温馨夜读II PART1 7.Eating the Cookie

 

[00:01.27]7.Eating the Cookie

[00:04.65]One of my patients, a successful businessman, 

[00:07.91]tells me that before his cancer he would become depressed¹ unless things went a certain way. 

[00:14.23]Happiness was “having the cookie.” 

[00:17.34]If you had the cookie, things were good. 

[00:20.39]If you didn’t have the cookie, life wasn’t worth a damn². 

[00:24.25]Unfortunately, the cookie kept changing. 

[00:27.74]Some of the time it was money, sometimes power, sometimes sex. 

[00:33.83]At other times, it was the new car, the biggest contract, the most prestigious³ address. 

[00:40.70]A year and a half after his diagnosis⁴ of prostate cancer he sits shaking his head ruefully. 

[00:47.67]“It’s like I stopped learning how to live after I was a kid. 

[00:52.57]When I give my son a cookie, he is happy. 

[00:55.18]If I take the cookie away or it breaks, he is unhappy. 

[00:59.10]But he is two and a half and I am forty-three. 

[01:02.48]It’s taken me this long to understand that the cookie will never make me happy for long. 

[01:08.03]The minute you have the cookie it starts to crumble⁵ or you start to worry about it crumbling⁶ 

[01:14.23]or about someone trying to take it away from you. 

[01:16.52]You know, you have to give up a lot of things to take care of the cookie, 

[01:21.20]to keep it from crumbling and be sure that no one takes it away from you. 

[01:25.23]You may not even get a chance to eat it because you are so busy just trying not to lose it. 

[01:30.90]Having the cookie is not what life is about.”

[01:34.49]My patient laughs and says cancer has changed him. 

[01:38.63]For the first time he is happy. 

[01:40.91]No matter if his business is doing well or not, no matter if he wins or loses at golf. 

[01:46.25]“Two years ago, cancer asked me, ‘Okay, what’s important? What is really important?’ 

[01:53.12]Well, life is important. Life. 

[01:56.61]Life any way you can have it, life with the cookie, life without the cookie. 

[02:01.87]Happiness does not have anything to do with the cookie; it has to do with being alive. 

[02:07.33]Before, who made the time?" 

[02:10.51]He pauses thoughtfully. "Damn, I guess life is the cookie.”

1 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

2 damn   

int.该死，他妈的；vt.指责，贬斥，诅咒

参考例句：

• Damn this useless typewriter!这台破打字机真该死！
• I knew damn well what he was going to say.我非常清楚他要说什么。

3 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

4 diagnosis   

n.诊断，诊断结果，调查分析，判断

参考例句：

• His symptoms gave no obvious pointer to a possible diagnosis.他的症状无法作出明确的诊断。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做一次彻底的调查分析。

5 crumble   

vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁

参考例句：

• Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
• Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂，意志永不动摇。

6 crumbling   

adj.摇摇欲坠的

参考例句：

• an old house with crumbling plaster and a leaking roof 一所灰泥剥落、屋顶漏水的老房子
• The boat was tied up alongside a crumbling limestone jetty. 这条船停泊在一个摇摇欲坠的石灰岩码头边。