It's not easy to live and work in a big city,

'cause the competition is so fierce

and you can barely balance

your job and your life.

在大城市生活并不容易，

因为竞争非常激烈，

你几乎没有办法平衡工作与生活。
 

It's not easy to live in a small city,

'cause everyone around you

will think they have a say

in how you live and

you're basically living your life for others.

在小城市生活也不容易，

因为你身边的每个人都觉得，

他们在你的生活中有话语权，

而你基本是在为别人而活。
 

I live in

one of the busiest city in the world

and I just had a dinner

with a former classmate

several days ago.

我住在全球最繁忙的城市之一，

几天前我刚刚和以前的同班同学吃了饭。
 

She gave up.

And she had decided

to go back home.

她放弃了，

她决定要回老家。
 

Competition /ˌkɒmpəˈtɪʃn/ n. 竞争;比赛

Fierce /fɪəs/ adj. 猛烈的;凶猛的

Basically /ˈbeɪsɪkli/ adv. 主要地;从根本上说

Busiest /'bɪzɪɪst/ adj. 繁忙的;最忙的

 

"Sad." I thought.

But I didn't stop her,

because it was her own choice.

“悲哀啊。”我当时想，

不过我没有阻止她，

因为这是她自己的选择。
 

I, on the other hand,

have a well paid job.

So my life is quite good

in my point of view.

而我，有一份薪水不错的工作，

所以在我看来，我的生活还挺好的。
 

But I, too,

had my tough days

in the first few years

after I came here.

不过，我曾经也一样，

在刚来这座城市的那几年，

也曾过着艰辛的日子。
 

And even now,

sometimes I got overwhelmed

by the workload.

而即使现在，

有时候我也觉得，

被工作压得喘不过气来。
 

Choice /tʃɔɪs/ n. 选择;选择权

Tough /tʌf/ adj. 艰苦的，困难的

Overwhelm /ˌəʊvəˈwelm/ v. 使不知所措，使难以承受

 

But I conquered them.

And they made me stronger.

但我战胜了它们，

而且它们让我变得更强了。

I know it's hard

to live in such a big city.

我知道，

在大城市生活不容易;
 

And I know it's also hard

to live in a small city

like my hometown,

just in a different way.

我也知道，

在一个像我家乡一样的小城市里生活，

也并不容易，

只是不容易的方式不同。
 

But I chose here

because it has the very thing

that I cherish the most:

the freedom to live my own life.

但我选择了这里，

因为这里有我最珍视的东西：

过自己生活的自由。
 

Conquer /ˈkɒŋkə(r)/ v. 征服;克服

Cherish /ˈtʃerɪʃ/ v. 珍爱;爱护

Freedom /ˈfri:dəm/ n. 自由，自主