用英语聊聊压力（1）

 　　Jim在走廊上遇到同事Claire，跟Claire打招呼。?

　　Jim: Hey Claire, you've been really quiet these last few days. Is something wrong??

　　Claire: I've been really stressed. It's the end of the year and I've got so much stuff¹ to do! I feel like I'm drowning in work.?

　　J: Well, stress is a real thing. It's not an imaginary² condition.?

　　C: It's seriously affecting my life! I can't sleep, I don't have much of an appetite and my husband says I've been kind of short tempered³. Other people seem to handle stress okay...why am I so weak??

　　Claire最近一直不太说话，原来是因为到年底了，有做不完的事情，I've been really stressed. 她感觉压力特别大。Claire说，I feel like I'm drowning in work. Drown, d-r-o-w-n, drown 溺水，在这里是一种比喻的说法，drown in work 意思是自己快要被工作压垮了。Claire不仅睡眠不好，食欲差，而且还动不动就发脾气，short tempered。大家都有压力，是不是只有Claire承压能力差呢？ Jim说，?

　　J: You're not weak...you're stressed out! Stress has been a part of the human condition for millions of years. Back when we still lived in the trees we had to watch out for predators⁴...and as you might imagine, that was pretty stressful.?

　　C: Yeah, but I don't see any tigers or leopards⁵ roaming⁶ around our office. My stress is just about silly paperwork!?

　　J: But you're actually having the same reaction as our tree-dwelling ancestors! It's called the "flight or fight" response. Each time you feel like something's threatening you, your body decides whether to run away or fight...it causes all sorts of chemical reactions in the body.?

　　Jim安慰Claire说，这是身体对过度压力所做出的反应，就好像原来住在树上的老祖宗，随时随地要watch out for predators警惕捕食者的来袭，虽然现代人压力的来源变了，但是Claire面对压力，身体做出的反应还是一样的，这种反应叫flight or fight response，要在逃跑还是交战之间做出选择。Claire似懂非懂。?

　　C: So a deadline will cause that same reaction??

　　J: It could. Modern humans actually have more "flight or fight" responses than our ancestors did. They just had a couple of close calls every day, but today, we have dozens or even hundreds!?

　　C: So the life of a cave woman was less stressful than my life??

　　Jim说，跟生活在树上的老祖宗相比，现代人每天面对的flight or fight的情况更多。他们以前每天可能只有几次遇到危险，close calls，a close call指险些发生的厄运，比如 I was almost run over by a car. It was a close call.（我差点没被车撞到，太悬了）。如果真像Jim说的，现代人比史前人类cave man或是cave woman面对的压力还大了？我们下次继续听。?

　　本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑。

1 stuff   

n.原料，材料，东西；vt.填满；吃饱

参考例句：

• We could supply you with the stuff in the raw tomorrow.明天我们可以供应你原材料。
• He is not the stuff.他不是这个材料。

2 imaginary   

adj.想象中的，假想的，虚构的，幻想的；虚数的

参考例句：

• All the characters in this book are imaginary.此书中的所有人物都是虚构的。
• The boy's fears were only imaginary.这小孩的恐惧只是一种想象。

3 tempered   

adj.调节的，缓和的；调和的；温和的；适中的

参考例句：

• She gets very bad-tempered when she's tired. 她累的时候就爱发脾气。
• a disagreeable bad-tempered man 一个脾气不好难以相处的男人

4 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 leopards   

n.豹( leopard的名词复数 )；本性难移

参考例句：

• Lions, tigers and leopards are all cats. 狮、虎和豹都是猫科动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• For example, airlines never ship leopards and canaries on the same flight. 例如，飞机上从来不会同时运送豹和金丝雀。 来自英语晨读30分（初三）

6 roaming   

随便走( roam的现在分词 )； 漫步； 眼睛或手 （缓慢地）扫遍； 摸遍

参考例句：

• After roaming around nearly half his life,he finally settled down in Canada. 他过了半辈子的流浪生活，最后在加拿大定居了下来。
• After roaming around nearly half his life,he finally settled down in Quebec. 他过了半辈子的流浪生活，最后在魁北克定居了下来。