如何不无聊：英语精读讲义

One of our great fears, 語法

我们最大的恐惧之一，

which haunts us when we go out into the world and socialize with others, 短語搭配

当我们步入社会与他人交际时总是萦绕心头，

is that we may in our hearts be really rather boring.

那就是在我们内心深处，自己可能真的很无趣。

But the good news,

但好消息是，

and a fundamental truth too,

也是一个基本的真理，

is that no one is ever truly boring.

那就是从来没有人是真正无趣的。

They're only in danger of coming across as such 短語動詞

他们之所以会有显得无趣的危险，

when they either fail to understand their deeper selves

仅仅是因为他们要么无法理解更深层的自我，

or don't dare or know how to communicate them to others.

要么不敢或不知道如何将自我传达给他人。

That there is simply no such thing as an inherently boring person or thing 短語搭配

根本没有天生无趣的人或事物，

is one of the great lessons of art.

这是艺术给我们的伟大启示之一。

Many of the most satisfying artworks

许多最令人满意的艺术作品，

don't feature exalted or rare elements.

并没有高尚或罕见的元素。

They are about the ordinary 語法

它们讲述的都是普通的事物，

looked at in a special way,

用一种特殊的眼光去看待，

with unusual sincerity and openness

带着非凡的真诚与开放态度，

to unvarnished experience. 習語

面对未经粉饰的体验。

Take for example some grasses 表達脈絡

比如一些草，

painted by the Danish artist Christen Købke

由丹麦艺术家克里斯汀·科布克所画，

in a suburb of Copenhagen in 1833.

1833年在哥本哈根的一个郊区。

Outwardly, the scene is utterly unremarkable

表面上看，这个场景极其普通，

and could initially appear to be deeply unpromising material 用詞

起初可能显得是非常缺乏潜力的题材，

for a painting.

难以作画。

And yet, like any great artist,

然而，就像任何伟大的艺术家一样，

Købke has known how to interrogate his own perceptions 習語

科布克懂得如何审视自己的感知，

in a fresh, unclouded, underivative manner

以一种清新、清晰、不落俗套的方式，

and translated them accurately into his medium,

并将其准确地转化为他的媒介，

weaving a small masterpiece 習語

编织出了一幅小小的杰作，

out of the thread of everyday life.

从日常生活的细线中。

And just as there's no such thing as a boring river bank, 語法

正如不存在无趣的河岸、

tree, or dandelion,

树木或蒲公英一样，

so too,

同理，

there can be no such thing as an inherently boring person.

也不可能存在天生无趣的人。

The human animal

人类这种动物，

witnessed in its essence with honesty and without artifice 用詞

当其本质被诚实且毫不做作地展现时，

is always interesting.

总是很有趣的。

When we call a person boring,

当我们说一个人无趣时，

we're just pointing to someone

我们只是在指一个人，

who's not had the courage or concentration

他没有勇气或专注力，

to tell us what it's like to be them. 語法

去告诉我们做他们自己是种什么感受。

By contrast, 表達脈絡

相比之下，

we invariably prove compelling

我们总是能变得引人入胜，

when we succeed in saying

只要我们成功表达出

how and what we truly desire,

我们真正渴望什么、如何渴望，

envy, regret,

以及我们的嫉妒、遗憾、

mourn, and dream.

悲伤和梦想。

Anyone who faithfully recuperates

任何人只要忠实地还原

the real data on what it's like to exist

生存体验的真实数据，

is guaranteed to have material

就一定能拥有素材，

with which to captivate others. 語法

去吸引他人。

The interesting person

有趣的人，

isn't someone to whom obviously and outwardly interesting things have happened, 語法

不是那些在表面上发生过明显有趣事情的人，

someone who's traveled the world,

那些环游世界、

met important dignitaries,

见过重要显贵、

or been present at large geopolitical events.

或出席过大型地缘政治事件的人。

Nor is it someone who speaks in learned terms 語法

也不是那些用渊博的词汇，

about the weighty themes of culture,

谈论文化、

history, or science.

历史或科学等沉重主题的人。

They're someone who's grown into an attentive, 短語動詞

他们是那种成长为专注的、

self-aware listener

有自我意识的倾听者，

and a reliable, honest correspondent 習語

也是可靠、诚实的通讯员，

of the tremors of their own mind and heart

记录自己头脑与内心的悸动，

and who can thereby give us faithful accounts 短語搭配

从而能向我们忠实地描述，

of the pathos, drama,

活着时的悲哀、戏剧性

and strangeness of being alive.

以及奇异之处。

What then are some of the elements

那么，到底是什么因素

that get in the way 短語動詞

阻碍了我们，

of us being as interesting

让我们没能像

as we in fact are?

实际上那样有趣呢？

Firstly, and most crucially,

首先，也是最关键的，

we bore when we lose faith

当我们失去信心时，我们就会变得无趣，

that it really could be our feelings

也就是不再相信我们的真实感受

that would stand the best chance of interesting others. 短語搭配

才最有可能引起别人的兴趣。

Out of modesty and habit, 短語搭配

出于谦虚和习惯，

we push some of our most interesting perceptions 短語動詞

我们将自己最有趣的感知

to one side

推到一边，

in order to follow respectable but dead conventions

为了去遵循那些看似体面却死板的传统，

of what might impress.

以为那样才能给人留下印象。

When we tell anecdotes,

当我们讲轶事时，

we throw the emphasis on the outward details, 短語搭配

我们把重点放在了表面的细节上，

who was there,

谁在那儿，

when we went,

什么时候去的，

what the temperature was like,

气温如何，

rather than maintaining our nerve

而不是鼓起勇气，

to report on the layer of feelings beneath the facts, 習語

去报告事实背后的情感层面，

the moment of guilt,

那一刻的内疚，

the sudden sexual attraction,

突然的性吸引，

the humiliating sulk,

屈辱的生闷气，

the career crisis,

职业危机，

the strange euphoria at 3:00 a.m.

凌晨3点奇怪的亢奋。

Our neglect of our native feelings

我们对自己本能感受的忽视，

isn't just an oversight. 用詞

并不只是一种疏忽。

It can be a deliberate strategy

它可能是一种刻意的策略，

to keep our minds away from realizations

让我们的头脑远离那些

that threaten our ideas of dignity and normality.

威胁到我们尊严和常态观念的认知。

We babble inconsequentially to the world

我们对世界进行着无关痛痒的喋喋不休，

because we lack the nerve 短語搭配

因为我们缺乏勇气，

to look more closely and unflinchingly within.

去更仔细、毫不退缩地审视内心。

It feels significant 語法

这显得意味深长：

that most 5-year-olds are far less boring than most 45-year-olds.

大多数5岁的孩子远没有大多数45岁的人那么无趣。

What makes these children gripping

让这些孩子如此吸引人的，

is not so much that they have more interesting feelings than anyone else,

并不真的是因为他们比其他人拥有更有趣的感受，

far from it, 語氣意圖

差得远呢，

but that they are especially uncensored correspondents

而是因为他们是未经审查的特别通讯员，

of these feelings.

传达着这些感受。

Their inexperience of the world

他们对世界缺乏经验，

means they are still instinctively loyal to themselves,

意味着他们本能地仍然忠于自己，

and so they will candidly tell us what they really think

所以他们会坦率地告诉我们他们真实的想法，

about Granny and their little brother,

关于奶奶和他们的小弟弟，

what their plans for reforming the planet are,

改造地球的计划是什么，

and what they believe everyone should do with their boogies.

以及他们认为每个人应该怎么处理鼻屎。

We are rendered boring 用詞

我们之所以变得无趣，

not by nature so much as by a fateful will

与其说是天性使然，不如说是因为一种宿命的意愿，

that begins its malevolent reign over us in adolescence

这种意愿从青春期就开始对我们进行恶毒的统治，

to appear normal.

那就是表现得正常。

Yet, even when we're honest about our feelings,

然而，即使我们对自己的感受很诚实，

we may still prove boring

我们仍然可能显得无趣，

because we don't know them as well as we should.

因为我们对感受的了解还不够。

And so we get stuck at the level 短語搭配

于是我们就卡在了这个层面，

of insisting on an emotion

只是在坚持一种情绪，

rather than explaining it.

而不是去解释它。

We'll assert with ever greater emphasis

我们会越来越强调，

that a situation was extremely exciting or awful or beautiful,

某个情况是极其令人兴奋、糟糕或美丽的，

but not be able to provide those around us 短語搭配

却无法向周围的人提供

with any of the sort of related details and examples

任何相关的细节和例子，

that would help them viscerally understand why. 用詞

那些能帮助他们发自肺腑地理解为什么的细节。

We can end up boring 短語動詞

我们最终可能会变得无趣，

not so much because we don't want to share our lives 語法

与其说是因为我们不想分享生活，

as because we don't yet know them well enough

不如说是我们还不够了解生活，

to do so.

以至于无法分享。

Fortunately,

幸运的是，

the gift of being interesting

变得有趣的这种天赋，

is neither exclusive 語法

既不排他，

nor reliant on exceptional talent.

也不依赖于非凡的才华。

It requires only direction, honesty, and focus.

它只需要方向、诚实和专注。

The person we call interesting

我们所说的有趣的人，

is in essence someone alive to what we all deeply want from social intercourse, 用詞

本质上是深知我们在社交中深切渴望什么的人，

which is an uncensored glimpse

渴望的就是未经审查地瞥见，

of what the brief waking dream called life 習語

这段短暂的被称为生活的清醒梦，

looks like through the eyes of another person 習語

借由另一个人的双眼看出去是什么样子，

and reassurance

并渴望得到一种安慰，

we are not entirely alone

我们并不完全是孤单的，

with all that feels most bewildering,

即使面对心中那些最令人困惑、

peculiar, and intense within us.

奇怪和强烈的感觉。