第20节

 The group was quiet as several people thought about their own lives.

听了这番话，所有人都想到了自己的生活，大家安静下来。

"Well," Jessica said, "most people here are talking about jobs, but as I listened to the story, I thought about my personal life. I think my current relationship is 'Old Cheese' that has some pretty serious mold on it."

"呃，"杰西卡清了清嗓子，打破了宁静，"大家好像都在谈论自己的工作，但是我听到了这个故事以后，却想到了我的个人生活。我觉得我目前的情况，我的家庭关系，就像一个'旧奶酪'，上面长满了霉菌。"

Cory laughed in agreement. "Me too. I probably need to let go of a bad relationship."

柯瑞笑出声来，表示赞同："我也是。我也许我现在最该采取行动的就是让一段不愉快的关系尽快过去。"

Angela countered, "Or, perhaps the 'Old Cheese' is just old behavior. What we really need to let go of is the behavior that is the cause of our bad relationship. And then move on to a better way of thinking and acting."

安杰拉反驳道："我不同意你的观点，也许这个'旧奶酪'只是一种旧的行为方式。我们需要放弃的只是引起这种状况的旧的行为方式，而不是这个'奶酪'。这样我们才会朝更好的思维和行为方式转变。"

"Ouch!" Cory reacted. "Good point. The New Cheese is a new relationship with the same person."

"对呀！"柯瑞受到启发，"好观点。新奶酪就是用新的积极的行为方式与一个人建立新关系。"

Richard said, "I'm beginning to think there is more to this than I thought. I like the idea of letting go of old behavior instead of letting go of the relationship. Repeating the same behavior will just get you the same results.

理查德说："我在想，也许这个故事还有更多有建设性的启发等待我们挖掘。我同意安杰拉的观点——需要放弃的是旧的行为方式而不是关系本身。一成不变的行为方式还是会导致同样的结果"

"As far as work goes, maybe instead of changing jobs I should be changing the way I am doing my job. I'd probably have a better position by now if I did."

"就工作而言，或许我应该成为帮助公司进行改变的人之一，而不是因为害怕公司的改变而辞去工作。如果早这么想、这么做的话，我现在也许就会有一个更好的职位了。"

Then Becky, who lived in another city but had returned for the reunion, said, "As I was listening to the story and to everyone's comments here, I've had to laugh at myself. I've been like Hem for so long, hemming and hawing and afraid of change. I didn't realize how many other people did this as well. I'm afraid I've passed it on to my children without even knowing it.

贝基生活在另一个城市，这次特意赶来参加同学聚会。这时她说："当我在听这个故事，以及听到大家的讨论时，我真的禁不住要讽笑我自己。许久以来，我一直像哼哼那样，害怕改变，凡事迟疑犹豫，拒绝改变，为上我不知道丢掉了多少美味的奶酪。我不知道其他人怎样，我恐怕已经在不知不觉中，把这种哼哼式的思想传给了我的孩子们。"

"As I think about it, I realize change really can lead you to a new and better place, although you're afraid it won't at the time.

"当我反复思考这个问题和身边的一些人和事后，我在想或许变化真的以能把你带到一个崭新的、更好的地方，尽管当时你担心事情的变化将并非如此。"

"I remember a time when our son was a sophomore in high school. My husband's job required us to move from Illinois to Vermont and our son was upset because he had to leave his friends. He was a star swimmer and the high school in Vermont had no swim team. So, he was angry with us for making him move.

"我记得有一段时间，在我儿子上中学二年级的时候。因为我先去工作的需要，我们必须从伊利诺伊搬到佛蒙特去，儿子为此很难过，因为他不得不离开他的朋友们了。他是学校里的游泳明星，但在佛蒙特的高中里却没有游泳队。因此，他对我们即将面临的变化感到很生气。"

"As it turned out, he fell in love with the Vermont Mountains, took up skiing, skied on his college team and now lives happily in Colorado.

"然而后来的情况是，他疯狂地迷上了佛蒙特的山区，开始学习滑雪，并参加了大学里的滑雪队和登山队，现在，他有了更多的新伙伴，他愉快地生活在科罗拉多。"

"If we had all enjoyed this Cheese story together, over a cup of hot chocolate, we could have saved our family a lot of stress."

"如果当初面对改变时，我们全家能端上一杯热巧克力，一起享受这个故事的乐趣，或许我们家庭中的许多无谓的压力和紧张气氛早就烟消去散了。"

Jessica said, "I'm going home to tell my family this story. I'll ask my children who they think I am -- Sniff, Scurry, Hem or Haw -- and who they feel they are. We could talk about what we feel our family's Old Cheese is and what the New Cheese could be."

杰西卡赶忙说'"没错，我回去后，要把这个故事和全家分享。我还要问我的孩子们，我像故事中的谁——嗅嗅、匆匆，还有哼哼和唧唧——他们又觉得自己像谁。我们还要讨论，我们家的'旧奶酪'是什么，'新奶酪'又应该是什么。"

"That's a good idea," Richard said, surprising everyone -- even himself.

这的确是个好主意！"理查德大声赞同，把大家吓了一跳，连他自己都奇怪怎么会这么大声。

Frank then commented, "I think I'm going to be more like Haw and move with the Cheese and enjoy it! And I'm going to pass this story along to my friends who arc worried about leaving the military and what the change might mean to them. It could lead to some interesting discussions."

弗兰克也受到了快乐情绪的感染，喜悦之情溢于言表："我觉得自己越来越像唧唧，我已经做好准备随着奶酪的移动而移动，并且能够从中得到快乐！我也要把这个故事讲给我军中的朋友们，他们正担心离开部队后生活的变化，。这一定会引起一场有趣的讨论。"

Michael said, "Well, that's how we improved our business. We had several discussions about what we got from the Cheese story and how we could apply it to our situation.

迈克尔接着说："对，这也是我们当初改进我们企业的方法。我们搞过几场讨论，讨论我们从故事中学到了什么，以及如何把它们运用到我们的实际工作中去。"

"It was great because we had language that was fun for us to use to talk about how we were dealing with change. It was very effective, especially as it spread deeper into the company."

这很重要。因为我们有了轻松的、共同的语言，用来谈论怎样应对变化，包括公司的和个人生活的。这方法非常有效，它已经深深地渗入到我们公司的各个方面。"