很多时候,我很苦恼,感觉不知所措,因为不懂当地的语言,不能理解别人的意思,别人也听不懂我说的话。有一次在意大利,一个旅店接待员试图问我多要钱,争论了十分钟他才放弃。还有一次在中国,一个出租车司机坚持问我多要钱,最后还是一个豪华宾馆的门卫帮我解了围。
Having a companion might have helped safeguard me from some of those problems. But it would have suppressed other opportunities - a long afternoon in Thailand all alone in the back of a hay wagon and then seven days in the back of a truck with a Brit, two Aussies and two Norwegians! Eating ethnic food on my way through eastern Korea with four youthful Japanese salarymen. Getting sick in China, and being nursed with chocolate bars and tissues by a couple from Texas.
如果身边有一个同伴陪着我,也许就能使我避免刚刚讲的那些问题。但是这也会使我错失其他的机会,比如我在泰国装干草的马车后面独自坐了整个下午,然后和一个英国人、两个澳大利亚人、两个挪威人在一辆卡车的后车厢里呆了七天;我在去韩国东部的路上和四个年轻的日本上班族品尝了民族风味的食物;在中国生病了,有一对来自得克萨斯州的夫妻照顾我,给我吃巧克力棒,递纸巾。
The few times I have traveled with a companion, I haven't had the same ample opportunities to meet people. Other travelers can swap stories with you about the local folklore of the places they've been to and often have credible insights into the place you're visiting. Locals are also more likely to see you as approachable and be upfront with you when you're on your own.
在我为数不多的几次结伴旅行中,我就没有那么多的机会结识那么多的人。其他旅游者会给你讲他们到过的地方的民间风情,对于你正在旅行的地方,他们也有令人信服的见解。当你独自一人旅行时,当地人也会觉得你更容易接近,从而愿意和你坦诚相对。
Of course you have to be careful not to endanger yourself by throwing caution to the wind. Watch your back, but don't presume the worst and be overly fearful. Be friendly with people, but watch out for those who are too friendly with you. Don't disregard your instincts. If you hear stories about criminals on a road, take the road - just don't take much cash, and don't accept Coca Cola from strangers.
当然,你必须当心,不要因为大意而使自己处于危险的境地。要处处提防,但是也不要把什么事都想成最坏的,过于担惊受怕。要对人友善,但需防备那些对你过于友好的人。别忽视你的直觉。如果你听说某条公路上曾经有坏人出现,你可以走这条路——只是不要带太多的现金,不要喝陌生人给你的可乐。
The key to solo travel is to open your mind, close your eyes and leap in! Everything that happens to you is an experience, and good, bad or neutral, they will all benefit you in some way. Take those little annoyances, those inefficiencies, and those boring bureaucrats with a laugh. If you despise something, just remember: You don't live there, you can leave anytime, and you'll never have to deal with this again!
单独旅行的关键是敞开心扉,闭上眼睛,投入其中!所有发生在你身上的事情都是一种经历,无论是好的、坏的,或是不好不坏的,将来总会对你有益。把那些小烦恼、那些拖拉低效的作风、那些令人厌恶的官僚主义都拋在脑后,一笑置之。如果反感某些东西,请记住:你不是住在那里,你随时可以离开,你以后再也不用管它了!
Don't ever let a lack of companionship constrain you from doing what you really want to do. Once you go solo, you'll be amazed at how sensational your travel experiences will be.
永远不要因为缺少同伴而不去做你真正想做的事情。一旦你独自一人去旅行,你会惊奇
地发现你的旅行经历将会是多么美好。
Unit 5 When Work is a Pleasure 课文A
Will you be a worker or a laborer? 你想做工作者还是劳役者?
To be truly happy, a person must feel both free and important. People are never happy if they feel compelled by society to do work they do not enjoy, or if what they do enjoy is ignored by society as having no value or importance. In a society where slavery in the strict sense has been abolished, the social indications around work, the value of work and the salary, have degraded many laborers into modern slaves - \
一个人要想真正快乐,必须觉得自己既自由又重要。如果觉得自己是受社会逼迫而做自己不喜欢的工作,或者自己喜欢的工作被认为没价值或不重要而遭社会忽视,那他绝不会快乐。在一个奴隶制度严格说来已经被废除的社会里,工作的社会含义、工作的价值和薪水,已经把许多劳役者降格为现代奴隶——“薪奴”。
People are considered laborers if their job has an adverse effect on them, yet they feel compelled to continue working by the necessity of conforming to societal expectations and earning the revenue to support themselves and their families. The polar opposite of labor is play. When we play a game, we enjoy what we are doing, but it is a purely private pastime; society does not care when or whether we play.
如果人们的工作对自己有负面的影响,但为了遵从社会的期望或者挣钱养家糊口而被迫必须继续工作,那么他们就被认为是劳役者。劳役的对立面是玩乐。当我们玩游戏时,我们很享受正在做的事情,但这仅仅是个人娱乐。社会对我们何时玩乐或者是否玩乐并不关心。
Between labor and play stands work. People are labeled as workers if their personal interests coincide with the jobs society pays them to do; what is necessary labor from the point of view of society is voluntary play from the individual's personal point of view. Whether a job is to be designated as labor or work depends, not on the job itself, but on the tastes of the individual who undertakes it. The difference does not, for example, correlate with the difference between a manual and mental job or between jobs of low or high esteem; a gardener covered in dirt in a greenhouse may be a worker while a well-dressed city mayor may prove to be an unhappy laborer!
处于劳役和玩乐之间的就是工作。如果人们的个人兴趣跟社会付酬让他们做的工作相吻合,他们就被称为工作者。社会上看来一定是苦工的事情对个人来说却是自在的玩乐活动。一份活到底应定为工作还是劳役并不取决于其本身,而是承担这份活的个人感受。比如,二者的区别与是体力活还是脑力活或尊严的高低没有关联。温室里满身尘土的园丁可能是工作者,而衣冠楚楚的市长则可能是一个不开心的劳役者!
People's attitude toward their work determines everything. To workers, leisure means simply the hours they need to relax and rest in order to work efficiently. Workers are therefore more prone to dedicate more time to working, taking too little leisure rather than too much. To laborers, on the other hand, leisure means autonomy from compulsion, so it is natural for them to imagine that the fewer hours they have to spend laboring, and the more hours they have free for play, the better.
人们对自己工作的态度决定了一切。对工作者而言,闲暇只是为了更有效地工作而需要
放松休息的时间。因此,工作者更倾向于投入更多的时间工作,而花在休闲上的时间并非很多,而是很少。而对劳役者而言,休闲意味着从被迫状态中得到自主。因此,他们自然会想,花在劳作上的时间越少,自在玩乐的时间越多,则越好。
Besides the mere hours spent in leisure, workers and laborers differ in the amount of personal satisfaction they derive from their jobs. Workers who enjoy their jobs will be happier, less stressed, and generally more satisfied with their lives. They will also work with more diligence and precision because they have fostered a sense of personal pride in their jobs. On the other hand, laborers, whose sole incentive is earning their livelihood, feel that the time they spend on the daily grind is wasted and doesn't contribute to their happiness. Instead of valuing all 24 hours of their day as enjoyable and productive hours, they gauge only the time spent in leisure and play as meaningful. Unfortunately, laborers are all too commonplace, and only a small percentage of the population is in the lucky position of being workers.
除了花在闲暇上的时间不同,工作者和劳役者的区别还在于他们从工作中获得的个人满足感不同。工作者喜欢自己的工作,感觉更快乐,更轻松,通常对自己的生活更满意。他们工作起来也会更勤奋,更精细,因为他们对自己的工作已经产生了一种自豪感。相反,由于劳役者的唯一动力是挣生活费,他们觉得每天花在苦差上的时间是一种浪费,不会让自己快乐。他们不把每天的 24 小时都当作愉快有用的时光,认为只有花在休闲娱乐上的时间才是有意义的。不幸的是,劳役者太常见了,只有一小部分人能有幸成为工作者。
In recent decades, technological innovation and the division of labor have caused major economic changes by eliminating the need for special strength or skill in many fields and have turned many paid occupations with enjoyable work into boring labor. Increasing productivity with automated machines, such as robots, has reduced the number of necessary laboring hours. It is possible to imagine an upcoming society in which the majority of the population will have almost as much leisure time as in earlier times was enjoyed by the medieval aristocracy. The medieval aristocrats had an abundance of leisure time but often wasted it in trivial pursuit of games and fashion. Likewise, modern-day laborers with too much leisure time may find it difficult to refrain from the addictive and trivial pursuits of celebrity gossip, extravagant fashion, and excessive video games and TV - similar bad habits that waste valuable time.
近几十年,技术创新和劳动分工使许多领域不再需要专长或特殊技能,导致了重大经济变革,把许多可以通过开心工作来挣钱的职业变成了枯燥的劳役。随着自动化机器如机器人的使用,日益提高的生产力减少了必要的劳作时间。可以想象,在即将到来的社会中,大多数人会拥有同早期中世纪贵族一样多的闲暇时间。中世纪贵族有大量的闲暇时间,但却往往耗费在玩游戏和对时尚的无聊追求上。同样,有太多闲暇时间的现代劳役者们会觉得很难摆脱那些无聊又易上瘾的追求,像名人八卦、奢华时尚、过度电子游戏和电视等诸如此类浪费宝贵时间的坏习惯。
However, it's not necessary to take such a toxic attitude toward such a positive thing as leisure time. In fact, in many countries, people now use their leisure time to improve their minds and their working conditions to create a happier, more contented life. Lifelong learning can make the difference between being bored, unhappy laborers and workers who find meaning and joy in their employment and life. \classes from pleasant diversions such as sports, art classes or music to leadership development, advanced accounting skills, or CAD (computer-aided design), to name only a few.
不过,没必要对休闲这种正面的事情采取如此否定的态度。事实上,目前在很多国家,人们利用闲暇时间去提高认识,改善工作环境,以创造更快乐安逸的生活。终身学习对做一
个乏味不开心的劳役者,还是成为一个从职业和生活中发现意义和乐趣的工作者有重要的影响。“继续教育”或“体验学习”能提供一系列课程,略举几例,如从运动、艺术或音乐等休闲娱乐课程到领导力拓展、高级会计或 CAD (计算机辅助设计)等。
Whatever the job, people who enjoy their work find time passes quickly. They hurl their passion into their work, be it physical like the work of a smith, or more mental like that of a scientist or an artist. Even purely mental work can suffice as an outlet, as aptly expressed by the phrase \
不管是什么工作,喜欢自己工作的人总发现时间过得飞快。不管是铁匠的体力活,还是像科学家或艺术家从事的偏脑力的活,他们在工作中都会投入激情。即便是纯脑力活也足以让他们挥洒激情,恰如短语表达的那样,“全身心投入问题中”。
Eventually, everyone has to find a job and earn a living. Laborers are slaving away at a job they don't enjoy for a small monetary reward, waiting all day until they go home and play. But while laborers are counting down the hours, workers are energized and focused, taking optimum pleasure in the task at hand. By choosing a job that is both useful to society and personally fulfilling, workers maintain a simultaneous sense of purpose and enthusiasm that improves their whole lives. So in the end, whatever job you choose, you must contend with this essential question: Will you be a laborer or a worker?
最终,每个人都得找一份工作谋生。劳役者仅为了一点金钱报酬,像奴隶一样做自己并不喜欢的工作,一天到晚等着回家玩乐。但是当劳役者倒数着时间之时,工作者则干劲十足,全神贯注,从手头的任务中享受到最大的快乐。他们通过选择一份有益社会、成就自我的工作,怀揣着一种使命感和热情,提升了自己的整个生活。因此到头来,不管你选择什么工作,都必须面对这个根本问题:“你想做一名劳役者还是工作者?”
课文B
The joy of a prideful tradition 光荣传统带来的快乐
I first met him in 1965, when I rushed into his little shop to have the heels of my shoes repaired. He greeted me with a cheerful smile and instant hospitality. \new in this neighborhood, aren't you?\
第一次见他是在 1965 年,当时我匆匆进入他的小店去修我的鞋跟。他露出开心的笑容,马上热情地招呼我,“你刚搬到这附近,是吗?”
Indeed, I had moved into a house at the end of the street only a week before. 的确,一周前我才刚搬进街道尽头的那栋房子。
\“这一带挺好的,”他说,“你生活在这儿会开心的。”
I sat there with my shoes off, watching as he got ready to stitch up my shoes I'd entrusted to him. He looked sadly at the leather covering the mount of the heel. It was worn through because I had failed to have the shoes patched a month ago. I grew a little impatient, for I was rushing to meet a friend. \
我脱了鞋坐在那儿,看着他准备动手缝补我交给他的鞋。他惋惜地看着包鞋跟底的皮革。一个月前鞋就该补了,现在那块皮已经磨穿了。因为还要急着去见一位朋友,我有点不耐烦了。“请快点儿,”我请求道。
He looked at me over his spectacles. \my specialty and I want to do a good job.\