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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Voice 1
Welcome to Spotlight1. I'm Robin2 Basselin.
Voice 2
And I'm Ryan Geertsma. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 3
I am bored. I am no longer interested in this game.
Voice 4
I am bored. I have nothing to do.
Voice 5
I am bored. I am tired of my job.
Voice 1
Boredom3. People normally4 think it is a negative emotion. People who are bored are not interested in what they are doing. People naturally do not LIKE being bored. They WANT to be interested in what they are doing. But this does not always happen. People are often bored. So they try many things to help stop boredom. But, is it always good to try and escape boredom? Can boredom be good? Today's Spotlight is on the positive effects of boredom.
Voice 2
The word boredom does not have a long history in the English language. The first records of the word boredom are from the eighteen hundreds. Before this, people did not speak about the emotion of boredom. Instead, they talked about the way a bored person acted. They used words like lazy or slothful. These words describe a person's lack of doing anything or being interested in anything.
Voice 1
People today may think boredom is bad. However, in the Middle Ages in Europe, people thought it was much worse. They considered being lazy or slothful one of the seven deadly sins6. If a person did not avoid these sins, these acts would lead a person toward7 spiritual death. Today, people may not think that negatively about boredom. But people do try to avoid it as much as possible.
Voice 2
One major way people try to escape boredom is through entertaining forms of technology. When bored, many people will watch television or listen to the radio. Some people will text message friends or watch videos on the internet. And other people will play computer or mobile8 phone games. There are so many ways to escape boredom through technology.
Voice 1
However, Peter Bregman is not sure escaping boredom is the answer. On his blog, he wrote about how a loss of boredom affected9 him. He had bought a new computer, an iPad. The iPad could do many things, and these things filled Peter's day. So he decided10 NOT to keep it! He wrote:
Voice 6
"It is too good. It is too easy. For the most part, it does everything I could want...Which, I now recognize is a problem."
Voice 2
A problem? How could something being too good be a problem? Peter explained that using the iPad filled all of his time. He was always working and playing on it. And he was never bored. Peter said,
Voice 6
"Being bored is a valuable thing. It is an emotion we should seek. Once we are bored, our minds begin to think freely11. Our minds look for something exciting and interesting to think about. And that is when we become creative. My best ideas come to me when I am bored."
Voice 1
Peter Bregman is not alone in his opinion about boredom. In fact, many mental health experts agree that being bored has positive effects. Dr. Edward Hallowell is a mental health doctor and the writer of a book called "Crazy Busy." He told Carolyn Johnson of the Boston Globe Newspaper,
Voice 7
"If you think of boredom as the thing which comes before creativity...then it is a good thing. Boredom is a door to something better, as opposed to something to be hated and escaped immediately."
Voice 2
Dr. Richard Ralley is another mental health expert. He agrees with this idea. He is a teacher at Edge Hill University in England who studies the emotion of boredom. Dr. Ralley told the Boston Globe,
Voice 8
"The most creative people are known to be able to experience long periods of unsureness and boredom."
Voice 1
Dr. Ralley encourages parents to let their children be bored. Children naturally react to boredom with creativity. Children can spend many hours playing games that they create. They play with the simplest of resources - an empty box, some rocks or even a long stick.
Voice 2
But what happens to adults? Adults are not as easily entertained as children. It is natural for people to lose interest in something after doing it for a long period of time. So, over time, adults lose interest in many things that they once enjoyed.
Voice 1
But often, adults lose their creative reaction because they do not let themselves be bored. Many experts say that entertaining technology devices12 like computers, music players and televisions are not the answer to boredom. Such devices do keep people from thinking about being bored. But they do not really replace boredom. When a television program ends or the radio breaks or the computer loses power, boredom remains13.
Voice 2
Dr. Michael Raposa is an expert on boredom and religion from Lehigh University in the United States. He wrote a book called "Boredom and the Religious Imagination." In it, he argues that experiencing boredom can develop how creatively and deeply we think about things. Dr. Raposa recognizes that boredom is going to affect all people. He explains the choice people have when boredom begins.
Voice 9
"We can avoid boredom. In this case we develop set ways to keep us from thinking about boredom. Or we can experience boredom. In this case we develop set ways to increase thoughtfulness14."
Voice 1
For example, imagine a mother holding a restless15 baby. She is moving from right to left in a slow motion5. She is trying to settle the baby to sleep. She does this every night and it takes twenty minutes for the baby to fall asleep. After five minutes, the process becomes boring to the mother. At this point, she could decide to turn on the television. She could do this every day and escape the boredom of the event. Or she could decide to experience the boredom. She could watch the small face of the baby and think about the smallness of his mouth, his eyes and his nose. The mother could consider the weakness, smallness and beauty of life. These thoughts may never become a poem or a song. But they are an exercise in the mother's thoughtfulness.
Voice 2
Dr. Raposa believes that the thoughtfulness of boredom can also lead many people to ask big questions - questions about the meaning of life, about God and about our own spirituality. However, he thinks many people fear these questions. He writes,
Voice 9
"There is something basically16 important about us that only boredom can teach us, but we naturally flee from it. We fill up empty spiritual space with "noise" because we cannot face the empty feeling of boredom."
收听单词发音 |
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spotlight
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| n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目 | |
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robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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normally
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| adv.正常地，通常地 | |
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motion
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| n.打手势，示意，移动，动作，提议，大便；v.运动，向...打手势，示意 | |
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sins
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| n.违背宗教[道德原则]的恶行( sin的名词复数 )；罪恶，罪孽；过错，罪过；愚蠢的事，可耻的事v.犯罪，犯过错( sin的第三人称单数 ) | |
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toward
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| prep.对于，关于，接近，将近，向，朝 | |
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mobile
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| adj.可移动的，易变的，机动的；n.运动物体 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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freely
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| adv.自由地，随便地，无拘无束地 | |
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devices
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| n.设备；装置( device的名词复数 )；花招；（为实现某种目的的）计划；手段 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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thoughtfulness
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| n.关心；体贴 | |
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restless
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| adj.焦躁不安的；静不下来的，运动不止的 | |
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basically
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| adv.基本上，从根本上说 | |
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