"If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools" - Rudyard Kipling
Love this poem...especially these words....some resonate more when uve lived a few of these moments!

【生活中的美好Day15】2017.07.15-我想謝謝R.Kipling
關於英國詩人Rudyard Kipling的的經典詩句“IF”，
我喜歡尤克強教授的翻譯版本。願，我們都能成為這樣的男（女）子漢。

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream–and not make dreams your master,
If you can think–and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings–nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And–which is more–you’ll be a Man, my son!

如果（尤克強先生譯）

當被群衆瘋狂指責之際
如果你依然保持清醒
面對質疑時雖自信不移
但能諒解衆人的不信
不管等待多久仍秉持耐心
不以欺詐報復欺詐
不讓仇恨滋長仇恨
不盛氣淩人也不出口傷人

懷抱美夢而不脫離現實
深思熟慮但不好高騖遠
無論面對的是勝利或災難
都能夠看清其中的虛幻
還要能忍受自己說出的真相
被狡徒扭曲成欺世的騙局
或是眼看著心血已付諸東流
仍然堅守初衷忍辱重建

如果你敢將所有的籌碼
冒著孤注一擲的風險
輸了就重頭來過
一敗塗地仍咬緊牙關
如果你能重拾勇氣和豪情
貫注於當下的義務
即使一無所有仍堅持不懈
用毅力告訴自己：決不放棄

如果你面對群衆仍保有美德
或與權貴同行也不失掉本色
如果敵人或朋友都無法中傷你
如果人們認同你但不過於狎暱
如果你能善用無情的光陰
珍惜漫長賽程的每一刻
那你就能包容大地萬物
你才能算是個真正的男子漢！

每個新年，蕭叔叔都會重讀這首詩來警惕、勉勵自己。要做男神，mental and emotional maturity and stability，其實比六舊腹肌人魚線重要。共勉之。

蕭叔叔

If, by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!


蕭愷一，aka蕭叔叔。夢想做男神、現實是大叔的英文教學狂熱分子，law grad，哲學碩士dropout，語言學愛好者，以speak English like an educated native為教與學的終極目標。（facebook.com/siuhoiyat）