【正文】 y make big hard choices seem less intractable. After all, we manage to figure out what to have for breakfast, so maybe we can figure out whether to stay in the city or uproot for the new job in the country.
　　如果意識到小的選擇也可能會變得困難，那面對大的艱難抉擇時我們可能就不會覺得那么棘手了。
　　We also shouldnamp。t think that hard choices are hard because we are stupid. When I graduated from college, I couldnamp。t decide between two careers, philosophy and law. I really loved philosophy. There are amazing things you can learn as a philosopher, and all from the fort of an armchair. But I came from a modest immigrant family where my idea of luxury was having a pork tongue and jelly sandwich in my school lunchbox, so the thought of spending my whole life sitting around in armchairs just thinking ... Well, that struck me as the height of extravagance and frivolity.
　　同時，我們也不應(yīng)該覺得，選擇之所以難是因為自己很愚蠢。我真心喜歡哲學(xué)，若能成為哲學(xué)家，便能學(xué)到很多驚奇的東西，而且舒舒服服地坐在椅子上就好。所以這種一輩子僅坐在椅子上思考的想法，其實，對我來說只是一種奢侈和輕浮的假象罷了。39。39。39。當(dāng)時我就想：如果能知道選擇某種職業(yè)后我的人生會變成怎樣就好了。我就能一一對比，看看哪種更好，這樣一來抉擇就簡單多了。39。39。39。成為失業(yè)哲學(xué)家的恐懼，驅(qū)使我成了一名律師。
　　So now Iamp。m a philosopher, and I study hard choices, and I can tell you, that fear of the unknown, while a mon motivational default in dealing with hard choices, rests on a misconception of them.
　　所以我現(xiàn)在是名哲學(xué)家，我鉆研艱難抉擇，我可以告訴大家，對未知產(chǎn)生恐懼是在進行困難抉擇時的自然反應(yīng)，而這種恐懼來源于對艱難抉擇的誤解。39。39。39。 theyamp。re hard because there is no best option.
　　我們不應(yīng)該認為，在艱難抉擇中某種選擇總會會比另一種好，可我們自身太愚蠢，所以無法辨別，那既然我們無法定奪，倒不如選風(fēng)險最小的那項。選擇之所以難，不是因為我們無知。
　　Now, if thereamp。s no best option, if the scales donamp。t tip in favor of one alternative over another, then surely the alternatives must be equally good. So maybe the right thing to say in hard choices is that theyamp。re between equally good options. But that canamp。t be right. If alternatives are equally good, you should just flip a coin between them, and it seems a mistake to think, hereamp。s how you should decide between careers, places to live, people to marry: Flip a coin.
　　那么，如果沒有最佳項，如果衡量的天秤不會傾向于 任何一方，那么任何選項都一定是好的。這種想法肯定不對。
　　Thereamp。s another reason for thinking that hard choices arenamp。t choices between equally good options. Suppose you have a choice between two jobs: you could be an investment banker or a graphic artist. There are a variety of things that matter in such a choice, like the excitement of the work, achieving financial security,having time to raise a family, and so on.
　　還有另外一個原因，使艱難選擇并非是在同等好的選項中抉擇。在這個選擇當(dāng)中有頗多決定性因素，譬如工作帶來的興奮程度、能獲得的經(jīng)濟保障、顧家時間等等。39?；蛟S當(dāng)銀行家你就能接觸最前端的金融操縱手段。
　　Imagine the two jobs however you like, so that neither is better than the suppose we improve one of them, a bit. Suppose the bank, wooing you, adds 500 dollars a month to your salary. Does the extra money now make the banking job better than the artist one? Not necessarily. A higher salary makes the banking job better than it was before, but it might not be enough to make being a banker better than being an artist.
　　現(xiàn)在，假設(shè)我們能稍微改進其中的一方。這一筆額外的金錢會不會讓這份銀行家的工作優(yōu)于當(dāng)藝術(shù)家呢?說不準。
　　But if an improvement in one of the jobs doesnamp。t make it better than the other, then the two original jobs could not have been equally good. If you start with two things that are equally good, and you improve one of them, it now must be better th