智慧書（中英雙語） · 56．隨機應變

56．隨機應變 隨機應變。隨機應變源於頭腦的敏捷與果斷。有了這種活力與警覺，便不怕危險或災難。有些人雖思慮良多，可做什麼事最後都出差錯；而有些人事先並無打算，卻能達到自己的目的。確實有這樣一種怪才，越是在緊急的情況下，越能發揮自己的能力。怪就怪在，他們隨手所做之事都能成功，經過深思熟慮的事情反而都遭到失敗。他們要麼在當時就做好了事情，要麼就永遠做不好，對他們來說，不存在第二次機會。敏捷能夠贏來讚賞，因為這證明了你有一種非凡的能力：判斷精準，行為審慎。 56．Have presence of mind Have presence of mind. This is the child of a happy promptitude of spirit. Owing to this vivacity and wide awakeness there is no fear of danger or mischance. Many reflect much only to go wrong in the end; others attain their aim without thinking of it beforehand. There are paradoxical characters who work best in an emergency. They are like monsters who succeed in all they do offhand, but fail in everything they think over. A thing occurs to them at once or never: for them there is no court of appeal. Celerity wins applause because it proves remarkable capacity: subtlety of judgment, prudence in action.