为什么水能赢

你家的暖气怎么样了？上个星期你还说房东一直不同意修暖气。

How's the heating at your place? Last week you said your landlord kept refusing to fix it.

修好了！不是因为我们吵架，是因为我一直让步，同意他说的每一句话。

It's fixed! Not because we argued, but because I kept giving way and agreed with every single thing he said.

他说什么你都说好？这个办法听起来有点弱吧？

You said yes to everything he said? That approach sounds a little weak, doesn't it?

一开始我也这么觉得。可是我同意他说的每一句话，他慢慢就没有理由再拒绝了，最后自己说，好，让人来修暖气吧。

At first I thought so too. But I agreed with every single thing he said, and little by little he ran out of reasons to keep refusing. In the end he said it himself: fine, I'll have someone come fix the heating.

这让我想起老子说的话。他说，世界上最软的东西是水，可是水的力量比什么都大，最硬的东西最后也赢不了它。

That reminds me of something Laozi said. He said the softest thing in the world is water, but water's power is greater than anything, and even the hardest thing can't beat it in the end.

老子？两千多年以前的那个人？

Laozi? That person from over two thousand years ago?

对，就是他。他的意思是，软的东西才是真的有力量，因为软的东西能一直坚持，硬的东西反而先坏了。所以你一直让步，看起来弱，其实是在坚持，最后是你赢了。

Right, that's him. His point is that soft things are the ones with real power, because soft things can keep persisting, while hard things break first instead. So you kept giving way, which looked weak, but you were actually persisting, and in the end you won.

可是，如果我一直同意别人，让别人怎么说都行，这不就是让别人欺负我吗？水一直是软的，谁都能把它推到任何地方去。

But if I always agree with people and let them say whatever they want, isn't that just letting people push me around? Water is always soft, anyone can push it anywhere they want.

可能有时候真的会被欺负。老子的话也不是说什么时候都对。

Maybe sometimes you really do get pushed around. Laozi's words aren't saying that's true every single time either.

所以我还是不知道，一直同意别人，一直让步，到底是赢，还是只是一直在被欺负。

So I still don't know: always agreeing with people, always giving way, is that really winning, or is it just always getting pushed around.

我也不知道。也许这就是为什么老子的话，到现在还有人在讨论。

I don't know either. Maybe that's exactly why people are still discussing Laozi's words even now.