克服內心糟糕的聲音：英語精讀講義

Overcoming bad inner voices.

克服內心糟糕的聲音。

We don't often think about it and may never discuss it with others at all,

我們往往不會多想，甚至可能從未與他人談論過，

but pretty much everyone has voices in their heads, 講解

但幾乎每個人的腦海中都有聲音，

a murmuring stream of thoughts that run along inside our minds most of the time. 慣用語

這是大多數時候在我們腦內流淌的喃喃低語。

Sometimes the inner voice is encouraging,

有時內心的聲音是令人鼓舞的，

calling for you to run those final few yards,

呼喚你跑完最後幾碼，

you're nearly there, keep going, keep going,

你快到了，堅持，堅持，

or urging you to calm down because you know it will all be okay in the end. 講解

或者勸你冷靜下來，因為你知道一切最終都會沒事的。

But sometimes the inner voice is simply not very nice at all. 文法

但有時內心的聲音卻一點也不友善。

It is defeatist and punitive,

它充滿挫敗感和懲罰性，

panic-ridden and humiliating. 用詞

充滿恐慌和羞辱。

It doesn't represent anything like our best insights or most mature capacities. 片語搭配

它根本不代表我們最好的洞察力或最成熟的能力。

It's not the voice of our better nature. 慣用語

這不是我們善良本性的聲音。

We find ourselves saying

我們發現自己在說

"You disgust me.

「你真讓我噁心。

Things always go to shit with you." 慣用語

事情總會被你搞砸。」

or "You useless little idiot."

或是「你這個沒用的小笨蛋。」

Where do inner voices come from?

內心的聲音從何而來？

An inner voice always used to be an outer voice.

內心的聲音總是曾經外在的聲音。

We absorb the tone of others,

我們吸收了他人的語氣，

a harassed or angry parent,

疲憊不堪或憤怒的父母，

the menacing threats of an elder sibling keen to put us down, 片語動詞

熱衷於貶低我們的哥哥姐姐的恐嚇，

the words of a schoolyard bully or a teacher who seemed impossible to please. 文法

校園惡霸或似乎難以取悅的老師的言辭。

We internalize the unhelpful voices

我們將這些無益的聲音內化，

because at certain key moments in the past they sounded compelling.

因為在過去某些關鍵時刻，它們聽起來很有說服力。

The authority figures repeated their messages over and over 片語搭配

權威人物一遍又一遍地重複他們的訊息，

until they got lodged in our own way of thinking. 慣用語

直到它們駐留在我們自己的思維方式中。

Part of achieving happiness and maturity involves altering our inner voices, 文法

實現幸福和成熟的一部分在於改變我們內心的聲音，

which means encountering equally convincing and confident,

這意味著要遇到同樣令人信服和自信、

but also helpful and constructive varieties of voices over long periods and taking care to internalize them. 片語搭配

但在很長一段時間內也是有幫助和建設性的各種聲音，並注意將它們內化。

They might be the voices of a friend,

它們可能是朋友、

a therapist, or an author.

治療師或作家的聲音。

We need to hear them often enough 文法

我們需要足夠頻繁地聽到它們，

and around tricky enough issues that they come to feel normal and natural responses,

並在足夠棘手的問題周圍聽到它們，使之感覺像是正常和自然的反應，

so that eventually they come to feel like things we are saying to ourselves. 文法

直到最終它們感覺就像是我們自己在對自己說的話。

They become our own thoughts.

它們變成了我們自己的想法。

The best sort of inner voice speaks to us in a gentle, kind, and unhurried way. 片語搭配

最好的內心聲音會以溫柔、善良和從容的方式對我們說話。

It should feel as if a sympathetic arm were being put around our shoulder 文法

它應該感覺就像是一隻充滿同情的臂膀摟著我們的肩膀，

by someone who had lived long and seen a great many sad things,

而這個人活了很久，見過許多悲傷的事情，

but wasn't embittered or panicked by them.

但並沒有因此變得憤世嫉俗或恐慌。

In certain states of humiliation around work,

在圍繞工作產生某種屈辱感時，

in many of us, there is a mocking and contemptuous voice inside one's head.

我們許多人的腦海中會有一個嘲笑和輕蔑的聲音。

It suggests that love, respect, and kindness

它暗示愛、尊重和善意

only ever come via worldly success and competence. 用詞

只有透過世俗的成功和能力才能獲得。

Our failure, not being able to make a public speech,

我們的失敗，無法公開發表演講，

taking time to learn to drive a car,

花很多時間學開車，

not being especially brilliant at sales,

在銷售方面不是特別出色，

rightly debars us from love and appreciation. 用詞

理所當然地剝奪了我們被愛和欣賞的權利。

We need to incorporate a voice that separates out achievement from love, 片語動詞

我們需要融入一種將成就與愛分開的聲音，

that reminds us that we may be worthy of affection even if we fail, 講解

它提醒我們，即使失敗了，我們也值得被愛，

and that being a winner is only one part, 表達脈絡

成為贏家只是其中的一部分，

and not necessarily the most important part of one's identity.

而且不一定是身分中最重要的部分。

This is traditionally the voice of the mother,

這傳統上是母親的聲音，

but it might also be the voice of a lover,

但也可能是戀人的聲音，

a poet we like,

我們喜歡的詩人的聲音，

or a 9-year-old child chatting to his or her mom or dad about stress at the office.

或者是一個9歲的孩子與父母談論辦公室壓力的聲音。

It is the voice of a person who loves you for being you outside of achievement. 片語搭配

這是一個因為你就是你而在成就之外愛你的人的聲音。

Many of us grew up around nervous people,

我們許多人在神經質的人身邊長大，

people who lost their tempers the moment the parking ticket couldn't be found, 講解

他們在找不到停車罰單時就會發脾氣，

and who were knocked off course by relatively minor administrative hurdles like the electricity bill. 慣用語

而且會被像電費帳單這樣相對較小的行政障礙弄得不知所措。

These people had no faith in themselves,

這些人對自己沒有信心，

and therefore, without necessarily wanting to do us harm, 文法

因此，在不一定想傷害我們的情況下，

couldn't have much faith in our own abilities either.

對我們自己的能力也沒有多少信心。

Every time we faced an exam,

每次我們面臨考試時，

they got more alarmed than we did. 文法

他們比我們更驚慌。

They always asked multiple times if we had enough to wear when we went outside.

他們總是多次詢問我們出門時穿得夠不夠。

They worried about our friends and our teachers.

他們擔心我們的朋友和我們的老師。

They were sure the holiday was going to turn into a disaster. 片語動詞

他們確信假期會變成一場災難。

Now these voices have become our own

現在這些聲音變成了我們自己的聲音，

and cloud our capacity to take an accurate measurement of what we are capable of. 講解

並蒙蔽了我們準確衡量自己能力的能力。

We have internalized voices of irrational fear and fragility.

我們內化了非理性恐懼和脆弱的聲音。

At such moments,

在這樣的時刻，

we need an alternative voice that can pause our runaway fears 慣用語

我們需要另一種聲音來暫停我們失控的恐懼，

and remind us of the strength we have latent within us, 用詞

並提醒我們潛藏在內心的力量，

which the currents of panic have hidden from us. 慣用語

而這種力量已經被恐慌的洪流所隱藏。

Our heads are large, cavernous spaces. 慣用語

我們的腦袋是巨大的、空洞的空間。

They contain the voices of all the people we have ever known. 文法

它們包含了我們曾經認識的所有人的聲音。

We should learn to mute the unhelpful ones 慣用語

我們應該學會讓那些無益的聲音靜音，

and focus on the voices we really need to guide us through the thickets of life. 慣用語

並專注於我們真正需要用來指引我們穿過生活叢林的聲音。

We humbly offer this voice as one of the more helpful ones we might take on board. 片語動詞

我們謙卑地提供這種聲音，作為我們可以接受的更有幫助的聲音之一。

From a young age, we're taught it's a terrible thing.

從小，我們就被教導這是一件可怕的事情。

So when we feel it, as we all do,

所以當我們感受到它時，就像我們所有人一樣，

we're inclined not to examine it.

我們傾向於不去檢查它。

We just feel the regional Italian.

我們只感受到了義大利地方風味。

Whatever that means.

不管那是什麼意思。

It got some amazing reviews online.

它在網路上得到了一些驚人的好評。