The runway felt different this time

五、 The runway felt different this time. It startled him for a brief moment. Then

it all hit him like a wet bale of hay. The bar was set at nine inches higher than his personal best. That's only one inch off the National record, he thought. The intensity of the moment filled his mind with anxiety. He began shaking the tension. It wasn't working. He became more tense. Why was this happening to him now, he thought. He began to get nervous. Afraid would be a more accurate description. What was he going to do? He had never experienced these feelings. Then out of nowhere, and from the deepest depths of his soul, he pictured his mother. Why now? What was his mother doing in his thoughts at a time like this? It was simple. His mother always used to tell him when you felt tense, anxious or even scared, take deep breaths.

这一回，那跑道显得有些异样。刹那间，他感到一阵惊吓。一种惶惑不安的感觉向他袭来。横杆升在高出他个人最高纪录9英寸的高度。他想，这一高度与全国纪录只差1英寸了。这一刻紧张异常，他感到焦虑不安。他想摆脱紧张情绪。没有用。他更紧张了。在这种时刻怎么会这样呢，他暗暗思忖着。他有点胆怯起来。说是恐惧也许更为恰当。怎么办？他以前从来不曾有过这种感觉。这时，不知不觉地，在内心最深处，出现了他母亲的身影。为什么是在这一刻？记忆中，母亲在这种时刻会怎样做呢？很简单。母亲过去总跟他说，当你觉得紧张、焦虑、甚至害怕的时候，就深深地吸气。

10 So he did. Along with shaking the tension from his legs, he gently laid his pole at

his feet. He began to stretch out his arms and upper body. The light breeze that was once there was now gone. He carefully picked up his pole. He felt his heart pounding. He was sure the crowd did, too. The silence was deafening. When he heard the singing of some distant birds in flight, he knew it was his time to fly.

于是他深深吸了一口气。在摆脱腿部肌肉紧张的同时，他轻轻地把撑竿放在脚边。他开始舒展双臂和上身。刚才飘过一阵轻风，此刻消失了。他小心翼翼地拿起撑竿，只觉得心怦怦在跳。他相信观众们的心也在怦怦跳动。场上鸦雀无声，令人透不过气来。当他听见远处飞鸟啼鸣时，他知道，自己飞身起跃的时刻到了。

六、Racing the clock every day is such an exhausting effort that when I actually have

a few free moments, I tend to collapse. Mostly I sink into a chair and stare into space while I imagine how lovely life would be if only I possessed the organizational skills and the energy of my superheroines. In fact, I waste a good deal of my spare time just worrying about what other women are accomplishing in theirs. Sometimes I think that these modern fairy tales create as many problems for women as the old stories that had us biding our time for the day our prince would come.

每天与时间赛跑令人精疲力竭，等我果真有了一些余暇，往往累得都要垮了。我大多瘫倒在椅子里，呆呆地凝视着前方，想象着要是自己拥有那些超级女英雄的组织才能与旺盛精力，生活该会是多么美妙。事实上，我白白浪费了许多闲暇时光不无忧愁地去想着别的女人在业余时间会成就什么事情。有时我想，这些现代神话故事给女人带来的问题并不少于那些害得我们终日等待王子前来相救的古老故事。

12 Yet superwomen tales continue to charm me. Despite my friend's warning

against being taken in, despite everything I've learned, I find that I'm not only willing, but positively eager to buy that bridge she mentioned. Why? I suppose it has something to do with the appeal of an optimistic approach to life -- and the fact that extraordinary deeds have been accomplished by determined individuals who refused to believe that \

但女强人的故事仍然令我心醉神迷。尽管朋友提醒我不要上当，尽管我也长了不少见识，我还是发现自己不仅愿意，而且还真的渴望买下她说的那座桥。为什么？我想这是因为乐观的生活态度深深地吸引着我 —— 还有，那些就是不肯相信自己的梦想“不能”实现的意志坚定的人确实成就了非凡的业绩。

13 Men have generally been assured that achieving their heart's desires would be

a piece of cake. Women, of course, have always believed that we can't have our cake and eat it too-the old low-dream diet. Perhaps becoming a superwoman is an impossible dream for me, but life without that kind of fantasy is as unappealing as a diet with no treats.

男人一般确信，实现自己的心愿不费吹灰之力。女人嘛，当然总是相信鱼与熊掌不能兼得 —— 人们反复灌输的不要好高骛远那一套。我或许无望成为女强人，但如果没有这种梦想，生活就变得平淡无味，就如同日常饮食中缺了美味佳肴一般。

七、That tolerance for change also represents deeply rooted ideas of freedom.

Danish scholar Otto Jespersen wrote in 1905, \been what it is if the English had not been for centuries great respecters of the liberties of each individual and if everybody had not been free to strike out new paths for himself.\

这种对变化的包容态度也体现了根深蒂固的自由精神。丹麦学者奥托?叶斯柏森在1905年写道：“如果不是多少世纪以来英国人一向崇尚个人自由，如果不是人人都能自由地为自己开拓新的道路，英语就不会成为今天的英语。”

18 I like that idea. Consider that the same cultural soil producing the English

language also nourished the great principles of freedom and rights of man in the modern world. The first shoots sprang up in England, and they grew stronger in America. The English-speaking peoples have defeated all efforts to build fences around their language.

我喜欢这一观点。想想吧，孕育英语的文化土壤也同样为现今的世界培育了伟大的自由精神及人权准则。最初的根芽在英国萌发，接着在美国生长壮大。英语国家的人民挫败了种种意欲建立语言保护的企图。

19 Indeed, the English language is not the special preserve of grammarians,

language police, teachers, writers or the intellectual elite. English is, and always has been, the tongue of the common man.

事实上，英语不是语法学家、语言卫道士、教师、作家或知识精英的特殊领地。英语是，而且一向是，人民大众的语言。

八、 Environmental sensitivity is now as required an attitude in polite society as is,

say, belief in democracy or aversion to …… 此处隐藏：7983字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……