为什么我们注定会孤独：英语精读讲义

There are a few more shameful confessions to make than that we are lonely.

很少有什么坦白比承认自己孤独更让人感到羞耻。

The basic assumption is that no respectable person could ever feel isolated, 表達脈絡

人们的基本假设是，体面的人决不会感到孤立无援，

unless maybe they just moved country or been widowed. 用詞

除非他们刚搬到异国他乡，或者刚刚丧偶。

Yet in truth, a high degree of loneliness 表達脈絡

但事实上，高度的孤独感

is an inexorable part of being a sensitive, intelligent human. 短語搭配

是成为一个敏感、聪明的人不可避免的一部分。

It's a built-in feature of a complex existence.

这是复杂生存状态的固有特征。

There are several big reasons for this.

有几个主要原因可以解释这一点。

Much of what we need recognized and confirmed by others,

许多我们需要他人认可和确认的事情，

a lot of what it would be extremely comforting to share,

许多分享出来会让我们感到极大安慰的事情，

is going to be disturbing to society at large. 短語搭配

在整个社会看来往往是令人不安的。

Many of the ideas in the recesses of our minds 習語

我们内心深处的许多想法

are too odd, contrary, subtle, or alarming 語法

都太古怪、太反叛、太微妙或太令人警惕，

to be safely revealed to anyone else.

以至于无法安全地向任何人透露。

We face a choice between honesty and acceptability, 短語搭配

我们在诚实与可被接受之间面临抉择，

and understandably, mostly choose the latter. 用詞

而可以理解的是，我们通常选择后者。

It takes a lot of energy to listen to another person 語法

倾听他人并对他们的经历产生共鸣

and enter sympathetically into their experiences.

需要耗费大量的精力。

We shouldn't blame others for their failure to focus on who we are.

我们不应责怪别人没能将注意力放在我们身上。

They may want to meet us,

他们可能想结识我们，

but we should accept the energy with which they will keep 語法

但我们应该接受他们在对话中投入的精力

the topic of their own lives at the center of the conversation.

总是围绕着他们自己的生活打转。

We must all die alone,

我们都必须独自面对死亡，

which really means that our pain is for us alone to endure.

这其实意味着我们的痛苦只能由自己来承受。

Others can throw us words of encouragement,

别人可以对我们说些鼓励的话，

but in every life, we are out on the ocean, drowning in the swell, 習語

但在人生的每个阶段，我们都像在海面上，被巨浪淹没，

and others, even the nice ones, are standing on the shore,

而其他人，即便是那些好心人，都站在岸上，

waving cheerily.

兴高采烈地挥手。

It's deeply unlikely that we will ever find someone

我们极其不可能找到一个

on exactly the same page of the soul as us. 習語

在灵魂层面上与我们完全同频的人。

We will long for utter congruity, 短語搭配

我们会渴望彻底的契合，

but there will be constant dissonance because we appeared on the earth at different times, 習語

但总会有持续的摩擦，因为我们出现在地球上的时间不同，

are the product of different families and experiences,

是不同家庭和经历的产物，

and are just not made of quite the same fabric. 習語

并且根本就不是同一种材质做成的。

So, they won't be thinking just the same as us on coming out of the cinema, 語法

所以，当他们走出电影院，

and looking out at the night sky.

望着夜空时，他们的想法不会和我们完全一样。

Just when we want them to say something high-flown and beautiful, 用詞

正当我们希望他们说些高深优美的话时，

they will perhaps be remembering a painfully banal

他们也许正回想着那些极其平庸、

and untimely detail from an area of domestic life,

且不合时宜的家庭生活琐事，

or vice versa. 短語搭配

反之亦然。

It is almost comic.

这简直有些滑稽。

We will almost certainly never meet the people

我们几乎肯定永远不会遇到

best qualified to understand us,

最能理解我们的人，

but they do exist. 語法

但他们确实存在。

Probably, they once walked past us in the street,

也许，他们曾在大街上与我们擦肩而过，

though neither of us had the slightest idea of the potential for connection. 短語搭配

尽管我们俩都丝毫没有意识到彼此可能会有交集。

Or maybe, they died in Sydney 2 weeks ago,

或者也许，他们两周前在悉尼去世了，

or wouldn't be born until the 22nd century. 語法

又或者要到22世纪才会出生。

It isn't a conspiracy.

这不是什么阴谋。

We would just have needed a lot more luck. 語法

我们只是需要更多的运气。

The problem is sure to get worse 語法

我们越是深思熟虑和敏锐，

the more thoughtful and perceptive we are.

这个问题就注定会变得越发严重。

There will simply be less people like us around. 語法

因为像我们这样的人只会越来越少。

It isn't a romantic myth.

这不是什么浪漫的神话。

Loneliness truly is a kind of tax 習語

孤独真的是一种税，

we have to pay to atone 短語搭配

是我们为了弥补

for a certain complexity of mind.

思维的某种复杂性而必须付出的代价。

The desire to undress someone

想要脱下某人衣服的欲望

is for a long time far more urgent

在很长一段时间里，要比

than the desire for good conversation.

想要进行愉快交谈的欲望迫切得多。

And so, we end up locked in relationships 短語動詞

因此，我们最终陷入了

with certain people we don't have much to say to 短語搭配

与某些无话可说的人的关系中，

because we were once fatefully interested in the shape of their nose

因为我们曾命中注定般地迷恋过他们鼻子的形状，

or the color of their remarkable eyes.

或是他们那双迷人眼眸的颜色。

And yet, despite all this, 表達脈絡

然而，尽管如此，

we shouldn't be frightened or discomfited by our pervasive loneliness. 用詞

我们不应被这无孔不入的孤独感所惊吓或感到不安。

At an exasperated moment near the end of his life,

在临近生命尽头的一个恼怒时刻，

the German writer Goethe, who appeared to have had a lot of friends, 語法

看似朋友众多的德国作家 Goethe（歌德）

exploded bitterly,

曾痛苦地爆发：

"No one has ever properly understood me. 表達脈絡

“从来没有谁真正理解过我。

I have never fully understood anyone.

我也从未完全理解过任何人。

No one understands anyone else."

没有人理解别人。”

It was a helpful outburst from such a great man.

对于这样一位伟人来说，这是一种有益的情感宣泄。

It isn't our fault.

这不是我们的错。

A degree of distance and mutual incomprehension

一定程度的距离感和相互不理解

isn't a sign that life has gone wrong. 短語動詞

并不意味着生活出了差错。

It's what we should expect from the very start.

这就是我们从一开始就该有的预期。

And when we do, benefits can follow. 語法

当我们这样做时，好处便会随之而来。

Once we accept loneliness, we can get creative. 語法

一旦接受了孤独，我们就能变得富有创造力。

We can start to send out messages in a bottle. 習語

我们可以开始发送漂流瓶。

We can sing, write poetry, produce books and blogs,

我们可以唱歌、写诗、出书、写博客，

activities stemming from the realization 短語搭配

这些活动都源于一种认识：

that people around us won't ever fully get us, 用詞

我们周围的人可能永远无法完全理解我们，

but that others, separated across time and space, 語法

但那些跨越时空的人，

might just.

或许可以。

The history of art is the record of people

艺术史就是由那些

who couldn't find anyone in the vicinity to talk to.

在附近找不到说话对象的人所书写的记录。

And we can take up the coded offer of intimacy, 習語

我们可以接受这种隐秘的亲密邀请，

in say the words of a Roman poet who died in 10 BC,

比如死于公元前10年的罗马诗人的字句，

or the lyrics of a singer who described just our blues

或者是1963年纳什维尔的一张唱片中，

in a recording from Nashville in 1963.

一位恰好唱出我们忧伤的歌手的歌词。

Loneliness makes us more capable of true intimacy,

孤独让我们更有能力建立真正的亲密关系，

if ever better opportunities do come along. 語法

如果将来真的有更好的机会出现的话。

It heightens the conversations we have with ourselves.

它提升了我们与自己对话的质量。

It gives us a character.

它塑造了我们的性格。

We don't repeat what everyone else thinks.

我们不会鹦鹉学舌般重复别人的想法。

We develop a point of view.

我们会形成自己的观点。

We might be isolated for now,

我们或许眼下是孤立的，

but we'll be capable of far closer,

但我们将有能力与

more interesting bonds

我们最终找到的任何人，建立更亲密、

with anyone we do eventually locate.

更有趣的联系。

Loneliness renders us elegant and strangely alluring. 用詞

孤独使我们变得优雅，且散发着奇特的魅力。

It suggests there's more about us to understand

它表明我们身上还有更多等待被理解的东西，

than the normal patterns of social intercourse can accommodate, 用詞

超出了常规社交模式所能容纳的范畴，

which is something we can take pride in.

这是我们可以引以为傲的事情。

A sense of isolation truly is,

正如我们所怀疑的，但通常出于害怕显得傲慢

as we suspect but usually prevent ourselves from feeling

而阻止自己去感受的那样，

from fear of arrogance,

孤立感确实

a sign of depth.

是一种有深度的标志。

When we admit our loneliness,

当我们承认自己的孤独时，

we are signing up to a club 習語

我们就等同于加入了一个俱乐部，

that includes the people we know

里面的成员包括那些我们通过

from the paintings of Edward Hopper, 文化背景

Edward Hopper（爱德华·霍普）的画作、

the poems of Baudelaire,

Baudelaire（波德莱尔）的诗歌，

and the songs of Leonard Cohen.

以及 Leonard Cohen（莱昂纳德·科恩）的歌曲所认识的人。

Lonely, we enter a long and grand tradition. 語法

感到孤独时，我们步入了一个悠久而宏大的传统。

We find ourselves surprisingly in great company. 習語

我们会惊讶地发现自己正与伟大的灵魂为伴。

Enduring loneliness is almost invariably better

忍受孤独，几乎总是好过

than suffering the compromises of false community.

忍受虚伪群体的妥协。

Loneliness is simply a price we may have to pay

孤独，只不过是我们为了坚持一种对友谊应当且可能是什么样的

for holding on to a sincere, ambitious view 短語動詞

真诚而抱负不凡的愿景，

of what companionship must and could be. 語法

所必须付出的代价。