你不必走向死亡：英語精讀講義

When do you want to die?

你什麼時候想死？

The Reaper is busy,

死神雖然很忙，

but he can fit you in right now. 片語動詞

但他現在就能抽出空來見你。

Too soon?

太早了？

Later perhaps?

也許晚點好？

Future you will keep the appointment, 片語搭配

未來的你會赴這個約，

old and with a life fully lived,

那時你已年邁，度過了充實的一生，

perhaps ever so slightly bored and ready. 片語搭配

也許還有一點點厭倦，並做好了準備。

Now you might think that,

現在你可能會這麼想，

but when the appointment whippersnapper you set comes, 用詞

但當年少輕狂的你定下的約見時刻到來時，

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

它並不在未來，因為你並不生活在未來。

You always live in the now,

你總是生活在現在，

and thus you always die now.

因此你總是在現在死去。

Because the Reaper comes for all eventually,

因為死神最終會找上所有人，

humans have formed a relationship with death.

所以人類和死亡建立了一種關係。

Perverse.

這種關係很病態。

Like a hostage who grows to love their kidnapper, 文法

就像人質慢慢愛上綁架者一樣，

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

人類安慰自己，死神賜予他們的幾十年時光剛剛好，

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

活得太長、太健康會讓人覺得無聊，而且不自然。

And imagine all the problems if death took a holiday. 慣用語

想像一下，如果死亡休假了，會有多少麻煩。

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

於是，衰老死神低聲告訴你，他是你的朋友，

always near,

一直陪伴在你身邊，

growing humans bigger,

讓人類長得更高大、

stronger,

更強壯、

healthier, and smarter.

更健康、更聰明。

At first,

起初是這樣，

then comes his harvest of slow rot. 講解

然後就到了他收割緩慢腐朽之軀的時候。

Death is a part of life,

「死亡是生命的一部分，」

he whispers.

他低聲說道。

Death gives life meaning. 片語搭配

「死亡賦予生命意義。」

This is madness.

這簡直是瘋了。

Misery doesn't give happiness meaning.

痛苦並不能賦予幸福意義。

Happiness is meaning itself.

幸福本身就是意義。

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

如果你折磨別人是為了讓他們更好地珍惜生活中的樂趣，

you would be a monster,

那你就是個怪物，

just like this guy.

就像這傢伙一樣。

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

沒有哪個父母會請求衰老死神讓他們孩子的皮膚佈滿皺紋，

weaken their bones,

讓他們的骨骼變得脆弱，

dim their vision and their minds,

讓他們的視力和心智變得衰退，

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

在幾十年的時間裡以千萬種方式折磨他們，最終奪走他們的生命，

to give their life meaning.

以此來賦予他們生命意義。

But what can you do? 語氣意圖

但你又能怎樣呢？

The world contains pain and death,

世界充滿了痛苦和死亡，

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

所以你的大腦相信了那些甜蜜的謊言：你無法避免的恐懼對你是有好處的。

And while death is a part of life,

雖說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.

但霍亂也曾是生命的一部分，直到人類建造了水井和下水道，將污水和飲用水分開。

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

近視也曾是生命的一部分，直到我們找到了解決辦法。

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

僅僅因為一件事物是自然存在的，並不意味著它就是好的或必需的。

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

生活骯髒、

brutish,

野蠻、

and short,

短暫是自然的，

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

而人類將冷酷大自然所賜予的作為起點，

as a to-do list.

作為一份待辦清單，也是自然的。

Where humans focus,

人類注意力集中的領域，

technology ever improves, 用詞

技術就會不斷進步，

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

隨之而來的是改善生活的能力也在不斷提高。

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

就在現在，一些有望減緩或阻止衰老的基本工具正在地平線上顯現，

which raises the question, 片語搭配

這就引出了一個問題：

just how strong is the Reaper of Age?

衰老死神到底有多強大？

With enough time and attention,

如果有足夠的時間和關注，

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

人類能否將這些基本工具打造成盾牌和利劍，將他擋在門外，

possibly indefinitely?

甚至無限期地擋在門外？

Perhaps.

也許能行。

And if so,

如果真的這樣，

the first immortal generation may be alive today,

第一代永生者可能今天就已經活在世上了，

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

這一代人可以隨心所欲地過上漫長而健康的成年生活。

But to make that happen,

但要實現這一目標，

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

就必須清除人類大腦中幾千年來對死亡的接受感。

Death is not a solution to future problems imagined.

死亡並不是解決想像中未來問題的辦法。

Faced with the changes longer lives will bring, 文法

面對壽命延長帶來的改變，

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

人類不會懷念死神，也不會去再造一個死神來解決他們的問題。

Just as with our larger cities, 表達脈絡

就像在大型城市裡，

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

我們不會重新把水混合，讓霍亂捲土重來。

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

人類必須摒棄死神和他們自己的大腦強加給他們的習得性無助，

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

轉而將腐朽和衰老不再視為自然和不可避免的，

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

而是將其視為一種必須像對待其他疾病一樣去攻克的退行性疾病，

as the degenerative disease that affects 100% of the population

一種影響著100%人口的退行性疾病，

and is a source of misery untold. 用詞

也是無盡痛苦的根源。

Misery not in your distant future, 表達脈絡

痛苦不在遙遠的未來，

but in your now.

就在你的當下。

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

所以，我們多快能集中注意力，打造對抗死神的工具，這至關重要。

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

因為哪怕只有一天的差別，也可能決定了你處於未來鴻溝的哪一邊，

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

是永遠向前跋涉，還是向後跌入深淵。

Is it too late for you?

對你來說太晚了嗎？

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

我們可能無法贏得對抗死亡的戰爭，因為死亡是無所不能的，

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

但我們也許能夠贏得對抗僅次於它的第二強敵的戰鬥：

aging itself.

衰老本身。

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

你很可能會活得更長壽、更健康，

but should we really do it?

但我們真的應該這麼做嗎？

We explore this in our video.

我們會在本期影片中探討這個問題。