读者文摘:我的感谢之年(2)

While writing the notes, I eventually realized why this task was the perfect antidote¹ to my social feeds.

我在写感谢信时，终于意识到为什么这个任务是我浏览社交信息的完美解毒剂。

What was I actually doing when I scrolled² through Facebook?

当我浏览脸书时，我到底在做什么？

Too often, I was spiraling into rage.

我大多数时候都是越来越愤怒。

Writing thank-you notes was time spent on something purely³ positive.

而写感谢信是把时间花在一些积极的事情上。

What was I doing when I scrolled through Instagram?

浏览Instagram时，我在做什么？

More often than not, I was admiring other people's lives—their beach vacations, their chubby⁴ babies, their organized kitchens.

我常常欣赏别人的生活，他们在海滩度假他们胖乎乎的孩子，他们井井有条的厨房。

Writing thank-you notes was an act of noticing and honoring my own life.

写感谢信是一种关注并尊重自己生活的行为。

After handing the first batch⁵ of notes to my neighbors, I spent a few days trying to remember times when other neighbors did something nice for me.

在把第一批感谢信交给邻居后，我花了几天时间试图回忆其他邻居为我做的好事。

And funny enough, I started noticing kindnesses that were happening in real time.

有趣的是，我开始注意到实时发生的友好举动。

There was the driver who waited for me as I bolted down the street to catch his shuttle bus.

我沿街狂奔赶班车时，司机会等一下我。

There was the cashier at Trader Joe's who chased me with a bag of groceries I'd left behind.

乔氏超市的收银员会追赶我，把我忘拿的一袋食品交还给我。

On the day I delivered that card to Trader Joe's, my mother-in-law, Louise, dropped off a week's worth of dinners.

在我把这张感谢卡交到乔氏超市的当天，我的岳母路易丝带来了一周的晚餐。

OK, I thought, Louise is not technically⁶ a neighbor.

我想，好吧，露易丝严格上来说不是邻居。

But if I was going to thank grocer Pete for three minutes of his time, I needed to acknowledge Louise for hours of hers.

但是，如果我要感谢食品杂货商皮特帮我的三分钟，我就要感谢露易丝花费了长达数小时的时间。

It was important for these months to be flexible, I decided⁷.

我决定，这几个月保持灵活性很重要。

I would use each month's theme as a starting point,

我会把每个月的主题作为一个起点，

but I'd also watch for anyone going above and beyond, regardless of whether he or she fit into the monthly theme.

但我也会关注任何超出主题范围的人，不管他或她是否适合当月的主题。

So in the ensuing months, as I wrote to friends, doctors, career mentors⁸, and parenting role models,

所以，在接下来的几个月里，当我写信给朋友、医生、职业导师和为人父母的榜样时，

I also dashed off missives to my husband, Jake, as well as my siblings⁹, in-laws, and parents.

我也给丈夫杰克，以及兄弟姐妹、姻亲和父母发信。

And I found that doing so changed the fundamental dynamics¹⁰ of these relationships in small but impactful ways.

我发现这样做改变了这些关系中的基本动力，虽然改变很微小，但却很有影响力。

I was smoothing out any prickly bumps and buffing them to a new shine.

我正在解决与他们之间存在的问题，让关系焕然一新。

It is a powerful thing, I learned, to fully¹¹ appreciate and feel fully appreciated by the people closest to you.

我意识到，去感激与你最亲近的人，并感受到那种感激之情是一件极具影响力的事。

1 antidote   

n.解毒药，解毒剂

参考例句：

• There is no known antidote for this poison.这种毒药没有解药。
• Chinese physicians used it as an antidote for snake poison.中医师用它来解蛇毒。

2 scrolled   

adj.具有涡卷装饰的v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的过去式和过去分词 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Wherever the drop target can possibly be scrolled offscreen, the program needs to auto-scroll. 无论拖放的目标对象是否在屏幕之外，程序都需要自动滚动。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓
• If It'still is then you've not scrolled up enough lines. 如果还在说明你向上滚动的行数不够。 来自互联网

3 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

4 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。

5 batch   

n.一批(组，群)；一批生产量

参考例句：

• The first batch of cakes was burnt.第一炉蛋糕烤焦了。
• I have a batch of letters to answer.我有一批信要回复。

6 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 mentors   

n.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的名词复数 )v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Beacham and McNamara, my two mentors, had both warned me. 我的两位忠实朋友，比彻姆和麦克纳马拉都曾经警告过我。 来自辞典例句
• These are the kinds of contacts that could evolve into mentors. 这些人是可能会成为你导师。 来自互联网

9 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

10 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

11 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。