精美英文欣赏:The 50-Percent Theory of Life 生活理论半

回首那个糟糕的夏天，我很快就明白了，所有后来出现的好事只不过与坏事相互抵消。比一般情况糟糕的境遇不会延宕过久；而太平时光是我应得的，我要尽情享受，它们为我注入活力以应对下一个险情，并确保我可以兴旺发达。

The 50-Percent Theory of Life

 

I believe in the 50-percent theory. Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe life is a pendulum 1 swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.

我信奉对半理论。生活时而无比顺畅，时而倒霉透顶。我觉得生活就像来回摆的钟摆。读懂生活的常态需要时间和阅历，而读懂它也练就了我面对未来的生活态度。

 

Let’s benchmark the parameters 2: yes, I will die. I’ve dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing 3. Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale.

让我们确定一下好坏的标准：是的，我注定会死去。我已经经历了双亲，一位好友，一位敬爱的老板和心爱宠物的死亡。有些突如其来，近在眼前，有些却缓慢痛苦。这些都是糟糕的事情，它们属于最坏的部分。

Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad things like coaching my son’s baseball team, paddling around the creek 4 in the boat while he’s swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassion 5 so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails 6, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered 7 pile of Legos.

生活中也不乏高潮：坠入爱河缔结良缘；身为人父养育幼子，诸如训练指导儿子的棒球队，当他和狗在小河中嬉戏时摇桨划船，感受他如此强烈的同情心-即使对蜗牛也善待有加，发现他如此丰富的想象力-即使用零散的乐高玩具积木也能堆出太空飞船。

 

But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and the good flip-flop acrobatically. This is what convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory.

但在生活最好与最坏部分之间有一片巨大的中间地带，其间各种好事坏事像耍杂技一样上下翻滚，轮番出现。这就是让我信服对半理论的原因。

One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone that neighbors laughed. I felt chagrined 8 at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal---the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioned died; the well went dry; the marriage ended; the job lost; the money gone. I was living lyrics 9 from a country tune---music I loathed 10. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team buoyed 11 my spirits.

有一年春天，我在一块洼地上过早地种上了玉米。那块地极易遭到水淹，所以邻居们都嘲笑我。我为浪费了精力而感到懊恼。没想到夏天更为残酷-我经历了最糟糕的热浪和干旱。空调坏了，进干了，婚姻破裂了，工作丢了，钱也没有。我正经历着某首乡村歌曲中描绘的情节，我讨厌这种音乐，只有刚出道不久的堪萨斯皇家棒球队能鼓舞我的精神。

 

Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset 12 the bad. Worse than normal wouldn’t last long. I am owed and savor 13 the halcyon 14 times. They reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that can thrive. The 50-percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals’ recent slump 15, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.

回首那个糟糕的夏天，我很快就明白了，所有后来出现的好事只不过与坏事相互抵消。比一般情况糟糕的境遇不会延宕过久；而太平时光是我应得的，我要尽情享受，它们为我注入活力以应对下一个险情，并确保我可以兴旺发达。对半理论甚至帮助我在堪萨斯皇家棒球队最近的低潮中看到希望-这是一快艰难行进的新手们耕耘的土地，只要播种了，假以时日我们就可以收获十月的金秋。

For that one blistering 16 summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination 17 before heat withered 18 the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing 19 corn from floods. That winter my crib overflowed 20 with corn---fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filled with kernels 22 from heel to tip---while my neighbors’ fields yielded only brown, empty husks.

那个夏天天气酷热，地而湿度适宜，提早播种就可以在热浪打蔫植尖之前完成授粉，同于干旱更没有爆发洪水，产在田里的玉米得以保存。因此那个冬天我的粮仓堆满了玉米-丰满，健康，一颗三穗且从头到脚都是饱满的玉米粒的玉米穗-而我的邻居们收获的只是晒黑的空壳。

Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.

尽管过去的播种可能没有达到50%的收获期望，而且将来也可能是这样，但我仍然能靠着在旱季繁茂生长的庄稼而生存下去。

1.pendulum        n. 摆,钟摆

例句：

The pendulum of the clock in my room is a bear. 

我房间的钟摆是小熊形状的。

2.parameter        n. 参数,参量

例句：

We have to work within the parameters of time and budget. 

我们工作受时间和财力所限.

3.paddle       n. 桨,划桨,明轮翼  v. 划桨,戏水,抚弄

例句：

She lay at the side of the pool and paddled in the water with her fingers. 

她躺在池子边上，用手指玩水。

4.bottomland   n.<美>(河边)低洼地,滩地(洪水受淹地)

例句：

The crops flourished in the rich bottomland.

作物在肥沃的河岸低地生长繁茂。

5.buoy         n. 浮标,浮筒,救生圈  v. 使...浮,支撑

例句：

We felt buoyed up by the good news. 

我们觉得这个好消息很令人鼓舞。

6.halcyon        n. 想像中的一种鸟,形同翠鸟,翠鸟  adj. 宁静的,平稳的

例句：

Those were the halcyon days of Athens (fifth century BC) when she produced her finest poetry and drama, architecture and sculpture.

公元5世纪为雅典的太平盛世。雅典最优秀的诗歌、戏剧、建筑和雕刻均产生于这一时期。

7.reinvigorate  vt.使再活跃, 使恢复生气, 使重新振作, 使恢复精神

例句：

We shall adopt various forms to set free and reinvigorate the state-owned medium and small-sized enterprises, standardize 23 the operations and pay attention to the actual effect. 

采取多种形式放开搞活国有中小企业，规范操作，注重实效。

8.blistering   adj.使起疱的,恶毒的; 激烈的

例句：

The runners set off at a blistering pace.

赛跑者以极高的速度起跑。

9.pollination        n. 授粉

例句：

Fertilization resulting from pollination among flowers of the same plant.

同系交配在同株植物的不同花朵上进行的摄粉作用

10.kernel 21        n. 核心,中心,精髓

例句：

The edible 24 kernel of a nut. 

核仁坚果的可食的仁。