A group of graduates got together to visit their old university professor.

    The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and a variety of cups—porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, some exquisite—telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

    When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said,

    “If you have noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. "

    "Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. "

"What all of you really want is coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups... And then you began eyeing each other’s cups.

    “Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups! Don’t let the cups drive you ... enjoy the coffee instead.”

    【中文译文】：

    一群毕业生，各自在事业上都已有所建树，相约一起去看望他们年老的大学教授。谈话一会儿就变成了各自对工作和生活压力的抱怨。在用咖啡招待这些客人时，教授去厨房端来一大壶咖啡，并拿出各式各样的咖啡杯——陶瓷的、塑料的、玻璃的、水晶的，有看上去普通的、有价值不菲的、有做工精细的——让他们自己倒咖啡喝。

    当所有学生手中都端了一杯咖啡后，教授发话了：

    “如果你们注意一下，就会发现所有好看的昂贵的杯子都被挑走了，剩下的只是那些普通的和便宜的。当然，每个人都只想拥有的，这很正常，但这也是你们的问题和压力的根源所在。”

    “可以肯定的是，杯子本身与咖啡质量毫无关系。在很多时候，杯子让咖啡更昂贵，某些时候，甚至让我们看不清我们要喝的是什么。”

    “其实你们真正想要的是咖啡，而不是杯子，但你们却又都下意识去挑选的杯子，并观察别人拿到的杯子。”

    “现在设想一下：如果生活是杯中的咖啡，工作、财富和社会地位就是那些杯子。他们只是维持生活的工具而已，并不改变生活质量。有时候，我们在过于关注杯子的同时却忘记了去品味上帝赐予的咖啡。所以，不要成为杯子的奴隶……好好品味杯中的咖啡。”

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