2013年自考英语(二)课文译文:让头脑畅想

　　让头脑畅想

　　Until recently daydreaming was generally considered either a waste of time or a symptom of neurotic tendencies, and habitual daydreaming was regarded as evidence of maladjustment or an escape from life realities and responsibilities. It was believed that habitual daydreaming would eventually distance people from society and reduce their effectiveness in coping with real problems. At its best, daydreaming was considered a compensatory substitute for the real things in life.

　　直到最近人们还认为白日梦要么是浪费时间，要么是神经病的先兆，习惯性白日梦被看作是不适应环境的表现，或者是对现实生活和责任的一种逃避。人们相信习惯性的白日梦最终会拉开人与社会的距离，降低人们处理实际问题的能力，充其量，白日梦只不过被看作是对生活中真实事物的一种补偿。

　　As with anything carried to excess, daydreaming can be harmful. There are always those who would substitute fantasy lives for the rewards of real activity. But such extremes are relatively rare, and there is a growing body of evidence to support the fact that most people suffer from a lack of daydreaming rather than an excess of it. We are now beginning to learn how valuable it really is and that when individuals are completely prevented from daydreaming, their emotional balance can be disturbed. Not only are they less able to deal with the pressures of day-to-day existence, but also their self-control and self-direction become endangered.

　　任何事物做得过分都可能有害，白日做梦也是一样，总有那么一些人，他们用想入非非的生活来代替实际活动得到的回报。但是这一类极端的情况较为罕见，愈来愈多的资料却支持这样一种看法：大多数人白日梦不是做得过多，而是不够。我们现在才刚刚了解到白日梦实际上是多么有价值，而当个人被完全阻止白日做梦时，人的情绪平衡会受到干扰。不但应付日常生存的能力有所降低，而且自我控制和调节的能力也会出问题。

　　Recent research indicates that daydreaming is part of daily life and that a certain amount each day is essential for maintaining equilibrium. Daydreaming, science has discovered, is an effective relaxation technique. But its beneficial effects go beyond this. Experiments show that daydreaming significantly contributes to intellectual growth, powers of concentration, and the ability to interact and communicate with others.

　　最近的研究表明，白日做梦是日常生活的一部分，人们每天必须有一定量的白日梦来维持平衡。科学发现，白日做梦是一种有效的放松方法。但它的好处绝不止于此。实验证明，白日做梦对于智力的增长，注意力的集中，对与别人交往与交流的能力都起着十分重要的作用。

　　In an experiment with schoolchildren in New York, Dr. Joan Freyberg observed improved concentration: "There was less running around, more happy feelings, more talking and playing in the group, and more attention paid to detail."

　　在纽约对在校生做的实验中，琼?弗雷伯格教授对儿童注意力的改善状况进行了观察：“他们不再像过去那样到处乱跑，有更加愉快的感觉，在一起说话也多了，也更愿意玩了，对细节也更加注意了。”

　　In another experiment at Yale University, Dr. Jerome Singer found that daydreaming resulted in improved self-control and enhanced creative thinking ability. Daydreaming, Singer pointed out, is one way individuals can improve upon reality. It is, he concluded, a powerful spur to achievement.

　　在耶鲁大学进行的另一个实验中，杰罗姆?辛格博士发现，白日做梦可以改善自控能力，提高创造思维能力。辛格指出，白日做梦是人们改进现实的一种方法。他得出结论说，它对成就的取得是一种强有力的激励。

　　'But the value of daydreaming does not stop here. It has been found that it improves a person's ability to be better adapted to practical, immediate concerns, to solve everyday problems, and to come up more readily with new ideas. Contrary to popular belief, constant and conscious effort at solving a problem is, in reality, one of the most inefficient ways of coping with it. While conscious initial effort is always necessary, effective solutions to especially severe problems frequently occur when conscious attempts to solve them have been put off. Inability to relax, to let go of a problem, often prevents its solution.

　　但是白日做梦的价值并非就这么多，人们已经发现，白日做梦能提高一个人的能力，使他能更好地适应实际的、突发性的事务，解决日常问题，并能较容易地提出新的想法。与人们的普通看法相反，解决问题时不断地和刻意地努力实际上是一种解决问题效率最低的办法。尽管最初的刻意努力总是必要的，但解决特别重大问题的有效方法都是经常出现在推迟刻意解决问题的努力之时。不会放松，不会对某个问题置之不理，常常妨碍问题的解决。

　　Historically, scientists and inventors are one group that seems to take full advantage of relaxed moments. Their biographies reveal that their best ideas seem to have occurred when they were relaxing and daydreaming. It is well known, for example, that Newton solved many of his toughest problems when his attention was waylaid by private musings.Thomas Alva Edison also knew the value of "half waking?states. Whenever confronted with a task which seemed too hard to be dealt with, he would stretch out on his laboratory sofa and let fantasies flood his mind.

　　从历史上来看，科学家和发明家似乎都是一些充分利用时间放松的人。从他们的传记中可以看出，他们一些最好的想法似乎却是出现在他们放松和做白日梦时。例如，人们都知道，牛顿在独自沉思时解决了许多最棘手的问题。托马斯?A?爱迪生也深知“迷蒙”状态的好处。无论何时遇到棘手的工作时，他都会躺在实验室的沙发上，让头脑中充满幻想。

　　Painters, writers, and composers also have drawn heavily on their sensitivity to inner fantasies. Debussy used to gaze at the River Seine and the golden reflections of the setting sun to establish an atmosphere for creativity. Brahms found that ideas came effortless only when he approached a state of deep daydreaming. And Cesar Frank is said to have walked around with a dreamlike gaze while composing, seemingly totally unaware of his surroundings.

　　画家、作家和作曲家都十分依赖对内心幻觉的敏感性。德彪西过去常常凝视着塞纳河落日的金色倒影，从中找到一种创作的氛围，勃拉姆斯发现只有当他深深地陷入白日梦境中，才能毫不费力地得到灵感。据说恺撒?弗兰克创作时到处走动，双目梦幻般凝视前方，似乎对周围的环境浑然不知。

　　Many successful people actually daydreamed their successes and achievements long before they realized them. Henry J. Kaiser maintained that "you can imagine your future,?and he believed that a great part of his business success was due to positive use of daydreams. Harry S. Truman said that he used daydreaming for rest. Conrad Hilton dreamed of operating a hotel when he was a boy. He recalled that all his accomplishments were first realized in his imagination.

　　实际上，许多成功者在实现他们的成功和成就很久以前，就曾梦想过他们的成功和成就。享利?丁?凯泽认为：“你可以想像出你的未来。”而且他相信他生意上的大部分成功是由于他正确运用了他的梦想。哈里?S?杜鲁门说他利用做白日梦来休息。康拉德?希尔小时候曾梦想经营一家旅馆。他回忆说，他所有的成功都是首先在梦中实现的。

　　"Great living starts with a picture, held in some person's imagination, of what he would like someday to do or be. Florence Nightingale dreamed of being a nurse. Edison pictured himself an inventor; all such characters escaped the mere push of circumstance by imagining a future so vividly that they headed for it? These are the words of the well-known thinker Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, and they show that people can literally daydream themselves to success. Fosdick, aware of the wonderful power of positive daydreaming. offered this advice: "Hold a picture of yourself long and steadily enough in your mind's eye, and you will be drawn toward it. Picture yourself vividly as defeated and that alone will make victory impossible. Picture yourself as winning and that will contribute remarkably to success. Do not picture yourself as anything, and you will drift like an abandoned ship at sea."

　　“令人满意的生活起源于头脑中想象中的画面，在画面中有他想做的事情或者是理想中的角色。费罗伦丝?南丁格尔梦想着成为一名护士，爱迪生梦想成为发明家。所有这些人都是通过对他们为之奋斗的未来作生动的构想，摆脱了对外界鼓励的依靠。”这些话出自著名的思想家哈里?爱默生?福斯迪克之口，它表明人们的确能够通过梦想达到成功。福斯迪克意识到积极的白日梦的神奇力量，他提出这样的建议：在脑海中长时间稳定地存有一幅自己未来的画面，你就会被它吸引;把自己想象成为一个失败者，仅此一点就会使你与成功无缘;把自己想象成一个成功者，就会极大地促使你成功。不能想象出自己的未来，那么你就会像漂浮在海洋上的弃船。

　　To get the results, you should picture yourself -- as vividly as possible -- as you want to be. The important thing to remember is to picture these desired objectives as if you had already attained them. Go over several times the details of these pictures. This will deeply impress them on your memory, and these memory traces will soon start influencing your everyday behavior toward the attainment of the goal.

　　要想有所作为，你应该尽可能生动地想象出你理想的形象。要记住的重点是把这些要达到的目标想象成好像你已经完成。然后反复检查这些画面的细节，这样它们会给你留下深刻的印象，这些记忆痕不久就会影响你为达目标而进行的日常活动。

　　While exercising your imagination, you should be alone and completely undisturbed. Some individuals seem to have the ability to tune into their private selves in the midst of the noisiest crowds or company. But most of us, especially when the experience is new, require an environment free from outside distraction.

　　在想象时，你应该独处而且丝毫不受外界干扰。有些人似乎能在最嘈杂的人群之中进行自我调节进入安静状态。但是我们大多数人，特别是刚刚开始做白日梦时，需要一种免受外界干扰的环境。

　　A life lived without fantasy and daydreaming is a seriously impoverished one. Each of us should put aside a few minutes daily, taking short 10- or 15-minute vacations. Daydreaming is highly beneficial to your physical and mental well-being, and you will find that this modest, inexpensive investment in time will add up to a more creative and imaginative, a more satisfied, and a more self-fulfilled you. It offers us a fuller sense of being intensely alive from moment to moment, and this, of course, contributes greatly to the excitement and joy of living.

　　没有幻想，没有白日梦的生活是极度乏味的生活，我们每一个人每天都应留出些时间，休上10～15分钟的短假。白日做梦对你的身心健康高度有益，你会发现这一小小的廉价的时间投资最终带来的是一个更有创造性、更富想象力、一个更心满意足和一个更踌躇满志的你，它常常使我们更充分地意识到生活的紧张激烈，这当然能够增加生活的兴奋与喜悦。

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