别担心，没人在乎：英语精读讲义

We tend to begin our lives with a deeply unrepresentative experience, 用詞

我们往往以一种极不具有代表性的经历开始我们的人生，

that of being surrounded by people who care to an extraordinary extent about us. 短語搭配

那就是被那些极度关心我们的人所包围。

We look up from the dreams and confusions of early infancy

我们在早期婴儿阶段的梦境与懵懂中抬起头，

and may find a smiling face or two observing us with the utmost tenderness and concern. 短語搭配

可能会发现一两张微笑着的脸庞，正以无比的温柔与关切注视着我们。

They watch us as a rivulet of saliva leaks slowly from the corner of our mouth

他们看着一丝口水从我们嘴角慢慢流下，

and rush to wipe it away as if dabbing at a precious canvas, 習語

便赶紧冲过来把它擦掉，仿佛在轻拭一幅珍贵的画布，

then indulgently stroke the fine soft hairs on our delicate scalps.

然后宠溺地抚摸我们娇嫩头皮上细软的胎毛。

They declare us close to supernatural

他们称赞我们近乎超自然的存在，

when at last we succeed in pulling our first smile.

当我们终于成功地展露出第一个微笑时。

The applause rings for days

掌声甚至会持续响上好几天，

when we take our initial steps,

当我们迈出人生的第一步时，

giggle,

咯咯笑时，

totter,

蹒跚学步时，

fall,

摔倒时，

and bravely try to resume our progress.

并勇敢地试图继续我们前行的步伐时。

It isn't just at home.

不仅在家里是这样。

At school,

在学校，

the best teachers encourage us when we find something difficult.

最好的老师会在我们遇到困难时鼓励我们。

They understand we might be shy.

他们理解我们可能会害羞。

They're keen to detect and encourage the early tentative signs of our particular talents.

他们敏锐地察觉并鼓励我们特定天赋的早期试探性迹象。

Then,

然后，

of course,

理所当然地，

we grow up and are inducted into a horrific reality. 用詞

我们长大了，并被引入一个可怕的现实中。

We exist in a world of astonishing indifference to almost everything we are, 短語搭配

我们存在于一个对我们几乎一切都惊人地漠不关心的世界，不论是我们是什么样的人，

think,

思考什么，

say,

说什么，

or do.

还是做什么。

We might be in late adolescence

我们可能在青春期后期，

when the point really hits home. 習語

才真正深刻体会到这一点。

We might be in a bedsit at university

我们可能住在大学的出租屋里，

or wandering the streets of the city at night on our own

或者独自在夜晚的城市街道上漫步，

when it occurs to us with full force 短語搭配

这时我们突然强烈地意识到，

how negligible a thing we are in the wider scheme. 語法

在更广阔的宏大图景中，我们是多么微不足道的存在。

No one in the crowds we pass knows anything about us.

我们经过的人群中，没有人了解我们的任何事情。

Our welfare is of no concern to them. 語法

我们的安危对他们来说毫无意义。

They jostle against us on the pavements and treat us as a mere impediment to their progress.

他们在人行道上与我们推搡，把我们仅仅当作他们前进道路上的障碍。

We're tiny against the towers and brightly-lit flashing advertising hoardings.

在高楼大厦和闪烁的明亮广告牌面前，我们显得极其渺小。

We might die

我们可能会死，

and no one would even notice.

而甚至没有人会注意到。

It may be a stern truth,

这或许是一个残酷的真相，

but we make it all the more so by focusing only on its darkest dimensions. 語法

但当我们只关注其最黑暗的一面时，这真相就显得更加残酷了。

We remain grief-stricken by how invisible we are.

我们因为自己的透明感而感到悲痛欲绝。

Yet,

然而，

we cease to put this bracing thought to its proper philosophical purpose, 短語搭配

我们却没有把这种振奋人心的想法用于它应有的哲学目的，

that of rescuing us from another problem

那就是把我们从另一个问题中解救出来，

which is gnawing at us all the while, 習語

这个问题一直以来都在折磨着我们，

an ongoing and highly corrosive sense of self-consciousness.

一种持续存在的、具有高度腐蚀性的自我意识。

In another side of our minds,

在我们内心的另一面，

we haven't accepted the indifference of others at all.

我们根本没有接受他人的漠不关心。

In fact,

事实上，

we know and suffer intensely from just how much,

我们因为深信不疑的事情而深受折磨，

as we feel sure,

我们确信，

others are thinking of us.

别人正在思考着我们。

We are extremely worried about how high-pitched and odd our voice sounded when we asked the waiter for a bit more milk.

我们极其担心当我们要服务员多加一点牛奶时，自己的声音听起来有多尖锐和古怪。

We're certain that the sales attendant noticed how out of shape our stomach is. 習語

我们确信售货员注意到了我们的肚子有多么走样。

The people in the restaurant where we're eating alone

在我们独自用餐的餐厅里，那些人

are undoubtedly spending considerable time wondering why we have no friends.

无疑花了不少时间在想我们为什么没有朋友。

At work,

在工作中，

they're still dwelling on that slightly stupid thing we said last month about the US sales strategy. 短語動詞

他们仍在反复琢磨我们上个月关于美国销售策略时说的略显愚蠢的话。

A person we went to bed with 4 years ago 習語

一个四年前和我们上过床的人，

is to this day thinking ill of us in some powerful but undefined way. 短語搭配

直到今天还在以某种强烈但说不清的方式对我们抱有负面看法。

We don't really have any evidence for this, 表達脈絡

我们其实没有任何证据证明这一点，

and yet it can feel like an emotional certainty.

然而这感觉就像是一种情感上的确凿事实。

It can feel intuitively clear that our foolishness and less than impressive sides are being noted and dwelt on 用詞

我们的直觉会清楚地认为，我们的愚蠢和不那么令人印象深刻的一面正被注意到并反复回味，

all the time

一直以来

by everyone at large. 用詞

被所有人广泛关注。

Every way in which we depart from what the world considers to be normal, 語法

我们偏离世俗眼中的正常、

upstanding,

正直、

and dignified

与体面的每一次行为，

has been registered by the widest constituency. 習語

都已经被最广泛的人群所记录在案。

To liberate us from this kind of punitive story, 習語

为了将自己从这种惩罚性的故事中解放出来，

we may need to conduct a deliberately artificial thought-exercise 短語搭配

我们可能需要进行一次刻意的人工思维练习

We may have to set ourselves the challenge of examining how long we spend on the foolishness or just existence of other people. 短語搭配

我们可能要给自己设定一个挑战，审视我们花了多少时间在他人的愚蠢或者仅仅是他人的存在上。

How we think and feel about other people we don't particularly know is perhaps the best guide to the workings of the average human imagination.

我们如何思考和感受那些我们不怎么了解的人，或许是了解普通人类想象力运作方式的最佳指南。

To pretty much the rest of the world,

对于世界上几乎所有人来说，

we are the very same sort of strangers or casual acquaintances as we know and deal with in our own daily experience. 語法

我们和他们在日常生活中认识和打交道的陌生人或泛泛之交并没有什么两样。

And now here,

而现在在这里，

the results can be surprising.

结果可能会令人惊讶。

Imagine that we are in a lift

想象我们正在电梯里，

standing next to someone on our way to the 20th floor.

站在某人旁边，正要去往20楼。

They think they know that we disapprove of their choice of jacket. 表達脈絡

他们以为他们知道我们不赞同他们对外套的选择。

They think they know that we should have picked another one and that they look silly and pinched in this one.

他们以为他们知道我们认为他们应该选另一件，而且他们穿这件看起来很傻又很紧绷。

But in reality,

但在现实中，

we haven't noticed the jacket.

我们根本没有注意到那件外套。

In fact,

事实上，

we haven't noticed they were born or that one day they're going to die.

我们没有注意到他们的出生，也没有注意到他们有一天会死去。

We're just worrying about how our partner responded when we mentioned our mother's cold to them last night.

我们只是在担心昨晚和伴侣提到母亲感冒时，伴侣会有什么反应。

Or imagine it's well on the way into the last bit of a 2-hour meeting 短語搭配

或者想象在两个小时会议的最后阶段，

that we sense that a colleague's hair really is a bit different today,

我们感觉到某个同事今天的发型确实有点不一样，

though we can't quite put a finger on how 習語

虽然我们说不太清楚是哪里不同，

even though they spent a small fortune on their cut 習語

尽管他们在理发上花了一小笔钱，

and thought intensely about the wisdom of visiting a new salon.

并且为了去一家新沙龙剪发而苦思冥想了一番。

In other words,

换句话说，

when we take our own minds as a guide, 習語

当我们以自己的思想为指南时，

we get a far more accurate and far less oppressive vision of what's likely to be going on in the heads of other people 講解

关于别人遇到我们时他们脑子里可能会想些什么，我们会得到一个更准确且远没有那么压抑的视角，

when they encounter us,

他们遇到我们时，

which is,

结论是，

in the nicest way, 語氣意圖

说得好听点，

not very much.

他们没想太多。

This kind of news is both very bad and strangely good. 表達脈絡

这样的消息既非常糟糕，又出奇地好。

On the one hand, 表達脈絡

一方面，

no one may notice when we die.

我们死的时候可能没人会注意到。

On the other,

另一方面，

they're also sure not to have noticed when we spill some orange juice down our front or do our hair the wrong way.

当我们把橙汁洒在胸前或是弄错了发型时，他们也肯定不会注意到。

It's not that we or they are horrible. 語法

这不是说我们或他们很糟糕。

Our lack of caring isn't absolute.

我们缺乏关心并非绝对的。

If we really saw a stranger in trouble in the water,

如果我们真的看到一个陌生人在水中挣扎，

we would dive in.

我们会跳下去救人。

When a friend is in tears,

当朋友落泪时，

we are sympathetic.

我们会充满同情。

It's just that for the most part,

只是在大多数情况下，

we need to filter. 用詞

我们需要过滤信息。

Our everyday lack of care occurs for a perfectly sane and forgivable reason.

我们日常缺乏关心发生的原因是非常理智且可原谅的。

We need to spend most of our waking energies

我们需要把大部分清醒时的精力

on navigating

花在驾驭生活上

and doing justice to our own intimate concerns. 習語

并妥善处理我们自己切身相关的事情。

Once we've had to think about our relationship, 語法

一旦我们不得不考虑我们的感情关系、

our career,

我们的事业、

our finances,

我们的财务状况、

our health,

我们的健康、

our close relatives,

我们的近亲、

our offspring,

我们的后代、

our upcoming holidays,

我们即将到来的假期、

our friends,

我们的朋友，

and the state of our household,

以及我们的家庭状况，

there's just going to be very little time left to reflect on the suddenly high-pitched voice of a customer or the outfit of a colleague.

我们就只剩下极少的时间去回味某个顾客突然拔高的嗓门或某个同事的着装了。

We are owed the upside of an otherwise tragic insight. 習語

对于这个原本悲剧性的洞察，我们理应享有它积极的一面。

We shouldn't just suffer from the indifference of other people.

我们不应该仅仅承受他人的冷漠。

We should,

我们应该，

where it matters,

在重要的地方，

properly reciprocate it. 用詞

适当地以冷漠回敬之。

We shouldn't merely suffer from being ignored. 表達脈絡

我们不应该只是承受被无视的痛苦。

We should accept the liberation implicit in the fact that we are being so.

我们应该接受由于我们被无视这一事实所隐含的解放感。

And then in turn, 表達脈絡

然后反过来，

we should embark more courageously on those situations and adventures 短語搭配

我们应该更勇敢地投入到那些情境和冒险中，

where a touch of foolishness is always going to be a possibility, 用詞

在这些经历中，总有可能会发生一些显得愚蠢的事情，

like the start of a new business,

比如开始一项新事业、

a romantic invitation,

一次浪漫的邀约、

or asking a question at a conference.

或者在会议上提问。

We may fail,

我们可能会失败，

but we can believe with new certainty that almost no one will give a damn if we do, 習語

但我们可以带着一种新的确定性去相信，即使我们失败了，也几乎没有人会在乎，

an idea that may,

这个想法，

above anything else,

比任何其他事情都更能

help to contribute to our future success, 短語搭配

有助于我们未来的成功，

something which,

而这些成功，

as we now know,

正如我们现在所知，

no one's going to much notice or care about anyway.

不管怎样，也没人会太注意或关心。

At The School of Life,

在人生学校（The School of Life），

we believe that confidence is a skill we can all learn.

我们相信自信是一项我们所有人都可以学习的技能。

Click now to learn more.

点击现在了解更多。