今天读到篇文章，觉得有点意思，节选翻译一下。题目是：You're Not Meant to Do What You Love。找到并实践自己所爱，应该是很多人的人生理想，但是作者不这么认为。
We’re doing people an incredible disservice by telling them they should seek and pursue what they love. People usually can’t differentiate what they really love and what they love the idea of. But more importantly, you are not meant to do what you love; you are meant to do what you’re skilled at.
当我们告诉别人去找寻并追求自己所爱时，这其实是有害的。人们通常无法区分他们究竟是爱事物本身，还是爱这么个想法。而且更重要的是，你生来就并非为了做你所爱，而是为了做你所长。
Imagine an aspiring doctor with a low IQ but a lot of “passion.” That person rightly wouldn’t make it through medical school, and you wouldn’t want them to. And if that person didn’t know better, an inferiority complex would ensue, prompting a lifetime of bitterness and feeling like a failure.
想象一下，一个人智商不够，但却身怀热情地努力学医。这个人根本无法从医学院毕业，而且你也不希望他真的成为医生。但是如果这个人没有意识到这一点，就会产生自卑情结，一辈子都活在痛苦之中，感觉自己是个失败者。
Premeditating what we think we’d love to do without actually being in the thick of it is the beginning of the problem and having too much ego to scrap it and start over is the end.
在真正实践之前，便想象自己的所爱，这就是问题的开端。如果由于自尊心做祟，无法认清现实重新开始，那么问题就会更加严重。
When we try to anticipate what we’d love, we’re running on a projection – an assumption. Almost everybody believes they have the talent to succeed at the thing they really love. Needless to say, not everybody is correct. If everybody did what they thought they loved, the important things wouldn’t get done.
当我们想象自己所爱时，这只是设想和假设。对于自己真正热爱的事物，几乎所有人都相信自己有足够的才华去与之匹配并取得成功。毫无疑问，并非每个人都如此。如果所有人都只做自己所爱的事情，那么世界上很多重要的事情根本没人去做了。
To function as a society, there are labors that are necessary. Someone has to do them. Is that person robbed of a life of passion because they had to choose a life of skill and purpose? No, of course not. You can choose what you love to do, simply by how you think of it and what you focus on. Everything is work. Everything is work. Everything is work.
对于社会的运转来说，有些工作是必须的。这些工作必须有人去做。难道因为这些人以技能和目标达成来度过人生，他们就被剥夺了以热爱度过人生的选择吗？不，当然不。你可以凭自己的想法和偏好，来选择想要做的事情。一切都是工作。一切都是工作。一切都是工作。
There are few jobs that are fundamentally “easier” than others, whether by virtue of manual labor or brainpower. There is only finding a job that suits you enough that the work doesn’t feel excruciating. There is only finding what you are skilled at, and then learning to be thankful. The real joy of daily work is in what we have to give. We are not fulfilled by what we can seek to please us, but what we can build and offer. It is not fame, or money, or recognition that makes for a thoroughly meaningful life – it is how we put our gifts to use; it is how we give.
从体力和脑力强度来说，有些工作会“容易”一些。只有找到合适的工作，才会让人觉得不痛苦。只有找到你擅长的事物，然后学会感恩。日常工作的真正乐趣在于我们给予的东西。赋予人生意义的并不是我们找来悦已的东西，而在于我们的建造和给予。赋予人生意义的并不是知名度、钱财或者声望，而在于我们发挥天分，在于给予。
Think about the structure of the phrase: “Do what you have to give.” What you have to give – what is already within you. Your gifts are not random; they are a blueprint for your destiny.
让我们思考一下下面这句话的结构：做你所有的。“你所有的”东西已经在你的资源包里了。你的天分并不是随机的，它们是你人生的蓝图。
There’s more to your life than just what you think will make you happy. Your real talents may not stroke your ego as much, but if you apply to them the kind of higher thinking that allows you to find the purpose within them, you will be able to get up every single day and work diligently. Not because you are stoking your senses and stroking your ego, but because you are using what you have. You are doing what you came here to do.
除了你认为能让自己快乐的事物，人生要丰富得多。你真正的才华也许并不能让你放飞自我，但是如果你能够从中找到意义，你就能够乐于工作每一天。这并不是因为你的感受和自我得到了释放，而是因为你充分使用了你所拥有的才华。你所做的，正是你来到这个世界的原因。