英语专业晨读美文-哲理篇 7 On the Road, No Burden

[00:01.51]On the Road, No Burden
[00:04.69]To a large degree,
[00:07.30]the measure of our peace of mind is determined¹ by
[00:10.37]how much we are able to live in the present moment．
[00:13.65]Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year,
[00:17.26]and what may or may not happen tomorrow,
[00:20.00]the present moment is where you are—always.
[00:24.04]Without question,
[00:25.36]many of us have mastered the neurotic² art of spending much of our lives
[00:29.62] worrying about a variety of things—all at once.
[00:33.44]We allow past problems and future concerns to dominate our present moments,
[00:38.47]so much so that we end up anxious, frustrated³, depressed⁴,
[00:42.74]and hopeless. On the flip⁵ side,
[00:45.37] we also postpone⁶ our gratification, our stated priorities,
[00:49.74]and our happiness,
[00:51.27]often convincing ourselves that "someday" will be better than today.
[00:55.65] Unfortunately,
[00:56.85] the same mental dynamics⁷ that tell us to look toward the future
[01:00.68] will only repeat themselves so that "someday" never actually arrives.
[01:05.38]John Lennon once said:
[01:07.46]"Life is what's happening while we're busy making other plans."
[01:11.62]When we're busy making "other plans",
[01:14.57] our children are busy growing up,
[01:17.08]the people we love are moving away and dying,
[01:20.03]our bodies are getting out of shape,
[01:22.44]and our dreams are slipping away.
[01:24.74]In short, we miss out on life.
[01:27.48]Many people live as if life were a dress rehearsal⁸ for some later date.
[01:32.50]It isn't. In fact,
[01:34.69]no one has a guarantee that he or she will be here tomorrow.
[01:38.74]Now is the only time we have,
[01:41.37]and the only time that we have any control over.
[01:44.64]When our attention is in the present moment,
[01:47.05]we push fear from our minds.
[01:49.67]Fear is the concern over events
[01:51.99]that might happen in the future—we won' t have enough money,
[01:55.82] our children will get into trouble,
[01:57.68] we will get old and die, whatever.
[02:01.07]To combat fear,
[02:02.39]the best strategy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present.
[02:06.32] Mark Twain said:"I have been through some terrible things in my life,
[02:11.13] some of which actually happened.
[02:13.43]" I don't think I can say it any better.
[02:16.39] Practice keeping your attention on the here and now.
[02:19.88]Your efforts will pay great dividends⁹.

1 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

2 neurotic   

adj.神经病的，神经过敏的；n.神经过敏者，神经病患者

参考例句：

• Nothing is more distracting than a neurotic boss. 没有什么比神经过敏的老板更恼人的了。
• There are also unpleasant brain effects such as anxiety and neurotic behaviour.也会对大脑产生不良影响，如焦虑和神经质的行为。

3 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

5 flip   

vt.快速翻动；轻抛；轻拍；n.轻抛；adj.轻浮的

参考例句：

• I had a quick flip through the book and it looked very interesting.我很快翻阅了一下那本书，看来似乎很有趣。
• Let's flip a coin to see who pays the bill.咱们来抛硬币决定谁付钱。

6 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

7 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。

8 rehearsal   

n.排练，排演；练习

参考例句：

• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。
• You can sharpen your skills with rehearsal.排练可以让技巧更加纯熟。

9 dividends   

红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金

参考例句：

• Nothing pays richer dividends than magnanimity. 没有什么比宽宏大量更能得到厚报。
• Their decision five years ago to computerise the company is now paying dividends. 五年前他们作出的使公司电脑化的决定现在正产生出效益。