双语有声阅读：手表

I look around me and the room has changed imperceptibly and overtly¹.There are elephants on thin legs lining² the walls, the people around me have become giant insects,my watch melts and slowly drips from my wrist.A Dalinian dream? A Kafkaesque nightmare?The breeze of surrealism blows through my hair; an existential whirlwind captures my imagination.

 

In the images of these two great creators,I see reflections of beautiful and insatiable imaginations, completely undisciplined, unbounded;yet full of the magic and power of the artists’ visions.These images are not as true as photographs, but they are a hundred times more honest.I, too, often find myself misrepresenting the world.In the midst of a truly dreary³ lecture I sometimes force wakefulness upon myself by images of what I am learning,and instead of seeing my teacher carrying on about the military campaigns of the Civil War,I see muskets⁴ blazing against raised flags.

 

More often, I see my life as an adventure; romanticized, idealized, exhilarating.Instead of seeing a boring test of memory, I see a test of will; instead of a debate,I see a battle of wits; instead of seeing the photographic image of life,I see the existential and intoxicating⁵ war of man against Fate itself.In these images I am sometimes challenged by faceless opponents,sometimes I am climbing a mountain. Perhaps I am fighting a bull or jumping on rooftops.

 

At times I question the benefits of reinventing the world to suit my fancy.It is true, of course, that everyone does this.Even the strictest of thinkers cannot avoid letting their own vision of the world show through in their works.Dali and Kafka are not exceptions, they are extremes. Why are we all so eager to get away from reality?I find that I, like many others, often don’t seem to fuly belong. But of course I do belong,this is my world as much as anyone else’s.I try to solve this contradiction between the perceived andthe real by altering the world ever so slightly a horse drawn⁶ carriage instead of a car, a prize winning essay rather than another homework assignment so that it finds its place around me.

 

A simple solution indeed.We do not change ourselves to fit the world, but change the world to fit within us.A simple act of wish fulfillment, and all is done.And, of course, to melt a watch with the mind is far better than to enslave the intellect within the watch like a genie⁷ in a bottle.Freedom to think requires only so little,and to adjust the world to one’s thought is ever more noble than adjusting thought to the world.

 

我环顾周围，房间发生的变化微妙却又明显。墙壁上排列满长着细腿的大象，我四周的人都已变成了巨大的昆虫，我的手表熔化了，从我的手腕上慢慢地往下滴落。难道是达利式的梦？或者是卡夫卡式的噩梦？超现实主义的微风撩动着我的头发;存在主义的旋风俘获了我的想像力。

 

从这两位伟大创作者笔下的形象之中，我看到了其反射出的美丽的和永不满足的想像力，全然不守成规、狂放不羁，然而又充满了艺术家洞察力的神奇和力量。这些形象不如照片那么真实，但是又比照片可信一百倍。我也常常发现自己曲解了这个世界。在听那些着实乏味枯燥的讲演时，我有时对正在学习的东西打幵想像之门，使自己保持清醒；我所看到的并不是老师继续讲的美国内战中的战役，而是看到高举的旗帜下步枪在射击。

 

更多的时候，我把自己的生命视为一次冒险，极富传奇色彩，而且又理想化，令人激动振奋。在我眼中，令人厌倦的记忆力测试变成了对于意志力的检验;辩论变成了智慧之战；生活的画卷变成了人类与命运之神对抗的存在主义的，令人痴迷的战争。在这些画面里，有时我会遭遇无形的敌手的挑战，有时我又在登山。或许我正在和一头公牛鏖战，或许正在屋顶上跳来蹦去。

 

我时常会想，如果世界变为我想像的模样，将会有什么裨益。当然，每个人都确实这么想过。即使最严谨的思想家也会不可避免地在自己的作品中表现出他们对这个世界的设想。达利和卡夫卡也不例外，他们是极端的情况。为何我们都如此渴望逃离现实？我发现自己像许多人一样，经常看起来不太厲于这个世界。但是当然我又是属于这个世界的，因为这个世界是我的，就像它也是其他任何人的一样。我试图通过对这个世界作出细微的变动来解决感知与真实之间的矛盾马车代替了小轿车，获奖的散文代替了家庭作业以便世界在我身边找到自己的位置。

 

这真是个简单的解决办法。我们并不是改变自己来适应这个世界，相反，我们改变世界，以让它适应我们。就靠简单的心愿之旅，一切都可以做到。当然，用意识熔化手表远比被手表束 缚住才智好得多，后者就像精灵被瓶子困住手脚一样。思想的自由并不要求太多；调整世界，使之适合我们的思想，要比调整 自己的思想使之适合世界高贵得多。

1 overtly   

ad.公开地

参考例句：

• There were some overtly erotic scenes in the film. 影片中有一些公开色情场面。
• Nietzsche rejected God's law and wrote some overtly blasphemous things. 尼采拒绝上帝的律法，并且写了一些渎神的作品。

2 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

3 dreary   

adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的

参考例句：

• They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
• She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。

4 muskets   

n.火枪，（尤指）滑膛枪( musket的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The watch below, all hands to load muskets. 另一组人都来帮着给枪装火药。 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• Deep ditch, single drawbridge, massive stone walls, eight at towers, cannon, muskets, fire and smoke. 深深的壕堑，单吊桥，厚重的石壁，八座巨大的塔楼。大炮、毛瑟枪、火焰与烟雾。 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

5 intoxicating   

a. 醉人的,使人兴奋的

参考例句：

• Power can be intoxicating. 权力能让人得意忘形。
• On summer evenings the flowers gave forth an almost intoxicating scent. 夏日的傍晚，鲜花散发出醉人的芳香。

6 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

7 genie   

n.妖怪，神怪

参考例句：

• Now the genie of his darkest and weakest side was speaking.他心灵中最阴暗最软弱的部分有一个精灵在说话。
• He had to turn to the Genie of the Ring for help.他不得不向戒指神求助。