讀點(diǎn)好英文:Life Is the Cookie　生命就是小甜餅

Life Is the Cookie　生命就是小甜餅

·Martha Russell·

One of my patients, a successful businessman, tells me that before his cancer he would become depressed unless things went a certain way. Happiness was“having the cookie.”

If you had the cookie, things were good. If you didn't have the cookie, life wasn't worth a damn.Unfortunately, the cookie kept changing.Some of the time it was money, sometimes power, sometimes sex.At other times, it was the new car, the biggest contract, the most prestigious address.

A year and a half after his diagnosis of prostate cancer he sits shaking his head ruefuIIy.

“It's like I stopped learning how to live after I was a kid. When I give my son a cookie, he is happy.If I take the cookie away or it breaks, he is unhappy.But he is two and a half and I am forty-three.It's taken me this long to understand that the cookie will never make me happy for long.

“The minute you have the cookie it starts to crumble or you start to worry about it crumbIing or about someone trying to take it away from you. You know, you have to give up a lot of things to take care of the cookie, to keep it from crumbling and be sure that no one takes it away from you.You may not even get a chance to eat it because you are so busy just trying not to lose it.Having the cookie is not what life is about.”

My patient laughs and says cancer has changed him. For the first time he is happy.No matter if his business is doing well or not, no matter if he wins or loses at golf.

“Two years ago, cancer asked me，‘Okay, what's important?What is really important?'Well, life is important. Life.Life any way you can have it, life with the cookie, life without the cookie.Happiness does not have anything to do with the cookie；it has to do with being aIive.Before, who made the time?”He pauses thoughtfuIIy.“Damn, I guess life is the cookie.”

瑪莎·魯塞爾

我的一位病人，是一位成功的商人。他告訴我，在他患癌癥之前，凡事如果沒(méi)有確定下來(lái)，他就會(huì)憂心忡忡。對(duì)他而言，幸福是“擁有小甜餅”。

如果你擁有了小甜餅，一切都一帆風(fēng)順。如果你沒(méi)有小甜餅，生活就一文不值。不幸的是，小甜餅總是在不斷地變換著，有時(shí)是金錢(qián)，有時(shí)是權(quán)力，有時(shí)是欲望。而有的時(shí)候，它又是一輛新車、一份數(shù)額龐大的合同，或是一個(gè)享有聲望的地址。

在他被診斷出患有前列腺癌的一年半之后，他坐在那里，悲天憫人地?fù)u著頭，說(shuō)：

“長(zhǎng)大以后，我好像就不知道該怎樣生活了。當(dāng)我給我兒子一個(gè)小甜餅時(shí)，他心花怒放。如果我拿走甜餅或者是小甜餅碎了，他就悶悶不樂(lè)。不同的是，他只有兩歲半，而我已經(jīng)四十三歲了。我花了這么長(zhǎng)的時(shí)間才明白小甜餅并不能使我長(zhǎng)久地感到幸福。

“從你擁有小甜餅的那一刻，它就開(kāi)始破碎，或者你就開(kāi)始擔(dān)心它會(huì)破碎，抑或你開(kāi)始擔(dān)心別人會(huì)拿走它。為了守護(hù)你的小甜餅，為了防止它破碎或者確定別人不會(huì)從你手中奪走它，你不得不放棄許多東西。你忙于不讓自己失去它，甚至沒(méi)有時(shí)間享用它。擁有小甜餅并不是生活的全部?jī)?nèi)容。”

我的病人笑著說(shuō)癌癥已經(jīng)改變了他。不論他的生意是否順利，不論他在打高爾夫球時(shí)是輸是贏，他有生以來(lái)第一次感到幸福。

“兩年前，癌癥問(wèn)我：‘什么重要？什么是真正重要的？’對(duì)，生命最重要。生命！生命，無(wú)論如何你擁有生命。有小甜餅也罷，沒(méi)有小甜餅也罷，幸福與小甜餅并非息息相關(guān)，而是與生命的存在有關(guān)。可是，時(shí)光一去不復(fù)返，誰(shuí)又能讓時(shí)光倒流呢？”他停頓了一下，若有所思，說(shuō)：“該死的，我覺(jué)得生命就是那塊兒小甜餅?！?/p>

核心單詞

prestigious[，pres'tid??s]adj.有名望的

diagnosis[，dai?g'n?usis]n.診斷；診斷結(jié)果

ruefuIIy['ru：f?li]adv.悲傷地；可憐地；悲慘地

crumbIe['kr?mbl]v.粉碎，弄碎；破壞

aIive[?'laiv]adj.活著的；現(xiàn)存的；活躍的

thoughtfuIIy['θ?：tf?li]adv.沉思地；深慮地；考慮周到地

實(shí)用句型

If you had the cookie, things were good.

如果你擁有了小甜餅，一切都一帆風(fēng)順。

①虛擬語(yǔ)氣：if+had，表示跟現(xiàn)在事實(shí)相反的假設(shè)。

②things are good一帆風(fēng)順，類似的表達(dá)還有g(shù)ood luck好運(yùn)，good night晚安等。

翻譯練習(xí)

1.很多國(guó)家需要更先進(jìn)的裝置來(lái)處理工業(yè)廢物。（take care of）

2.他忍不住大笑。（keep from）

3.你不必把此事告訴他。（have to）