忧郁的日子The Blue Days

 　Everybody has blue days.

　　These are miserable¹ days when you feel lousy, grumpy, lonely, and utterly² exhausted³.Days when you feel small and insignificant⁴, when everything seems just out of reach.You can’t rise to the occasion.Just getting started seems impossible.On blue days you can become paranoid that everyone is out to get you.This is not always such a bad thing.You feel frustrated⁵ and anxious, which can induce a nail-biting frenzy⁶ that can escalate⁷ into a triple-chocolate-mud-cake-eating frenzy in a blink of an eye!On blue days you feel like you’re floating in an ocean of sadness.You’re about to burst into tears at any moment and you don’t even know why.Ultimately, you feel like you’re wandering through life without purpose.You’re not sure how much longer you can hang on, and you feel like shouting,“Will someone please shoot me!”It doesn’t take much to bring on a blue day.You might just wake up not feeling or looking your best,find some new wrinkles, put on a little weight, or get a huge pimple⁸ on your nose.You could forget your date’s name or have an embarrassing photograph published.You might get dumped,divorced, or fired, make a fool of yourself in public, be afflicted⁹ with a demeaning nickname,or just have a plain old bad-hair day.Maybe work is a pain in the butt¹⁰.You’re under major pressure to fill someone else’s shoes,your boss is picking on you, and everyone in the office is driving you crazy.You might have a splitting headache,or a slipped dish, bad breath, a toothache,chronic gas, dry lips, or a nasty ingrown toenail.Whatever the reason, you’re convinced that someone up there doesn’t like you.Oh what to do, what to do?

　　[参考译文]

　　每个人都有忧郁的时候。

　　那些日子真是惨透了，你觉得心里乱糟糟的、怨气丛生、寂寞、整个人彻底的精疲力竭。那些日子总会让你感到自己的渺小和微不足道，每件事情似乎都够不着边。你根本无法振作起来。

　　根本没有力气重新开始。 在忧郁的日子里，你可能变成偏执狂，觉得每个人都想要吃定你。 其实情况并不总是那么糟。你感到灰心、焦虑，可能开始神经质地拼命咬指甲，然后不可救药地陷入一眨眼吃掉三大块巧克力蛋糕的疯狂！ 在忧郁的日子里，你会觉得自己在悲伤的海里沉沉浮浮。不论在什么时候，你总有种想哭的冲动，却不知道为了什么。最后，你觉得自己犹如行尸走肉，失去生活目标。

　　你不知道自己还可以撑多久，然后你想大喊一声：“谁来一枪把我打死吧！” 其实一点小事就让你一天都郁闷难当。也许只是一觉醒来，没有感觉到或者看到自己最棒的一面，发现自己又多了几条皱纹，又重了几斤，或是鼻子上冒出了一个大包。你可能忘记了约会对象的名字，或是有张可笑的照片被登出来。你或许被人抛弃、离了婚，或是被开除，当众出丑，被刻薄的绰号弄得心乱如麻，或许只因为你得整天顶着一个其丑无比的发型。 也许工作让你痛苦得如坐针毡。你在强大的压力下顶替他人的位置，你的老板对你百般挑剔，办公室里的每一个人都让你发疯。你可能会头疼欲裂，或重心不稳跌个正着，口臭、牙痛、不停放屁、口干舌燥，或是指甲长到肉里头了。不管什么原因，你确定上面有人不喜欢你。 唉，该怎么办，到底该怎么办呢？

1 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

2 utterly   

adv.完全地，绝对地

参考例句：

• Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民，把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
• I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。

3 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

4 insignificant   

adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的

参考例句：

• In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季，这种作用是不明显的。
• This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。

5 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 frenzy   

n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动

参考例句：

• He was able to work the young students up into a frenzy.他能激起青年学生的狂热。
• They were singing in a frenzy of joy.他们欣喜若狂地高声歌唱。

7 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

8 pimple   

n.丘疹，面泡，青春豆

参考例句：

• His face was covered with pimples.他满脸粉刺。
• This is also a way to prevent the pimple.这也是防止疙瘩的一个途径。

9 afflicted   

使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
• A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。

10 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。