，没有什么是确定不变的。唯一不变的是一切都在变，唯一可靠的期待是做最坏的打算。
We tend to get very attached to plan As. We’ll get married, move into a house near the park, work in financial services, pivot into philanthropy and then end up in a cottage by the sea painting and looking after our grandchildren. Or we’ll become a famous actor, play in a selection of thoughtful dramas about the inner life and in time move into production or, perhaps, mentorship. And then life laughs and we get cancer or are fired; or say the wrong thing or declare bankruptcy or get tinnitus or go bipolar.
我们对A计划情有独钟，比如计划结婚，计划搬进靠近公园的房子，计划从事金融服务行业，然后转向慈善事业，最后在海边的小屋里画画并照看孙辈。又或者计划成为一名著名演员，淋漓尽致地演绎人的内心世界，然后逐渐晋级成为制作人，或者成为导师。然而，无常的生活总会讥笑我们，我们会得癌症或失业，或者我们会说错话，我们会宣告破产，会患上耳鸣，或者会患上躁郁症。
There are around 78 major organs in the body and each one of them can go spectacularly wrong in hugely florid and rapid ways. We’re surrounded by millions of people whose aspirations are actively or passively in conflict with our own. We are acutely fragile bundles of nerves and neurons adrift in a sharp-edged random universe. The chances of something going wrong are enormous – and they will.
人体大约有78个重要的器官，每一个器官都可能以惊人而迅捷的方式出现严重问题。我们与数百万人共同生活，他们的愿望可能会与我们的产生冲突，或显而易见，或暗潮汹涌。我们由一系列极为脆弱的神经元和神经丛构成，浪迹在这个棱角分明又混沌无序的宇宙中，出问题的几率是巨大的，而且问题总会发生。
What we therefore need, as much as an education in realising some of our dreams, is robust tutorship in making up alternatives. What might we do when the first marriage blows up? When the scandal hits? When our liver packs up? When our eyesight goes? When three best friends die? We should keep our grasp on all plan As tentative and light.
因此，我们除了需要接受实现梦想的教育之外，我们同样需要导师毫不动摇地帮助我们做好最坏的打算。当第一段婚姻破裂时，当丑闻爆发时，当我们的肝脏罢工时，当我们的视力衰退时，当我们的三位最好的朋友去世时，我们该怎么办？我们应该灵活掌控所有的A计划，并随时可以随机应变。
This is the person we’re married to…for now. This is the house we’re living in…at the moment. This is our reputation…at this point in time. Nothing is guaranteed. But then, fortunately, nor are our requirements for survival as fixed as we may have believed. We are creatures who – when we need to – will accept easily enough that the moment has come to die. And from this underused realistic muscle flows a much-underappreciated capacity to take difficult thoughts on board.
这只是我们当下结婚的人，这只是我们当下居住的房子，这只是我们当下得到的声誉，没有什么是绝对确定的。不幸中的万幸是，生存条件也并不像我们想象的那样固定不变。我们都是宇宙生灵，当需要面对时，死亡的降临也并不可怕。这种不常用的现实思维中涌动着一种不可低估的力量，我们可以利用它更好的应对生活中的复杂问题【译者注释：就是说虽然不常做最坏的打算，但这种打算很现实，能够帮助我们应对突发困难】。
We assumed that we’d always have two legs; now we’re going to have to make do with one. We thought we’d always be able to speak; now we need to type out our intentions on a computer. We imagined we’d never be single again; now we’re cooking for one. We thought they’d die first; now we’re arranging their funerals.
我们曾以为我们会永远拥有两条腿；现在我们不得不适应只有一条腿。我们曾以为我们会一直能够开口说话；现在我们不得不在电脑上敲打出我们的想法。我们曾以为我们永远不会再单身；如今我们只能自己给自己做饭。我们曾以为他们会先离世，现在我们正在筹备他们的葬礼。
The only prediction we can rely on is that life will, with ceaseless ingenuity, always outrun our finest predictions.
我们唯一可以依靠的预判就是：生活变幻莫测，创意无穷，永远超越我们最精心的谋划。
翻译：良哥
source: The School of Life
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