英语美文：The Book of Awesome

 “通过专注于生活中积极的一面,我在最低谷的时候迎来了人生的高峰。” 

　　——尼尔·帕斯理查 

　　The Optimistic Part of Life 

　　Neil: It’s just a really rough world right now. We’ve got the ice caps melting, unemployment’s rising, gas prices are rising again, we’ve got pirates¹ in the ocean, wars overseas. It’s rough, and so 1000awesomethings.com is meant to be the two or three minutes in your day where you kinda get to forget how heavy the news is right now and talk about wearing underwear³ just out of the dryer⁴. And talking about finding a $10 bill in your old jacket pocket. You know, how ’bout the bakery air, when you walk into a bakery and you get that warm front of, like,1)croissants in your face. Everybody’s got their own, but there’s a lot of things that we can talk about to help us forget how rough it is out there, and so we can just sort of celebrate the optimistic part of life. 

　　My Inspiration⁵ in “Beer + Friend” 

　　Interviewer: Do you draw your inspiration from anything other than everyday life? 

　　Neil: You know, more than anything, the inspiration really is grabbing⁶ a beer and chicken wings with friends, and somebody deciding to go on a huge 2)rant at night and saying, “You know what’s awesome²? When you like those little baby drumstick chicken wings and the guy you’re with likes those flat fat chicken wings, and you guys both like hot sauce, ’cause then you’ve met your perfect chicken wing partner.” And I remember that specific conversation happening, and, like, that was the next day’s blog post, so you could check in the 3)archives. The “perfect chicken wing partner,” you know, 4)spawned perfectly⁷ from that conversation. And more than anything it’s people going on 5)hilarious rants⁸ about something they find enjoyable, and instead of letting them die, all I do is just write them down. 

　　Significance of Every Post 

　　Interviewer: What’s the reaction been like? How have you found the reaction to the website from people who visit it? 

　　Neil: It’s been completely 6)surreal and7)overwhelming, you know. It’s...essentially⁹ it’s the reaction and the positive reaction of it that’s kind of kept me really, really charged up about it, because whenever I have a tough week, where I’m staying up late and I’m just sort of like, “I don’t know how long I can do this,” 8)inevitably I get an e-mail from, you know, a preacher saying, “I use this in my 9)sermons every Sunday. Thank you.” 

　　Interviewer: Wow! 

　　Neil: And then I’ve got, you know, heavier e-mails, you know, often they’re people that have been 10)assaulted or 11)abused, people that, you know, suicidal teens, cancer patients, they’re very, very heavy and often very dark and they make me feel very lucky. But their message simply is, “you know, thank you because I’m having a lot of problems right now, and you’re reminding me that a lot of these awesome things are things I still get to experience. I still love the cold side of the pillow, so thanks for reminding me of that, such a great thing, and please don’t stop because I read it every day.”

　Two Advices for Bloggers 

　　Interviewer: What advice would you give to other aspiring¹⁰ bloggers out there, who are following in your footsteps? 

　　Neil: Maybe it sounds like a 12)cliché, but I think you have to do what you love; you just 13)bluntly have to do it, and, you know, for me, I’ve never, sort of, forcibly tried to, you know, market the website or things like that. I think if you do what you love and you focus on it and you write every day, you will get better at it by doing it yourself. I think that’s the fir…you know, that’s sort of the biggest thing of all. And then the second thing I’d give in terms of advice is, do put some time disciplines on it. For me that was like every weekday twelve or one AM, counting down, and make it really obvious so that, if I failed and if I missed it, … 

　　Interviewer: People will hold you to it. 

　　Neil: … Yep. It’s really helpful in a way because it forces you to be there for it.

1 pirates   

n.海盗( pirate的名词复数 )；剽窃者；侵犯版权者；非法播音的人（或组织）

参考例句：

• Children dressed (themselves) up as pirates. 孩子们假扮成海盗。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The pirates treated their captives with barbarity. 海盗们残暴地对待他们的俘虏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 awesome   

adj.令人惊叹的，难得吓人的，很好的

参考例句：

• The church in Ireland has always exercised an awesome power.爱尔兰的教堂一直掌握着令人敬畏的权力。
• That new white convertible is totally awesome.那辆新的白色折篷汽车简直棒极了.

3 underwear   

n.衫衣，内衣，贴身衣

参考例句：

• He had removed his underwear.他已脱去了内衣。
• They left off their woollen underwear when the weather got warm.天气转暖的时候，他们不再穿羊毛内衣。

4 dryer   

n.干衣机，干燥剂

参考例句：

• He bought a dryer yesterday.他昨天买了一台干燥机。
• There is a washer and a dryer in the basement.地下室里有洗衣机和烘干机。

5 inspiration   

n.灵感，鼓励者，吸气

参考例句：

• These events provided the inspiration for his first novel.这些事件给了他创作第一部小说的灵感。
• What an inspiration she was to all around her!她对于她周围所有的人是一种多么大的鼓舞！

6 grabbing   

v.抢先，抢占( grab的现在分词 )；（尤指匆忙地）取；攫取；（尤指自私、贪婪地）捞取

参考例句：

• The plane was grabbing for altitude. 这架飞机在抢占高度。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He sprang to his feet, grabbing his keys off the coffee table. 他一跃而起，从茶几上一把抓起自己的钥匙。 来自辞典例句

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 rants   

n.夸夸其谈( rant的名词复数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨v.夸夸其谈( rant的第三人称单数 )；大叫大嚷地以…说教；气愤地)大叫大嚷；不停地大声抱怨

参考例句：

• This actor rants his lines. 这演员背台词拿腔拿调。 来自辞典例句
• Parents might also profit from eliminating the rants. 改掉大声叫骂的习惯，家长们也会受益。 来自互联网

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 aspiring   

adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求

参考例句：

• Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
• He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句