碎金集 2021 Fortuitous Gold Nuggets 2021 第 07 篇 Section 07
六月 书写人生的笔在我手中 June: The Pen Writing Life Is in My Own Hands
返回 碎金集 2021 Back to Fortuitous Gold Nuggets 2021不久前，年级主任在休业式上曾用韦东奕的例子教导“高中学习的纯粹”，而学生处副主任又用大学的“精彩”激励我们学习。“精彩”和“纯粹”这都是很好很好的词，但却反映了截然不同的人生轨迹。
Not long ago, at the closing ceremony, the grade director cited the example of mathematician Wei Dongyi to preach “the purity of high school study,” while the vice director of student affairs invoked the “brilliance” of university life to spur our diligence. “Brilliance” and “purity” are both admirable words, yet they reflect starkly different trajectories of life.
韦东奕的成功在于什么？在于他把人生的意义倾注在数学上，再辅以过人的天赋，活成纯粹的人生。
Wherein lies Wei Dongyi’s success? It lies in pouring the entire meaning of his life into mathematics, bolstered by prodigious natural talent, living out an unadulterated, pure existence.
后浪们的成功在于什么？在于他们把有限的时间和金钱换成了与同龄人一起探索自我与世界可能性的旅程，在自己的圈子里相互认可。你可以说他们不纯粹，但不能否认他们的人生很精彩。
Wherein lies the success of the “Houlang” (new generation)? It lies in converting their finite time and funds into voyages of exploring the possibilities of self and world alongside their peers, achieving mutual recognition within their own circles. You might say they lack purity, but you cannot deny that their lives are immensely splendid.
那么，什么才是更好的人生？这时我们就要讲到“认同”一说。童年的时候我们较为纯粹，一本书、甚至于一张拼图就可以逍遥一下午。而长大之后，我们会越来越在意别人的评价与看法，这是社会性逐渐显露的一般现象。我们趋向他人的认同，从而最终达到自我的认可，这是人实现自我价值的唯一路径。
What, then, constitutes a better life? Here we arrive at the notion of “recognition.” In childhood we were relatively pure: a single book, or even a jigsaw puzzle, could entertain an entire afternoon. As we grow older, however, we care increasingly about the judgments and opinions of others—a natural manifestation of our emerging social nature. We gravitate toward the recognition of others to ultimately attain self-affirmation, which is the sole pathway through which human beings realize self-worth.
父亲常常批评我：“记住你读书是为了你自己！”这句话对又不对。第一层，我的分数只与我的答案有关，我的大学也和别人没有任何关系。然而第二层，考一个好分数乃至考一个好大学不都是一种取得社会认同的方式吗？只有外界的比较与评价，才能最终实现自我认可。读书，在人生尺度上讲，只是手段，不是目的。同样，所谓的“纯粹”与“精彩”也只是实现自我价值的两条路罢了，甚至于说社会最终的评价，也就是所谓的“重于泰山”和“轻于鸿毛”也不是一个人人生的完全意义。一切的一切在于我们对自我的认识有多透彻。
My father often reproached me: “Remember that you study for yourself!” This statement is both right and wrong. On the surface, my scores depend solely on my answers, and which university I attend has nothing to do with anyone else. Yet on a deeper level, isn’t earning high marks or gaining admission to an elite university a vehicle for securing societal recognition? Only through external comparisons and appraisals can self-affirmation ultimately be achieved. On the grand scale of life, studying is merely a means, not the end. Similarly, so-called “purity” and “splendor” are nothing more than two divergent avenues for realizing self-worth; even society’s final verdict—whether “weightier than Mount Tai” or “lighter than a swan’s feather”—does not encapsulate the complete meaning of a human life. Everything hinges on how profoundly we understand ourselves.
近来奥运冠军杨倩的破圈刷屏最引人注目的词就是清华大学和00后，我才发现，原来不知不觉00后就已经站到了世界舞台的中央。拿我最了解的围棋来说，那震惊世界的九零后一冠群都被叫做老将了，世界第一也被00后申真谞抢过。以前追的歌星，也要么是成家立业，要么销声匿迹。记得初中看b站视频，弹幕都在刷“高中生物”“高中物理”知识，当时憧憬着未来三年生活的美好，为自己年龄低带来的可能性沾沾自喜，而当自己真的即将成为高三，压力才后知后觉扑面而来，00后的每个人都不容易。
Recently, Olympic champion Yang Qian broke through the mainstream feed; the most arresting keywords were “Tsinghua University” and “post-00s.” Only then did I realize that, before we knew it, the post-00s generation had already stepped to the center of the world stage. Taking the game of Go that I know best, the group of world champions born in the 1990s who each held a single title that once shook the globe are now referred to as “veterans,” and the world number-one ranking has been seized by post-00 Shin Jin-seo. The pop stars I used to idolize have either settled down with families or vanished from view. I recall watching Bilibili videos in middle school where bullet comments incessantly referenced “high school biology” and “high school physics”; back then I daydreamed about the bliss of the three coming years, smugly relishing the possibilities afforded by my tender age. Yet when senior year truly arrived at my doorstep, pressure surged forward with delayed velocity: life is easy for no one in the post-00s generation.
这两年的最大感触就是生活变得越来越快，安逸的生活随着年龄一起飞速离开。回忆过去，2016、2019、2020三年都是深有感触的年份，2022看来将成为下一个，应该也是影响最深的一个。那么，我准备好了吗？
My profoundest impression over these two years is that life accelerates with terrifying speed; ease and tranquility vanish alongside advancing age. Looking back, 2016, 2019, and 2020 were all years of poignant transformation, and 2022 appears slated to become the next—and likely the most impactful of all. Am I ready?
要加油了！就像易卜生的一句很滥的话，社会就像一艘船，人人都要做好掌舵的准备。那只书写人生的笔，正在我自己手上。
Time to forge ahead! As Henrik Ibsen’s well-worn maxim goes, society is like a ship, and everyone must be prepared to take the helm. That pen which scripts life rests in my very own hand.