所谓选择
作者: 星竹 选择自 《家庭》
译者: 赖小琪
在判断儿子小哈特能否接班时，英国船王老哈特表现得犹豫不决，他拿不准儿子是否能担起船王的重任。于是，他开始向其他家族成员征求意见，要求他们帮着找出小哈特身上有什么缺陷，尤其是那些致命的。
When deciding whether Hart could be his heir, the British ship tycoon felt hesitant. He was not sure whether his son could take on the significant responsibility. Therefore, he began asking other family members for advice. He required them to point out Hart’s shortcomings, especially those fatal ones.
小哈特身上的弱点和不足很快便被一一找了出来：成长经历不够丰富；几乎没有经过什么风浪；社会经验比起老哈特相差甚远；不善于管理……意见一一击中小哈特的要害，令老哈特更加忧虑。
In no time, Hart’s shortcomings were pointed out one by one: He was inexperienced, not sophisticated and had not managerial skills. All these are to Hart’s real situation, which made the ship tycoon more anxious.
老哈特已经60多岁了，接班人不提早定下来，他无法放心。偏偏人们又找出了小哈特这么多的不足，一条条，一件件……小哈特的身上简直一无是处。老哈特沮丧至极：谁来接班的问题，在船王家族中遇到了前所未有的阻力。他只好先放下这件事不提。
The ship tycoon was in his 60s and he felt a must to settle his heir. However, all family members pointed out so many drawbacks of Hart. It appeared that there was no shining point on him at all. Therefore, he felt deeply disappointed that he could barely settle down who should continue his undertaking. At last, he had to put it aside for the moment.
一天， 老哈特去教堂时，把自己的苦恼讲给了牧师听。牧师听后笑了起来，说错误根本不在小哈特，而是在老哈特身上。“你只需如此这般……问题就会解决。”老哈特听完，半信半疑地回去了。
One day, when he went to the church, he poured out all his anxieties to the priest. The priest, after hearing the tycoon, could not help laughing, saying that it was not Hart’s fault and that the problem came from the tycoon himself. The priest then said, “You should follow my advice as follows…… then the problem can be solved.” The tycoon still felt suspicious and went back home.
回去之后，按照牧师的方法，老哈特重新发布消息，这一次，他要求大家帮着看看小哈特身上到底有什么优点。仅仅过了一天，人们就总结出一大堆小哈特的优点，一点不比之前提出的缺点少：他聪明，善于及时发现问题，做事肯下工夫，很容易与人打成一片……这么优秀的人，怎么不能继承船王的事业？当然能！
After coming back home, he followed the priest’s advice and released a new notification. This time he required others to point out Hart’s merits. After only one day, they came up with a wealth of merits that Hart had, not fewer than his shortcomings at all: He was smart, efficient to find out problems, working hard and getting well with others. How couldn’t such an exceptional person inherit the tycoon’s enterprise? Of course he could !
不久，小哈特顺利继承了老船王的工作，并很快使哈特家族的事业有了新的耀眼之处。事实证明，小哈特实在是优点多于缺点的人。
Before long, Hart inherited his father’s enterprise and added soon more sparkling points to the company. The fact justified that Hart’s had more strengths than weaknesses.
世上的许多决定，原本都在我们最初的决定中。所谓的选择，很多时候，都是被我们先入为主的担心所左右着。
There are many decisions in the world that should be made in our initial will. The so-called choice is indeed hindered from being made timely by our unnecessary worries. |
