My third story is about death.
我的第三个故事是关于死亡。
When I was 17 I read a quote that went something like,
我17岁那年读到过一句话，大意是这样，
"If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right."
“倘若你把每一天都当成你的最后一天，总有一天你会发现你是对的。”
It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself,
这话给我留下了印象。在那之后的33年里，每个早晨我都对着镜子自问，
"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?"
“假如今天是我人生的最后一天，我还会做我今天要做的这些事吗？”
And whenever the answer has been "no" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
每当连续很多天答案都是“不会”的时候，我知道有什么东西需要改变了。
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important thing I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
记住自己将不久于人世，这是我在作出人生重大选择时的一个最重要的参考工具。
Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
因为几乎所有的一切一切外界对你的期待、一切荣耀、一切对丢脸和失败的恐惧 -这些东西在面对死亡的时候都黯然失色，剩下的只有真正重要的东西。
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.
在我看来，时刻谨记你将离去是避开“我会失去什么”这种思维陷阱最好的方式。
You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.
你已经是赤裸裸的了，没有理由不追随自己的心灵。
About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer.
大约一年前，我被查出患有癌症。
I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas.
早上7点半，我做了一次扫描，结果很清楚地显示出我的胰腺里有一个肿瘤。
I didn't even know what a pancreas was.
当时我连胰腺是什么都不知道。
The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months.
大夫们告诉我，差不多可以肯定这是一种无法治愈的癌，并且我可能还能活三到六个月。
My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order which is doctors' code for "prepare to die".
我的医生建议我回家去，把事情都做个了结。这是医生的行话，它意味着料理后事。
It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next ten years to tell them in just a few months.
这意味着你要把未来10年要对孩子们说的话在几个月内提前说完。
It means to make sure that everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family.
这意味着为了让你的家人日后过好，把每一件事都作好安排。
It means to say your goodbyes.
这意味着对这个世界说再见。
I lived with that diagnosis all day.
一整天我的脑子里只有这个判决。
Later that evening I had a biopsy where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor.
当天晚上，我做了一次组织切片检查：他们把一个内窥镜伸进我的喉咙，穿过我的胃一直进到肠子里，用一枚探针伸进胰脏取得了一些组织细胞。
I was sedated but my wife who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctor started crying, because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery.
我被麻醉了，但是当时在场的妻子告诉我，医生们把这些细胞放到显微镜下观察之后都惊叫起来了。因为他们发现这是一种非常罕见的、通过手术可以治愈的胰腺癌。
I had the surgery and, thankfully, I am fine now.
我做了手术，非常幸运，我现在已经痊愈了。
This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades.
迄今为止，这是我距离死亡最近的一次，希望这也是未来几十年里我离死亡最近的一次。
Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept.
经历了这件事，死亡对我而言已经不再只是一个有用而仅限纯粹想象的概念，因此我可以更加确信地跟你们谈起我对死亡的看法。
No one wants to die, even people who want to go to Heaven don't want to die to get there.
没有人想要死，就算那些想进天堂的人也不想为此去死。
And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it.
然而，死亡是我们共同的终点。从未有人逃离过死亡。
And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life.
而这是合理的，因为死亡很可能是生命最好的发明。
It's life's change agent, it clears out the old to make way for the new, right now, the new is you.
它是生命的代谢催化剂，去除老朽，迎接新生，而现在，新生的是你们。
But someday, not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away.
但是用不了太久，某天你们会发现自己已经渐渐变得老朽，将被取代。
Sorry to be so dramatic, but it's quite true.
抱歉说得这么夸张，但是这是真理。
Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life.
你的生命是有限的，所以不要浪费时间去过你不想要的生活。
Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
不要被教条所迷惑，它诱使你按照他人的思维定式生活。
Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice.
不要让别人发出的声音遮盖住你自己的心声。
And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
最重要的是，要有勇气追随你的心灵和直觉。
They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
它们会知道你真正想要做一个什么样的人，其他的一切都是次要的。