VOA标准英语2010年-Catching Life's Perfect Wave

Author Peter Heller says learning to surf taught him a valuable lesson about catching¹ the perfect wave in life.

What followed was a six-month odyssey² of catching waves along the Pacific coast, during which Heller learned lessons not only about surfing, but about life.

 For many years, adventure writer Peter Heller had nurtured⁴ a secret dream: to drop everything and go off to a tropical paradise and learn how to surf. When an old friend moved to Huntington Beach, California - a Pacific coast city nicknamed Surf City, USA - he realized it was time to live his dream.

"He found himself in a beach community and thought, 'Well, I might as well try to learn to surf,'" Heller says. "He asked me if I wanted to come out and learn with him. So, I said, 'Sure.'"

Surfer dude

The Denver resident bought a board and wetsuit, and embarked⁵ on a surfing journey from Southern California down the coast of Mexico. The results of that adventure are chronicled in his book, "Kook."

'Kook' by Peter Weller

"Kook means the clueless beginner who paddles his surf board out to the other surfers in the lineup and starts chattering⁶ away like it's a cocktail⁷ party, completely ignores all the finely-tuned protocols⁸ of surf that have developed over decades," says Heller. "Gives a rebel yell and hoot⁹ when he does manage to stand up for a split second, drops in on people, collides with people."

But Heller says being that kook allowed him to learn about surfing and the ocean.

"Ocean. There isn't another word in the English Language as strange as lovely and broad," he writes in his book. "...If you look at it long enough, it is a word that opens and spreads out, makes a circle of a far horizon, a word on which rain can fall and dimple or sweep across in lashing¹⁰ gusts¹¹ and leave unperturbed, a word that is calm enough to look at, almost lulling¹², but also hints at holding unreckonable power."

Learning how to surf cames at a high price. There are bruises¹³, chipped teeth, sunburned ears, chafed¹⁴ ribs¹⁵ and stinging eyes. And sometimes, getting hit in the head with your surfboard. But in return, Heller's surfing adventure helped him learn a valuable lesson about catching the perfect wave in life.

"You have to totally commit," he says. "At the same time, you've kind of got to let go to a power that's way greater than you. You have to have faith that everything is going to work out. And it's about staying open to new experiences. That's the whole thing about being a kook, I mean, being willing to be a beginner, make a fool out of oneself once in a while."

Being on the ocean also taught Heller to be humble¹⁶.

"You paddle out every morning and a sea turtle might be swimming around, birds diving around you, you might even see a shark fin³ or dolphins and you realize you're just one citizen among all these other species. You're not even the top predator¹⁷ out there. You know you could be food for somebody. I like that. I like finding a place in the world that's small, that's humble. That's the lesson I try to remind myself of every day; we have an equal vote with all these other species on this planet."

Heller's surfing adventure took him to the other side of the Pacific Ocean, where he became more aware of some serious environmental issues threatening the world's oceans.

"I had a call two months into it from the guys making the movie, "The Cove¹⁸." It won an Oscar, Academy Award for documentary this year," he says. "They asked me to come with them into this cove in Taiji, Japan where they massacre¹⁹ dolphins and small whales. I paddled a surfboard into this inlet that was pink red with blood from these large dolphins, these pilot whales that were being piked. We formed like a surfer circle, held hands, sort of like a funeral ceremony for the departed dolphins."

The experience changed his perspective.

"I came back from that really shaken up. I started to think about how the oceans are having a hard time. Half our coral reefs are dead or dying. We've lost 90 percent of deep blue water, big game fish: the halibut, the tuna and the marlin that we all loved to eat. We've lost 90 percent of those since 1950. I began, as we surfed down the coast, to see where the resorts were put in. You could see from the fishermen's catches that their fish were really small, not like in the old days, not like even 20 years ago. You can't really take a surf trip in 2010 and not be aware of what's happening out there."

Author Peter Heller says he hopes the lessons he learned from surfing, and shares in his book, "Kook," will inspire people who enjoy summer activities on beaches around the world to stop, think and take action to save those oceans.
 

1 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

2 odyssey   

n.长途冒险旅行；一连串的冒险

参考例句：

• The march to Travnik was the final stretch of a 16-hour odyssey.去特拉夫尼克的这段路是长达16小时艰险旅行的最后一程。
• His odyssey of passion, friendship,love,and revenge was now finished.他的热情、友谊、爱情和复仇的漫长历程，到此结束了。

3 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

4 nurtured   

养育( nurture的过去式和过去分词 )； 培育； 滋长； 助长

参考例句：

• She is looking fondly at the plants he had nurtured. 她深情地看着他培育的植物。
• Any latter-day Einstein would still be spotted and nurtured. 任何一个未来的爱因斯坦都会被发现并受到培养。

5 embarked   

乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事

参考例句：

• We stood on the pier and watched as they embarked. 我们站在突码头上目送他们登船。
• She embarked on a discourse about the town's origins. 她开始讲本市的起源。

6 chattering   

n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The teacher told the children to stop chattering in class. 老师叫孩子们在课堂上不要叽叽喳喳讲话。
• I was so cold that my teeth were chattering. 我冷得牙齿直打战。

7 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。

8 protocols   

n.礼仪( protocol的名词复数 )；（外交条约的）草案；（数据传递的）协议；科学实验报告（或计划）

参考例句：

• There are also protocols on the testing of nuclear weapons. 也有关于核武器试验的协议。 来自辞典例句
• Hardware components and software design of network transport protocols are separately introduced. 介绍系统硬件组成及网络传输协议的软件设计。 来自互联网

9 hoot   

n.鸟叫声，汽车的喇叭声； v.使汽车鸣喇叭

参考例句：

• The sudden hoot of a whistle broke into my thoughts.突然响起的汽笛声打断了我的思路。
• In a string of shrill hoot of the horn sound,he quickly ran to her.在一串尖声鸣叫的喇叭声中，他快速地跑向她。

10 lashing   

n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• The speaker was lashing the crowd. 演讲人正在煽动人群。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The rain was lashing the windows. 雨急打着窗子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 gusts   

一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作

参考例句：

• Her profuse skirt bosomed out with the gusts. 她的宽大的裙子被风吹得鼓鼓的。
• Turbulence is defined as a series of irregular gusts. 紊流定义为一组无规则的突风。

12 lulling   

vt.使镇静，使安静（lull的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Ellen closed her eyes and began praying, her voice rising and falling, lulling and soothing. 爱伦闭上眼睛开始祷告，声音时高时低，像催眠又像抚慰。 来自飘（部分）

13 bruises   

n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was covered with bruises after falling off his bicycle. 他从自行车上摔了下来，摔得浑身伤痕。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The pear had bruises of dark spots. 这个梨子有碰伤的黑斑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 chafed   

v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒

参考例句：

• Her wrists chafed where the rope had been. 她的手腕上绳子勒过的地方都磨红了。
• She chafed her cold hands. 她揉搓冰冷的双手使之暖和。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

15 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

16 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

17 predator   

n.捕食其它动物的动物；捕食者

参考例句：

• The final part of this chapter was devoted to a brief summary of predator species.本章最后部分简要总结了食肉动物。
• Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator.科摩多龙是目前存在的最大蜥蜴，它是一种令人恐惧的捕食性动物。

18 cove   

n.小海湾，小峡谷

参考例句：

• The shore line is wooded,olive-green,a pristine cove.岸边一带林木蓊郁，嫩绿一片，好一个山外的小海湾。
• I saw two children were playing in a cove.我看到两个小孩正在一个小海湾里玩耍。

19 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！