Me first Mary
自我的玛丽

Mary was an odd name for this particular Mary. For this particular Mary often pursed her unmerry lips in disgust at some other someone. Someone, anyone who got in her way during any particular day. Mary was as unmerry as any someone could be.
对于这位名叫玛丽的女孩，这个名字似乎起得不太恰当。这位玛丽经常撅起嘴，满脸不悦地给其他人一副厌恶的表情。如果有那么一天，有人妨碍了她，她就会表现得像其他人那样非常不开心。
Knowing that she lived in a me-first world, Mary often used her lips to speak aloud the two words that were mostly on her mind. "Me." And "my." (Sometimes Mary often spoke the words "I" and "mine" too.) These were the syllables that tumbled off her tongue from each day's first sun flicker to every night's final moon gleam.
玛丽知道自己生活在一个以自我为中心的世界里，于是她常常噘着嘴说出头脑里最常出现的那两个词——“我”和“我的”。从每天清晨第一缕阳光到夜间最后一丝月光，这两个词都会与玛丽随影而行。
Driving to work, she fumed that an accident ahead on the highway put "me" behind schedule. Vacationing in the mountains, she snorted that her boyfriend's sprained ankle ruined "my" holiday. Watching television, she sniffed that the terrible news about terrible floods somewhere interrupted "my" favourite program.
开车上班时，她会愤怒地说，公路前方发生的交通事故会让“我”迟到。在山上度假时，她会不耐烦地抱怨说，是因为她男朋友扭伤了脚踝毁了“我的”假期。看电视时，她会嗤之以鼻地说，关于发生在某个地方的可怕的洪水的可怕的新闻打断了“我”最喜欢的节目。
The drivers in the accident and the boyfriend in the mountains and the people living near the terrible floods were not tickled by these events either of course, though this thought never meandered completely into Mary's mind.
事故中的司机和山上的男朋友，以及生活在发生可怕洪水附近的人们，当然不愿意自己遇到这种事情，但玛丽从来没有从这个角度思考过问题。
Mary wasn't mean, mind you. No, Mary didn't want to hurt anyone, of course not. Mary had just learned the big lesson in life very, very well: If you're helping someone else, you're not helping yourself. It was a hard but simple truth, as every someone understood in this me-first world.
请注意，玛丽并不坏。当然，她也不想伤害任何人。玛丽只不过刚刚从生活中非常深刻地领悟到一件事：你在帮助别人的时候，就没法为自己着想。这是一个很难领悟但又很简单的事实，因为每个人都会在这个以自我为中心的世界中有所领悟。
The trouble with being just one me in a me-first world is all those other me-firsters living in your world. Yes, all those other me-first people just keep getting in your way. Which was why Mary so often pursed her unmerry lips in disgust at some other someone. Which was why Mary was as unmerry as any someone could be.
生活在一个以自我为中心的世界里的烦恼是，你的世界中并非你一个人，而是还同时生活着所有其他以自我为中心的人。是的，所有其他以自我为中心的人只会不断地妨碍你。这就是为什么玛丽常常会噘着嘴，满脸不悦地给其他人一副厌恶的表情。
And so it went for Me-First Mary, day after day after day becoming less merry by the moment. Until one day Mary had to wonder, just for one moment beneath her pursed unmerry lips: "Maybe me-first isn't the best way to be in this world. Maybe, maybe helping only yourself isn't really helping yourself at all."
如此以来，对于以自我为中心的玛丽，生活中的每一天每一刻都会变得更加不愉快。直到有一天，玛丽不得不在撅起嘴的一刹那开始怀疑：“也许以自我为中心并不是这个世界上最好的处事方式。也许，也许仅仅为自己着想并不能真的帮到自己。”
Was it possible that doing something helpful for some other someone really might help Mary too somehow? Was it possible Mary might feel a little merrier if she thought a little less about herself alone? Was it really possible that any of this was really possible in this me-first world? Mary pursed her lips again, tighter than usual.
做一些对其他“大人物”有帮助的事情是否可以真的同时帮到玛丽自己？如果玛丽少想一点点自己，她是否会感到更加快乐？这样的做法是否真的可以在一个以自我为中心的世界里实现？玛丽再次撅起了嘴，而且噘得比平时更高。
"No, that's really not possible," Mary said tartly to herself aloud. "My life's hard enough just worrying about 'me' all the time! 'Me,' 'me,' 'me' every minute and I still can't get what I want. Imagine how bad my life would be if I started worrying about any of 'them' too!"
“不，这真的不可能，”玛丽以尖锐的口吻大声对自己说，“我只是无时无刻地为“我”自己担心，这已经让我的生活够艰难的了！我的每一分钟脑海里都是“我”、“我”、“我”，我尚且无法得到我想要的。想象一下，如果我开始为其他人担心，我的生活得有多糟糕啊！”

The parable of the marbles
玩弹珠的男孩

Once upon a time, there was a foolish boy who had a bag full of beautiful marbles. Now this boy was quite proud of his marbles. In fact, he thought so much of them that he would neither play with them himself nor would he let anyone else play with them.
从前，一个傻男孩有一整袋漂亮的弹珠。此时此刻，这个男孩为拥有这些弹珠而感到非常自豪。事实上，他满脑子想得都是这些弹珠，以至于他从来没有玩过它们，也从来没有让任何其他人玩过它们。
He only took them out of the bag in order to count and admire them; they were never used for their intended purpose. Yet that boy carried that coveted bag of marbles everywhere he went.
他只把它们从袋子里拿出来，为的是数一数并欣赏它们。这些弹珠从未发挥过它们的真正用途。然而，这个男孩到处随身携带着这一包令人垂涎欲滴的弹珠，形影不离。
Well, there was also a wise boy who wished he could have such a fine bag of marbles. So this boy worked hard and earned money to purchase a nice bag to hold marbles. Even though he had not yet earned enough with which to purchase any marbles, he had faith and purchased the marble bag. He took special care of the bag and dreamed of the day it would contain marbles with which he could play and that he could share with his friends.
有一个聪明的男孩也希望自己能有这样一袋漂亮的弹珠。于是，这个男孩努力工作，赚了钱，买了一个用来盛弹珠的漂亮袋子。尽管他还没有赚到足够买弹珠的钱，但他有信心，而且已经买到了弹珠袋。他将这个袋子照顾得特别好，梦想着有一天这个袋子里能盛着弹珠，并且自己可以玩这些弹珠，还可以与朋友们一起分享。
Alas, the foolish boy with all of the marbles didn't take care of the marble bag itself, and one day the bag developed a hole in the bottom seam. Still, he paid no attention and, one by one, the marbles fell out of the bag.
可叹的是，那个随身携带全部弹珠的傻男孩并没有照顾好自己的弹珠袋，一天袋子的底缝处开了个洞。但是，他并没有注意到这个洞，于是弹珠一个接一个地从袋子里掉了出来。
It didn't take long for the foolish boy's marble bag developed a hole and the wise boy began to find those beautiful marbles, one at a time, lying unnoticed on the ground. And, one by one, he added them to his marble bag. The wise boy thus gained a fine bag full of marbles in no time at all. This boy played with the marbles and shared them with all of his friends. And he always took special care of the bag so he wouldn't lose any.
没过多久，这个傻男孩的弹珠袋上的小洞就变成了大洞，与此同时，那个聪明的男孩开始一个接一个地发现那些漂亮的弹珠。这些弹珠就那么无人察觉地散落在地上。然后，他一个接一个地把它们捡起来，放入自己的弹珠袋中。于是，这个聪明的男孩一下子就得到了满满一袋子漂亮的弹珠。之后，这个男孩开始玩这些弹珠，并与他的所有朋友一起分享。而且，他始终对自己的弹珠袋照顾得非常好，不让任何一枚弹珠从自己的手中丢掉。