培养一种新的爱好，从现在开始！

作者：李志群，国务院国有重点大型企业监事会主席

此文系作者2013年9-11月参加中组部、国家行政学院举办的“省部级干部英语强化班（第8期）”时，根据教学要求所做的一篇英文演讲的中文译稿。

老师们、同学们，女士们、先生们，早上好！

今天，我和大家分享一个轻松的话题：培养一种新的爱好，从现在开始！

首先，我想给大家讲个故事：有位领导干部，刚退休时常常感到孤独和失落，每天吃不香、睡不好，因为自打退休那天起，就不像往常一样有部下给他送文件和报告，让他审阅和批示，也再也没有人向他请示汇报工作了。他的老伴儿看在眼里，急在心上，如果这样下去，身体就会垮了，但她也想不出什么好的办法来改变。有一天，她从朋友那了解到一个好办法。第二天早上，她照常呈上一份报告，下午，又送上一份文件，请他审阅圈批。几天后，老伴儿高兴地发现，他仿佛又找回昔日的感觉并日渐高兴和开朗起来。大家猜猜那些报告和文件的内容是什么？实际上，就是家里每顿饭的食谱和购物的菜单。你们不禁要问，这是长久之计吗？

其实，远离孤独和失落，让退休生活充满乐趣的办法有很多。首先，我们应该重拾一种爱好，比如游泳、走步或打网球，这些运动对我们保持身体健康大有益处。在保持健身的同时，我们也不要忘了健脑，比如下围棋、画画、书法等等。这里，我向大家推荐和介绍一项十分优雅、别具意义的运动——桥牌。

桥牌起源于16世纪的英国。现在这项运动已经风靡全球，在西方尤为盛行，特别深受中老年人喜爱。目前，中国有近5百万人参加了这项体育活动，2014年世界桥牌综合锦标赛将在中国三亚举办。众所周知，许多老一代领导人都热爱桥牌运动，比如邓小平，江泽民、万里等等。我作为一名桥牌爱好者，希望利用今天的机会，向大家宣传和介绍桥牌，因为参加并喜爱这项运动，无论是对我们现在的工作还是以后的退休生活都将受益匪浅。

对于退休人士而言，保持良好的脑力和体力健康尤为重要。桥牌是一项既优雅又健脑的运动，可以帮助我们锻炼脑力，让大脑充满活力。桥牌的规则透明公开，跟赌博不同，要想赢得胜利，靠的是策略和合作而不是运气。此外，在打桥牌过程中，需要通过不停地做出判断和思考，帮助我们远离老年痴呆症（阿尔兹海默），它在美国被视为老年人的第一杀手。通过参与打桥牌，你将增加和别人交往的时间和机会，从而更多地了解外界的信息，结交更多朋友，帮助自己远离孤独。

对于我们正值黄金工作年龄的同志来说，学习桥牌也是十分有益的。它能有助于提高我们的工作能力，培养领导力。就像在工作中常常需要做出决定一样，要求你能够保持清晰的思维和冷静的思考。打桥牌时，需要统筹规划，扬长避短，使每一张牌的价值得到充分体现和发挥。我想，拥有平和的心态极为关键，因为缜密思考的过程往往要比结果更加重要。桥牌运动强调团队合作，要想赢得全局的胜利，需要你和同伴们相互理解，相互配合，共同完成，这与我们在日常工作中一样，良好的合作、默契的配合是成功的关键。

学习桥牌也是帮助我们提高英语水平的好方法、好途径。英文是桥牌的通用语言，如spade, heart, club, diamond 分别代表黑桃、红桃、草花和方板。学习桥牌还能帮助我们学习和掌握国际通行规则，由于大家来自各个领域，需要具备对新鲜事物的敏锐性和洞察力，熟悉国际规则可以使我们保持与时俱进。沃伦巴菲特和比尔盖茨都是桥牌爱好者。从中你会发现，当你参加桥牌运动时，你一定会在一张桌子上遇到许多不曾相识的牌友，而不分你从哪来，干什么的，桥牌会把大家凝聚在一起。

最后，我鼓励大家从现在开始学习打桥牌。当你入门后，就会发现其乐无穷，终身受益。让我们从现在开始，把桥牌当作人生新的爱好吧！谢谢大家！

附英文原文

Good morning ladies and gentlemen, today I have an easy topic to introduce, my topic is “set up a new hobby for now and the future”. Let me start with a joke. There was a senior official who just got retired. Ever since then, no more reports or documents came to him, and no one asked him for opinions anymore. He felt so lonely and upset that he couldn’t eat or sleep well. Seeing this, his wife started to worry about his health. But she didn’t know how to help him deal with his retired life. Then one day, she suddenly got an idea. The next morning, she sent a new report to the boss of the family. In the afternoon, she gave him a document. Both required him to circle his name as he was used to doing. A week later, the wife was surprised to see her husband happy again. Can you guess what was the secret of the report and the document? They were actually a menu, and a shopping list. You may think, as the wife did, can this be a long term solution?

There are a lot of things we can do to keep ourselves away from loneliness and enjoy the coming retired life. Rebuilding a new hobby like swimming, walking or playing tennis is good for our physical health, which is the first thing we should consider in having a happy retirement. What’s more, we should also keep our brain active as we age, like playing Go or Painting, and I’m hereby introducing to you the graceful and meaningful game of bridge.

Bridge dates back to the 16th Century England. It is a famous sport in the world and very popular in the West, especially as people get older. Today, about 5 million people play bridge in China. According to World Bridge Federation, 2014 world Bridge Series is coming to Sanya, China. A lot of former leaders are very good bridge players too, such as Deng Xiaoping, Wan Li, Cheng Siwei, etc. As a bridge lover myself, I would like to recommend this sport to you, for it is both beneficial to our retirement and current work.

For retired people, staying healthy both physically and mentally is the most important thing. And bridge is just the hobby for this reason. First of all, bridge is a graceful and intelligent sport. Unlike gambling, bridge keeps your brain active instead of damaging it. The rules of bridge are more transparent, and you win by strategy, not luck. Moreover, because you use your brain a lot during bridge games, you are actually doing a mental activity. This will help you stay away from diseases such as Alzheimer, the number one killer for senior people in the US. Besides, if you like to play bridge, you will have the opportunity to meet people very often. Not only will you get new information about the outside world, you will also build friendship with people and never get lonely.

But for most of us who are still at our golden age, bridge is also beneficial. It can improve our working ability in a number of ways. First, it is a good way to build up leadership. It is the same as decision-making at work. You need to have a clear vision and a cool head. When playing bridge, you have to make the best use of your cards to show your advantages, and you have to make careful plans to weaken your opponents. But compared with the process of thinking, the results are less important. In this way, you will feel more peaceful, which is important for a good leader. What’s more, bridge emphasizes teamwork. It is a game which needs cooperation and intelligence. When playing bridge, you have to work with your partner. It is the same as work, where good cooperation is always the key to success.

Also, when playing bridge, you can learn a lot of international rules. Playing bridge is actually a good way to learn English. All the cards are in English, like spade, heart, club and diamond stand for “黑桃、红桃、草花、方板”. Moreover, learning international rules can help us keep up with the times. As leaders in different areas, we should have a keen sense for new things like bridge. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates took part in bridge games before. You may find yourself sharing a table with many other famous people, simply playing bridge. It brings people together, no matter where you come from, or what you do.

At the end of my speech, I would like to encourage everyone to learn about and try playing bridge. Once you get to know it, you will find it interesting and enjoyable, beneficial to both work and future retirement. Starting from now, let’s set up a new hobby. Thank you.

（转自《桥牌》杂志2014年第5期）