雙語智慧書·事前不要讓人期望過高

19．事前不要讓人期望過高
事前不要讓人期望過高。名人常見的不幸，便是盛名之下其實難副。事實永遠(yuǎn)無法滿足想象，因為理想容易樹立，實現(xiàn)則很難。想象與希望結(jié)合，將孕育出更多與事實相距甚遠(yuǎn)的東西。無論結(jié)果多么出色，都無法滿足人們的期望。當(dāng)過高的期望落空，失望隨之而來，人們更易心生幻滅，而非佩服。人們心中的希望能極大地扭曲真相，你要有防備這一點的能力，確保所得成果超過希望。剛開始，少許的成功足以喚起人們的好奇心，不必再去信誓旦旦承諾達(dá)到什么成功的目標(biāo)。要讓實際超過預(yù)計，讓結(jié)果好過預(yù)想。但這個法則不適用于糟糕的事情，夸大壞的程度對之反而起到很大的幫助——對壞處的夸張失實之后會讓人們歡呼，因為起初看上去具有毀滅性的事物，到最后竟然變得完全能夠承受。


19．Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering
Arouse no exaggerated expectations on entering. It is the usual ill-luck of all celebrities not to fulfil afterwards the expectations beforehand formed of them. The real can never equal the imagined, for it is easy to form ideals but very difficult to realize them. Imagination weds Hope and gives birth to much more than things are in themselves. However great the excellences, they never suffice to fulfil expectations, and as men find themselves disappointed with their exorbitant expectations they are more ready to be disillusionized than to admire. Hope is a great falsifier of truth; let skill guard against this by ensuring that fruition exceeds desire. A few creditable attempts at the beginning are sufficient to arouse curiosity without pledging one to the final object. It is better that reality should surpass the design and is better than was thought. This rule does not apply to the wicked things, for the same exaggeration is a great aid to them; they are defeated amid general applause, and what seemed at first extreme ruin comes to be thought quite bearable.