給下一代的二不朽

endowment: a quality or an ability that you are born with

precept: a rule about how to behave or what to think

transcendent: going beyond the usual limits; extremely great

tribe: a social group in a traditional society consisting of people with the same language, culture, religion, etc., living in a particular area and often having one leader known as a chief

surrogate: used to describe a person or thing that takes the place of, or is used instead of, somebody/something else

a person’s descendants are their children, their children’s children, and all the people who live after them who are related to them

reaffirm something to state something again in order to emphasize that it is still true

fascination: a very strong attraction, that makes something very interesting

posterity: all the people who will live in the future

bequest: ​money or property that you ask to be given to a particular person when you die

    The highest and most powerful motivation in doing that is not for ourselves only, but for our posterity, for the posterity of all mankind. As someone once observed, "There are only two lasting bequests we can give our children - one is roots, the other wings."

我們做任何事情的真正驅動力，不應僅僅為了當下的個人利益，而更應該是著眼於未來，為我們的後代創造更美好的條件。這當中蘊含的是一種長遠的思維和責任感，呼籲我們不只關心自己的得失，而是承擔起傳承和影響後代的使命。

具體來說，這裡引用的「根」和「翼」的比喻，意指我們能留給孩子的兩大珍貴遺產：

i)「根」指的是穩固的基礎，也就是堅定的價值觀、傳統、家庭和文化背景。這些都是讓孩子在面對人生風險與挑戰時，有一個可靠的依據和歸屬感。

ii)「翼」 則代表給予孩子展翅飛翔的自由與能力，讓他們能夠突破現狀、探索未知世界，發揮自己的潛能與創造力。

Stephen R. Covey "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"

Online Dictionaries Used:

hk.dictionary.search.yahoo.com

www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com

Explained by Microsoft Copilot and Summarized