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感谢所有为我早上喝的咖啡负责的人

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So, I don't like to boast, but I am very good at finding things to be annoyed about.

我平常不爱吹牛,但我真的很擅长找到让自己生气的东西。
It is a real specialty of mine.
这是我的特质。
I can hear 100 compliments and a single insult, and what do I remember? The insult.
假如听到100句赞美和一句辱骂,我会记得什么呢?那句辱骂。
And according to the research, I'm not alone.
而调查显示,会这样的不止我一个。
Unfortunately, the human brain is wired to focus on the negative.
不幸的是,人类的大脑天然更容易关注到负面信息。
Now, this might have been helpful when we were cave people, trying to avoid predators,
在我们还住在山洞的那个时代,为了避免被捕食,这个特质是很有用的,
but now it's a terrible way to go through life.
然而在现代社会它却很影响我们的生活。
It is a real major component of anxiety and depression.
它是焦虑症和抑郁症的主要原因。
So how can we fight the brain's negative bias?
那么,我们怎么战胜大脑的这种偏见呢?
According to a lot of research, one of the best weapons is gratitude.
大量调查显示,最好的方法之一就是感激。
So knowing this, I started a new tradition in our house a couple of years ago.
了解这个之后,我在几年前在我们家发起了一个新的传统。
Before a meal with my wife and kids, I would say a prayer of thanksgiving.
每次跟妻子孩子们吃饭之前,我会先进行祈祷跟感谢。
Prayer is not quite the right word.
祈祷可能不是太合适。
I'm agnostic, so instead of thanking God, I would thank some of the people who helped make my food a reality.
我是不可知论者,所以我不是感谢上帝,而是感谢那些帮忙把食物送上餐桌的人。
I'd say, "I'd like to thank the farmer who grew these tomatoes,
我会说:“我想感谢种西红柿的农民,
and the trucker who drove these tomatoes to the store, and the cashier who rang these tomatoes up."
还有把西红柿运到商店的卡车司机,还有帮我打包西红柿的店员。”
And I thought it was going pretty well, this tradition.
我觉得这个传统还不错。
Then one day, my 10-year-old son said, "You know, Dad, those people aren't in our apartment. They can't hear you.
直到有一天,我10岁的儿子说:“爸爸,这些人又不在我们公寓。他们听不见你的感谢。
If you really cared, you would go and thank them in person."
如果你真的想的话,你应该亲自去谢谢他们。”
And I thought, "Hmm. That's an interesting idea."
我想:“这个想法还挺有意思的。”
Now I'm a writer, and for my books I like to go on adventures. Go on quests.
我是个作家,为了写书我要去很多地方探险。去找灵感。
So I decided I'm going to take my son up on his challenge. It seemed simple enough.
于是我决定带上儿子一起接受挑战。这件事看起来挺简单的。
And to make it even simpler, I decided to focus on just one item.
为了让其再简单一点,我决定只专注一个东西。
An item I can't live without: my morning cup of coffee.
一个我不能没有的东西:早上的咖啡。
Well, it turned out to be not so simple at all.
事实证明这件事并没有那么简单。
This quest took me months. It took me around the world.
这次探险花了我好几个月。我跑遍了全世界。
Because I discovered that my coffee would not be possible without hundreds of people I take for granted.
因为我发现如果没有数百人的努力,我根本没有咖啡可喝。
So I would thank the trucker who drove the coffee beans to the coffee shop.
于是我准备感谢把咖啡豆运到商店里的卡车司机。
But he couldn't have done his job without the road.
结果发现,没有路,司机也运不了。
So I would thank the people who paved the road.
所以我应该感谢修路的人。
And then I would thank the people who made the asphalt for the pavement.
那我应该还感谢修路时铺沥青的人。
And I came to realize that my coffee, like so much else in the world,
然后我意识到我的咖啡跟世界上很多东西一样,
requires the combined work of a shocking number of people from all walks of life.
都需要大量的来自各行各业的人力合作。
Architects, biologists, designers, miners, goat herds, you name it.
比如建筑师,生物学家,设计师,矿工,牧羊人,应有尽有。
I decided to call my project "Thanks a Thousand."
我决定给我的项目起名叫“感谢一千人”。
Because I ended up thanking over a thousand people.
因为我最后感谢了一千多个人。
And it was overwhelming, but it was also wonderful.
压力很大,但感觉很美妙。
Because it allowed me to focus on the hundreds of things that go right every day, as opposed to the three or four that go wrong.
因为它让我关注到每天都在发生的上百件事,而不是我以为的三四件。
And it reminded me of the astounding interconnectedness or our world.
这也让我想起世界上这些惊人的内部联系。
I learned dozens of lessons during this project, but let me just focus on five today.
在这一项目中我学到了很多东西,但我今天只讲其中5个。
The first is: look up. I started my trail of gratitude by thanking the barista at my local coffee shop, Joe Coffee in New York.
第一个:寻找。我从感谢当地咖啡店的咖啡师开始,那个店就是纽约的乔咖啡。
Her name is Chung, and Chung is one of the most upbeat people you will ever meet.
咖啡师叫钟,钟可能是我见过的最乐观的人之一。
Big smiler, enthusiastic hugger. But even for Chung, being a barista is hard.
她总是给人大大的微笑和热情的拥抱。但即使这样,做咖啡师对她来说还是很艰难。
And that's because you are encountering people in a very dangerous state.
因为你要与这个非常危险的国度的人打交道。
You know what it is -- precaffeination.
你们明白的--咖啡因作用。
So, Chung has had people yell at her until she cried,
钟说曾有人对她大喊大叫,直到她哭出来为止,
including a nine-year-old girl, who didn't like the whipped cream design that Chung did on her hot chocolate.
其中还包括一个9岁的小女孩,因为她不喜欢热巧克力上面加的生奶油。
So I thanked Chung, and she thanked me for thanking her. I cut it off there.
于是我感谢了钟,她也因为我的感谢而谢谢我。我终止了对话。
I didn't want to go into an infinite thanking loop.
因为我不想进入一个没有尽头的感谢循环。
But Chung said that the hardest part is when people don't even treat her like a human being.
钟说她觉得最难受的时候,是因为顾客不把她当做人看待。
They treat her like a vending machine.
他们把她当做一个自动贩卖机。
So, they'll hand her their credit card without even looking up from their phone.
他们把信用卡递给她,眼睛都不从手机上移开。
And while she's saying this, I'm realizing I've done that. I've been that a-hole.
她说这个的时候,我意识到我也干过同样的事。我曾经也是这样的混蛋。
And at that moment, I pledged: when dealing with people, I'm going to take those two seconds and look at them, make eye contact.
那时我发誓:跟人打交道的时候一定要花几秒钟跟他们做眼神交流。
Because it reminds you, you're dealing with a human being who has family and aspirations and embarrassing high school memories.
因为它提醒你,正在跟你交流的是个人类,他也有家庭,有理想,有尴尬的高中回忆。
And that little moment of connection is so important to both people's humanity and happiness.
这个短暂的交流不仅对人性很重要,对快乐也很重要。
Alright, second lesson was: smell the roses. And the dirt. And the fertilizer.
好了,第二课是:欣赏玫瑰的同时也别忘了泥土和肥料。
After Chung, I thanked this man. This is Ed Kaufmann.
感谢了钟之后,我感谢了这个人。他叫艾德·考夫曼。
And Ed is the one who chooses which coffee they serve at my local coffee shop.
艾德负责挑选在我们当地咖啡店售卖的咖啡的品种。
He goes around the world, to South America, to Africa, finding the best coffee beans. So I thanked Ed.
他会走遍全世界,去南美,去非洲找最好的咖啡豆。于是我感谢了他。
And in return, Ed showed me how to taste coffee like a pro. And it is quite a ritual.
做为回报,艾德教了我怎样像一个专家一样品尝咖啡。这真的是个仪式。
You take your spoon and you dip it in the coffee and then you take a big, loud slurp.
拿起勺子浸到咖啡里,然后喝的时候发出响亮的声音。
Almost cartoonishly loud. This is because you want to spray the coffee all over your mouth.
就像动画片里那么响。这是为了让咖啡的味道充满整个口腔。
You have taste buds in the side of your cheeks, in the roof of your mouth, you've got to get them all.
人的脸颊还有上颚都有味蕾,你要把咖啡的味道都散过去。
So Ed would do this and he would -- his face would light up and he would say,
艾德这样做了之后--他的整张脸都明亮起来,然后他说,
"This coffee tastes of Honeycrisp apple and notes of soil and maple syrup."
“这种咖啡有脆苹果、土壤还有枫糖浆的味道。”
And I would take a sip and I'd say, "I'm picking up coffee. It tastes to me like coffee."
而我只会喝一小口,说:“我只是来挑咖啡的。对我来说,这就是咖啡味。”
But inspired by Ed, I decided to really let the coffee sit on my tongue for five seconds
但是艾德启发了我,我决定让咖啡的味道在口腔中停留5秒
we're all busy, but I could spare five seconds, and really think about the texture and the acidity and the sweetness.
我们都很忙,但我可以匀出5秒来品尝咖啡的口感和酸甜度。
And I started to do it with other foods. And this idea of savoring is so important to gratitude.
于是我开始也这样对待其他食物。这个品尝的方法对于表达感谢来说非常重要。
Psychologists talk about how gratitude is about taking a moment and holding on to it as long as possible.
心理学家说感谢就要多花点时间去保持这个心态,并让它留的尽可能久。
And slowing down time. So that life doesn't go by in one big blur, as it often does.
还有让时间慢下来。不要像往常一样让一大段时间飞快的流逝了。
Number three is: find the hidden masterpieces all around you.
第三是找到身边隐藏着的优秀的作品。
Now, one of my favorite conversations during this year was with the guy who invented my coffee cup lid.
我最喜欢的一段对话发生在今年跟帮我制作咖啡杯盖子的人之间。
And until this point, I had given approximately zero thought to coffee cup lids.
在那之前,我基本没有想过我的咖啡杯盖。
But I loved talking to this inventor, Doug Fleming, because he was so passionate.
但我很喜欢跟这位发明者讲话,道格·弗莱明,因为他很热情。
And the blood and sweat and tears he put into this lid, and that I had never even considered.
也因为我从来没留意过的这个他付出了血汗与泪水的咖啡杯盖。
He says a bad lid can ruin your coffee. That it can block the aroma, which is so important to the experience.
他说一个不好的咖啡杯盖会毁掉你的咖啡。它会挡住咖啡的香味,而香味对品尝咖啡是非常重要的。

感谢所有为我早上喝的咖啡负责的人

So he -- he's very innovative. He's like the Elon Musk of coffee lids.

于是他--他很有创新精神。他是咖啡杯盖届的埃隆·马斯克。
So he designed this lid that's got an upside-down hexagon so you can get your nose right in there and get maximum aroma.
于是他设计了这个盖子,上面有一个六边形的口,你可以把鼻子凑闻到更多香味。
And so I was delighted talking to him,
我跟他聊的很开心,
and it made me realize there are hundreds of masterpieces all around us that we totally take for granted.
他让我意识到我们生活中有很多优秀的作品被我们当成了理所当然。
Like the on-off switch on my desk lamp has a little indentation for my thumb that perfectly fits my thumb.
比如我的桌上台灯的开关处有一个刚好适合我大拇指大小的凹痕。
And when something is done well, the process behind it is largely invisible.
所以如果一件事做的好,其背后的许多过程都是不为人知的。
But paying attention to it can tap into that sense of wonder and enrich our lives.
但如果留心,我们就可以感受到这种奇妙,增添我们的生活乐趣。
Number four is: fake it till you feel it. By the end of the project, I was just in a thanking frenzy.
第四点就是假装去感谢,直到你真的想要感谢。项目快结束的时候,我谢谢别人已经谢谢到要疯了。
So I was -- I would get up and spend a couple hours,
我每天起床,然后花好几个小时的时间,
I'd write emails, send notes, make phone calls, visit people to thank them for their role in my coffee.
来写邮件、寄便签还有打电话、拜访那些在我的咖啡中扮演过重要角色的人。
And some of them, quite honestly -- not that into it.
说实话,其中有些人并不怎么喜欢我的感谢。
They would be like, "What is this? Is this a pyramid scheme, what do you want, what are you selling?"
他们会问:“这是什么?这是传销吗,你想干什么,你是卖什么的?”
But most people were surprisingly moved.
但大部分人很感动,这是出乎我意料的。
I remember, I called the woman who does the pest control for the warehouse where my coffee is served -- I'm sorry -- where my coffee is stored.
我记得我给一位负责提供,不好意思,是保管,保管仓库的咖啡豆不让它们生虫的女士打电话的时候。
And I said, "This may sound strange, but I want to thank you for keeping the bugs out of my coffee."
我说:“可能听起来很奇怪,但我想谢谢你保护了我的咖啡让里面没有虫子。”
And she said, "Well, that does sound strange, but you just made my day."
她回答说:“确实很奇怪,但你的话让我今天一天都很开心。”
And it was like an anti-crank phone call. And it didn't just affect her, it affected me.
这简直就像一个防骚扰电话一样。这个电话不仅影响了她,还影响了我。
Because I would wake up every morning in my default mood, which is grumpiness,
因为我平常每天早上起来都很暴躁,
but I would force myself to write a thank-you note and then another and then another.
但我会逼自己写感谢便签,然后再写一个,再写一个。
And what I found was that if you act as if you're grateful, you eventually become grateful for real.
我发现只要你的行动是在感谢,你最后就会真的心里充满感激。
The power of our actions to change our mind is astounding.
可以改变我们想法的行动的力量是惊人的。
So, often we think that thought changes behavior, but behavior very often changes our thought.
我们以前经常认为思维改变行为,其实行为也经常可以改变思维。
And finally, the last lesson I want to tell you about is: practice six degrees of gratitude.
最后,我想说的最后一课是:实践六度感谢。
And every place, every stop on this gratitude trail would give birth to 100 other people that I could thank.
在这次感谢之旅的每个地点,都会给我再增加100多个要感谢的人。
So I went down to Colombia to thank the farmers who grow my coffee beans.
我前往哥伦比亚感谢那些种了咖啡豆的农民。
And it was in a small mountain town, and I was driven there along these curvy, cliffside roads.
那是在一个小山村,我开车行驶在悬崖边上的一条弯曲的路上。
And every time we went around a hairpin turn the driver would do the sign of the cross.
每次一个急转弯,司机都会在胸前画十字。
And I was like, "Thank you for that. But can you do that while keeping your hands on the wheel? Because I am terrified."
我就说:“谢谢。但你做的时候手能不离开方向盘吗?我有点害怕。”
But we made it. And I met the farmers, the Guarnizo brothers.
但我们成功了。我见了那些农民,戈阿尼佐兄弟。
It's a small farm, they make great coffee, they're paid above fair-trade prices for it.
那是个小农场,他们的咖啡很好,卖价也比市价高。
And they showed me how the coffee is grown.
他们带我看了咖啡是怎么种的。
The bean is actually inside this fruit called the coffee cherry. And I thanked them.
咖啡豆实际上在这种叫咖啡樱桃的果实的里面。我对他们表达了感谢。
And they said, "Well, we couldn't do our job without 100 other people."
他们说:“如果没有其它100人,我们也没办法种好咖啡。”
The machine that depulps the fruit is made in Brazil,
给咖啡豆剥皮的机器来自巴西,
and the pickup truck they drive around the farm, that is made from parts from all over the world.
他们在农场开的运货卡车的零部件来自世界各地。
In fact, the US exports steel to Colombia. So I went to Indiana, and I thanked the steel makers.
实际上,美国还向哥伦比亚出口钢材。于是我去了印第安纳州感谢了钢材制造商。
And it just drove home that it doesn't take a village to make a cup of coffee.
这里要强调的是,制作一杯咖啡不是需要一个小村里面的人。
It takes the world to make a cup of coffee.
制作一杯咖啡需要全世界的人。
And this global economy, this globalization, it does have downsides.
这种全球经济,这种全球化,确实有其缺点。
But I believe the long-term upsides are far greater, that progress is real.
但我相信长期的优点是更明显的,进步是真实存在的。
We have made improvements in the last 50 years, poverty worldwide has gone down.
我们在过去50年一直在取得进步,世界范围内的贫穷已经大大减少了。
And that we should resist the temptation to retreat into our silos.
我们应该抵制那些退出全球化的想法。
And we should resist this upsurge in isolationism and jingoism.
我们应该抵制孤立主义和侵略主义。
Which brings me to my final point. Which is my hope that we use gratitude as a spark to action.
这就说到了我的最后一个观点。我希望我们可以把感激变成行动。
Some people worry that gratitude has a downside.
很多人担心感激的副作用。
That we'll be so grateful, that we'll be complacent.
比如我们把感激变成了恭维。
We'll be so, "Oh, everything's wonderful, I'm so grateful."
我们会说:“一切都特别好。我感激一切。”
Well, it turns out, the opposite is true.
然而事实证明恰好相反。
The research shows that the more grateful you are, the more likely you are to help others.
调查显示,你越是对生活充满感激,你越愿意去帮助别人。
When you're in a bad state, you're often more focused on your own needs.
当你处于一种不好的境地时,你会更加专注于自己需要的东西。
But gratitude makes you want to pay it forward. And I experienced this personally.
但感激会让你愿意先付出。这是我的个人感受。
I mean, I'm not Mother Teresa, I'm still a selfish bastard a huge amount of the time.
我不是特蕾莎修女,我一生中的很多时间也是个混蛋。
But I'm better than I was before this project.
但现在,我变得比这一项目开始之前的自己更好了。
And that's because it made me aware of the exploitation on the supply chain.
因为我了解到整个供应链的剥削制度。
It reminded me that what I take for granted is not available to millions of people around the world.
我还发现我习以为常的东西是世界上数百万的人得不到的。
Like water. Coffee is 98.8 percent water.
咖啡就像水一样。咖啡的98.8%都是水。
So I figured I should go and thank the people at the New York reservoir, hundreds of them, who provide me water,
所以我想我应该去谢谢那些在纽约水库工作的那几百人,他们给我们提供了水源,
and this miracle that I can turn a lever and get safe water.
这一奇迹可以让我转动杠杆,获得安全水源。
And that millions of people around the world don't have this luxury and have to walk hours to get safe water.
而世界上还有数以百万计的人没有这个享受,他们要走几小时的路才能喝到安全的水。
It inspired me to see what I could do to help people get more access,
这激励我去看看我能做些什么来帮助人们得到饮用水,
and I did research and found a wonderful group called Dispensers for Safe Water. And I got involved.
我做了调查,发现了一个叫安全用水分配者的很好的组织。我加入了其中。
And I'm not expecting the Nobel Prize committee to knock down my door, but it's a baby step, it's a little something.
我并不奢望诺贝尔奖委员会来敲我的门,但这只是一小步,是一件小事。
And it's all because of gratitude.
而且一切都是来源于感激。
And it's why I encourage people, friends, family, to follow gratitude trails of their own.
这就是为什么我鼓励人们,包括我的朋友、家人也去走一趟感谢之旅。
Because it's a life-transforming experience.
因为这是一种能改变人生的体验。
And it doesn't have to be coffee. It could be anything. It could be a pair of socks, it could be a light bulb.
选择的对象也不必是咖啡。可以是任何东西。可能是一双袜子或一只灯泡。
And you don't have to go around the world, you can just do a little gesture,
你也不需要跑遍全世界,你可以只做一些动作,
like make eye contact or send a note to the designer of a logo you love. It's more about a mindset.
比如眼神交流或给你喜欢的logo的设计师寄第一张便条。更多是关于一种心态。
Being aware of the thousands of people involved in every little thing we do.
要知道我们的一件小事都有世界上成百上千人的参与。
Remembering that there's someone in a factory who made the fabric for the chairs you're sitting in right now.
要记得就在此刻有一个人在工厂里制作你做的凳子上的布料。
That someone went into a mine and got the copper for this microphone so that I could say my final thank you, which is to thank you.
有人进入矿山去挖铜,所以我才能用麦克风跟你们说谢谢你们,的确是为了谢谢你们。
Thank you a thousand for listening to my story.
非常感谢你们倾听我的故事。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
miracle ['mirəkl]

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n. 奇迹

联想记忆
pyramid ['pirəmid]

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n. 金字塔
vi. 急速增加
vt

 
annoyed

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adj. 恼怒的;烦闷的 v. 使烦恼;打扰(annoy

 
inspired [in'spaiəd]

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adj. 有创见的,有灵感的

联想记忆
available [ə'veiləbl]

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adj. 可用的,可得到的,有用的,有效的

联想记忆
microphone ['maikrəfəun]

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n. 麦克风,扩音器

联想记忆
passionate ['pæʃənit]

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adj. 热情的,易怒的,激情的

联想记忆
sip [sip]

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n. 啜饮
v. 啜饮,啜

 
lid [lid]

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n. 盖,眼睑
vt. 给 ... 装盖子

 
yell [jel]

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v. 大叫
n. 大喊

 

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