I dare you to watch this entire video. I dare you to watch this entire video. No skipping ahead, no pausing, no opening another tab and letting this play in the background. I dare you to sit still and do nothing but watch a single three-minute Internet video.
我挑戰你看完這整部影片。我挑戰你看完這整部影片。不能跳過去、不能暫停、不能打開其它視窗然後讓這在背景播放。我挑戰你乖乖坐著然後什麼事都不做，只單看一部三分鐘的網路影片。
Hmm, it's difficult for you, isn't it? You're becoming bored. Your brain is beginning to itch inside your skull, begging for a morsel of distraction from the Internet. And you're holding it together for now, but the truth is, you're frightened. It's been so long since you've tried to focus like this that you don't know if you can do it anymore.
嗯，這對你來說很困難，對吧？你開始感到無聊。你的大腦開始在頭顱內騷動，哀求著要從網路上得到一點點能分散注意力的東西。而你現在還撐著，不過事實是，你嚇壞了。自你上次試著這麼專注已經過了好久，久到你都不知道自己還能不能做到。
And this video is boring, isn't it? Maybe you think it's a trick, that there's some reward for sticking it out. You think that at two minutes and 50 seconds, a funny message will appear for a frame or two, and you'll only see it if you watch the whole thing. You've probably already scrubbed along the bottom of the progress bar to see if that happens, right? Well, it doesn't. There's no joke, no prize. There's just you and this video. Either you watch it or you don't.
而且這部影片很無聊，對吧？或許你認為這是個花招，認為堅持到最後會有某種獎勵。你以為在兩分五十秒時，一個好笑的訊息會出現個一兩幕，而你只有看完整部影片才會看到那訊息。你搞不好已經沿著時間軸拉看看那會不會發生了，對吧？這個嘛，並不會。沒有笑話、沒有獎勵。只有你和這部影片。你要不看完它，不然就是不要看。
I dare you to watch it. But the obstacles are mounting. That was an email. That was a new post on Instagram. That was a celebrity who just died on Twitter. Maybe it was Shaq. Everyone's tweeting about Shaq's death, and you're missing it. Are you comfortable with that?
我挑戰你看它。不過阻礙正在增加。那是封信件。那是 Instagram 上的一則新貼文。那是推特上一個名人剛過世的消息。搞不好是俠客。大家都在推文說俠客的死，而你在錯過。你對那感到自在嗎？
That was 10 seconds. But it felt like a year, didn't it? A decade of instantaneous entertainment has made you so mentally soft and fat that you find even 10 seconds of boredom excruciating. How sad.
那是十秒鐘。不過感覺起來像一年，是吧？十年來的即時娛樂刺激使你心理上變得如此軟弱又肥胖，你發現就連十秒的無聊都難以忍受。多悲哀啊。
Remember when you were a child? You could spend an entire hour watching an ant crawl across a rock. One afternoon, you checked out a library book, and you were so engrossed that you read the entire thing in just one day. When was the last time that happened to you?
記得你還是個孩子的時候嗎？你可以花整整一小時看一隻螞蟻爬過石頭。有個下午，你從圖書館借出一本書，而你是那麼入迷，所以你在僅僅一天內就讀完全部。你上次那樣是什麼時候了？
The truth is, you're weaker now. Attention is the scalpel you use to cut away the fat from your life, but the Internet has robbed you of it. And now, instead of choosing what you experience, you drift from tab to tab full of content you hate, like a hungry ghost who will never be full. Your life is filtering through your fingers, and you are doing nothing to stop it. But if you watch this entire video, if you make the choice to sit and be bored for these 180 seconds, you will have finally taken the first step in regaining control over the one truly unrenewable resource in life: your time.
事實是，你現在變得更加軟弱。專注力是你用來將脂肪從生活中切除的解剖刀，但網路已經把它從你身上奪走了。現在，不是選擇你所經歷的事物，你反而遊蕩在充滿你厭惡的內容的視窗間，就像個永遠不會滿足的餓鬼。你的生命在從指間流逝，而你卻沒做任何事來阻止。不過如果你看了這整部影片，如果你選擇坐著然後感到無聊 180 秒，你將會終於採取第一步，取回生命中唯一不可更新資源的控制權的第一步：那資源就是你的時間。
Less than three minutes ago, I dared you to watch this entire video. In a moment, you will have won or lost, and only you will know the difference. Either way, the dare will be over. To decide what you'll do with the rest of your life, you'll have to dare yourself.
不到三分鐘前，我挑戰你看這完整部影片。馬上，你就會勝利或落敗，而只有你會知道差別。不管怎樣，挑戰將結束。要決定你接下來的人生要怎樣，你將得挑戰自己。
