智慧背囊 超越自我-13-笼中之蟹

[00:01.26]Keep the Trolls Away from your Goals别让小人挡了你的道
[00:04.64]There is a type of crab¹ that cannot be caught
[00:09.48]—it is agile² and clever enough to get out of any crab trap.
[00:13.74]And yet, these crabs³ are caught by the thousands every day,
[00:17.70]thanks to a particular human trait they possess.
[00:21.20]The trap is a wire cage with a hole at the top.
[00:24.80]Bait is placed in the cage, and the cage is lowered into the water.
[00:29.64]One crab comes along, enters the cage, and begins munching⁴ on the bait.
[00:34.98]A second crab joins him. A third. Crab Thanksgiving.
[00:40.15]Eventually, however, all the bait is gone.
[00:43.43]The crabs could easily climb up the side of the cage and through the hole,
[00:48.05]but they do not.
[00:49.25]They stay in the cage. Other crabs come along and join them
[00:53.50]—long after the bait is gone. And more.
[00:56.93]Should one of the crabs realize there is no further reason to stay in the trap
[01:02.05]and attempts to leave,
[01:03.48]the other crabs will gang up on him and stop him.
[01:06.65]They will repeatedly pull him off the side of the cage.
[01:10.29]If he is persistent⁵, the others will tear off his claws to keep him from climbing.
[01:15.31]If he persists still, they will kill him.
[01:19.05]The crabs—by force of the majority—stay together in the cage.
[01:23.74]The cage is hauled up, and it’s dinnertime on the pier⁶.
[01:28.36]The chief difference between these crabs and humans
[01:31.64]is that these crabs live in water and humans on land.
[01:35.24]Anyone who has a dream—one that might get them out of what they perceive to be a trap
[01:41.61]— had best beware of the fellow-inhabitants of the trap.
[01:45.55]The human crabs (we call them trolls) do not usually use physical force
[01:51.80]—although they are certainly not above it. They generally don’t need it, however.
[01:57.51]They have more effective methods at hand, and in mouth—doubt, ridicule⁷, sarcasm⁸, humiliation⁹,
[02:05.18]and dozen others not listed in our dictionary.
[02:08.57]The point is to manage to keep the trolls away from your goals.

1 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。

2 agile   

adj.敏捷的，灵活的

参考例句：

• She is such an agile dancer!她跳起舞来是那么灵巧！
• An acrobat has to be agile.杂技演员必须身手敏捷。

3 crabs   

n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 munching   

v.用力咀嚼（某物），大嚼( munch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was munching an apple. 他在津津有味地嚼着苹果。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Munching the apple as he was, he had an eye for all her movements. 他虽然啃着苹果，但却很留神地监视着她的每一个动作。 来自辞典例句

5 persistent   

adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的

参考例句：

• Albert had a persistent headache that lasted for three days.艾伯特连续头痛了三天。
• She felt embarrassed by his persistent attentions.他不时地向她大献殷勤，使她很难为情。

6 pier   

n.码头；桥墩，桥柱；[建]窗间壁，支柱

参考例句：

• The pier of the bridge has been so badly damaged that experts worry it is unable to bear weight.这座桥的桥桩破损厉害，专家担心它已不能负重。
• The ship was making towards the pier.船正驶向码头。

7 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

8 sarcasm   

n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic）

参考例句：

• His sarcasm hurt her feelings.他的讽刺伤害了她的感情。
• She was given to using bitter sarcasm.她惯于用尖酸刻薄语言挖苦人。

9 humiliation   

n.羞辱

参考例句：

• He suffered the humiliation of being forced to ask for his cards.他蒙受了被迫要求辞职的羞辱。
• He will wish to revenge his humiliation in last Season's Final.他会为在上个季度的决赛中所受的耻辱而报复的。