Lesson 50

What marked the end of the writer's New Year resolutions?
什么标志着作者新年决心的终结？
The New Year is a time for resolutions.
新年是拟定计划的时刻。
Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of 'dos' and 'don'ts'.
至少在心理上，我们中的大多数人都能列出长长的一串“该做”和“不该做”的事。
The same old favourites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity.
同样的那几样老牌心头好年复一年地以单调乏味的规律性反复出现。
We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat less, find more time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the house, be nice to people we don't like, drive carefully, and take the dog for a walk every day.
我们下定决心每天早晨起床更早，吃得更少，找更多时间陪孩子们玩耍，做数不清的家务活，友好对待我们不喜欢的人，小心驾驶，并且每天带狗去散步。
Past experience has taught
过去的经验已经教导
us
我们
that
那个
certain
某些
accomplishments
成就
are beyond attainment.
是无法达到的。
If we remain inveterate smokers, it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration that results from failure.
如果我们依然是长期吸烟者，这仅仅是因为我们如此频繁地经历了由失败导致的挫败感。
Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement because our schemes are too ambitious and we never have time to carry them out.
我们中的大多数在自我提升的努力中失败了，因为我们的计划太宏大，而且我们从没有时间去执行它们。
We also make the fundamental error of announcing our resolutions to everybody so that we look even more foolish when we slip back into our bad old ways.
我们也犯了向每个人宣布决心的根本性错误，结果当我们重蹈旧习时，看起来更加愚蠢。
Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep my resolutions to myself.
意识到这些陷阱，今年我尝试对自己的决心保持沉默。
I limited myself to two modest ambitions: to do physical exercises every morning and to read more of an evening.
我给自己设定了两个小目标：每天早晨锻炼身体，晚上多读点书。
An all-night party on New Year's Eve provided me with a good excuse for not carrying out either of these new resolutions on the first day of the year, but on the second, I applied myself assiduously to the task.
除夕夜的一个通宵派对为我提供了在元旦那天不执行这些新决心的绝佳借口，但在第二天，我便开始刻苦地执行这些任务了。
The daily exercises lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the morning before anyone had got up.
每日练习仅持续十一分钟，我打算在清晨，在任何人起床之前做这些练习。
The self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable.
比平时早起十一分钟所需的自律是相当惊人的。
Nevertheless, I managed to creep down into the living room for two days before anyone found me out.
尽管如此，在被发现之前，我还是设法溜进客厅待了两天。
After jumping about on the carpet and twisting the human frame into uncomfortable positions, I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition.
在地毯上到处跳跃并把躯体扭成不舒服的姿势之后，我筋疲力尽地坐在了早餐桌旁。
It was this that betrayed me.
正是这个出卖了我。
The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the performance.
第二天早晨，全家人成群结队地走进来观看表演。
That was really unsettling, but I fended off the taunts and jibes of the family good-humouredly and soon everybody got used to the idea.
那是真的很令人不安，但我好脾气地挡开了家人的嘲讽和挖苦，很快大家也就习惯了。
However, my enthusiasm waned.
然而，我的热情消退了。
The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished.
我花在练习上的时间逐渐减少了。
Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero.
一点一点地，这十一分钟下降到了零。
By January 10th, I was back to where I had started from.
到1月10号，我回到了我最初出发的地方。
I argued that if I spent less time exhausting myself at exercises in the morning, I would keep my mind fresh for reading when I got home from work.
我辩称，如果我少花点时间在早晨的锻炼中消耗体力，我下班回家后就能保持清醒的头脑进行阅读。
Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my room for a few evenings with my eyes glued to a book.
为了抵制电视的诱惑，我连续几个晚上坐在房间里，埋头读书。
One night, however, feeling cold and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television pretending to read.
然而，一个晚上，由于感到寒冷和孤独，我下楼坐在电视机前假装看书。
That proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen.
那证明是我的祸根，因为我很快又回到了在屏幕前打瞌睡的旧坏习惯。
I still haven't given up my resolution to do more reading.
我仍然没有放弃多读书的决心。
In fact, I have just bought a book entitled How to Read a Thousand Words a Minute.
事实上，我刚刚买了一本题为《如何一分钟阅读一千个单词》的书。
Perhaps it will solve my problem, but I just haven't had time to read it
也许它会解决我的问题，但我只是还没时间读它