读者文摘:顿悟时刻(3)

MOST OF THE TIME, ideas develop from the steady percolation¹ and evaluation² of thoughts and feelings.

大多数时候，创意从思维和感觉的稳定渗流和评价发展而来。

But every so often, if you're lucky, a blockbuster notion breaks through in a flash of insight that's as unexpected as it is blazingly clear.

但如果你够幸运的话，一个突然而来的灵感往往会在一瞬间迸发出来，这既出乎你的意料，又极其清晰。

These revelations can be deeply personal, even existential, prompting the realization³ that you should quit your job,

这些启示可以是非常个人化的，甚至是判断性的，使你意识到应该辞职，

move to another city, mend a broken relationship, or, as Lovell did, redirect your moral compass.

搬到另一个城市，修补一段破碎的感情，或者，像洛弗尔那样，修正你的道德方向。

They can also be creative, generating a brilliant start-up idea, the perfect plot point of a novel, or the answer to an engineering quandary⁴.

他们也可以很有创意，想出一个绝妙的创业点子，构思小说的完美情节，或者解决一道工程难题的答案。

In all cases, you apprehend⁵ something that you were blind to before.

在所有的情况下，你理解了一些你以前看不见的东西。

The early-20th-century psychologist William James described such moments of clarity, in his book The Varieties of Religious Experience,

20世纪初，心理学家威廉·詹姆斯在《宗教体验的多样性》一书中，将这一清晰时刻描述成

as snap resolutions of the "divided self."

“分裂自我”的突然决议。

It's as if a whole lifetime's worth of growth is compressed into a single instant as dense⁶ as a collapsed⁷ star.

就好像一生的成长都被压缩在一瞬间，像坍缩星一样密集。

That's how it felt to Leroy Schulz.

这就是勒罗伊·舒尔茨的感受。

Driving home from a wedding in Canada late one night, Schulz glimpsed a ghostly form surging from the highway median toward his headlights.

一天深夜，舒尔茨从加拿大的一场婚礼上开车回家，他瞥见一个幽灵般的身影从高速公路上撞到车灯前。

He didn't have time to brake.

他没有时间刹车。

He barely had time to turn his face away from the flying glass as the moose's head hit the windshield.

当麋鹿的头部撞到挡风玻璃上时，他几乎来不及把脸从飞溅的玻璃上移开。

1 percolation   

n.过滤，浸透；渗滤；渗漏

参考例句：

• This corresponds to the percolation phase of the drying mechanism. 这相当于干化机理的渗滤阶段。 来自辞典例句
• The percolation clusters with various occupying probability are constructed. 构造了具有不同占据概率的逾渗集团。 来自互联网

2 evaluation   

n.估价，评价；赋值

参考例句：

• I attempted an honest evaluation of my own life.我试图如实地评价我自己的一生。
• The new scheme is still under evaluation.新方案还在评估阶段。

3 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

4 quandary   

n.困惑，进迟两难之境

参考例句：

• I was in a quandary about whether to go.我当时正犹豫到底去不去。
• I was put in a great quandary.我陷于进退两难的窘境。

5 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

6 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

7 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。