“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”是蘋果公司前總裁Steve Jobs生前欣賞的一句名言。 有譯者翻譯為中文是：“求知若渴，虛心若愚。” 不過有好多種用英文對原話的解釋和理解，列在下面。相比之下，上面的中文翻譯就是小巫見大巫了。豈止如此，簡直就是驢唇不對馬嘴。 這說明，由於美中文化的巨大差異，有時候要完全準確的翻譯，幾乎是不可能的，有些意思，只可意會、不可言傳。 比如，美國獨立宣言中的“人人生而平等”，原文是這麼說的： “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights……”最恰當的翻譯是“造物主創造了平等的個人，並賦予他們若干不可剝奪的權利。” 意思首先是：人是由造物主創造的，造物主賦予人若干不可剝奪的權利……… 像中國這種土匪流氓國家，認為人是猴兒變的，根本就不承認什麼神的存在，豈止是神，天地都不在話下。再扯什麼人權、自由、平等，那不是放屁嗎？ 川普總統上任以來，“美國優先“的原則，也包括了這方面的內涵。國務卿蒂勒森說：美國的外交政策應當服務於本國的國家安全和經濟繁榮，而不應當將美國的外交政策同自身“價值觀”捆綁。儘管美國將堅持圍繞“自由、人類尊嚴和如何對待他人”等方面的“價值觀”，但在制定外交政策時，不能過度期待其他國家一定會遵循這些價值觀，也不能過度追求一定要讓其他國家的處事方式與美國保持一致。 下面是“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”的相關英文解釋： 1、It was Steve Jobs's ending comment in the Stanford Commencement in 2005，and Jobs mentioned: What does this phrase mean? I understand this may also seem philosophical, but when studying English, often we not only study the words, but we often study what the meaning is, and what a phrase or writing may mean or imply. Never be satisfied, and always push yourself. 2、Do (or be willing to keep trying) the things people say cannot be done. 3、Stay hungry can be interpreted as "stay eager", and stay foolish can be interpreted as "be ready to try new things" or "be ready to step out of your comfort zone". 4、This phrase purposefully uses negative adjectives in a positive way. This is what gives this phrase its "punch." Taking a word, phrase, or situation and contrasting how it is normally used versus how it is used in a given case is a common rhetorical device. Hungry here means "wanting something more", as in "He was hungry for a raise." Jobs is putting forward that being dissatisfied with what you have and wanting more is a good thing. Likewise, someone who is foolish acts without thinking and takes unnecessary risks. Jobs is saying that you SHOULD take stupid risks and throw caution to the wind. Taken together, Jobs is simply saying: "You only live once, so make it count and go after what you want no matter what." 5、If you're "hungry" and "foolish," you are willing to learn. So Jobs was telling people always be willing to learn new things. Stay hungry = Always be curious to learn more and achieve more. Stay foolish = Dare to make unconventional decision as Steve Jobs did when he quit his college to persue his quest, as Gandhi did when he adopted satyagraha against oppression, as Buffet did early in his career when he made some well calculated investments in low priced high potential companies. In this case some people might call you foolish but Providence will prove that it pays to stay foolish. Here I humbly beg to differ from an interpretation of stay foolish (that we should be ready to learn more) because interpretation of stay hungry naturally includes this thought. The opposite of being foolish is being smart. And being smart usually means you know everything. Being foolish is kind of "not knowing everything" and still willing to learn.
| 
