­　　這是一封細致入微的家書，非常感人，貴為總統的奧巴馬給女兒的信親切、自然、樸實、沒有大話、套話，說的全是家常，17條建議都非常具體、每一條都可以做得到，每一條都有益，行文的語氣沒有作為父親或者總統的“諄諄教導”，從“不在外面吃飯”這類小事，到“這個世界是一個完全由大家分享的世界，你所做的每件事都會影響到別人”這類普世價值觀，奧巴馬都說得貼切，自然，優美。這次特別推出中英文對照版，希望在學習與做人方面，對您有所裨益。

­　　Life is short. It may feel like it takesforever sometimes, but the reality is that you live, and a short time later,you die. It happens so quickly, many people don’t even realize they had a lifeuntil it’s already over.

­　　生命如此短暫。我們有時候覺得生命怎么也走不完，實際上，你現在活著，過不了多久，就會死去。人生真是轉眼一瞬間的事情，很多人到臨死前才意識到這一生已經結束。

­　　Stop Doubting Yourself

­　　停止懷疑自己

­　　If you don’t believe in yourself, nobodywill. Success starts in your mind, and if all you’re doing is putting yourselfdown and predicting failure, it’ll become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Insteadof doubting yourself, think positively. Not only will you be happier and moresuccessful, you’ll spread it to everyone around you.

­　　如果你自己都不相信自己，那沒人會相信你。成功源于你的頭腦，如果你所做的是不斷地看扁自己，預言著未來的失敗，這就真的會成為現實。與其懷疑自己，不如積極的考慮問題。不僅會讓自己更加開心和成功，你還能夠感染到周圍的人。

­　　Stop Being Negative

­　　停止消極

­　　Now that you’re done doubting yourself,stop doubting others. You don’t like when people are critical of you, so stopbeing critical of others. Think about how you make other people feel – even ifyou have good intentions, people don’t like hearing negativity.

­　　現在你不要再懷疑自己了，也別再懷疑身邊的人。你不希望被人對你挑剔，那么也不要再去挑剔身邊的人。想想你給別人帶來的什么樣的感受吧——即使出發點是好的，別人也不想聽到那么多消極的事情呀。

­　　Stop Procrastinating

­　　停止拖延

­　　I don’t feel like procrastinating right now– I’ll do it tomorrow. When you procrastinate, you remain stagnant. Whateveryou’re putting off doesn’t go away; resolve the problem, and move on. You’ll bemuch happier in the long run.

­　　我現在不想做，還是留到明天吧。一旦開始拖延，其實你已經停滯不前了。你拖延的事情不會自行解決。解決問題，繼續前行吧。從長遠角度來說你會更加快樂。

­　　Stop Being Mean

­　　不要那么刻薄

­　　It’s completely possible to step onsomeone’s toes without meaning to – it happens all the time. There’s no need topile on by purposefully doing mean things, so make a conscious effort to stopbeing mean. If someone wrongs you, let it go. There’s no need to seek vengeanceunless that’s the type of person you want to be.

­　　無意踩到別人的情況真的有可能會發生——常常會發生。但沒必要去處心積慮地做一些不好的事情，所以要有意識地讓自己不要那么刻薄。如果有人對你無理地對待，隨他們去好了。沒必要去報復，除非你也想成為那一類的人。