聪明人更孤独吗？：英语精读讲义

It sounds like a very mean and undemocratic thought,

这听起来像是一个非常刻薄且不民主的想法，

trading off the peculiar glamour that isolation has in a romantic culture, 短語動詞

借着在浪漫主义文化中孤独所特有的魅力，

in order to gain an oblique sense of superiority

来获得一种隐晦的优越感，

and perhaps pass off an absence of social skills as a virtue. 短語動詞

甚至可能把缺乏社交技巧标榜为一种美德。

It's important, therefore, to be clear what is meant here by intelligence. 語法

因此，有必要澄清这里所说的“聪明”究竟指什么。

It has nothing to do with degrees or any of the criteria by which we ordinarily measure cleverness. 短語搭配

它与学历或我们通常衡量聪明的任何标准毫无关系。

What is meant is emotional intelligence,

我们所说的是情商，

which exists or not in every strata and nook of society. 語法

它存在或不存在于社会的每个阶层和角落。

Emotional intelligence means a capacity for self-honesty and self-observation.

情商意味着拥有自我诚实和自我观察的能力。

It means a knack for opening oneself up to the stranger, 講解

它意味着一种诀窍，能向更加陌生、

more exciting, less easily admissible aspects of oneself.

更加令人兴奋、却不那么容易被接受的自我层面敞开心扉。

And at the same time,

与此同时，

for noticing the many beautiful, peculiar, and profound experiences and sensations passing through consciousness.

能够察觉意识中闪过的许多美丽、奇特而深刻的体验和感觉。

We 're not really used to doing this. 語法

我们其实并不习惯这样做。

We cleave tightly to reassuring notions of what normal people are like, 用詞

我们紧紧抓住那些关于“正常人是怎样的”让人安心的观念，

which means we exclude a lot,

这意味着我们排斥了很多东西，

often the richest bit,

通常是最丰富的那部分，

of what we truly feel, want, and think.

即我们真实的感受、渴望和想法。

We edit out our more generous, wilder, more impatient, more terrifying sides, 短語動詞

我们将自己更慷慨、更狂野、更急躁、更可怕的一面剪辑掉，

leaving only the socially admissible husk that we artfully pretend is who we are. 習語

只留下社会认可的躯壳，并巧妙地伪装这就是真实的我们。

And simultaneously,

同时，

we ensure that we're never far from something that can take us powerfully away from ourselves. 習語

我们确保自己永远不会远离那些能让我们强烈分心的事物。

And so we miss out on the troubling wonders that streak across the mental horizon at every instant. 講解

因此，我们错过了那些每时每刻在精神地平线上划过的令人不安的奇迹。

Most of what is in our minds remains unfelt and unseen,

我们脑海中的大部分内容仍然未被感知和看到，

troubling us only in the small hours. 習語

只有在深夜才会困扰我们。

Insomnia is the revenge for all that we tried so hard not to notice in the daylight. 習語

失眠是对我们在白天拼命忽视的一切所进行的报复。

In this context,

在这种背景下，

emotional intelligence emerges as a species of courage directed at vanquishing not an external enemy, 講解

情商表现为一种勇气，其目的不是为了战胜外部敌人，

but a fear of being weird or of going mad.

而是为了克服对变得怪异或发疯的恐惧。

A certain sort of intelligent person is above all else a superior and more committed reporter of their inner states. 講解

某种聪慧的人，首先是他们内心状态更卓越、更投入的报告者。

Or as Emerson once put it, 表達脈絡

或者正如爱默生曾经说过的，

"In the minds of geniuses,

“在天才的头脑中，

we find once more our own neglected thoughts."

我们再次找到了自己曾被忽视的想法。”

It's almost certain that people who have devoted themselves to self-honesty and self-observation 短語搭配

几乎可以肯定的是，那些致力于自我诚实和自我观察的人，

have an above-average chance of meeting with incomprehension, 短語搭配

遇到不被理解的几率高于常人，

irritation, censorship, or boredom

甚至会遭遇恼怒、审查或厌烦，

when they attempt to share the data from their own minds frankly in company. 用詞

当他们试图在人前坦率地分享自己脑海中的数据时。

Their thoughts,

他们的想法，

it might be on politics or architecture, family life or sexuality,

可能是关于政治或建筑、家庭生活或性取向，

will sound more threatening, more intense, oblique, or tender than is allowed. 語法

听起来会比允许的尺度更具威胁性、更强烈、更隐晦或更柔软。

That feels lonely if one's in the mood to frame things like this. 用詞

如果你有心情这样去想，这会让人感到孤独。

There are simply fewer people at large committed to self-honesty and self-observation 用詞

致力于自我诚实和自我观察的人，在人群中本来就比较少，

and therefore up for exchanging notes on what it's truly like to be alive. 講解

因此，愿意交流生而为人的真实感受的人也就更少。

Yet,

然而，

there is one resource that is exceptionally well suited to addressing the feelings of disconnection 短語搭配

有一种资源极其适合解决这种脱节感，

liable to be felt by the emotionally intelligent. 用詞

这种高情商者容易产生的脱节感。

Art. 表達脈絡

那就是艺术。

Works of art are humanity's secret diary, 習語

艺术品是人类的秘密日记，

records of all that could not be said in regular social contexts,

记录了在常规社交场合中无法说出的所有事情，

but which have found a home in the more intimate, 習語

但它们在更私密的、

honest communication that can take place between an art work and its audience.

在艺术品与其受众之间进行的诚实交流中找到了归宿。

The libraries, cinemas, and galleries

世界各地的图书馆、电影院和画廊，

of the world are repositories for all the sensations 習語

是所有那些感觉的储藏室，

that didn't easily make it into standard interactions 短語動詞

那些感觉很难进入标准的互动中，

and that contain what we need to state and crave to hear as audiences

且包含着我们作为受众需要表达和渴望听到的东西，

in our lonely states.

在我们孤独的状态下。

Therefore,

因此，

while emotionally intelligent people may have an uncommonly hard time not being lonely with a person, 語法

尽管高情商的人可能在与人相处时不感到孤独是一件异常困难的事，

they have an unusually easy time finding company with people who are not in the room, 習語

但他们却极其容易与那些不在场的人找到共鸣，

the fancy term for what we call art.

这是对我们称之为“艺术”的一种华丽说法。

We've perhaps over-privileged certain standard notions of friendship. 用詞

我们或许过度看重了某些关于友谊的标准观念。

We may just have to accept that our best friends could have died 250 years ago 習語

我们可能只需要接受，我们最好的朋友可能在 250 年前就已经去世了，

and be chatting to us via dabs of paint or within rhyming pentameters.

并且正在通过几抹颜料或押韵的五步诗与我们交谈。

That said, 表達脈絡

话虽如此，

the goal shouldn't be a society where art is ever more prevalent 語法

我们的目标不应该是一个艺术越来越普遍的社会，

and more available when loneliness strikes. 習語

在孤独袭来时更容易获得艺术。

It's perhaps a society

也许应该是一个

where art is ever less necessary

艺术越来越没必要的社会，

because we have grown better at knowing how to share

因为我们变得更加懂得如何分享

more of who we are in the ordinary moments of our lives,

更多我们在生活平凡时刻中的真实自我，

where we have found a more direct and reliable path out from our loneliness. 習語

在那里我们找到了更直接、更可靠的走出孤独的途径。

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如果你喜欢这部短片，

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请订阅我们的频道并点击小铃铛图标开启通知。

Most books that want to change us seek to make us richer or thinner.

大多数想改变我们的书，都试图让我们变得更富有或更苗条。

This book wants to help us to be nicer,

这本书想帮助我们变得更友善、

less irritable,

脾气更好、

readier to listen,

更乐意倾听、

warmer people.

成为更温暖的人。