Peter Yau Blog: 退休片語

朋友們, 相信你們當中有些人正值盛年, 仍在為工作拚博; 有些或許對工作已感意興闌珊而漸萌退意; 有些早已退休, 正在享受春耕後秋收帶來的豐盈果實。對任何人來說, 無論基於什麼原因, 退出工作是人生中遲早要來的事。退休是人生的轉捩點, 心境因人而異。有人或會對過去漫長歲月心懷繾綣或懊悔、或對未知的前景充滿猶豫, 不知如何面對。

退休生活是個挑戰, 並非人人可以適應: 有人求之不得, 樂得有如出籠之鳥, 海闊天空任意遨翔, 只望太陽永不下山。有人感覺有如離水之魚, 喘息難安, 度日如年。

昔日戲言退休事, 今朝都到眼前來。我們調侃之餘, 也該偶然靜下來想想這人生的大事, 作點心理上和實際上的準備。退休不是退出生活, 不是步向枯萎。世界並沒有遺棄你, 是你必須擁抱世界, 積極地分享它無私賜予世人的恩澤。

聽說不少人退休後變得精神萎頓, 不久便因抑鬱病去世。退休後千萬別自暴自棄, 跟世界切斷關係, 窩在家中自困愁城。退休是一種生活藝術, 你可以視之為人生另一階段的開始。物資生活可以不太重視, 金錢之重要性在乎可以保持溫飽, 別忘了要留有餘錢作醫療保障用(非常重要)。但精神生活必須豐富: 閱讀、品味藝術、嗜好玩藝、整理舊物、保健運動、旅遊、朋友之間的聚會、義務工作..., 一一都是退休生活的潤滑劑。退休之道全在能永懷赤子之心, 以好奇探勝之心去發現一切人際的、大自然的美好(甚至醜)。有人說 "貓因好奇而喪命"(curiosity kills a cat)。我倒認為貓有九命, 不花八命去盡情快活是一種浪費, 頂多過後留一命細數所獲, 也不枉活過一場了。

最近收集了一些有關「退休」的文字, 文意有正有負, 嚴肅中時帶諧謔, 正中帶正能量, 負中讓你思考錢幣的另一面。

附上我的中譯, 當然不是什麼翻譯示範。無論直譯或意譯, 只想跟大家分享一點人生的旨趣, 當中或有詞不達意之處, 還望多多包涵。

When one door closes, another one opens, but we often look so long and regretfully at the closed door that we fail to see the one that has opened for us. --- Alexander Graham Bell.

一扇門關上時, 另一扇打開。但我們時常懊悔地凝視那扇關上的門而忽視了那扇為我們打開的門。

Few men of action have been able to make a graceful exit at the appropriate time. --- Malcolm Muggeridge

很少充滿幹勁的人能夠優雅地於適當時候抽身而出。

The money's no better in retirement but the hours are!

- Unknown wise person

退休金好不到哪裡, 但退休中的時間却好得很!

Retirement without the love of letters is a living burial.

--- Seneca

沒有文學愛好的退休生活等於生葬。

I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. So I do it three or four times a day.

--- Gene Perret

我享受睡醒後不用上班, 因此我每天都要睡上三、四次。

I promise to keep on living as though I expected to live forever. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. People grow old only by deserting their ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up interest wrinkles the soul.

--- Douglas MacArthur

彷彿會長生不老似的, 我決意要繼續活下去。人不是因活了多少年月而變老。人變老只因為他放棄了自己的理想。歲月也許令皮膚皺褶, 但放棄生活的旨趣會令心靈皺褶。

One of the best hearing aids a retired man can have is an attentive wife.

--- Groucho Marx

退休人士最佳的助聽器之一就是一位專心聆聽的體貼老婆。

Middle age is when work is a lot less fun and fun is a lot more work.

--- Unknown Wise Person

中年就是當工作變得愈來愈乏趣, 而樂趣在於有更多東西可做的時候。

Retirement means no pressure, no stress, no heartache... unless you play golf.

--- Gene Perret

退休就是沒有壓力, 沒有憂慮、沒有頭痛 ... 除非你去打高爾夫球。

I'm not just retiring from the company, I'm also retiring from my stress, my commute, my alarm clock, and my iron.

--- Hartman Jule

我退休時不單只離開公司, 也離開了壓力、舟車勞頓、鬧鐘 ... 還有我的熨斗。

A gold watch is the most appropriate gift for retirement, as its recipients have given up so many of their golden hours in a lifetime of service.

--- Harry Mahtar

金錶是最恰當的退休禮物, 因為受禮者一生已為工作讓出了那麼多的黃金時間。

Life begins when the kids move out and the cat gets run over.

--- Author Unknown

當孩子搬出去住、愛貓被輾斃時, 那是人生的開始。

An inordinate passion for pleasure is the secret of remaining young.

--- Oscar Wilde

對樂趣抱有無節制的激情是保持青春的秘訣。

Do every act of your life as if it were your last.

--- Marcus Aurelius

做每件事都當作彷彿那是人生最後的一次。

The key to retirement is to find joy in the little things.-- Susan Miller

退休的關鍵在於能從細微的事物中尋找樂趣。

I've been attending lots of seminars in my retirement. They're called naps. --- Merri Brownworth

退休後我一直在參加研討班。那叫做「打盹」。

A retired husband is often a wife's full-time job.--- Ella Harris

一個退休的丈夫通常是太太的全職工作。

The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.

--- Abe Lemons

退休的煩惱是你再沒有一天可以休假。

Stay busy when you retire. If you are going to sit on the couch and watch TV, you are going to die. -- Bill Chavanne

退休後要保持忙碌。假如你賴在沙發看電視, 你的死期將至。

Retirement: It's nice to get out of the rat race, but you have to learn to get along with less cheese. -- Gene Perret

太好了, 退休可以遠離那場老鼠競逐遊戲 (英諺:你死我活的角逐)。但你得學習如何少點吃芝士(捕鼠器通常以芝士為誘餌)。

When you retire, think and act as if you were still working; when you're still working, think and act a bit as if you were already retired. -- Author Unknown

退休後, 思想和行動該表現得有如你仍在工作; 當你仍在工作(未退休), 思想和行動該表現得有點好像你已退休。

Retirement has been a discovery of beauty for me. I never had the time before to notice the beauty of my grandkids, my wife, the tree outside my very own front door. And, the beauty of time itself. -- Hartman Jule

退休對我來說是美的發現。以前從未有時間留意到我的孫兒、妻子、大門前的樹之美。還有, 時間那本身的妙處。

The challenge of retirement is how to spend time without spending money.-- Author Unknown

退休的挑戰是如何不用花錢去消磨時間。

Retirement: World's longest coffee break. -- Author Unknown

退休: 世上最長的喝咖啡休息時間。

The question isn't at what age I want to retire, it's at what income.-- George Foreman

問題不在於我想在哪個年紀退休, 而是薪金有多少的時候。

When a man retires and time is no longer a matter of urgent importance, his colleagues generally present him with a watch. -- R.C. Sherriff

退休了, 時間對一個人已失去迫切的重要性, 但他的同事們一般都會送他一塊手錶。

The best time to start thinking about your retirement is before the boss does.-- Author Unknown

考慮什麼時候退休, 最好在你的老板替你決定前考慮。

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.

-- Will Rogers, Autobiography, 1949

我們窮半生都在嘗試從匆忙生活中積攢所得, 去找一點可做的事情。

When you retire, you switch bosses - from the one who hired you to the one who married you. -- Gene Perret

退休是轉換老板 --- 從雇用你的上司轉到跟你結婚的那位。

There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want. -- Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

永遠不夠時間去無事忙。

Age is only a number, a cipher for the records. A man can't retire his experience. He must use it. -- Bernard Baruch

年歲只是一個數字, 一個記錄上的密碼。人不能離棄他的經驗, 必須用上它。

Retirement is like a long vacation in Las Vegas. The goal is to enjoy it the fullest, but not so fully that you run out of money. -- Jonathan Clements

退休有如到拉斯維加斯賭城渡個長假期。目的是去盡情享受, 但又不至於盡情到花盡錢財。

Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples. -- George Burns

65歲退休何其荒謬。我65歲時臉上仍長粉刺哩。

Retirement is the ugliest word in the language. -- Ernest Hemingway

「退休」是文字上最醜陋的字眼。

First you forget names; then you forget faces; then you forget to zip up your fly; and then you forget to unzip your fly.

-- Branch Rickey

最初你忘記姓名; 然後你認不出臉孔; 然後你忘記(小便後)拉上褲鏈; 然後你忘記(小便前)拉開褲鏈。

"Sometimes it's hard to tell if retirement is a reward for a lifetime of hard work or a punishment." -- Anonymous

有時候真的很難了解退休是一生苦幹後的報償還是懲罰。

Ultimately nothing matters and so what if it did?

- Unknown wise person

任何事情最終都不再重要, 假如重要又如何?

You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely. ~Ogden Nash

你只有一次青春, 但你也可能永遠長不成熟。

Retire from work, but not from life.

M.K. Soni

退出工作, 但不退出生活。

I have never liked working. To me a job is an invasion of privacy.

Danny McGoorty

我從來不喜歡工作。對我來說, 工作就是對個人隱私的侵犯。

Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass on a summer day listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is hardly a waste of time.

Sir J. Lubbock

休息並非閒散。有時候夏日裏躺在綠茵上聽流水淙淙, 看天空浮雲飄渺, 這一點也不浪費時間。

Musicians don't retire; they stop when there's no more music in them.

Louis Armstrong

音樂家不會退休; 只有他們心中再沒有音樂時才停止。

"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."

Abraham Lincoln

生命不在於最終活了多了年月, 而在於你歲月中所過的活。

"Most people perform essentially meaningless work. When they retire that truth is borne upon them." (to have a connection with something

Brendan Francis

大部份人都在做本質上無意義的工作。退休時他們才對此恍然大悟。

"I am so busy since I have retired, I may have to go back to work to get a rest."

Uncle Dude

退休後我忙得要命, 看來我要重回工作崗位去休息一下。

"If you believe that achievement ends with retirement, you will slowly fade away. First of all, keeping the mind active is one way to prolong your life and to enjoy life to its fullest for as long as possible."

Byron Pulsifer, End Of Achievement

假如你認為退休就是事業的終結, 那麼你將逐漸變得虛弱。首要是, 保持頭腦靈活以延長生命, 從而盡量活得豐盛。

May you always have work for your hands to do.

May your pockets hold always a coin or two.

May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.

May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.

May the hand of a friend always be near you.

And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Irish Blessing

願你手上常有工作。

願你口袋裏常有一兩塊銅板。

願陽光照亮你的窗。

願每場雨過後必有彩虹。

願你你身邊朋友常給你伸出援手。

願上天給你鼓舞, 快樂注滿心頭。

You Are Probably Retired If....

You and your teeth don't sleep together.

You try to straighten out the wrinkles in your socks and discover you aren't wearing any.

It takes two tries to get up from the couch.

Your idea of a night out is sitting on the patio.

You step off a curb and look down one more time to make sure the street is still there.

Getting "lucky" means you remember where you left your car in the car park.

Everything hurts, and what doesn't hurt; doesn't work.

You wonder how you could be over the hill when you don't even remember being on top of it.

You sink your teeth into a steak and they stay there.

You have more hair in your ears and nose than on your head.

你可能已經退休, 假如...

你跟你的牙齒不再同床而睡。(睡前脫下假牙)

你想掃平襪子上的皺褶, 卻發覺根本沒穿著襪子。

撐兩次才能從沙發站起來。

出夜街意思是去露台坐一坐。

在路緣踏空了一步, 你低頭再看清楚街道是否仍然存在。

"幸運"的意思是指你記得你將車子泊在停車場什麼地方。

樣樣東西都傷腦筋, 不傷腦筋的東西卻失靈。

咬一口牛排卻拔不出牙齒來。

你懷疑自己如何可能登山, 而忘記自己根本已在山頂。

你的耳朵和鼻孔裏的毛比頭上的毛髮更多。

Happiness is being retired and spending all of my kids' inheritance before I die!

— Anon

快樂就是已經退休, 並於死前花光留給孩子們的遺產。

When you see how some people work you wonder what they will do in retirement...

— Author Unknown

當你看到一些人如何工作, 你會奇怪他們退休後會做什麼。

Before deciding to take early retirement from your job, stay home a week and watch daytime television.

— Author Unknown

決定提早退休前, 留在家中一星期於白晝看電視。(看看滋味如何)

You spend your whole life believing that you're on the right track, only to discover you're on the wrong train.

— Author Unknown

你窮一生自以為在走正途, 最後才發覺自己搭錯火車。

The funny thing about retirement is that it makes you realize the importance of medical insurance.

退休有趣之處是它讓你領悟到醫療保險的重要性。

Retirement is the beginning of joyous moments in which you can sit back and give advice to others, even though you never followed it in your own life.

退休是那愉快一刻的開始, 你可以輕輕鬆鬆地坐下來給予他人忠告, 雖然你一生之中自己從未遵守過一項。

Retirement is just a nice word to say that you are getting too old to work.

退休是"你已老得不能再工作"的委婉詞。

Most people spend their whole lives planning their retirement but when they actually retire, they don’t know what to do.

大部份人一生都為自己的未來退休生活作打算, 但當他們真正退休時, 卻不知道想做什麼。

Retirement is just a nice way for the company to tell you that they have found more energetic, talented, youthful and skilled staff than you.

退休只不過是公司婉轉地告訴你他們已找到更有精力、更能幹、更年青、更熟練的雇員去代替你。

All these years you argued with your colleagues, juniors, managers and your boss at work. After retirement, you will argue with your grandkids, children and wife at home. Life remains the same…

這些年來, 你一直跟同事、下屬、經理和老板爭吵。退休後你將在家裏跟兒孫和老婆爭吵。生活依舊沒變...

Consider yourself officially and truly retired on the day you don’t feel like changing your underwear.

某天當你感覺不想更換內衣褲時, 你可以正式地、徹底地認為自己已經退休。

Retirement is the turning point in your life which makes you realize that you had your priorities messed up all this while.

退休是人生一個轉捩點, 它讓你領悟到一直以來你對事情的輕重緩急弄得一團糟。

Health, family, friends and relationships are some of the things that you sacrificed in your life so that you could work harder and earn more money. Now you will realize that you need these things to enjoy retirement. Such is the irony of life.

為要更勤奮地工作去賺多點錢, 你犧牲掉人生中某些東西: 健康、家庭、朋友、人際關係。現在, 你才意識到這些都是你享受退休生活時所需要的。

Retirement is a fence – on one side lies hard work and on the other lies boredom. Either ways, it’s no fun.

退休是一度籬笆 --- 一邊是累人的工作, 另一邊是無聊。任何一邊都那麼乏趣。

Being retired is the only time in your life when you won’t mind if you don’t get a holiday.

退休就是人生中唯一你不去計較是否可以放假的時候。

It doesn’t matter whether you behave like a grumpy retiree or not… because people are going to assume that anyways.

退休後, 你是否變得脾氣壞又愛發牢騷, 這點已無所謂 --- 反正他人認定你將會變成這樣。

Retirement: When you stop lying about your age and start lying around the house.

退休: 當你不再謊報年齡而窩在家裏無所事事的時候。

Retirement is when the living is easy and the payments are hard.

退休就是活着容易、支付有困難的日子。

If you have the time, you won't have the money. If you have the money, you won't have the time.

— Wolter's Law

有時間卻欠缺那金錢。有了錢卻沒有那時間。

The worst thing about retirement is having to drink coffee on your own time.

退休最壞之處就是要花自己的時間嘆咖啡。

It is better to live rich than to die rich.

Samuel Johnson

死時富有不如活得豐盛。

It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone.

Andy Rooney

矛盾的是: 長壽這回事對人人都吸引, 但變老卻吸引不了任何人。

Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

Mark Twain

年齡是頭腦對事情的想法, 假如你不去想它, 根本沒事兒。

A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams.

John Barrymore

人不會老, 直至懊悔取代了夢想。

I don't plan to grow old gracefully. I plan to have face-lifts until my ears meet.

Rita Rudner

我沒有打算優雅地老下去。我打算去做拉皮手術, 直至雙耳貼在一起。

You don't stop laughing when you grow old, you grow old when you stop laughing.

George Bernard Shaw

你不會因年老而不再歡笑, 但當你停止歡笑, 你便老了。

At age 20, we worry about what others think of us. At age 40, we don't care what they think of us. At age 60, we discover they haven't been thinking of us at all.

20歲時, 我們擔心人家怎樣看自己。40歲時, 我們不再去計較他人的看法。60歲時, 我們才發現人家根本從未留意過我們。

Preparation for old age should begin not later than one's teens. A life which is empty of purpose until 65 will not suddenly become filled on retirement.

Arthur E. Morgan

人該於少年時期便開始為暮年籌劃。一個到了65歲而仍無生活目標的人, 退休時人生不會一下子變得充實的。

O, blest retirement! friend to life's decline -

How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,

A youth of labor with an age of ease!

- Oliver Goldsmith

啊, 可喜的退休生活! 生命夕陽之友 -

能在如斯陰涼之中,

享受青春時的辛勞為暮年冠上的安逸。

太幸福了!