NPR 11-02:Dancing All the Dances as Long as I Can 我的舞蹈哲学

Writer and minister Robert Fulghum believes learning to tango is the perfect way to age gracefully¹

From NPR news, this is weekend edition. I'm Liane Hansen.

I believe in mystery.
I believe in family.
I believe in being who I am.
I believe in the power of failure.
And I believe normal life is extraordinary.
This I Believe.

Today's This I Believe essay comes from writer Robert Fulghum. He is best known for his book All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Fulghum was parish minister of Unitarian churches for many years. He also taught painting and philosophy. Fulghum turns 70 this year. Nowadays, he splits his time between Seattle and the Greek island of Crete. Here is our series curator, independent producer Jay Allison.

If anyone has devoted² himself to the notion of credo, it is Robert Fulghum. His most popular book opens with the fact that every spring he undertakes the writing of a personal statement of belief. The same task that defines our series. Personal belief is Fulghum's beat. When he sat down to write for us though, he struck on a subject that's not in his books, but is something you could fairly say, that he's obsessed³ with these days. Here is Robert Fulghum with his essay for This I Believe.

I believe in dancing.

I believe it is in my nature to dance by virtue⁴ of the beat of my heart, the pulse of my blood and the music in my mind. So I dance daily.

The seldom-used dining room of my house is now an often-used ballroom⁵ -- an open space with a hardwood floor, stereo and a disco ball. The CD-changer has six discs at the ready: waltz, swing, country, rock-and-roll, salsa and tango.

Each morning, when I walk through the house on the way to make coffee, I turn on the music, hit the "shuffle⁶" button and it's Dance Time! And I dance alone to whatever is playing. It's a form of existential aerobics⁷, a moving meditation⁸.

Tango is a recent enthusiasm. It's a complex and difficult dance so I'm up to three lessons a week, three nights out dancing, and I'm off to Buenos Aires for three months of immersion⁹ in tango culture.

The first time I went tango dancing I was too intimidated¹⁰ to get out on the floor. I remembered another time I had stayed on the sidelines when the dancing began after a village wedding on the Greek island of Crete. The fancy footwork confused me. "Don't make a fool of yourself," I thought. "Just watch."

Reading my mind, an older woman dropped out of the dance, sat down beside me and said, "If you join the dancing, you will feel foolish. If you do not, you will also feel foolish. So, why not dance?"

And she said she had a secret for me. She whispered, "If you do not dance, we will know you are a fool. But if you dance, we will think well of you for trying."

Recalling her wise words, I took up the challenge of tango. A friend asked me if my tango-mania wasn't a little ambitious. "Tango? At you age? You must be out of your mind!"

On the contrary, it's a deeply pondered decision. My passion for tango disguises a fearfulness. I fear the shrinking of life that goes with aging. I fear the boredom¹¹ that comes with not learning and not taking chances. I fear the dying that goes on inside you when you leave the game of life to wait in the final checkout¹² line.

I seek the sharp, scary pleasure that comes from beginning something new -- that calls on all my resources and challenges my mind, my body and my spirit, all at once.

My goal now is to dance all the dances as long as I can, and then to sit down contented¹³ after the last elegant tango some sweet night and pass on because there wasn't another dance left in me.

So when people say, "Tango? At you age? Have you lost your mind?" I answer, "No, and I don’t intend to."

Robert Fulghum with his essay for This I Believe. Fulghum is in Buenos Aires right now for his three months of tango immersion. Two hours in the morning, music over lunch, two hours in the afternoon and then dancing all night. We asked if he thinks it might be hard to adjust when he comes back, he said, I may not come back.

We hope you might accept our invitation to write a statement of your belief at our Web site npr.org/thisibelieve. You'll find details and you can see what 1000 of others have written. for This I Believe, I’m Jay Allison.

Jay Allison is co-editor with Dan Gediman, John Gregory and Viki Merrick of the book This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable¹⁴ Men and Women.

Support for This I Believe comes from Prudential Retirement¹⁵.

1 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

2 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

3 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

4 virtue   

n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力

参考例句：

• He was considered to be a paragon of virtue.他被认为是品德尽善尽美的典范。
• You need to decorate your mind with virtue.你应该用德行美化心灵。

5 ballroom   

n.舞厅

参考例句：

• The boss of the ballroom excused them the fee.舞厅老板给他们免费。
• I go ballroom dancing twice a week.我一个星期跳两次交际舞。

6 shuffle   

n.拖著脚走，洗纸牌；v.拖曳，慢吞吞地走

参考例句：

• I wish you'd remember to shuffle before you deal.我希望在你发牌前记得洗牌。
• Don't shuffle your feet along.别拖着脚步走。

7 aerobics   

n.健身操，健美操，韵律操

参考例句：

• Doing aerobics is a good way to improve one's health.做有氧健身操是改善健康状况的一个好方法。
• Aren't you going to the aerobics class this morning?今天上午你不是去上有氧运动课吗？

8 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

9 immersion   

n.沉浸；专心

参考例句：

• The dirt on the bottom of the bath didn't encourage total immersion.浴缸底有污垢，不宜全身浸泡于其中。
• The wood had become swollen from prolonged immersion.因长时间浸泡，木头发胀了。

10 intimidated   

v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的

参考例句：

• We try to make sure children don't feel intimidated on their first day at school. 我们努力确保孩子们在上学的第一天不胆怯。
• The thief intimidated the boy into not telling the police. 这个贼恫吓那男孩使他不敢向警察报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 boredom   

n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊

参考例句：

• Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
• A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。

12 checkout   

n.（超市等）收银台，付款处

参考例句：

• Could you pay at the checkout.你能在结帐处付款吗。
• A man was wheeling his shopping trolley to the checkout.一个男人正推着购物车向付款台走去。

13 contented   

adj.满意的，安心的，知足的

参考例句：

• He won't be contented until he's upset everyone in the office.不把办公室里的每个人弄得心烦意乱他就不会满足。
• The people are making a good living and are contented,each in his station.人民安居乐业。

14 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

15 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。