文◎Anon 译◎Mr.B. 绘◎马豆子

14岁的时候，有人和我聊起天赋

文◎Anon 译◎Mr.B. 绘◎马豆子

When I Was 14, Someone Taught Me about Talent

I was 14, chubby①chubby 英 ['tʃʌbɪ] 美 ['tʃʌbi] adj. 圆胖的，丰满的, and just finished running our daily mile for P.E in last place (I ran it in twelve minutes), when I started talking to my friend. I found out that he ran it in five minutes. I was frustrated②frustrated 英 [frʌ'streɪtɪd] 美 ['frʌstretɪd] adj. 失意的，挫败的；泄气的, I told him that I wished I was like him, so I wouldn't feel like I'm dying.

He replied, "Is it easy for you to run, since it's so much slower than me?" I took this as an insult, and snapped③snap 英 [snæp] 美 [snæp]vt. 突然折断；猛咬；啪地关上"Of course not!" To which he replied "So why do you think it's easy for me? Just because someone can do something better than you doesn't mean it's easy for them. Running a five minute mile is hard for me. Don't assume④assume 英 [ə'sjuːm] 美 [ə'sum] vi. 假定；设想that people have it easy just because of their talents."

After he said that, he ran with me for the rest of the year, and my time improved to an eight minute mile in three months. If you start focusing on⑤focus on集中于everyone else's talent, you'll lose sight of what you were trying to do in the first place.

我14岁的时候圆胖圆胖的，每天体育课跑圈总是最后一名（要12分钟才能跑完）。跟朋友说起这件事儿，才发现他只用5分钟就能跑完全程。当时我很受挫跟他说希望自己能像他一样，而且不会每次跑完步都感觉自己要死了。

他问，“你跑得那么慢是不是跑得很轻松？”我被刺痛了，所以吼了回去“当然没有！”他反问：“那你凭什么觉得我就很轻松？如果一件事别人做得比你好，并不意味着他就比你轻松。5分钟跑完全程对我来说是一项艰巨的任务。不要因为觉得某人很有天赋，就否定他的努力。”

说了这些之后，他陪着我跑完了那年剩下的课程。而我用了3个月的时间，把自己的用时缩短到8分钟。一旦你把视线聚焦在别人身上，你就会有失偏颇，把一切归结到所谓的“天赋”上，忘记了你应该做的事始终是改变自己。