如何让新年决心贯彻到底

 　　The New Year always brings with it a cultural tradition of new possibilities. We see it as a chance for renewal¹.

　　新年总是伴随的新的可能性一同到来，我们都把新年看做是一个洗心革面的机会。

　　We begin to dream of new possible selves. We design our ideal² self or an image that is quite different from what we are now.

　　我们开始想象自己新的可能性，我们设想出了一个完美的自己或者和现在完全不同的自己。

　　For some of us, we roll that dreamy film in our heads just because it is the beginning of the New Year, but we are serious about making changes. We just make some half hard resolution and it evaporates³ after a week or two. The experience makes us less successful and leads us to discount ability to change in the future. It’s not the changes impossible, but it won’t last unless our resolutions are supported with plans for implementation⁴. We have to make our intensions manageable by detailing the specific steps that will carry us to our goal.

　　对我们中的一些人来说，我们会在头脑中放映这种“梦想剧场”只是因为这是一年的开始，但是我们对待改变的态度是很慎重的。我们只是下定一些难不难的决心，一两周之后这个决心就人间蒸发了。这种经历让我们变得没有那么成功，未来的可能性也打了折扣。不是说改变不可能，而是说没有可行性的计划支撑，决心是不会持久的。我们需要把决心具体成明确的步骤，才能让我们朝着目标的方向前进。

　　Say your goal is to lose weight by dieting and cutting off sweets. But one night you just have to have a cookie and you know there is a bag of your favorites in the cupboard. You want one, you eat two, you check the bag and find out that you’ve just shot 132 calories. You say to yourself, “What the hell⁵. ” and polish off the whole bag. Then you begin to draw all kinds of unpleasant conclusions about yourself. To protect your sense of yourself, you begin to discount the goal. You may think, “Well , dieting wasn’t that important to me and I wouldn’t make it anyhow.” So you’ll abandon the goal and return to your bad habits.

　　比如说你的目标是节食减肥不吃甜食。但是一个晚上你不得不吃一块曲奇，你知道碗橱里有一包你最爱的零食，你想吃一块，结果吃了两块，你查看了一下这个零食包发现你刚摄取了132卡路里，你对自己说，“管他呢”，然后消灭了整个一包。然后你得出各种不愉快的结论，为了保护你的自我感觉，你开始给目标打折，可能会想，“嗯，节食没那么重要啦，反正我怎么都做不到的。”于是你抛弃了目标回归坏习惯的怀抱。

1 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

2 ideal   

adj.理想的，完美的；空想的，观念的；n.理想

参考例句：

• The weather at the seaside was ideal—bright and breezy.海边的天气最宜人，风和日丽的。
• They promised to be faithful to their ideal for ever. 他们保证永远忠于自己的理想。

3 evaporates   

v.（使某物）蒸发掉( evaporate的第三人称单数 )；消失，不复存在；使脱水

参考例句：

• Heat evaporates water into steam. 水受热变成水蒸气。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• As the water evaporates, a crust of salt is left on the surface of the soil. 随着水分的蒸发，地面上留下了一层结晶盐。 来自辞典例句

4 implementation   

n.实施，贯彻

参考例句：

• Implementation of the program is now well underway.这一项目的实施现在行情看好。

5 hell   

n.地狱，阴间；用以咒骂或表示愤怒，不满

参考例句：

• It's a hell of a hike from Sydney to Perth.从悉尼到珀斯的徒步旅行简直苦死了。
• The boss really gave me hell today.老板今天着实数落了我一通。