1.For me they normally happen, these career crises, often, actually, on a Sunday evening, just as the sun is starting to set, and the gap between my hopes for myself,
我经常对事业感到恐慌， 周日下午 晚霞洒满天空 理想和现实的差距
2.and the reality of my life, start to diverge so painfully that I normally end up weeping into a pillow.
是这样残酷 令我沮丧的只想抱头痛哭
3.I’m mentioning all this, I’m mentioning all this because I think this is not merely a personal problem.
我提出这件事是因为 我认为不只有我这么感觉。
4.You may think I’m wrong in this.
你可能不这么认为
5.But I think that we live in an age when our lives are regularly punctuated by career crises, by moments when what we thought we knew,
但我感觉我们活在一个充满 事业恐慌的时代 就在我们认为我们已经理解
6.about our lives, about our careers, comes into contact with a threatening sort of reality.
我们的人生和事业时 真实便来恐吓我们
7.It’s perhaps easier now, than ever before, to make a good living.
现在或许比以前更容易过上好生活
8.It’s perhaps harder than ever before, to stay calm, to be free of career anxiety.
但却比以前更难保持冷静 或不为事业感到焦虑
9.I want to look now, if I may, at some of the reasons why we might be feeling anxiety about our careers.
今天我想要检视 我们对事业感到焦虑 的一些原因
10.Why we might be victims of these career crises, as we’re weeping softly into our pillows.
为何我们会变成事业焦虑的囚徒 不时抱头痛哭
11.One of the reasons why we might be suffering is that we are surrounded by snobs.
折磨人的因素之一是 我们身边的那些势利鬼
12.Now, in a way, I’ve got some bad news, particularly to anybody who’s come to Oxford from abroad.
对那些来访牛津大学的外国友人 我有一个坏消息
13.There is a real problem with snobbery.
这里的人都很势利
14.Because sometimes people from outside the U.K. imagine imagine that snobbery is a distinctively U.K. phenomenon fixated on country houses and titles.
有时候英国以外的人会想象 势利是英国人特有的个性 来自那些乡间别墅和头衔爵位
15.The bad news is that’s not true.
坏消息是，并不只是这样
16.Snobbery is a global phenomenon.
势利是一个全球性的问题
17.We are a global organization. This is a global phenomenon.
我们是个全球性的组织，这是个全球性的问题
18.It exists. What is a snob?
它确实存在。势利是什么？
19.A snob is anybody who takes a small part of you and uses that to come to a complete vision of who you are.
势利是以一小部分的你 来判别你的全部价值
20.That is snobbery.
那就是势利。
21.And the dominant kind of snobbery that exists nowadays is job snobbery.
今日最主要的势利 就是对职业的势利
22.You encounter it within minutes at a party, when you get asked that famous iconic question of the early 21st century, “What do you do?”
你在派对中不用一分钟就能体会到 当你被问到这个21世纪初 最有代表性的问题：你是做什么的？
23.And according to how you answer that question, people are either incredibly delighted to see you, or look at their watch and make their excuses.
你的答案将会决定对方接下来的反应 对方可能对你在场感到荣幸 或是开始看表然后想个借口离开
24.(Laughter) Now, to opposite of a snob is your mother.
（笑声） 势利鬼的相反，是你的母亲
25.(Laughter) Not necessarily your mother, or indeed mine.
（笑声） 不一定是你我的母亲
26.But, as it were, the ideal mother.
而是一个理想母亲的想象
27.Somebody who doesn’t care about your achievements.
一个永远义无反顾的爱你，不在乎你是否功成名就的人
28.But unfortunately, most people are not our mothers.
不幸地，大部分世人都不怀有这种母爱
29.Most people make a strict correlation between how much time, and if you like, love, not romantic love, though that may be something,
大部分世人决定要花费多少时间 给于多少爱，不一定是浪漫的那种爱 虽然那也包括在内
30.but love in general, respect, they are willing to accord us, that will be strictly defined by our position in the social hierarchy.
世人所愿意给我们的关爱、尊重 取决于 我们的社会地位
31.And that’s a lot of the reason why we care so much about our careers.
这就是为什么我们如此在乎事业和成就
32.And indeed start caring so much about material goods.
以及看重金钱和物质的原因
33.You know, we’re often told that we live in very materialistic times, that we’re all greedy people.
我们时常被告知我们处在一个物质挂帅的时代 我们都是贪婪的人
34.I don’t think we are particularly materialistic.
我并不认为我们特别看重物质
35.I think we live in a society which has simply pegged certain emotional rewards to the acquisition of material goods.
而是活在一个 物质能带来大量情感反馈 的时代
36.It’s not the material goods we want. It’s the rewards we want.
我们想要的不是物质，而是背后的情感反馈
37.And that’s a new way of looking at luxury goods.
这赋予奢侈品一个崭新的意义
38.The next time you see somebody driving a Ferrari don’t think, “This is somebody who is greedy.”
下次你看到那些开着法拉利跑车的人 你不要想“这个人很贪婪”
39.Think, “This is somebody who is incredibly vulnerable and in need of love.”
而是“这是一个无比脆弱、急需爱的人”
40.In other words — (Laughter) feel sympathy, rather than contempt.
也就是说 － （笑声） 同情他们，不要鄙视他们
41.There are other reasons — (Laughter) There are other reasons why it’s perhaps harder now to feel calm than ever before.
还有一些其他的 （笑声） 还有一些其他理由，让我们比过去 更难获得平静
42.One of these, and it’s paradoxical because it’s linked to something that’s rather nice, is the hope we all have for our careers.
这有些矛盾因为拥有自己的事业 是一件不错的事
43.Never before have expectations been so high about what human beings can achieve with their lifespan.
但同时 人们也从未对自己的短暂一生 有过这么高的期待
44.We’re told, from many sources, that anyone can achieve anything.
这个世界用许多方法告诉我们 我们无所不能
45.We’ve done away with the caste system.
我们不再受限于阶级
46.We are now in a system where anyone can rise to any position they please.
而是只要靠着努力 就能攀上我们想到的高度
47.And it’s a beautiful idea.
这是个美丽的理想
48.Along with that is a kind of spirit of equality. We’re all basically equal.
出于一种生而平等的精神 我们基本上是平等的
49.There are no strictly defined kind of hierarchies.
没有任何明显的 阶级存在
50.There is one really big problem with this.
这造成了一个严重的问题
51.And that problem is envy.
这个问题是嫉妒
52.Envy, it’s a real taboo to mention envy, but if there is one dominant emotion in modern society, that is envy.
嫉妒在今日是一种禁忌话题 但这个社会上最普遍的感受，便是嫉妒
53.And it’s linked to the spirit of equality. Let me explain.
嫉妒来自生而平等的精神。这么说吧
54.I think it would be very unusual for anyone here, or anyone watching, to be envious of the Queen of England.
我想在场的各位 或是观看这个影片的众位 很少有人会嫉妒英国女皇
55.Even though she is much richer than any of you are.
虽然她比我们都更加富有
56.And she’s got a very large house.
住在一个巨大的房子里
57.The reason why we don’t envy her is because she’s too weird.
我们不会嫉妒她的原因是她太怪异了
58.She’s simply too strange.
她太怪了
59.We can’t relate to her. She speaks in a funny way.
我们无法想象自己与她扯上关系，她的语调令人发噱
60.She comes from an odd place.
来自一个奇怪的地方
61.So we can’t relate to her. And when you can’t relate to somebody, you don’t envy them.
我们与她毫无关联。当你认为你与这个人毫无关联时，你便不会嫉妒
62.The closer two people are, in age, in background, in the process of identification, the more there is a danger of envy.
越是两个年龄、背景相近的人 越容易陷入嫉妒的苦海
63.Which is incidentally why none of you should ever go to a school reunion.
所以千万避免去参加同学会
64.Because there is no stronger reference point than people one was at school with.
因为没有比同学 更强烈的参照点了
65.But the problem, generally, of modern society, is that it turns the whole world into a school. Everybody is wearing jeans, everybody is the same.
今日社会的问题是，它把全世界变成了一个学校 每个人都穿着牛仔裤，每个人都一样
66.And yet, they’re not.
但，并非如此
67.So there is a spirit of equality, combined with deep inequalities.
当生而平等的概念遇上现实中悬殊的不平等
68.Which makes for a very — can make for a very stressful situation.
巨大的压力就出现了
69.It’s probably as unlikely that you would nowadays become as rich and famous as Bill Gates, as it was unlikely in the 17th century that you would accede to the ranks of the French aristocracy.
今日你变得像比尔-盖茨一样 有钱又出名的机会 大概就跟你在十七世纪 成为法国贵族一样困难
70.But the point is, it doesn’t feel that way.
但重点是，感觉却差别很大
71.It’s made to feel, by magazines and other media outlets, that if you’ve got energy, a few bright ideas about technology, a garage, you too could start a major thing.
今日的杂志和其它媒体让我们感觉 只要你有冲劲、对科技有一些新颖的想法 再加上一个车库，你就可以踏上比尔的道路
72.(Laughter) And the consequences of this problem make themselves felt in bookshops.
（笑声） 我们可以从书店中感受到这些问题所造成的后果
73.When you go to a large bookshop and look at the self-help sections, as I sometimes do, if you analyze self-help books that are produced
当你像我一样到大型书店里的 自我帮助书籍类 如果你分析现在出版的这些自我帮助类书籍
74.in the world today, there are basically two kinds.
它们基本上分成两种
75.The first kind tells you, “You can do it! You can make it! Anything is possible!”
第一种告诉你”你做得到！你能成功！没有不可能！“
76.And the other kind tell you how to cope with what we politely call “low self-esteem,”
另外一种则教导你如何处理 我们婉转地称呼为“缺乏自信”
77.or impolitely call “feeling very bad about yourself.”
或是直接了当地称为“自我感觉极差”
78.There is a real correlationship, a real correlation between a society that tells people that they can do anything, and the existence of low self-esteem.
这两者中间有着绝对的关联 一个告诉人们他们无所不能的社会 和缺乏自信有着绝对的关联
79.So that’s another way in which something that is quite positive can have a nasty kickback.
这是另一件好事 也会带来坏影响的例子
80.There is another reason why we might be feeling more anxious, about our careers, about our status in the world today, than ever before.
还有一些其它原因造成我们对事业 对我们在世上的地位感到前所未有的焦虑
81.And it is again, linked to something nice.
再一次地，它也和好的概念有关
82.And that nice thing is called meritocracy.
这个好概念叫做“功绩主义“
83.Now everybody, all politicians on left and right, agree that meritocracy is a great thing, and we should all be trying to make our societies really really meritocratic.
现在，无论是左倾还是右倾的政治人物 都同意“功绩主义”是个好事 我们应该尽力让我们的社会崇尚“功绩主义”
84.In other words, what is a meritocratic society?
换句话说，一个崇尚“功绩主义”的社会是什么样的呢？
85.A meritocratic society is one in which if you’ve got talent and energy and skill, you will get to the top. Nothing should hold you back.
一个崇尚功绩主义的社会相信 如果你有才能、精力、和技术 你就会飞黄腾达，没有什么能阻止你
86.It’s a beautiful idea. The problem is if you really believe in a society where those who merit to get to the top, get to the top, you’ll also, by implication, and in a far more nasty way,
这是个美好的想法。问题是 如果你打从心里相信 那些在社会顶层的人都是精英 同时你也暗示着，以一种残忍的方法
87.believe in a society where those who deserve to get to the bottom also get to the bottom and stay there.
相信那些在社会底层的人 天生就该在社会底层
88.In other words, your position in life comes to seem not accidental, but merited and deserved.
换句话说，你在社会的地位不是偶然 而都是你配得的
89.And that makes failure seem much more crushing.
这种想法让失败变得更残忍
90.You know, in the middle ages, in England, when you met a very poor person, that person would be described as an “unfortunate.”
你知道，在中世纪的英国 但你遇见一个非常穷苦的人 你会认为他“不走运”
91.Literally, somebody who had not been blessed by fortune, an unfortunate.
直接地说，那些不被幸运之神眷顾的人，不幸的人
92.Nowadays, particularly in the United States, if you meet someone at the bottom of society, they may, unkindly, be described as a “loser.”
今日，尤其在美国 如果人们遇见一些社会底层的人 他们被刻薄地形容成“失败者”
93.There is a real difference between an unfortunate and a loser.
“不走运”和“失败者”中间有很大的差别
94.And that shows 400 years of evolution in society, and our belief in who is responsible for our lives.
这表现了四百年的社会演变 我们对谁该为人生负责看法的改变
95.It’s no longer the gods, it’s us. We’re in the driving seat.
神不再掌握我们的命运，我们掌握自己的人生
96.That’s exhilarating if you’re doing well, and very crushing if you’re not.
如果你做的很好，这是件令人愉快的事 相反的情况，就很令人沮丧
97.It leads, in the worst cases, in the analysis of a sociologist like Emil Durkheim, it leads to increased rates of suicide.
社会学家 Emil Durkheim 分析发现 这提高了自杀率
98.There are more suicides in developed individualistic countries than in any other part of the world.
追求个人主义的已发展国家的自杀率 高过于世界上其它地方
99.And some of the reason for that is that people take what happens to them extremely personally.
原因是人们把发生在自己身上的事情 全当作自己的责任
100.The own their success. But they also own their failure.
人们拥有成功，也拥有失败
101.Is there any relief from some of these pressures that I’ve just been outlining?
有什么方法可以解决刚才提到的 这些焦虑呢？
102.I think there is. I just want to turn to a few of them.
是有的。我想提出几项
103.Let’s take meritocracy.
先说“功绩主义”
104.This idea that everybody deserves to get where they get to.
也就是相信每个人的地位忠实呈现他的能力
105.I think it’s a crazy idea, completely crazy.
我认为这种想法太疯狂了
106.I will support any politician of left and right, with any halfway decent meritocratic idea.
我可以支持所有相信这个想法的 无论是左倾还是右倾的政治家
107.I am a meritocrat in that sense.
我同样相信功绩主义
108.But I think it’s insane to believe that we will ever make a society that is genuinely meritocratic. It’s an impossible dream.
但我认为一个完全彻底以能力取决地位的社会 是个不可能的梦想
109.The idea that we will make a society where literally everybody is graded, the good at the top, and the bad at the bottom, and it’s exactly done as it should be, is impossible.
这种我们能创造一个 每个人的能力都忠实地被分级 好的就到顶端，坏的就到底部 而且保证过程毫无差错，这是不可能的
110.There are simply too many random factors.
这世上有太多偶然的契机
111.Accidents, accidents of birth, accidents of things dropping on people’s heads, illnesses, etc.
不同的机运，出身 疾病，从天而降的意外等等
112.We will never get to grade them.
我们却无法将这些因素分级
113.Never get to grade people as they should.
无法完全忠实的将人分级
114.I’m drawn to a lovely quote by St. Augustine in “The City of God,”
我很喜欢圣奥古斯丁在“上帝之城”里的一句话
115.where he says, “It’s a sin to judge any man by his post.”
他说“以社会地位评价人是一种罪”
116.In modern English that would mean, it’s a sin to come to any view of who you should talk to dependent on their business card.
用现在的口吻说 看一个人的名片来决定你是否要和他交谈 是罪
117.It’s not the post that should count.
对圣奥古斯丁来说
118.And according to St. Augustine, it’s only God who can really put everybody in their place.
人的价值不在他的社会地位 只有神可以决定一个人的价值
119.And he’s going to do that on the Day of Judgement with angels and trumpets, and the skies will open.
他将在天使围绕、小号奏鸣 天空破开的世界末日给于最后审判
120.Insane idea, if you’re a secularist person, like me.
如果你是像我一样的世俗论者，这想法太疯狂了
121.But something very valuable in that idea, nevertheless.
但这想法有它的价值
122.In other words, hold your horses when you’re coming to judge people.
换句话说，最好在你开口评论他人之前悬崖勒马
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