蟑螂带来的启示

蟑螂带来的启示

The Cockroach Theory

本文选自桑达尔·皮查伊——谷歌现任首席执行官的一篇演讲稿（有改动）。让我们跟随他的脚步，看一场蟑螂引发的闹剧。你会从中得到什么启示呢？

At a restaurant, a1)cockroach suddenly flew from somewhere and sat on a lady.

She started2)screaming out of fear.

With a scared face and3)trembling voice, she started jumping. Both her hands tried to get rid of the cockroach. Her4)panic made everyone in her group panicky.

The lady finally pushed the cockroach away, but…it landed on another lady. Then she continued the drama.

The waiter rushed forward to help. And the cockroach fell upon the waiter.

The waiter stood5)firm, calmed himself and6)observed the cockroach on his shirt. When he was confident enough, he took it with his fingers and threw it out of the restaurant.

Watching all this, I started wondering, was the cockroach the reason for their7)theatrical behavior? If so, then why was the waiter so calm?

It is not the cockroach, but the inability of those people to8)handle the9)disturbance caused by the cockroach, that disturbed the ladies.

I realized that, it is not the shouting of my boss or my wife that disturbs me. But it’s my inability to handle the disturbances caused by their shouting that disturbs me.

It’s not the traffic jam that disturbs me, but my inability to handle the disturbance caused by the traffic jam that disturbs me.

More than the problem, it’s my reaction to the problem that creates

10)chaos in my life.

词组加油站

get rid of 摆脱……

traffic jam 交通堵塞

1) cockroach ['kɒkrəʊtʃ] n. [昆] 蟑螂

2) scream [skriːm] v. 尖叫

3) trembling ['tremblɪŋ] adj. 颤抖的

4) panic ['pænɪk] n. 恐慌，惊慌

5) firm [fзːm] adj. 稳固的，沉着的

6) observe [əb'zзːv] v. 观察

7) theatrical [θɪ'ætrɪkl] adj. 戏剧性的，夸张的

8) handle ['hændl] v. 处理

9) disturbance [dɪ'stзːbəns] n. 骚乱，混乱

10) chaos ['keɪɒs] n. 混乱，纷乱

餐厅里不知道从哪儿突然飞进一只蟑螂，停在了一位女士身上。

她吓得大叫起来。

她表情惊恐，声音颤抖，又蹦又跳，双手止不住地想赶走蟑螂。她的惊恐让同伴们也慌张起来。

最后，这位女士总算把蟑螂赶走了，但是……它又落了在另一位女士身上。于是，先前那一幕再度上演。

服务生赶紧跑过来帮忙，后来蟑螂落到了他的身上。

服务生稳稳地站在那里，气定神闲，观察着自己衬衫上的蟑螂。当觉得万无一失的时候，他张开手指，一把抓住蟑螂，然后把它扔出了餐厅。

我在旁边看着这一切，心里不禁在想，是蟑螂让女士们这般惊慌失措吗？若是如此，那么为何服务生又能那般镇定呢？

其实，让女士们惊慌的并不是蟑螂，而是她们缺乏能力去处理蟑螂带来的慌乱。

我意识到，让自己烦扰的并非老板或妻子的大喊大叫，而是因为自己没法处理好由大喊大叫引起的不耐烦情绪。

让我烦躁的也不是交通拥堵，同样是因为自己没法处理好由交通拥堵引起的焦躁情绪。

生活会变得混乱不堪，不单是问题本身造成的，我面对问题的态度才是关键因素。