The meaning of life in 60 seconds


It isn't 42 and you don't need sandals and beard to understand that there are 4 things that make life meaningful.
不必像寻找宇宙的终极答案那样，你也不需要凉鞋和胡须就能明白，有四件事情让人生变得有意义。

Firstly, helping others. The most meaningless life would be to have to roll a boulder up a mountain repeatedly. Because what makes life meaningful is doing something useful for other people. We often think that the nicest thing is to be served. But that's nothing next to the joy of serving others, fixing their hearts, teaching them trigonometry, helping them to burp. The meaning of life is service.
首先，是帮助他人。最无意义的人生莫过于反复推巨石上山。因为让人生变得有意义的是为他人做一些有益的事情。我们常常认为最美妙的事情是被人服务。但与服务他人、抚慰他们的心、教他们三角学、帮助他们打嗝所带来的喜悦相比，那简直不值一提。人生的意义在于服务。

It's also to make something that's better than we normally are. We're all a bit of a mess, anxious, furious, forgetful, so there's meaning in creating something superior: the train set that's more organized than we are, the garden that's pretty in a way we aren't always, the book that says what we normally can't.
人生的意义也在于创造超越我们自身的东西。我们都有点混乱、焦虑、愤怒、健忘，因此创造一些超越我们自身的事物是有意义的：比我们更有条理的火车模型，比我们更美丽的花园，以及能够表达我们通常无法言说情感的书籍。

Finding out how stuff works is also meaningful: gravity, a foreign language, computer code and best of all, who we are, what drives us, and what we should aim for.
探索事物的运作原理同样富有意义：比如重力、外语、计算机代码，而最有意义的莫过于了解我们自己——是什么驱动着我们，以及我们应该追求什么。

Lastly, meaning comes from connections with others. The opposite of superficial chat is when you show the vulnerable, scared parts of you to another person. The best way to kick-start a meaningful conversation just ask, "What are you really afraid of?" So that's the meaning of life.
最后，人生的意义来自于与他人的联系。浅层聊天的对立面是当你向他人展示自己脆弱、害怕的部分时。开启有意义对话的最好方式就是问：“你真正害怕的是什么？”这就是人生的意义。

词汇表
42 是科幻小说《银河系漫游指南》中由超级计算机深思给出的“生命、宇宙以及任何事情的终极答案”("The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is 42.)
sandal ['sænd(ə)l] 凉鞋，便鞋
beard [bɪəd] 胡须，山羊胡
roll a boulder up a mountain [ˈbəʊldə(r)] 将巨石推上山，常用来比喻完成一项非常困难或费力不讨好的任务
repeatedly [rɪˈpiːtɪdlɪ] 反复地，重复地
serve 服务，为…效力，为…工作
trigonometry [trɪɡəˈnɔmɪtrɪ] 三角学，三角函数
burp [bɜːp] 打嗝，打饱嗝
furious [ˈfjʊəriəs] 狂怒的，暴怒的；激烈的
forgetful [fә'getful] 健忘的；疏忽的
superior [sʊˈpɪəriə(r)] 更好的，质优的，出众的
computer code [kəʊd] 计算机代码
aim for 追求，力争，以…为目标
superficial [ˌsuːpə(r)ˈfɪʃ(ə)l] 表面的，肤浅的，缺乏深度的
vulnerable [ˈvʌlnərəb(ə)l] 脆弱的，易受伤害的
scared [skeə(r)d] 害怕的，恐惧的
kick-start [ˈkɪkstɑːt] 开启，迅速启动，刺激

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