Don’t Ignore The Good In Life

王秀鳳

Have your teachers ever given you a special test that was different from the ones you usually take？ What was it like？

One day a professor（教授） entered his classroom and told his students about a surprise test. The students took their seats and waited for the test to begin. The professor put a test paper on each student’s desk with the text facing down. He then asked them to turn the paper over and begin.

The students were surprised to see no questions， but just a single black dot （圓點(diǎn)） in the center of the page. The professor said， “ I just want you to write down what you see on this paper.”? The students were confused （困惑的）， but did as they were told. At the end of class， the professor took their tests and started reading their answers aloud.

Each student tried to describe the black dot—its size， its position on the paper. After the professor finished reading， the class was silent.

He started to explain. “ Don’t worry. I won’t be grading this test. But I want you to think about something. All of you focused （集中精力;關(guān)注）on the black dot on this test and wrote about it， but no one wrote about the white area around the dot.”

“ Imagine that this paper represents （代表）your life. The white area represents all of your life experiences—the black dot just stands for the bad things you’ve gone through. Life blesses us with many things—loved ones， enjoyable moments， and even miracles from time to time. And yet we tend （傾向于）to focus on the negative（消極的）. Our problems and difficulties can beat us.”

“ From now on， I want you to think about the big picture more often. Don’t just focus on the black dot in your life. Remind yourself how lucky you are sometimes.”

難句解析

The professor put a test paper on each student’s desk with the text facing down.教授把試卷倒扣在每個(gè)學(xué)生的桌子上。

句子with the text facing down 是with的復(fù)合結(jié)構(gòu)，即由“with+賓語(yǔ)+賓語(yǔ)補(bǔ)足語(yǔ)”構(gòu)成，其中賓語(yǔ)補(bǔ)足語(yǔ)可以是名詞、形容詞、副詞、現(xiàn)在分詞、過(guò)去分詞、介詞短語(yǔ)，在句中主要作狀語(yǔ)， 表示伴隨、原因、時(shí)間、條件、方式等。如：

I won’t be able to go on holiday with my mother being ill. 我媽媽病了，我不能去度假了。

The girl doesn’t sleep with the lights on.這女孩開(kāi)著燈睡不著覺(jué)。

Life blesses us with many things—loved ones， enjoyable moments， and even miracles from time to time.生活賜予我們很多東西——我們深愛(ài)的人，快樂(lè)的時(shí)刻，甚至?xí)r不時(shí)會(huì)出現(xiàn)的奇跡。

from time to time意為“不時(shí)地;間或;偶爾”。 如：

I still think of my childhood from time to time. 我還是時(shí)不時(shí)想起我的童年生活。

注意區(qū)別： time after time意為 “一次又一次”。如：

The system has proved fallible time after time.

一次又一次證明，這個(gè)系統(tǒng)是會(huì)出錯(cuò)的。

精彩譯文

不要忽略生活中的美好（事物）

你的老師有沒(méi)有給過(guò)你不同尋常的特殊考試？感覺(jué)考試怎么樣？

一天，一位教授走進(jìn)他的教室，告訴學(xué)生將進(jìn)行一個(gè)驚喜的測(cè)試。學(xué)生們就座，等待考試開(kāi)始。教授把試卷倒扣在每個(gè)學(xué)生的桌上。然后，讓學(xué)生們把試卷翻過(guò)來(lái)開(kāi)始答題。

學(xué)生們驚訝地發(fā)現(xiàn)沒(méi)有問(wèn)題，只有一個(gè)黑點(diǎn)在頁(yè)面中央。教授說(shuō)：“我只想讓你們把在這張?jiān)嚲砩峡吹降膶?xiě)下來(lái)?！睂W(xué)生們很困惑，但還是照著他說(shuō)的做了。下課后，教授批閱了他們的試卷，開(kāi)始大聲朗讀他們的答案。

每個(gè)學(xué)生都試著描述這個(gè)黑點(diǎn)——它的大小，它在紙上的位置。教授讀完后，全班安靜下來(lái)。

他開(kāi)始解釋。

“別擔(dān)心。我不會(huì)給這個(gè)考試打分的。但我想讓你們想想。你們所有人都把注意力集中在這個(gè)測(cè)試的黑點(diǎn)上并寫(xiě)出了自己的想法，但沒(méi)有人寫(xiě)黑點(diǎn)周圍的白色區(qū)域?！?/p>

“想象一下，這張紙代表了你的生活。白色區(qū)域代表你所有的生活經(jīng)歷，黑色圓點(diǎn)代表你經(jīng)歷過(guò)的不好事情。生活賜予我們很多東西——我們深愛(ài)的人，快樂(lè)的時(shí)刻，甚至?xí)r不時(shí)會(huì)出現(xiàn)的奇跡。然而我們傾向于把注意力集中在消極的方面。我們面對(duì)的問(wèn)題和遇到的困難可以戰(zhàn)勝我們?！?/p>

“從現(xiàn)在開(kāi)始，我希望你們多想想全局。不要只關(guān)注生活中的黑點(diǎn)。有時(shí)候提醒自己——你是多么幸運(yùn)?！?/p>