unit2 The_Fine_Art_of_Putting_Things_Off中英对照

Unit 2

1. Cool one’s heels ，be forced to wait

2.attest to,testify to

3. apocalyptic, predicting the end of the world

4. not at all or in any respect

5.ponconsul(prō-kŏn′səl), A high administrator in one of the modern colonial empires.

6.ruminate(roo′mə-nāt′), turn a matter over and over in the mind.,go over---

7.nattering, chatter.ing,noisy,talk idly

8.fortify, encourage:, make strong

9.academe(ăk′ə-dēm′), a. The academic environment;；b. Academic life.

10.shrink,psychiatrist

11.subliminal /ˌsʌbˈlɪm.ɪ.nəl/,

not recognized by the conscious mind

12.truism /truː.ɪ.zəm/,obvious truth,a statement that is so obviously true that it

is almost not worth saying:

II.

1.worthy,having worth or merit or value

2.plead, appeal or request earnestly;

3.procrastinatio n,[proʊˌkræstɪ'neɪʃn]

,putting off or delaying an action to a later time

The Fine Art of Putting Things Off

拖延的艺术

Michael Demarest

迈克尔·德马雷斯特

1"Never put off till tomorrow," exhorted Lord Chesterfield in 1749, "what you can do today." That the elegant earl never got around to marrying his son's mother and had a bad habit of keeping worthies like Dr. Johnson cooling their heels for hours in an anteroom attests（证明） to the fact that even the most well-intentioned men have been postponers ever. Quintus Fabius Maximus, one of the great Roman generals, was dubbed "Cunctator”(Delayer拖延者) for putting off battle until the

last possible vinum ['vaɪnəm]break（休息）. Moses pleaded a speech defect（语言表达缺陷） to rationalize（找理由） his reluctance to deliver Jehovah's edicts （法令）to Pharaoh. Hamlet, of course, raised procrastination（拖延） to an art form.

“今天能做的事情决不要推到明天。”切斯特菲尔德伯爵在1794年劝告儿子说。但是这位高雅的伯爵一直没有抽出时间来与孩子他妈举行婚礼，也没有让

约翰逊博士等名士在接待室久等的坏习惯。这足以证明，用心最善之人亦可是拖沓之士。罗马的一位大将军昆塔斯·费边·马克西姆斯为了有尽可能多的机会喝酒消闲，常常推迟战斗，被人起了“拖延者”的绰号；摩西不愿向法老传达耶和华的法令，便借口说自己语言有缺陷；当然哈姆雷特更是把拖延上升为一种艺术形式。

2"The world is probably about evenly divided between delayers and do-it-nowers. There are those who prepare their income taxes in February, prepay mortgages and serve precisely planned dinners at an ungodly（难以忍受的） 6:30 p.m. The other half dine happily on leftovers at 9 or 10, misplace bills and file for an extension of the income tax pay credit-card bills until the apocalyptic

（警告性的）voice of Diners threatens doom from Denver（丹佛总部）. They

世上的人基本上可以均等地分成两类：拖延者和马上行动者。有些人二月份就准备好交个人所得税，预先偿还抵押借款，按计划准时在常人难以忍受的六点半开饭；另一些人则乐于在九点或十点时吃些剩饭剩菜、错放账单和文件以期延长缴税的期限。他们非要等到信用卡总部警告他们后果自负才肯去付信用卡上的帐。就像浮士德遇见魔鬼一样，他们推迟去理发店、去看牙医或看医生。

3Yet for all the trouble procrastination may incur, delay can often inspire and revive a creative soul. Jean Kerr, author of many successful novels and plays, says that she reads every soup-can and jamjar label in her kitchen before settling down to her typewriter.Many a writer focuses on almost anything but his task—for example, on the Coast and Geodetic（土地的） Survey of Maine's Frenchman Bay and Bar Harbor, stimulating his imagination with names like Googins Ledge, Blunts Pond, Hio Hill and Burnt Porcupine, Long Porcupine, Sheep Porcupine and Bald Porcupine islands.

尽管拖延会带来诸多不便，但拖延经常可以激发和唤醒具有创新意识的灵魂。写下许多成功小说和剧本的作家琼·克尔说，她要把厨房里每个汤罐头和酱瓶子上的标签看上一遍后，才能安心地坐在打字机前。许多作家都关注着他们任务之外的各种杂事，譬如，关注在缅因州的法国人海湾和巴尔海港进行的海岸和土地测量，其中的地名，如古金斯（姓氏）暗礁、布伦特（迟钝）池塘、黑奥（含碘）山、伯恩特（焦烤）豪猪、朗（长条）豪猪、希皮（绵羊）豪猪以及鲍尔德（光秃）豪猪岛，都激起了他们的想象。

4From Cunctator's day until this century, the art of postponement had been virtually a monopoly of the military ("Hurry up and wait"), diplomacy and the law. In former times, a British proconsul （总督）faced with a native uprising could comfortably ruminate['ruːmɪneɪt](思考) about the situation with Singapore Sling