论抑郁情绪：英语精读讲义

We're not talking about the extreme, most paralyzing regions of despair, where external medical help is vital. 表達脈絡

我们不是在讨论那种需要外部医疗援助的、最极端且令人瘫痪的绝望。

Our target is rather the times when we feel, as indicated by Thoreau's phrase,

我们的目标是那些时候，正如梭罗的话所说，

"mired in moods of quiet desperation." 習語

“陷入了平静的绝望情绪之中。”

A large gray hinterland 習語

这是一片广袤的灰色地带，

in which beneath an outward surface of endurance,

在这看似坚忍的外表之下，

we feel exhausted, close to tears,

我们感到精疲力竭、濒临落泪，

beyond the sympathetic understanding of others.

无法得到他人的同情与理解。

Easily irritated and daunted by the simplest tasks. 用詞

容易烦躁，连最简单的任务都让我们望而生畏。

There will probably have been certain triggers for our melancholy, 語法

也许有一些触发我们忧郁的原因，

an intimate rejection,

一次亲密关系的拒绝，

a humiliation around work,

一次工作上的屈辱，

the growing realization that the ambitious plans of earlier years have come to very little. 短語搭配

越来越意识到早年雄心勃勃的计划落了空。

Unfortunately, sadness feels very taboo.

不幸的是，悲伤常常被视为一种禁忌。

Societies tend slyly to insist on cheerfulness.

社会往往暗中坚持让人保持开朗。

We end up not only struggling, but humiliated that we're in such difficulties. 講解

结果我们不仅在挣扎，还因为身陷困境而感到羞耻。

Yet, in truth,

然而，事实上，

there is nothing more natural or routine than grief. 語法

没有什么比悲伤更自然、更寻常的了。

We have so much to feel morose about.

我们有太多理由感到郁闷。

Simply by virtue of being alive, 短語搭配

仅仅因为活着，

we will inevitably so often feel badly misunderstood,

我们就不可避免地常常感到被深深误解，

unfairly criticized,

受到不公正的批评，

overlooked, and rejected.

被忽视，被拒绝。

We'll be struck by our own stupidity 用詞

我们会为自己的愚蠢感到震惊，

and appalled by our inner ugliness and cowardice.

为内心的丑陋和懦弱感到骇然。

We will make some shockingly poor decisions.

我们会做出一些极其糟糕的决定。

We will let others down, 短語動詞

我们会让别人失望，

and we will witness those we love suffer and die

我们会目睹我们所爱的人遭受痛苦并死去，

before ourselves having to give up the keys to life. 習語

然后我们自己也不得不交出生命的钥匙。

The reasons for feeling low and demoralized

感到低落和沮丧的原因

touch more or less everyone.

或多或少影响着每一个人。

It is the universality, the normality of suffering, 語法

正是因为痛苦的普遍性和常态化，

that makes the sight of small happy children so poignant.

才让那些快乐的小孩显得如此令人心酸。

We know, as they cannot yet, 語法

我们知道，而他们还无法知道，

how much they're going to suffer.

他们将来会遭受多少痛苦。

We don't know the precise details,

我们不知道确切的细节，

but we know that in some way or another, 短語搭配

但我们知道，以某种方式，

a distinctive range of horrors will, in time, befall them. 用詞

一系列可怕的事情迟早会降临在他们身上。

Every day, almost without noticing it,

每一天，几乎在不知不觉中，

we have to fight off a range of incoming powerful reasons not to despair. 短語動詞

我们都不得不与一系列强有力的理由作斗争，以免陷入绝望。

We rely on an internal engine or muscle of hope to pump out consoling thoughts. 習語

我们依靠内在的引擎或名为希望的肌肉，泵出带来安慰的想法。

Then one day,

然后有一天，

the task seems too much.

任务似乎变得太重了。

The muscle can't take it anymore.

肌肉再也承受不住了。

At such times, 表達脈絡

在这样的时候，

we need to keep a few ideas in mind.

我们需要记住几个理念。

For a start,

首先，

that sorrow is not an individual failing.

悲伤不是个人的失败。

It is a basic reality for our entire species.

它是我们整个物种的基本现实。

We are so extremely sensitive,

我们是如此极其敏感，

such fragile constructions,

如此脆弱的构造，

constantly exposed to danger,

经常暴露在危险之中，

for the most part blind,

大多数时候是盲目的，

hopeful without regard to reality, 短語搭配

怀抱着不切实际的希望，

and with unquenchable needs for love and sympathy.

对爱和同情有着难以满足的需求。

Our tribulations are a symptom of being human, 表達脈絡

我们的苦难是作为人类的一种症状，

never just a curse attached to our sliver of existence.

绝不仅仅是我们这渺小存在的诅咒。

Others who might seem successful,

其他那些看起来成功、

buoyant, and composed will travel, 習語

乐观、镇定的人，也会在

at moments they shield us from,

那些他们对我们隐瞒的时刻，

to the very same places of despair we have been exiled to.

走向与我们相同的流放之地——绝望。

We live so close to ourselves,

我们与自己太过亲近，

we know so much about our own private failings,

我们对自己私下的缺点了解得太多，

we miss that our flaws are in fact general,

导致我们忽略了，我们的缺陷其实是普遍存在的，

present even in the outwardly placid,

甚至存在于那些表面平静、

the beautiful, the rich, and the people next door.

美丽、富有以及邻家的人身上。

If only we could see into their minds, 語法

只要我们能看透他们的心思，

we would feel so much less alone.

我们的孤独感就会大大减轻。

We are, it's true,

确实，我们

sometimes hard to be around.

有时很难相处。

We're easy to caricature as grumpy and a pain. 講解

我们很容易被讽刺为脾气暴躁和招人烦。

But in truth, we're sad rather than mean, 語法

但事实上，我们是悲伤而不是刻薄，

anxious rather than bad.

是焦虑而不是学坏。

It's hard to make our despair sound charming,

很难让我们的绝望听起来迷人，

to present ourselves in the way that would win us the compassion we so require.

很难以赢得我们极其需要的同情的方式来展示自己。

Yet, we're being harder on ourselves than we would be on a friend. 語法

然而，我们对自己比对朋友更苛刻。

We should, at the least,

至少，我们应该

accord ourselves the same degree of forgiveness we wouldn't hesitate to direct to an acquaintance. 用詞

给自己与毫不犹豫地给予熟人同等程度的宽恕。

In the end,

最后，

however tempting it is, 語法

无论诱惑有多大，

we can't just abandon our lives.

我们都不能放弃自己的生活。

There are too many people who rely on us,

有太多的人依赖着我们，

even if their presence doesn't feel real right now.

即使现在感觉不到他们的存在。

Above all,

最重要的是，

we don't know the future.

我们不知道未来会怎样。

It's the other side of our dependence on chance. 習語

这是我们依赖机遇的另一面。

Things can get slightly better

事情可能会变得好一点，

for reasons it's hard to foresee. 語法

因为难以预见的原因。

Just as pleasures fade and can seem meaningless in retrospect, 語法

正如快乐会褪色，回想起来可能毫无意义一样，

so pains, at least sometimes,

痛苦，至少有时，

can pass or soften.

也会过去或减轻。

Things we thought we'd never be able to get over gradually become bearable. 短語動詞

我们以为永远无法释怀的事情，渐渐变得可以承受了。

We adjust our mental posture. 習語

我们调整了自己的心理姿态。

We stoop to accommodate a new reality.

我们弯下腰来适应一个新的现实。

Being miserable does not exclude us from the human community.

感到痛苦并不会将我们排除在人类群体之外。

It's a sure sign that we are very normal

这是一个确凿的信号，证明我们非常正常，

and that life is progressing in its own dark way, 表達脈絡

生活正在以它自己黑暗的方式前行，

more or less exactly to plan.

多少是完全按计划进行的。