想太多的危險；以及想太少的危險：英語精讀講義

Thinking about ourselves, our feelings, our past, our desires, and our hopes

思考我們自己、我們的感受、我們的過去、我們的渴望和我們的希望

is a hugely tricky task

是一項極其棘手的任務

that most of us spend a good deal of effort trying very hard to avoid. 片語搭配

我們大多數人都花費大量精力極力逃避。

We keep away from ourselves 慣用語

我們刻意遠離自己

because so much of what we could discover

因為我們可能發現的很多東西

threatens to be painful.

可能會帶來痛苦。

We might find that we were in the background 慣用語

我們可能會發現，在內心的角落裡

deeply furious with and resentful about certain people 片語搭配

我們對某些人充滿了深深的憤怒和怨恨

we were only meant to love. 文法

即使我們本該去愛他們。

We might discover how much ground there was

我們可能會發現，有很多理由

to feel inadequate and guilty

讓我們感到不勝任和內疚

on account of the many errors and misjudgments 片語搭配

因為那些許多錯誤和誤判

we've made.

都是我們親手造成的。

We might find that though we wanted to be decent,

我們可能會發現，儘管我們想成為體面、

law-abiding people,

守法的人，

we harbored fantasies that went 片語搭配

但我們卻在心裡滋生了

in appallingly deviant and aberrant directions.

極其偏離正軌和反常的幻想。

We might recognize how much was

我們可能會意識到，到底有多少事物

nauseatingly compromised and needed to be changed

是令人作嘔的妥協，且急需改變，

about our relationships and our careers.

包括我們的關係和我們的事業。

We don't only have a lot to hide.

我們不僅有很多需要隱藏的東西。

We are liars of genius. 慣用語

我們還是天才般的騙子。

It is part of the human tragedy

這是人類悲劇的一部分，

that we are such natural self-deceivers.

那就是我們天生就擅長自欺欺人。

Our techniques are multiple and close to invisible.

我們的手段多種多樣，幾乎不露痕跡。

Two are worth focusing on in particular: 表達脈絡

尤其有兩個值得關注：

our habit of thinking too much

我們想得太多的習慣

and our habit of thinking too little.

以及我們想得太少的習慣。

When we think too much,

當我們想得太多時，

in essence, we're filling our minds 表達脈絡

從本質上講，我們是在讓大腦

with impressive ideas,

填滿看似了不起的想法，

which blatantly announce our intelligence to the world, 表達脈絡

以此向世界明目張膽地炫耀我們的聰明才智，

but subtly ensure we won't have much room left

卻又巧妙地確保我們不會留下太多空間

to rediscover long-distant feelings of ignorance or confusion

去重新發現那些久遠的無知或困惑感，

upon which the development of our personalities 文法

儘管我們人格的發展

may nevertheless rest.

也許正是建立在這些感受之上。

We perhaps write dense books on the role of government bonds

我們可能會寫出關於政府債券作用的厚重著作

in the Napoleonic Wars

背景是拿破崙戰爭時期

or publish extensively on Chaucer's influence

或者廣泛發表有關喬叟影響力的文章

on the mid-19th century Japanese novel.

探討他對19世紀中期日本小說的影響。

We secure degrees from institutes of advanced study

我們從高等研究院獲得學位

or positions on editorial boards of scientific journals.

或在科學期刊的編輯委員會任職。

Our minds are crammed with arcane data. 片語搭配

我們的頭腦中塞滿了晦澀難懂的數據。

We can wittily inform a dining table of guests

我們可以機智地告訴餐桌上的客人們

who wrote the Enchiridion, Epictetus,

誰寫了《手冊》，即愛比克泰德，

or the Life and Times of Dogen,

或者是道元的《生平與時代》，

the founder of Zen Buddhism,

這位禪宗的創始人，

but we don't remember very much at all 文法

但我們卻幾乎不記得

about how life was long ago,

很久以前的生活是怎樣的，

back in the old house when father left,

那是在老房子裡，當父親離開，

mother stopped smiling,

母親不再微笑，

and our trust broke in pieces. 慣用語

我們的信任碎成一地的時候。

We deploy knowledge and ideas that carry enormous prestige

我們運用帶有極大聲望的知識和思想

to stand guard against the emergence 慣用語

來防範它們的出現——

of more humble but essential knowledge

那些更為謙卑卻至關重要的知識，

from our emotional past.

源於我們的情感過去。

We bury our personal stories 慣用語

我們把個人故事埋葬在

beneath an avalanche of expertise.

鋪天蓋地的專業知識之下。

The possibility of a deeply consequential intimate inquiry

深入且至關重要的私人內省的可能性

is deliberately left to seem feeble and superfluous

被刻意地顯得微弱和多餘，

next to the supposedly grander task of addressing a conference

相比於那項看似更宏大的任務——在一次會議上發表演講，

on the political strategies of Dona Maria the First

探討瑪麗亞一世的政治策略

or the life cycle of the Indonesian octopus.

或是印尼章魚的生命週期。

We lean on the glamour of being learned 片語動詞

我們依仗著博學的魅力

to make sure we won't need to learn too much that hurts.

以確保我們不需要去了解太多會讓人痛苦的事情。

Then there is our habit of thinking too little. 表達脈絡

然後就是我想得太少的習慣。

Here we pretend that we are simpler

在這裡，我們假裝自己很簡單，

than we actually are

比實際情況要簡單得多，

and that too much psychology might be nonsense

並且認為過多的心理分析可能是廢話，

and fuss about nothing.

純屬無事生非。

We lean on a version of robust common sense

我們依賴一種看似強硬的常識

to ward off intimations of our own awkward complexity. 片語動詞

來抵禦對我們自身尷尬複雜性的暗示。

We imply that not thinking very much

我們暗示著，不怎麼去思考

is at base evidence of a superior kind of intelligence. 片語搭配

本質上是更高級智慧的證據。

In company, we deploy bluff strategies of ridicule 用詞

在社交場合，我們使用直率的嘲笑策略

against more complicated accounts of human nature.

來反對那些更為複雜的人性解讀。

We sideline avenues of personal investigation 用詞

我們將個人探索的途徑邊緣化，

as unduly fancy or weird,

認為其過於花俏或古怪，

implying that to lift the lid on inner life 慣用語

暗示著揭開內心生活的蓋子

could never be fruitful or entirely respectable.

絕不會有什麼收穫，甚至完全不體面。

We use the practical mood of Monday morning

我們用週一早上的務實情緒

9:00 a.m.

上午9點

to ward off complex insights of 3:00 a.m.

來抵擋凌晨3點的複雜領悟

the previous night,

在前一天的深夜，

when the entire fabric of our existence

那時我們整個存在的結構

came into question against the backdrop of a million stars 片語搭配

在一百萬顆星星的背景下受到了質疑

spread like diamonds on a mantle of black velvet. 慣用語

那些星星像鑽石一樣灑落在黑色天鵝絨的披風上。

Deploying an attitude of vigorous common sense,

擺出強有力的常識態度，

we strive to make our moments of radical disquiet 文法

我們努力使極度不安的時刻

seem like aberrations rather than the central occasions

看起來像是異常情況，而不是核心的契機，

of insight they might actually be.

即使它們實際上可能是頓悟的時刻。

We appeal to the understandable longing 文法

我們訴諸於一種可以理解的渴望，

that our personalities be non-tragic,

即希望我們的人格是不帶有悲劇色彩的，

simple, and easily comprehended

簡單，且易於理解，

so as to reject the stranger 文法

從而去拒絕那些更陌生

but more useful facts of our real,

但更有用的真實真相，

intricate selves.

即我們錯綜複雜的自我。

A defense of emotional honesty

捍衛情感上的誠實

has nothing to do with high-minded morality. 片語搭配

與高尚的道德無關。

It's ultimately cautionary and egoistic.

它歸根結底是處於謹慎和利己的考慮。

We need to tell ourselves a little bit more of the truth

我們需要告訴自己稍微多一點真相

because we pay too high a price for our lies. 慣用語

因為我們為謊言付出的代價太高了。

Through our self-deceptions,

透過自我欺騙，

we cut ourselves off from possibilities of growth. 片語動詞

我們切斷了自己成長的可能性。

We shut off large portions of our minds

我們關閉了大腦的很大一部分，

and end up uncreative, tetchy and defensive, 片語動詞

結果變得缺乏創造力、易怒和有防禦心，

while others around us have to suffer our irritability,

而我們周圍的人卻不得不忍受我們的暴躁、

gloom, manufactured cheerfulness, 用詞

陰鬱、偽裝的快活，

or defensive rationalizations.

或是防禦性的找藉口。

Our neglect of the awkward sides of ourselves

我們對自身尷尬面的忽視

buckles our very being, 慣用語

會讓我們整個身心崩潰，

emerging as insomnia or impotence,

表現為失眠或陽痿，

stuttering or depression,

口吃或憂鬱，

revenge for all the thoughts we've been so careful not to have. 慣用語

這是對所有我們曾極力避免去擁有的想法的報復。

Self-knowledge isn't a luxury so much as a precondition 文法

自我認知與其說是一種奢侈，不如說是一個先決條件

for a measure of sanity and inner comfort.

為了保持一定程度的理智和內心的舒適。

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如果你喜歡這部影片，

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