Some people say life is a book with chapters and pages recording events and changes in our lives. Others prefer to regard life as a blank sheet of paper, on which colorful pictures form life. But both a book and a piece of paper have limited space. It can run out without us realizing it.
有人說，人生是一本書，一章章一頁頁都記錄著一生的大事和轉變。還有人說，人生是一張白紙，多彩的圖畫才構成了整個生命。但是，不論是書還是白紙，都是有限的，不知不覺可能就用完了。
Take life as a blank sheet of A4 paper. Suppose we live to 75 years old, then life is 900 months, which can be represented by a 30×30 table on a sheet of A4 paper, with each cell being a month. Color a cell after a month and you will find something worth thinking.
如果人生是一張空白的A4紙，假設我們活到75歲，那么就是900個月。在這張紙上畫一個30×30的表格，用每個單元格代表1個月。每過一個月就涂掉一個格子，你就會發現一些值得思考的東西。
Yourself
If you are 20 years old, you have finished 27 percent of your life.
如果你今年20歲，那么就已經走完了27%的人生。
When you graduate from a university, your life is:
大學畢業后，你的人生就是這樣：
If you are in a 6-month relationship, it is like this in your life:
如果你談了一場6個月的戀愛，它在你的人生中是這樣的：
If you are a 30-year-old commuter, your life is:
如果你是30歲的上班族，你的人生就是這樣：
As parents
After you have a child, you can spend such number of days with him/her before kindergarten:
之后，你有了孩子。在孩子上幼兒園前，你能和他/她相處的時間是這樣的：
Before his/her college, you spend these days with him/her:
孩子上大學前，你可以和他/她相處這么多天：
As children
Suppose our parents are 50 years old, their life would be:
假如父母現在是50歲，他們的人生就是這樣的：
If you have the chance to meet them every day, this is how long you can stay with your parents:
如果你每天都能見到父母，那么你和父母相處的時間是這樣的：
If you meet them twice a month, you spend these days:
如果你一個月見他們兩次，那么就只能和他們呆這么久：
If you meet them once a year, after work, family gathering days would be:
如果你工作后一年才能見他們一次，那么家庭團聚的日子就只有：
Life is short, as everyone knows. But when life is quantified, the countable cells remind us that how little time we spend with people we love most. We are too busy working, making friends and traveling to spare time for them.
眾所周知，生命是短暫的。但當我們這樣把生命量化以后，這些可以數的清的格子就會提醒我們，我們和最愛的人相處的時間有多短。我們忙著工作，忙著交朋友，忙著旅行，卻很少拿出時間陪他們。
So, after reading, you might as well put down you phone, spend some time talking with your parents or children, and think about life.
所以，讀完這篇文章后，不妨放下手機，抽一點時間，好好和家人聊聊天，思考一下自己的人生吧。
Source: People's Daily
Editor: Zhang Xi
Intern: Zhao Han
