【双语】Letter to My Future Self／写给未

《李子》（局部）爱德华·马奈

Hi Me in the Future,

嗨未来的我，

I hope everything is going well for you. You know, I've always worried about you, ever since I was a kid. They say I am just a transitional period for what is yet to come - you. A grown up, more experienced, more complex and more evolved version of me. To be sure, I can't wait to get to know you and see what you've become in a couple of years. Even if that means letting go of me at this moment, typing, which will be a thing of the past for you. I have no regrets - everything I do is for you. You are me, after all.

我希望你那边一切顺利。你知道，我一直很担心你，从我还是个孩子的时候就开始了。他们说我只是一个过渡期，为了迎接即将到来的－你。一个长大的，更有经验，更复杂而且更加进化的我的版本。当然，我等不及要在几年后认识你并看到你成为的模样。即使那意味着放弃现在正在打字的我，因为她对你来说会是过去时。我没什么遗憾－我做的一切都是为了你。毕竟，你就是我嘛。

There are several things I need you to know about me. I must confess I am currently trapped in a very chaotic and skeptical stage. The uncertainties that lie ahead of me are infinite and invisible. To break through this conundrum, I must make some risky decisions, which inevitably will affect you. My biggest challenge now is to choose between two paths: one that is safe but almost guaranteed to bore you to death, the other appealing to my heart but built upon a shaky foundation. There might be an alternative, that is to combine different elements of the two aforementioned options and create an eclectic path. However, to walk such a path require a lot of originality as few people have done it before.

我需要让你了解几件关于我的事情。我必须承认我现在陷在一个非常混乱和多疑的阶段。摆在我面前的是无穷且隐形的不确定性。想要突破这个困境，我必须做一些有风险的决定，而这不可避免地会影响到你。如今我最大的挑战是从两条道路中做出选择：一条安全但几乎保证会让你无聊至死，另一条更从心所欲但建立在不太稳固的根基上。可能会还有另一种选择，那就是结合前面两个选项的不同元素并创造出一条折衷的道路。然而，要走出这么一条路需要很多的创造力，毕竟以前很少有人这么做过。

While I am fully aware that everything I do will have an impact on you, and that these impacts can be either positive, negative, neither or both, I can't foresee anything now. Thus, I ask you to tolerate the trials and errors I go through in my life. It is quite selfish for me to disregard the future and make choices according to my current will. That is to say, someday you may regret the decisions I've made and blame me for them. If this is the case, I beg your forgiveness, but I really can't help it. As a young person, I am blinded by a certain degree of ignorance, or lack of experience. I hope, however, that you will allow some room for me to experiment and fail.

尽管我完全清楚我做的所有事都会对你有影响，而这些影响可能是正面的，负面的，都不是或者两者都是，但是我现在无法预见任何事。因此，我请求你宽容我人生中经历的尝试与差错。我无视未来而根据自己现在的意愿做出选择的行为是挺自私的。也就是说，有一天你可能会后悔我做出的那些决定并且怪罪我。如果确实如此，我希望你能原谅我，但我确实没办法阻止这一切。作为一个年轻人，我会被一定程度的无知和缺乏经验所蒙蔽。然而，我希望你能给予我一定的空间去试验和失败。

Of course, I hope that whatever decision I am going to make down the line will eventually make you happy. And I want to you to know that I have deep faith in you; it's the premise in everything I do. I know that you have greater potentials than anything I can imagine now, and I look forward to be surprised by your accomplishments. And when you look back at me and this letter, I hope you would appreciate my efforts and write something back to me. We'll pretend that I can actually read it. Until then, I look forward to hearing back from you.

当然，我希望我未来将要做出的任何决定都最终使你感到快乐。我也想让你知道我对你充满了信心；这是我做任何事情的前提。我知道你拥有比我现在所能想象到的还要大的潜力，并且期待着惊喜于你的成就。而当你回想起我和这封信的时候，我希望你会欣赏我的努力并给我写封回信。我们可以假装我真的能读到它。在那之前，我会一直期待着你的消息。

Sincerely,

Me at age 19

此致，

19岁的我