你不必走向死亡：英语精读讲义

When do you want to die?

你什么时候想死？

The Reaper is busy,

死神虽然很忙，

but he can fit you in right now. 短語動詞

但他现在就能抽出空来见你。

Too soon?

太早了？

Later perhaps?

也许晚点好？

Future you will keep the appointment, 短語搭配

未来的你会赴这个约，

old and with a life fully lived,

那时你已年迈，度过了充实的一生，

perhaps ever so slightly bored and ready. 短語搭配

也许还有一点点厌倦，并做好了准备。

Now you might think that,

现在你可能会这么想，

but when the appointment whippersnapper you set comes, 用詞

但当年少轻狂的你定下的约见时刻到来时，

it is not in the future because you don't live in the future.

它并不在未来，因为你并不生活在未来。

You always live in the now,

你总是生活在现在，

and thus you always die now.

因此你总是在现在死去。

Because the Reaper comes for all eventually,

因为死神最终会找上所有人，

humans have formed a relationship with death.

所以人类和死亡建立了一种关系。

Perverse.

这种关系很病态。

Like a hostage who grows to love their kidnapper, 語法

就像人质慢慢爱上绑架者一样，

humans tell themselves the handful of decades the Reaper gives them is just the right length, 短語搭配

人类安慰自己，死神赐予他们的几十年时光刚刚好，

that living a truly long and healthy life would get boring and would be unnatural.

活得太长、太健康会让人觉得无聊，而且不自然。

And imagine all the problems if death took a holiday. 習語

想象一下，如果死亡休假了，会有多少麻烦。

And so the Reaper of Age whispers that he is your friend,

于是，衰老死神低声告诉你，他是你的朋友，

always near,

一直陪伴在你身边，

growing humans bigger,

让人类长得更高大、

stronger,

更强壮、

healthier, and smarter.

更健康、更聪明。

At first,

起初是这样，

then comes his harvest of slow rot. 講解

然后就到了他收割缓慢腐朽之躯的时候。

Death is a part of life,

“死亡是生命的一部分，”

he whispers.

他低声说道。

Death gives life meaning. 短語搭配

“死亡赋予生命意义。”

This is madness.

这简直是疯了。

Misery doesn't give happiness meaning.

痛苦并不能赋予幸福意义。

Happiness is meaning itself.

幸福本身就是意义。

If you tortured people to make them better appreciate the pleasures of life, 語法

如果你折磨别人是为了让他们更好地珍惜生活中的乐趣，

you would be a monster,

那你就是个怪物，

just like this guy.

就像这家伙一样。

No parent would ask the Reaper of Age to wrinkle their child's skin,

没有哪个父母会请求衰老死神让他们孩子的皮肤布满皱纹，

weaken their bones,

让他们的骨骼变得脆弱，

dim their vision and their minds,

让他们的视力和心智变得衰退，

cripple them in a thousand ways over decades to ultimately kill them,

在几十年的时间里以千万种方式折磨他们，最终夺走他们的生命，

to give their life meaning.

以此来赋予他们生命意义。

But what can you do? 語氣意圖

但你又能怎样呢？

The world contains pain and death,

世界充满了痛苦和死亡，

and so your brain believes the sweet lies that the horrors you can't avoid are good for you. 習語

所以你的大脑相信了那些甜蜜的谎言：你无法避免的恐惧对你是有好处的。

And while death is a part of life,

虽说死亡是生命的一部分，

cholera was a part of life until humans developed wells and sewers to separate water from waste.

但霍乱也曾是生命的一部分，直到人类建造了水井和下水道，将污水和饮用水分开。

Shortsightedness is a part of life until it isn't. 表達脈絡

近视也曾是生命的一部分，直到我们找到了解决办法。

Just because a thing is natural doesn't make it good or necessary. 語法

仅仅因为一件事物是自然存在的，并不意味着它就是好的或必需的。

It's natural to live lives nasty, 文化背景

生活肮脏、

brutish,

野蛮、

and short,

短暂是自然的，

and it's natural for humans to look at what indifferent nature provides as the starting point, 習語

而人类将冷酷大自然所赐予的作为起点，

as a to-do list.

作为一份待办清单，也是自然的。

Where humans focus,

人类注意力集中的领域，

technology ever improves, 用詞

技术就会不断进步，

and with that the ability to make lives better ever improves.

随之而来的是改善生活的能力也在不断提高。

And just now some basic tools with real promise to slow or halt the decay are becoming visible on the horizon, 習語

就在现在，一些有望减缓或阻止衰老的基本工具正在地平线上显现，

which raises the question, 短語搭配

这就引出了一个问题：

just how strong is the Reaper of Age?

衰老死神到底有多强大？

With enough time and attention,

如果有足够的时间和关注，

can humans craft these basic tools into shields and swords to keep him at bay, 習語

人类能否将这些基本工具打造成盾牌和利剑，将他挡在门外，

possibly indefinitely?

甚至无限期地挡在门外？

Perhaps.

也许能行。

And if so,

如果真的这样，

the first immortal generation may be alive today,

第一代永生者可能今天就已经活在世上了，

a generation that lives a healthy adulthood as long as they wish to. 語法

这一代人可以随心所欲地过上漫长而健康的成年生活。

But to make that happen,

但要实现这一目标，

brains need to be cleared of the millennia of death acceptance.

就必须清除人类大脑中几千年来对死亡的接受感。

Death is not a solution to future problems imagined.

死亡并不是解决想象中未来问题的办法。

Faced with the changes longer lives will bring, 語法

面对寿命延长带来的改变，

humans will not miss the Reaper and construct one to solve their problems.

人类不会怀念死神，也不会去再造一个死神来解决他们的问题。

Just as with our larger cities, 表達脈絡

就像在大型城市里，

we don't remix the water to bring back cholera. 短語動詞

我们不会重新把水混合，让霍乱卷土重来。

Humans must discard the learned helplessness the Reaper and their own brains have imposed on them, 用詞

人类必须摒弃死神和他们自己的大脑强加给他们的习得性无助，

to instead see the rot and decay not as natural and inevitable, 語法

转而将腐朽和衰老不再视为自然和不可避免的，

but as a degenerative disease to be attacked like all the others,

而是将其视为一种必须像对待其他疾病一样去攻克的退行性疾病，

as the degenerative disease that affects 100% of the population

一种影响着100%人口的退行性疾病，

and is a source of misery untold. 用詞

也是无尽痛苦的根源。

Misery not in your distant future, 表達脈絡

痛苦不在遥远的未来，

but in your now.

就在你的当下。

And how soon we start the project of focusing our attention and shaping our tools against the Reaper matters. 語法

所以，我们多快能集中注意力，打造对抗死神的工具，这至关重要。

For the difference of but a day might determine what side of the future chasm you find yourself on, 講解

因为哪怕只有一天的差别，也可能决定了你处于未来鸿沟的哪一边，

journeying forever forward or falling backward into the abyss. 表達脈絡

是永远向前跋涉，还是向后跌入深渊。

Is it too late for you?

对你来说太晚了吗？

We probably won't win the war against death because death is all-powerful, 習語

我们可能无法赢得对抗死亡的战争，因为死亡是无所不能的，

but we might be able to win the battle against the next best thing,

但我们也许能够赢得对抗仅次于它的第二强敌的战斗：

aging itself.

衰老本身。

There's a realistic chance that you might live a longer and healthier life, 短語搭配

你很可能会活得更长寿、更健康，

but should we really do it?

但我们真的应该这么做吗？

We explore this in our video.

我们会在本期视频中探讨这个问题。