英语专业晨读美文-励志篇 14 A Truth of Life

[00:01.17]A Truth of Life
[00:04.46]One of my patients, a successful businessman,
[00:08.28] tells me that before his cancer he would become depressed¹
[00:11.78] unless things went a certain way. Happiness was “having the cookie.”
[00:16.48] If you had the cookie, things were good. If you didn't have the cookie,
[00:21.19]life wasn't worth a damn². Unfortunately, the cookie kept changing.
[00:26.22]Some of the time it was money, sometimes power, sometimes desire.
[00:31.47]At other times, it was the new car, the biggest contract,
[00:35.51] the most prestigious³ address.
[00:37.48]A year and a half after his diagnosis⁴ of prostate cancer
[00:41.53]he sits shaking his head ruefully.
[00:44.16]“It's like I stopped learning how to live after I was a kid.
[00:47.55]When I give my son a cookie, he is happy. If I take the cookie away or it breaks,
[00:53.13] he is unhappy. But he is two and a half and I am forty-three.
[00:59.35]It's taken me this long to understand
[01:01.43] that the cookie will never make me happy for long.
[01:04.16]The minute you have the cookie it starts to crumble⁵
[01:07.33]or you start to worry about it crumbling⁶
[01:09.96]or about someone trying to take it away from you.
[01:12.36]You know, you have to give up a lot of things to take care of the cookie,
[01:16.52]to keep it from crumbling and be sure that no one takes it away from you.
[01:20.68]You may not even get a chance to eat it because you are so busy,
[01:24.83] just trying not to lose it. Having the cookie is not what life is about.”
[01:30.63]My patient laughs and says cancer has changed him.
[01:34.78]For the first time he is happy.
[01:37.52]No matter if his business is doing well or not, no matter if he wins or loses at golf.
[01:44.19] “Two years ago, cancer asked me, ‘Okay, what's important?
[01:48.89]What is really important?’ Well, life is important. Life.
[01:54.58] Life any way you can have it, life with the cookie, life without the cookie.
[01:59.50]Happiness does not have anything to do with the cookie;
[02:03.55]it has to do with being alive. Before, who made the time?” He pauses thoughtfully.
[02:11.42] “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。