雅思写作：抽象题素材（Live in the Present活在当下）

　　peculiar-sounding problem 听起来有点奇怪的问题

　　inhabit the stretch of time we call 'the present活在当下

　　Very many of us suffer from a peculiar-sounding problem: an inability properly to inhabit the stretch of time we call 'the present'.有个困扰我们很多人的问题， 听起来会有点奇怪：那就是我们无法活在当下。

　　be in imaginary discussion with a rival 在想模拟谈判

　　plot a new enterprise 策划新业务

　　Maybe we're on a beautiful beach on a sunny day, the sky is azure and the palm trees slender and implausibly delicate, but most of 'us'isn't actually here at all, it's somewhere at work or in imaginary discussion with a rival or plotting a new enterprise.想象一下：这一天阳光明媚、 我们躺在美丽海滩上，天空湛蓝、纤细的棕榈树在随风摇曳；可"我们的心"根本就不在那里。可能是在想工作：模拟谈判；策划新业务；

　　be enormously significant  极其重要

　　are skipping to points in both the future and in the past 回忆过往、畅想未来

　　Or maybe we're at the birthday of a child: it's enormously significant for her and we love her dearly, but we are elsewhere; our body is rooted in the now, but our minds are skipping to points in both the future and in the past.亦或是在参加小孩的生日会：这对她来说极其重要：因为这里有深爱她的父母，但我们却是人在心不在：回忆过往、畅想未来。

　　a dramatically foreshortened edited version of the present 过往却正好是对当下的缩编

　　What is it that makes the present, especially the nicer moments of the present, so difficult to experience properly?And why, conversely, can so many events feel easier to enjoy, appreciate and perceive, when they are firmly over? One benefit of the past is that it is a dramatically foreshortened edited version of the present.而世间是如此美好的, 那又是什么使得我们无法享受当下？相反地， 每当这些美好的事物悄然而逝， 我们才想起来要去缅怀过往？而过往却正好是对当下的缩编， 就像电影一样。

　　contain a range of dull and uncomfortable moments 有各种烦闷和不安

　　Even the best days of our lives contain a range of dull and uncomfortable moments.纵使是在人生最美好的日子， 我们也会有各种烦闷和不安。

　　lock on to the most consequential moments 将最有意义的时刻锁定

　　skilled editors of hours of raw and often uninspired footage 看过很多原始镜头的资深老编

　　But in memory, like skilled editors of hours of raw and often uninspired footage, we lock on to the most consequential moments; and therefore construct sequences that feel a great deal more meaningful and interesting than the settings that generated them. 但记忆中，就像不知道看过多少原始镜头的资深老编，我们将最有意义的时刻锁定，从而有一种层层递进的感觉， 一种比当初更意犹未尽的感觉。

　　hours of mediocrity /?mi?di??kr?ti/  碌碌无为;平庸的时光

　　Hours of mediocrity can be reduced to five or six perfect images.人生的碌碌无为最终幻化成 五、六个完美的影像。

　　nostalgia /n??st?ld??/   (尤指对幸福时光的) 怀旧

　　Nostalgia is the present enhanced by an editing machine.经由剪辑后，怀旧成了当下的加强版。

　　sheer anxiety 纯粹的焦虑

　　ruins the present 毁掉当下

　　Much of what ruins the present is sheer anxiety.当下的美好大多是被焦头烂额搞砸的。

　　contains an enormous number of possibilities 充满了无限的可能

　　hugely gruesome  /?ɡru?s?m/ 超可怕

　　The present always contains an enormous number of possibilities, some hugely gruesome, which we are constantly aware of.当下充满了无限的可能，有些超可怕，我们还不断地后怕。

　　aneurysm 血管动脉瘤

　　gives rise to the non-specific anxiety 导致莫名的焦虑

　　trails most of us around all the time 无时不刻地困扰着我们

　　Anything could theoretically happen, an earthquake, an aneurysm, a rejection -which gives rise to the non-specific anxiety that trails most of us around all the time; the simple dread at the unknownness of what is to come.理论上，任何事都有可能发生：地震、血管动脉瘤、被拒；我们被莫名的焦虑无时不刻地困扰着；就是担心不知道何时会发生。

　　come to pass 发生

　　But then, of course, only a very limited range of awful things do ever come to pass and we forget the anxiety at once (or rather shift it to the new present).当然了，也只有很少一部分坏事会发生，我们立马就松了一口气， 或者转换到眼前、当下。

　　leave out of it  忽略它

　　appalling future 可怕的未来

　　So when we remember an event, what we leave out of it is how much of that event we actually spent anticipating an appalling future that never came.所以，当我们记得某件事时， 我们忽略的往往是在此过程中，预感会有的败局从未发生过。

　　contribute to our distraction from the present 让我们从当下分割开来

　　Our bodies further contribute to our distraction from the present.而进一步地，身体也让我们从当下分割开来。

　　have their own moods and itineraries 有自己的情绪发泄管道

　　They have their own moods and itineraries.而身体有自己的情绪发泄管道。

　　demand grandeur /?ɡr?nd??r; ?ɡr?ndj?r/ and confidence 要我们庄严而自信

　　They might feel tired and timid at just the moment when the landscape around us would demand grandeur and confidence.当周遭的环境要我们庄严而自信， 此刻的身体就会感到困倦和怯懦。

　　get edited out of memory 从记忆里剪掉

　　dissonant/?d?s?n?nt/ moods  情绪的异动

　　But these dissonant moods also get edited out of memory; we'll remember the view over the ocean longer than the slight queasiness which turned us in on ourselves at the time. 但这些情绪的异动都会从记忆里剪掉；我们只会记得远处海面的美景，而不记得当下晕船想吐的尴尬。

　　cavernous /?k?v?n?s/ , chaotic/ke???t?k/ places 像浆糊混乱不堪

　　has little to do with 和...没什么关系

　　Our minds are cavernous, chaotic places.So much courses through them that has little to do with what is right in front of our eyes. 我们的脑袋就像浆糊混乱不堪；脑子里不知要过很多遍，但结果却跟恰在自己眼下的，几乎没什么关系。

　　end up seeming ungrateful  最后似乎显得有点不领情

　　We can end up seeming ungrateful to where are.我们（已经不记得这是怎么来的） 而似乎显得有点不领情。

　　can barely take in the vegetation and the extraordinary views几乎认不出来有什么植物，也欣赏不来美景

　　so fixated are we on an event that will occur in six month's time 倒装句

　　Someone is telling us an important story, and not from any evil, just from the difficulty of having to manage the entity called 'I', we digest some regret or other instead. We are at a beautiful location, but we can barely take in the vegetation and the extraordinary views, so fixated are we on an event that will occur in six month's time.当有人跟我们讲了个要紧的事， 其实也没啥坏念头，只是说了个事实："所谓的我"有多难掌控，因为我们暗藏了些遗憾或别的什么。我们看着漂亮的景致，却几乎认不出来有什么植物，也欣赏不来美景；于是我们对未来六个月内 要发生的事念念不忘。

　　align /??la?n / with the world  和世界步调一致

　　berate ourselves unduly 严厉地斥责自己

　　We need to be prepared for the weird way in which we align with the world and not berate ourselves unduly for our difficulties at doing justice to where our bodies and minds happen to be.有时，我们也得为搞怪的事做好准备：这样才能和世界步调一致，而不是因为自己未能客观评判 自己的身心所属，而严厉地斥责自己。

　　don't seem to be listening to sth. 似乎没在听

　　We should be ready for this disloyalty in other people too - at moments when they look strangely worried at a party we've laid on or don't seem to be listening to a story we are telling them.我们也要接受别人可以走神：当聚会时，他们似乎有点心不在焉；当他们似乎没在听我们讲故事。

　　be experiencing some of the major difficulties of being present 在"活在当下" 这件事上遇到了些障碍

　　They too may just be experiencing some of the major difficulties of being present.他们大多数人只是在"活在当下" 这件事上遇到了些障碍。

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