外刊精讀：在變幻莫測的世界中如何茁壯成長

本期跟著機構老師一起精讀外刊：在變幻莫測的世界中如何茁壯成長。

機構全科老師-黃外刊原文：《How to Thrive in an Uncertain World》

題目解析：

Thrive （v） 可不是隻能用在經濟和社會(hui) 當中的繁榮，還可以用於(yu) 各種表”發展良好”的語境中。

例：Some people thrive on strife and stress, while others prefer total tedium.

麵對生活種種不確定性和繁雜的社會(hui) ，作者拋出了一個(ge) 令人深思的問題和並附上了一幅模糊的畫像。

01.

A close friend’s daughter was getting married in the pandemic summer of 2021. “We can’t invite friends to the wedding,” in order to keep it small and safe, my pal told me. But she did invite friends, I learned from a Facebook post. Just not me. Feeling humiliated, I initially kept quiet. But being together grew awkward and I sensed a growing distance. And when I tried to discuss the widening rift, she called a “pause” in our relations by text and stopped reaching out for a year.

【譯文】

一位好朋友的女兒(er) 正準備在2021年疫情的夏天結婚。“我們(men) 不能邀請朋友來婚禮”為(wei) 了讓它保持小且為(wei) 了安全起見，我夥(huo) 計告訴我。但是她卻還是邀請了朋友，我從(cong) 一則facebook動態得知，隻是這個(ge) 人不是我。我感到羞恥，起初我保持沉默。但是呆在一起的時候開始變得尷尬並且我也感覺到了彼此的距離變得越來越遠。而當我正嚐試著去討論這個(ge) 日益變寬的間隔時，她在我們(men) 的關(guan) 係上按了個(ge) 暫停鍵，並且在一年之內(nei) 停止聯係了。

Vocab：

post n郵政/郵寄 在互聯網和此處意思為(wei) 社交媒體(ti) 的帖子；例如：朋友圈的帖子—— Wechat’ post

⭐常見的還有：商廣——sponsor post/promoted post.

#Vocabulary

Rift / division / gap / breach / split

e.g. Efforts to heal the riftbetween the two countries failed.

Socio-economic divisions in this city are pronounced.

The government is trying to close the gapbetween the rich and the poor.

They escaped through a breach in the wire fence.

Their splitforced him to move out of his house.

※Summary：

這些都是有關(guan) 於(yu) 縫隙/裂痕的表達，可以通過例句發現

①division and gap 二詞用在社會(hui) 層麵更多；

②rift和 split適用於(yu) 個(ge) 體(ti) 之間的隔閡；

③breach適用於(yu) 各種場合

02.

My first thought was to consider the friendship ended. Something in her tone felt so final, like a breakup, case closed. But after a time I asked myself if I really knew what had happened and what she had meant by excluding me. Perhaps there was more to the story. Despite my hurt, I tried to keep the problem and my own mind open. I discovered what Rebecca Solnit calls the “spaciousness of uncertainty,” a realm of possibility. When at last my friend broke her silence with a text, I was ready to reconnect and move forward, even if I couldn’t get answers to all my questions. Meeting her rejection with unsureness gave me perspective and the courage not to shun her in turn.

【譯文】

我的第一想法是認為(wei) 友誼結束了。她的語調裏聽起來這個(ge) 是如此的無法挽回，像是一種分手，已經沒有挽留的餘(yu) 地了。但是過了一段時間我問了問自己我是否真的知道發生了什麽(me) ，她排除我是為(wei) 了什麽(me) 。可能還有更多的原因。盡管我心已傷(shang) ，我嚐試著讓總計保持開放的態度。我發現Rebecca Solnit提出的概念“不確定性空間感”，這意味著一種可能性的餘(yu) 地。當最後我的朋友通過一段文字打破了沉默，我已經準備去重新和她建立起聯係並且讓我們(men) 的關(guan) 係繼續發展下去，即使我得不到那些問題的答案。帶著一種不確定的心態迎接她過去拒絕我的態度給了我更開朗的心態，視野和勇氣不去回避她了。

Vocab：

① case closed 常見固定搭配—— 案件結束了

② shun V. 回避

③ realm n. 領域/地帶

④ perspective—— let’s put it into perspective 做類比（以便於(yu) 能夠正確看待）

Translation practice： 我們(men) 可能麵臨(lin) 著一些挑戰，但是讓我們(men) 正確的看待它。我們(men) 有更好的領導，偉(wei) 大的團隊，一個(ge) 堅實的計劃。有這些決(jue) 心和努力，我們(men) 就能克服任何障礙，實現我們(men) 的目標。

We may face some challenges， but let ’s put it into perspective。We have better leader， greater team， and a solid plan. With determinations and efforts， we can overcome any obstacles and achieve our goals.

03.

Humans naturally need answers and so typically find uncertainty aversive. With a presidential election, war erupting in multiple zones, rising climate volatility and myriad (=？) other types of flux, it’s easy to feel overwhelming angst (=？) for the future and see certainty as a beacon (=signal) in a darkening time

【譯文】

人類生來就需要肯定的答案，因此對自然地就對不確認定性感到厭惡。伴隨著總統大選，不同地區爆發的戰爭(zheng) ，愈發嚴(yan) 重的氣候不穩定性和許多其他事物的變化，我們(men) 很容易能察覺到一種對於(yu) 未來非常嚴(yan) 重的焦慮，並且把確定性看作是黑暗時期的一座燈塔。

aversive[adj] =unfavorable

例如：

Iamdisgustedbyhisemotionallyaversivephotos.

Flux[n] = change

例句：

The political landscape has been in a state of flux since the election.

賞析：第三段運用了大量的例子去具象化uncertainty這個(ge) 抽象概念，達成共識感。在寫(xie) 作中，拋出一個(ge) 概念是不夠的哦 要多運用不同的例子以及其他寫(xie) 作手法加以闡述~。

第四段小練習(xi) ：

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate preposition(without checking the dictionary)

04.

But a wave of new scientific discoveries reveals that learning tolean(1) ______ uncertainty in times of rapid change is a promisingantidote(2) ______ mental distress, not a royal road (3) ______ angst, as many of us assume.A growing body (4) ______ evidence and a range of new interventions suggest that skillfully managing uncertainty (5) ______ the face of what’s murky, new or unexpected is an effective treatment (6) ______ anxiety, a likely path(7) ______ building resilience and a mark of astute problem-solving ability.

✳第四段有很多好的短語搭配值得學習(xi) ，尤其是介詞的搭配

1點擊空白處查看答案

1.Into2. To3. To4.Of5. In6.For7. To

譯文：但是新的一波科學研究揭露了，在這個(ge) 迅速改變當中學會(hui) 去接納不確定性是對精神疾病有利的解藥，而不是像我們(men) 認為(wei) 的那樣是通向焦慮的道路。一大批證據和一係列新的幹預措施暗示了在麵對不清楚，全新或者是不確定的東(dong) 西時，巧妙的管理不確定性是一項有效的方法去應對焦慮，也是一種建立適應性和精明的解決(jue) 問題的方法。

05.

Learning to contend with uncertainty won’t completely fix the problems of our day. But at the start of a new year [此處省略了？] rife with (=filled with sth bad) high-stakes unknowns, we should rethink our outdated notions of not knowing as weakness, and instead discover this mindset as a strength. The implications for taming=control today’s epidemic distress, divisions and stalemates are vast.

【譯文】

學著和不確定性競爭(zheng) 並不會(hui) 完全解決(jue) 我們(men) 今日的問題。但是在充滿高風險位置的新年伊始，我們(men) 應該重新思考自己“茫然不解就是弱點”的想法，而應該把這種思想看作是強項。

這個(ge) 意味對控製如今四處可見的焦慮，分裂和僵局是非常深遠的。

文學手段賞析：distress， divisions二詞運用了

alliteration（壓頭韻），即兩(liang) 個(ge) 或者多個(ge) 單詞開頭的輔音發音相同

例：wax and wane；progressive proponents ….

運用練習(xi)

Translation the following sentence to give it a literarytouch.（alliteration）

我不畏懼風暴，因為(wei) 我在學習(xi) 禦船之術。

1點擊空白處查看答案

I fear not storms on the sea, for I am learning to steer my ship.

06.

Studies of the pandemic era offer a starting illustration of the links between uncertainty and flourishing. Ohio State researchers have found that adults who scored high on a measure of “intolerance of uncertainty” were more likely to struggle with stress and anxiety during the pandemic. Akin to (=Similar to) personality tests, uncertainty intolerance assessments gauge 【注意gauge發音/ɡeɪdʒ/】(=measure) people’s tendency to see unknowns as a threat rather than a challenge. Individuals who eschew (=shun/avoid) not knowing tend to yearn for predictability and engage in binary thinking. During the pandemic, higher levels of uncertainty intolerance were associated with more maladaptive（不良的） coping responses, such as being in denial, disengaging from life and abusing substances, a British study found. In contrast, those who struggle less with uncertainty were more likely to accept the realities of the situation.

【譯文】

疫情時代的研究提供了不確定性和發展之間的許多連接。俄亥俄州洲的研究者們(men) 發現在一幫無法忍受不確定性的成年人們(men) 更容易在疫情期間遭受壓力和焦慮。類似於(yu) 人格測試，不確定性耐受度評估評測了人們(men) 傾(qing) 向將未知事物看作威脅而不是一種挑戰。避免懵懂的人渴望可預知性，而不是專(zhuan) 注於(yu) 二元化思想。在疫情期間，英國研究表明，對不確定性更高的無法忍受程度與(yu) 不良的對應措施，例如被消極否定，或者是產(chan) 生生活產(chan) 生脫離感和酒精以及毒品的濫用。相比之下，那些更能對付不確定性的人更容易去接受現實情況。

✳這段當中出現了我們(men) 經常所說的二元化思想，我們(men) 先來不妨學習(xi) 並討論一下binary thinking，首先我們(men) 來看看二元化思想的定義(yi) ：

Binary thinking ：tendency to see things absolute；either right or wrong.

最後在一道令人深思且老生常談的口語練習(xi) 題目結束今天的閱讀吧。

#Speaking：

In what context binary thinking is convenient and effective？And when should we avoid binary thinking？