新标准大学英语3 UNIT1-We are all dying原文+译文

We are all dyingWe are all dying我们都在走向死亡我们都在走向死亡 have some good news and some bad news for you (as the joke goes). The bad news – and I m very sorry to be the bearer – is that we are all dying. It s true. I ve checked it out. In fact, I ve double – and triple-checked it. I ve had it substantiated and, well, there s no easy way to say it. we are dying. It s something that I always kind of knew, but never really chose to think about too much. But the fact is, within the next 70 or 80 years – depending on how old you are and how longyou last – we are all going to be either coffin dwellers or trampled ash in the rose garden of some local cemetery. We may not even last that long. After all, we never quite know when the hooded, scythe-carrying, bringer-of-the-last-breath might come-a-calling. It could be sooner than we d like. I have watched death from the sidelines, quite recently in fact, and nothing underlines the uncertainty and absolute frailty of humanity like the untimely exit of a friend. 我给你带来一条好消息， 还有一条坏消息（正如笑话所说的） 。 坏消息是： 我们都在走向死亡——很抱歉是我带来了这条坏消息。这可是真的，我已经核实 过了，事实上我已经三番五次地核实过了。我也找到了证据，可是要说出这个事 实实在是不容易，不过我们的确都在走向死亡。这件事我过去多少知道一点，但 不愿过多地去想它。但事实是， 再过 70 年或 80 年——这要取决于你现在年龄有 多大， 寿命有多长——我们都会躺到棺材里，或者变成某个地方公墓玫瑰园里的 灰尘，被人践踏。我们甚至活不到这么老。毕竟，我们从来就不清楚那位戴着头 巾、手持长柄镰刀、命人吐出最后一口气的死神什么时候会来召唤我们，有可能 会比我们希望的要早。其实我最近就曾经从局外人的角度观察过死亡，没有什么 比朋友的早逝更能表明人生的无常和生命的脆弱了。 2 Scary.真可怕。 3 Now that I havedepressed you, here s the good news. Knowingthat we are all budding crypt-kickers takes away all the uncertainty of life. We already know how the story ends. The prologue and epilogue are already typed in. All that s left is the middle bit and that s down to us. We get to choose the meat of the story。 我已经让你够沮丧的了，现在告诉你那条好消息吧：知道了我们都在走向坟墓， 我们就不再有人生无常的感觉了。我们已经知道故事的结局，开场白和尾声也都 确定了，剩下的就是介于两者之间的那些事儿了，这些事是我们作得了主的。我 们必须挑选故事情节。 4. So, all those plans that you have on the back burner, you know, the great things you re going to do with your life “when the time is right“? Well, the time is never quite right, I find. It needs to be brought forward and done now, this minute, pronto, in a hurry, as quick as your little legs will carry you. The novel that you want to write, the trip to the Grand Canyon you ve always planned to take, your mind s-eye dream-job, the West End play you want to direct – you have to do them now. We re dying, see. It s official. 所以，那些被你搁置在一边的计划，即那些“当时机成熟时”你会用生命来完成 的伟大事业怎么办呢？可我发现时机永远不会有成熟的时候。时间必须提前，必 须马上行动，就在这一刻，不能拖延，必须赶紧，而且越快越好。不管是你想写 的小说，还是你一直在筹划的去大峡谷的旅行，你心仪的工作，你想导演的伦敦 西区话剧， 你都必须现在就去做。 知道吗？我们都在走向死亡。 这是已经定了的。 5 So putting your dreams on the back burner until the circumstances are right means that they ll probably never be realized. Our only regrets in life are the things we don t do. We owe it to ourselves to go out and do them now before it s too late. Tomorrow? It s all a lie; there isn t a tomorrow. There s only a promissory note that we are often not in a position to cash. It doesn t even exist. When you wake up in the morning it ll be today again and all the same ru