The Scroll Marked One
第一道羊皮卷
[1:1]
Today I begin a new life.
今天，我天始新的生活。
[1:2]
Today I shed my old skin, which has too long suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediocrity.
今天，我爬出满是失败创伤的老茧。
[1:3]
Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.
今天，我重新来到这个世上，我出生在葡萄园中，园中的葡萄任人享用。
[1:4]
Today I will pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and fullest vines in the vineyard, for these were planted by the wisest of my profession who have come before me, generation upon generation.
今天，我要从最高最密的藤上摘下智慧的果实，这葡萄藤是好几代人前的智者种下的。
[1:5]
Today I will savor the taste of grapes from these vines and verily I will swallow the seed of success buried in each and new life will sprout within me.
今天，我要品尝葡萄的美味，还要吞下每一粒成功的种子，让新生命在我心里萌牙。
[1:6]
The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet it is fraught with heartbreak and despair and the bodies of those who have failed, were they piled one atop another, would cast a shadow down upon all the pyramids of the earth.
我选择的道路充满机遇，也有辛酸与绝望。失败的同伴数不胜数，叠在一起，比金字塔还高。
[1:7]
Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts, which will guide through perilous waters to shores, which only yesterday seemed but a dream.
然而，我不会像他们一样失败，因为我手中持有航海图，可以引我越过汹涌的大海，抵达梦中的彼岸。
[1:8]
Failure no longer will be my payment for struggle. Just as nature made no provision for my body to tolerate pain neither has it made any provision for my life to suffer failure. Failure, like pain, is alien to my life. In the past I accepted it as I accepted pain. Now I reject it and I am prepared for wisdom and principles which will guide me out of the shadows into the sunlight of wealth, position, and happiness far beyond my most extravagant dreams until even the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides will seem no more than my just reward.
失败不再是我奋斗的代价。它和痛苦都将从我的生命中消失。失败和我，就像水火一样，互不相容。我不再像过去一样接受它们。我要在智慧的引导下，走出失败的阴影，步入富足、健康、快乐的乐园，这些都超过了我以往的梦想。
[1:9]
Time teaches all things to him who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity. Yet within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste. To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesman.
我要是能长生不老，就可以学到一切，但我不能永生，所以，在有限的人生里，我必须学会忍耐的艺术，因为大自然的行为一向是从容不迫的。造物主创造树中之王橄榄树需要一百年的时间，而洋葱经过短短的九个星期就会枯老。我不会留恋从前那种洋葱式的生活，我要成为万树之王——橄榄树，成为现实生活中最伟大的推销员。
[1:10]
And how will this be accomplished? For I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to achieve the greatness and already I have stumbled in ignorance and fallen into pools of self-pity. The answer is simple. I will commence my journey unencumbered with either the weight of unnecessary knowledge or the handicap of meaningless experience. Nature already has supplied me with knowledge and instinct far greater than any beast in the forest and the value of experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.
怎么可能？我既没有渊博的知识，又没有丰富的经验，何况，我曾一度跌入愚昧与自怜的深渊。答案很简单。我不会让所谓的知识或者经验妨碍我的行程。造物生已经赐予我足够的知识和本能，这份天分是其它生物望尘莫及的。经验的价值往往被高估了，人老的时候开口讲的多是糊涂话。
[1:11]
In truth, experience teaches thoroughly yet her course of instruction devours men’s years so the value of her lessons diminishes with the time necessary to acquire her special wisdom. The end finds it wasted on dead men. Furthermore, experience is comparable to fashion; an action that proved successful today will be unworkable and impractical tomorrow.
说实在的，经验确实能教给我们很多东西，只是这需要花费太长的时间。等到人们获得智慧的时候，其价值已随着时间的消逝而减少了。结果往往是这样，经验丰富了，人也余生无多。经验和时尚有关，适合某一时代的行为,并不意味着在今天仍然行得通。
[1:12]
Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls. What they will teach me is more to prevent failure than to gain success, for what is success other than a state of mind.
只有原则是持久的，而我现在正拥有了这些原则。这些可以引导我走向成功的原则全写在这张羊皮卷里。它教我如何避免失败，而不是只获得成功，因为成功更是一种精神状态。
[1:13]
In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeed lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which precede all the others is –I will form good habits and become their slave.
实际上，成功与失败的最大分野，来自不同的习惯。好习惯是开启成功的钥匙，坏习惯则是一扇向失败敞开的门。因此，我首先要做的便是养成良好的习惯，全心全意地去实行。
[1:14]
And how will I accomplish this difficult feat? Through these scrolls, it will be done, for each scroll contains a principle.
要怎样才能做到呢？靠这些羊皮卷就能做到。因为每一卷里都写着一个原则。
[1:15]
First, I will read the words in silence when I arise. Then, I will read the words in silence after I have partaken of my midday meal. Last, I will read the words again just before I retire at day’s end, and most important, on this occasion I will read the words aloud.
清晨即起，默默诵读；午饭之后，再次默读；夜晚睡前，高声朗读。
[1:16]
As I repeat the words daily they will soon become a part of my active mind, but more important, they will also seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.
当我们每天重复这些话的时候，它们成了我精神活动的一部分，更重要的是，它们渗入我的心灵。那个神秘的世界，永不停止，创造梦境，在不知不觉中影响我的行为。
[1:17]
As I read and re-read the words in the scrolls to follow, never will I allow the brevity of each scroll nor the simplicity of its words to cause me to treat the scroll’s message lightly. Thousands of grapes are pressed to fill one jar with wine, and the grape skin and pulp are tossed to the birds. So it is with these grapes of wisdom from the ages. Much has been filtered and tossed to the wind. Only the pure truth lies distilled in the words to come. I will drink as instructed and spill not a drop. And the seed of success I will swallow.
当我阅读羊皮卷中的字句时，绝不能因为文字的精炼而忽视内容的深沉。一瓶葡萄美酒需要千百粒果子酿制而成，果皮和渣子抛给小鸟。葡萄的智慧代代相传，有些被过滤，有些被淘汰，随风飘逝。只有纯正的真理才是永恒的。它们就精炼在我要阅读的文字里。我要依照指示，绝不浪费，饮下成功的种子。
[1:18]
Today my old skin has become as dust. I will walk tall among men and they will know me not , for today I am a new man, with a new life.
今天，我的老茧化为尘埃。我在人群中昂首阔步，不会有人认出我来，因为我不再是过去的自己、我已拥有新的生命。