不断提炼 摄取精华，本文主要内容关键词为：精华论文，此文献不代表本站观点，内容供学术参考，文章仅供参考阅读下载。
I was afraid.The truth is,I was afraid the day I walked into Stanford.And I was afraid the day I walked out.
I was scared（注：scare
使恐惧）of leaving the protective bubble of this place for places unknown,during uncertain economic times.And I was scared of squandering（注：squander
浪费，挥霍（时间等）） the incredible（注：incredible
不可思议的，了不起的） gift of my Stanford experience on pursuits（注：pursuit
追求） that weren't commensurate with（注：commensurate
相同的（与with连用）） expectations I,and others,had of me.I was scared of not doing it all,of making irrevocable（注：irrevocable
不可挽回的。） mistakes.
If you're scared today,let me ask you this:What will you do with your fear?Will you make it a motivator,or an inhibitor（注：inhibitor
抑制者，阻止物）?
You are the only one who can answer that.But what I can offer as guidance,and reassurance,is a story:the story of one Stanford grad's process of stumbling（注：stumble
绊脚，跌跌撞撞地走） and searching to find a place in the world,oftentimes（注：oftentimes
［古］=often） in the face of her fears.I'd like to begin my story at the History Corner.
The most valuable class I took at Stanford Was not Economics.Each week,we had to read one of the great works of medieval（注：medieval
中世纪的） philosophy.It seemed like we were reading 1,000 pages every week.And by the end of the week,we had to distill their philosophical discourse（注：discourse
论文） into two pages.
The process went something like this:First you'd shoot for（注：shoot for［主美口］争取完成，为…而努力）20 pages.Then you'd edit to 10.Then five.Then finally,two-a two-page,single-spaced paper.It rendered（注：render
熬炼…成油，熬化） all the fat out of a body of ideas,boiling it down（注：boil…down熬浓，压缩） to the very essence of its meaning.And then you'd start all over again next week,with a different massive text.
The philosophies and ideologies（注：ideology
思想（体系），思想意识） themselves certainly left an impression on me.But the rigor（注：rigor
严格，苛严行为） of the distillation process,the exercise of refinement,that's where the real learning happened.It wasan incredible,heady（注：heady
使人兴奋的，给人深刻印象的） skill to master.Through the years,I've used it again and again-the mental exercise of synthesis（注：synthesis
综合） and distillation and getting to the very heart of things.
The intellectual process I learned in that class is also life's process.Because every life is a Great Work,with all the richness of its gifts and the wealth of its possibilities.When you graduate from here,you exit with thousands of pages of personal text on which are inscribed（注：inscribe
题写，写，印） beliefs and values shaped by years of education,family interactions（注：interaction
相互作用，相互影响）,relationships,experiences.And buried within those thousands of pages is your personal truth,your essence.
So,how do you distill your life down to its essence?You can begin by confronting your fears.I understand now,25 years after that chass:itis through a similar,personal distillation process that I have encountered my own fears,and mastered them.
Each time I encountered fear,each time I had another moment of "an-han."I was getting closer to identifying my essence-my true heart,my true self.
Remember when you entered Stanford as a 17-or 18-year-old kid?You were at the top of the heap（注：heap
［口］大量，许多）.You felt pretty confident in your abilities,right?And then you arrived at your dorm,or attended your first department meeting and after two or three conversations with yourpeers,you probably felt undeserving（注：undeserving
不配受到的） and totally inadequate.
But,slowly,you win some battles.You prove yourself with your work.You fail,and you survive.You learn.Maybe you even lead.And that fear diminishes a little bit.Lo and behold（注：lo and behold
你瞧，真怪）,you've knocked a couple hundredpages off（注：knock off［口］（匆促，草率地）完成，做） your personal great work.You've begun the distillation process.You're beginning to define your life.
我曾经恐惧过。事实上，我进入斯坦福大学的那一天就恐惧过；我离开这里的那一天也曾恐惧过。
在经济不稳定的年代，我害怕离开这里的保护罩到未知的地方去；我害怕把斯坦福大学的经历这笔了不起的财富，浪费在与自己和别人对我的期望不相称的追求上。我害怕的并不是去做所有的这些事情，而是害怕会犯下一些不可挽回的错误。
如果今天你们感到害怕，让我先问一问你们：面对恐惧你该怎么做？是把它化作动力，还是阻力？
只有你们自己才能够回答这个问题。但是我可以为你们提供指导，使你们放心，我给你们讲个故事：这是一个斯坦福大学毕业生为了在这个世界上寻求一席之地，经常面对种种恐惧，挣扎奋斗、不断探索的经历。我愿从历史角度讲述我的经历。
我在斯坦福大学所学的最有用的课程并不是经济学。每周我们都必须阅读一本中世纪的哲学巨著。似乎我们每个星期都要读1000页的书。并且到了周末，我们必须要将这些哲学论文提炼成为两页的文稿。
这个过程大致是这样的：首先你得力争提炼成20页。然后你把它编辑为10页。然后再概括为5页。最后成为2页——一篇整整2页的文稿。这篇文稿将不必要的东西全部去掉，归结成为其思想的精华。此后你在下一星期对另一部巨著从头再来一次。
这些哲理和思想本身的确给我留下了深刻印象。但提炼过程的严格要求和不断的精加工却是真正学习的过程。掌握这种技巧是了不起的，令人兴奋。这些年来，我反复地在使用它——综合和提炼的思维训练，掌握事物的精髓。
我在那门课中所学的掌握知识的过程，也是生活的过程。因为每种生活都是一部“伟大著作”，包含丰富的才智和美好的希望。当你从这里毕业时，你会带着数千页的个人记录走出校门，在这些记录上铭记着经过多年教育、家庭的作用与影响、社会关系以及个人经历所形成的信念和价值观。而真实的你和你的精华就深藏在这数千页之中。
那么你如何将你的生活上升到其精华呢？你可以从正视你的恐惧开始。上完那门课25年后我现在明白了：那也是经历了一个个人提炼的过程——我懂得了自己的恐惧，并征服了这些恐惧。
每当我碰到恐惧的时候，每当我又征眼它的时候，我就更接近认识我的本质——我真实的内心世界，真正的自我。
你还记得当你十七八岁进入斯坦福大学时的情形吗？你以为你是出类拔萃了。你对自己的能力感到非常自信，是不？然后你来到你的宿舍，或者参加了系里召开的第一次会议，与你的同学进行两三次谈话之后，你或许会感到有些难与比肩，全然不配了。
但是，慢慢地你就会取得一些成就。你会用你的工作来证明你的实力。你失败了，但是你挺过来了。你学习。你可能还名列前茅。于是你的恐惧慢慢地减少了。你瞧，你已经读完了数百页你个人的“伟大著作”。你已经开始了提炼过程。你开始界定你生活的意义了。
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