Ambition 抱負

It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world: with out demands, without abrasions, without disappointments. Competition would never enter in. conflict would be eliminated, tension become a thing of the past. Anxiety would be extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart.

一個缺乏抱負的世界將會怎樣，這不難想象。或許，這將是一個更為友善的世界：沒有渴望，沒有摩擦，沒有失望。競爭永遠不會介入；衝突將被消除。焦慮將會消失。時光不斷流逝，抱負卻早已遠離人心。

Ah, how unrelieved boring life would be!

啊，長此以往人生將變的多麼乏味無聊！

There is a view that holds that success is a myth, and ambition therefore a sham. Does this mean that success does not really exist? That achievement is at bottom empty? That efforts of people are of no significance alongside the force of movements and events. Now not all success, obviously, is worth esteeming, not all ambition worth cultivating. But even the most cynical secretly admit that success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that the true myth is that the actions of people are useless.

有一種盛行的觀點認為，成功是一種神話，因此抱負亦屬虛幻。這是不是說實際上並不存在成功？成就本身就是一場空？與諸多運動和事件的力量相比，人們的努力顯得微不足道？顯然，現在並非所有的成功都值得敬仰，也並非所有的抱負都值得追求。但即使是最為憤世嫉俗的人暗地裡也承認，成功確實存在，成就的意義舉足輕重，而把世界人們的所作所為說成是徒勞無功才是真正的無稽之談。

We do not choose to be born. We do not choose historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live: courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. No matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is about.

我們無法選擇出生，無法選擇父母，無法選擇出生的歷史時期與國家，或是成長的周遭環境。但是在這些無法選擇之中，我們的確可以選擇自己的生活方式：是勇敢無畏還是膽小怯懦，是光明磊落還是厚顏無恥，是目標堅定還是隨波逐流。我們決定生活中哪些至關重要，哪些微不足道。我們決定，用以顯示我們自身重要性的，不是我們做了些什麼，或是我們拒絕做些什麼。但是不論世界對我們所做的選擇和決定有多麼漠不關心，這些選擇和決定終究是我們自己做出的。我們決定，我們選擇。而當我們決定和選擇時，我們的生活便得以形成。最終構築我們命運的就是抱負之所在。