英语专业晨读美文-励志篇 10 Deciding to Live

[00:01.20]Deciding to Live
[00:04.27]I believe I am a climber. Three years ago,
[00:09.29]a series of medical and personal crises¹ took what was a clinical depression
[00:14.43]and made it something much darker.
[00:16.95]I thought of it as falling—as jumping off a bridge on a rainy winter day:
[00:21.54]three seconds in the air before I hit the water and plunged² deep into the icy cold,
[00:26.68] my heavy coat pulling me deeper. And the surface far overhead—too far away.
[00:32.70] This is the question that kept me from making the image a real one.
[00:36.42]What if I changed my mind? Jumping into the water,
[00:41.01]the air in my lungs would fail me before I could swim back to the living world.
[00:45.60] I would know for those last seconds that I did want to live after all,
[00:50.19] but it would be too late.
[00:52.17]I'm not sure why I started climbing.
[00:55.01] I walked through the door of the local climbing gym one day on a whim³.
[00:58.95] It was an alien world: strong beautiful men and women,
[01:03.00]towering walls under sodium⁴ vapor⁵ lights, white dust filling the air.
[01:07.80]Light instead of dark. Up instead of down.
[01:11.85]It was in every way the opposite of what was inside me.
[01:15.90] The second time I climbed, I got to a move where I was sure I would fall.
[01:20.71] I was 25 feet up on a rope, but I didn't know yet that I could trust it.
[01:25.64]I heard my voice say out loud, "I have a choice here: fear or joy.
[01:31.21]" What I meant was, climb or don't climb, live or die.
[01:36.35]In the more than two years since then,
[01:38.97] I have climbed hundreds of days—inside and out,
[01:42.58]sometimes tied to a rope, often not. I do pay a price here.
[01:47.72] My body can be so bruised⁶ from hitting walls
[01:50.89]that people ask me about my home situation.
[01:52.97]Nine months ago, I broke my leg and ankle.
[01:55.92]I healed⁷ fast, but the risk remains⁸. Next time I might not.
[02:01.07]Climbing requires a cold-blooded decision to live.
[02:04.57]If I am inattentive or careless, I will fall.
[02:08.28]Every time I climb at the gym, or rope up for a route outside,
[02:12.55]or go bouldering—which is climbing without a rope,
[02:15.61]and often more dangerous—I am taking a risk.
[02:19.33]And I am committing to staying alive.
[02:21.95]Now, I believe in climbing, in not jumping.
[02:25.78]Jumping would have been easy, just step over the bridge railing and let go.
[02:30.49] Climbing is harder, but worth it.
[02:33.77] I believe that deciding to live was the right decision.
[02:37.38] There's no way to describe the terrible darkness of depression in a way
[02:41.53]that non-depressed people can understand.
[02:43.94]Now, I'm less focused on the darkness.
[02:47.00] Instead, I think about the joy I feel in conquering⁹ it and the tool I used.
[02:52.91] I am a climber, and I am alive.
 

1 crises   

n. 危机；危险期

参考例句：

• Economic crises recur periodically. 经济危机周期性地发生。
• Great crises often call forth gifted leaders. 危急存亡之际常能产生天才的领袖。

2 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

3 whim   

n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想

参考例句：

• I bought the encyclopedia on a whim.我凭一时的兴致买了这本百科全书。
• He had a sudden whim to go sailing today.今天他突然想要去航海。

4 sodium   

n.（化）钠

参考例句：

• Out over the town the sodium lights were lit.在外面，全城的钠光灯都亮了。
• Common salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine.食盐是钠和氯的复合物。

5 vapor   

n.蒸汽，雾气

参考例句：

• The cold wind condenses vapor into rain.冷风使水蒸气凝结成雨。
• This new machine sometimes transpires a lot of hot vapor.这部机器有时排出大量的热气。

6 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

7 healed   

v.（使）愈合( heal的过去式和过去分词 )；治愈；（使）结束；较容易忍受

参考例句：

• The surgeon healed the soldier's bullet wound in the leg. 医生治好了那位士兵腿部的枪伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The doctor applied an unguent to the wound,which speedily healed it. 医生给伤口涂了些油膏，伤口很快就愈合了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 conquering   

攻克( conquer的现在分词 )； 征服； 破除； 克服

参考例句：

• At last the climbers succeeded in conquering the difficult mountain. 登山队员们终于成功地征服了这座难以攀登的山峰。
• The long-cherished dream of conquering the Huanghe River will become a reality. 征服黄河的梦想将会成为现实。