【課文】
The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of 'dos' and 'don'ts'. The same old favorites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity. 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. Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond attainment. If we remain inveterate smokers, it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration that results from failure. 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. 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. Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep my resolutions to myself. I limited myself to two modest ambitions: to do physical exercise every morning and to read more of an evening. 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.
The daily exercises lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the morning before anyone had got up. The self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable. Nevertheless, I managed to creep down into the living room for two days before anyone found me out. 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. It was this that betrayed me. The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the performance. 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. However, my enthusiasm waned. The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero. By January 10th, I was back to where I had started from. 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 form work Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my room for a few evenings with my eyes glued to a book. One night, however, feeling cold and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television pretending to read. That proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen. I still haven't given up my resolution to do more reading. In fact, I have just bought a book entitled How to Read a Thousand Words a Minute. Perhaps it will solve my problem, but I just haven't had time to read it!
【課文翻譯】
新年是下決心的時候，至少在大多數(shù)人的心里會編排出一份“應(yīng)做什么”和“不應(yīng)做什么”的令人生畏的單子。相同的決心以單調(diào)的規(guī)律年復(fù)一年地出現(xiàn)。我們決心每天早晨起得早些;吃得少些;多花點時間與孩子們一起做游戲;做大量的家務(wù);對不喜歡的人友善一些;小心駕車;每天都要帶著狗散步;等等。以往的經(jīng)驗告訴我們有些事是辦不到的。如果我們煙癮大，戒不掉，那是因為屢戒屢敗，失去信心。我們大多數(shù)人想自我完善卻遭到失敗，這是因為我們的規(guī)劃過于宏大，而又根本沒有時間去實施。我們還犯有一個根本性的錯誤，即把我們的決心向大家宣布。這樣一旦滑回到那些*慣上去，我們在別人的眼里會顯得更加難堪。我深知這些問題，于是，今年我對自己的計劃要嚴加保密，只給自己定下兩項適中的任務(wù);每天早上鍛煉身體，每天晚上多看點書。新年除夕舉辦的通宵晚會，使我理直氣壯地在新年頭一天免去了這兩項任務(wù)。不過，新年第二天，我全力以赴地照著去做了。
早鍛煉一共只有11分鐘，我打算在別人起床之前進行。這就要求我比平時早11分鐘把自己從床上拽起來，這種自我約束是很艱苦的。不過開頭兩天我還是成功地躡手躡腳地來到樓下起居室，被誰也沒發(fā)現(xiàn)。我在地毯上跳來蹦過去，扭曲身子，擺出各種姿勢，弄得渾身不舒服，然后坐到桌邊吃早飯，一副筋疲力盡的樣子。正是這副模樣泄露了我的秘密。第二天早晨全家人結(jié)隊來到起居室看我表演。這真叫人不好意思，但我心平氣和地頂住全家人的嘲笑和奚落。不久，大家對我習(xí)以為常了，而這時我的熱情卻減退了。我花在鍛煉上的時間逐漸減少，慢慢地從11分鐘減到了零。到了1月 10日，我恢復(fù)了原來的作息時間。我辯解說，早晨少耗費精力鍛煉，晚上下班回家看書時頭腦更清醒些。有幾天晚上，我極力擺脫了電視的誘惑，坐在自己的房間里，兩眼盯在書上?？墒牵幸惶煲估?，我感到又冷又孤單，便來到樓下坐在電視機前假裝看書。這下我可完了，因為不一會兒，我就恢復(fù)了以前的壞習(xí)慣，在屏幕前打起瞌睡來。但我還沒有放棄多看些書的決心。事上，我剛買來一本叫《一分鐘讀一千字的訣竅》的書。也許這本書能解決我的問題，但我一直還沒時間去看這本書!
【詞匯】
resolution n. 決心
mentally adv. 內(nèi)心里
compile v. 編輯，編制
formidable adj. 令人畏懼的
recur v. 再發(fā)生，又出現(xiàn)
regularity n. 規(guī)律性
accomplishment n. 成就
attainment n. 達到
inveterate adj. 根深蒂固的
self-improvement n. 自我完善
cheme n. 簡單的計劃，方案
ambitious adj. 雄心勃勃的
pitfall n. 意外的困難，易犯的錯誤
modest adj. 要求不過分的
assiduously adv. 刻苦地
self-discipline n. 自我約束
frame n. 軀體
betray v. 暴露，顯露
troop v. 成群結(jié)隊地走動
unsettle v. 使不安
taunt n. 嘲笑，奚落人的話
jibe n. 嘲弄，挖苦
good-humouredly adv. 和氣地，心情好地
wane v. 逐漸變小，變?nèi)?BR> diminish v. 減少，縮小
hypnotize v. 使欲睡，使朦朧
undoing n. 禍根，毀滅的原因
screen n. 電視機屏幕
【重點詞匯講解】
【formidable】
例句：
1. Mr Kirk is a formidable candidate, but not without weaknesses.
柯克是一位實力強勁的候選人，但也不是十全十美。
2.The Economist was fortunate that Norman decided to park his formidable intellect
at 25 St James's Street.
諾曼決毅將其曠世之才奉獻給圣•詹姆斯大街25號，是《經(jīng)濟學(xué)人》的幸運。
【recur】
英英：happen or occur again
例句：
1. His illness is likely to recur.
他的病可能復(fù)發(fā)。
2. Let us recur to the subject later on.
讓我們稍后再重回到我們的主題。
3. When his wife left him he had to recur to drinking.
當妻子離他而去時他只好借酒澆愁。
【attainment】
例句:
1. It is possible of attainment.
這事可能達到。
2. They think it may contribute to intellectual growth and lead to the attainment of
actual goals.
他們認為白日做夢有助于智力的發(fā)展，能引導(dǎo)人們實現(xiàn)要達到的目標。
【inveterate】
例句：
1. Hitler was not only an avid reader but also an inveterate underliner.
*不僅酷愛讀書，還有寫寫劃劃的習(xí)慣。
2.The inveterate thought of the first language will influence you when you try the
second language.
母語思維對第二語言學(xué)習(xí)有很大的影響。
【pitfall】
例句：
1. The pitfall of working abroad is numerous.
在國外工作存在許多的無法預(yù)期的困難。
2. The pitfall is the trappings of success can catch you off guard.
陷阱就是，成功的表象來襲時，你可能猝不及防。
【modest】
例句：
1. But in almost all cases they carry only a modest risk for the disease.
但是在幾乎所有的病例中，這些變異只是帶來了適度的危險性。
2. The seemingly modest unemployment rate of 4.4% in February understates the pain.
二月份貌似適度的4.4%的失業(yè)率并沒有如實地反映痛苦。
【assiduously】
例句：
1. I will apply myself assiduously to the new work.
謝謝。我將會全力以赴地投入到新的工作中去的。
2. Every turn of the affair is assiduously shared on Twitter.
事件的每一個細節(jié)，都被忠實地記錄下來并在推特上分享。
【betray】
英英：reveal unintentionally
例句：
1. She would not betray his secrets to me.
她不會把他的秘密泄露給我。
2. A friend does not betray confidences.
朋友是不會泄露秘密的。
3. Time has left many scars on his body; thousands of wrinkles betray his age.
時間給他的身體留下太多的痕跡，上千的皺紋泄露他的年齡。
【unsettle】
英英：disturb the composure of
例句：
1. This strike may unsettle the economy.
這次罷工可能會使經(jīng)濟不安定。
2. Were the arrests an attempt to unsettle Rio and gain the upper hand in the negotiations?
逮捕力拓雇員是否是為了令力拓不安，以及在談判中占得上風?
3. Mass violence threatened to unsettle the very foundations of government.
大規(guī)模的暴力行動有使政府基礎(chǔ)為之動搖的危險。
【wane】
英英：grow smaller
例句：
1. The moon wax till it become full, and then wane.
月亮漸漸變圓直至滿盈，然后再變虧缺。
2. As time went on, their hopes began to wane.
隨著時間的消逝，他們的希望開始變得渺茫。
3. Dick Cheney, the hawkish vice-president, has seen his influence wane.
同屬鷹派的副總統(tǒng)迪克·切尼，也看到了他影響力的日薄西山。
【diminish】
英英：decrease in size, extent, or range
例句:
1. Anger is much likelier to mount than diminish.
憤怒可能增加更多，而不是減少。
2. Nothing could diminish her enthusiasm for the project.
什么也不能影響她對這項計劃的熱忱。
3. Our water supply have diminish as a result of the drought.
由于旱災(zāi)我們的水貯備減少了。
【undoing】
例句：
1. This temptation to cover the distance between himself and reader can be his
undoing: he has begun to write to please.
想要掩蓋他和讀者之間的距離，這個想法就是他毀滅的原因，因為他已經(jīng)為了取悅大眾而寫作了。
2. Our attempt to climb higher was our undoing:we fell off the rock.
企圖爬得更高是我們失敗的原因，我們從巖石上摔了下來。
【常用表達】
【year in year out】年復(fù)一年
【a thousand and one】許許多多
【carry out】貫徹，執(zhí)行
【little by little】漸漸的
【keep mind fresh】保持清醒
The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of 'dos' and 'don'ts'. The same old favorites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity. 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. Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond attainment. If we remain inveterate smokers, it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration that results from failure. 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. 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. Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep my resolutions to myself. I limited myself to two modest ambitions: to do physical exercise every morning and to read more of an evening. 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.
The daily exercises lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the morning before anyone had got up. The self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable. Nevertheless, I managed to creep down into the living room for two days before anyone found me out. 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. It was this that betrayed me. The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the performance. 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. However, my enthusiasm waned. The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero. By January 10th, I was back to where I had started from. 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 form work Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my room for a few evenings with my eyes glued to a book. One night, however, feeling cold and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television pretending to read. That proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen. I still haven't given up my resolution to do more reading. In fact, I have just bought a book entitled How to Read a Thousand Words a Minute. Perhaps it will solve my problem, but I just haven't had time to read it!
【課文翻譯】
新年是下決心的時候，至少在大多數(shù)人的心里會編排出一份“應(yīng)做什么”和“不應(yīng)做什么”的令人生畏的單子。相同的決心以單調(diào)的規(guī)律年復(fù)一年地出現(xiàn)。我們決心每天早晨起得早些;吃得少些;多花點時間與孩子們一起做游戲;做大量的家務(wù);對不喜歡的人友善一些;小心駕車;每天都要帶著狗散步;等等。以往的經(jīng)驗告訴我們有些事是辦不到的。如果我們煙癮大，戒不掉，那是因為屢戒屢敗，失去信心。我們大多數(shù)人想自我完善卻遭到失敗，這是因為我們的規(guī)劃過于宏大，而又根本沒有時間去實施。我們還犯有一個根本性的錯誤，即把我們的決心向大家宣布。這樣一旦滑回到那些*慣上去，我們在別人的眼里會顯得更加難堪。我深知這些問題，于是，今年我對自己的計劃要嚴加保密，只給自己定下兩項適中的任務(wù);每天早上鍛煉身體，每天晚上多看點書。新年除夕舉辦的通宵晚會，使我理直氣壯地在新年頭一天免去了這兩項任務(wù)。不過，新年第二天，我全力以赴地照著去做了。
早鍛煉一共只有11分鐘，我打算在別人起床之前進行。這就要求我比平時早11分鐘把自己從床上拽起來，這種自我約束是很艱苦的。不過開頭兩天我還是成功地躡手躡腳地來到樓下起居室，被誰也沒發(fā)現(xiàn)。我在地毯上跳來蹦過去，扭曲身子，擺出各種姿勢，弄得渾身不舒服，然后坐到桌邊吃早飯，一副筋疲力盡的樣子。正是這副模樣泄露了我的秘密。第二天早晨全家人結(jié)隊來到起居室看我表演。這真叫人不好意思，但我心平氣和地頂住全家人的嘲笑和奚落。不久，大家對我習(xí)以為常了，而這時我的熱情卻減退了。我花在鍛煉上的時間逐漸減少，慢慢地從11分鐘減到了零。到了1月 10日，我恢復(fù)了原來的作息時間。我辯解說，早晨少耗費精力鍛煉，晚上下班回家看書時頭腦更清醒些。有幾天晚上，我極力擺脫了電視的誘惑，坐在自己的房間里，兩眼盯在書上?？墒牵幸惶煲估?，我感到又冷又孤單，便來到樓下坐在電視機前假裝看書。這下我可完了，因為不一會兒，我就恢復(fù)了以前的壞習(xí)慣，在屏幕前打起瞌睡來。但我還沒有放棄多看些書的決心。事上，我剛買來一本叫《一分鐘讀一千字的訣竅》的書。也許這本書能解決我的問題，但我一直還沒時間去看這本書!
【詞匯】
resolution n. 決心
mentally adv. 內(nèi)心里
compile v. 編輯，編制
formidable adj. 令人畏懼的
recur v. 再發(fā)生，又出現(xiàn)
regularity n. 規(guī)律性
accomplishment n. 成就
attainment n. 達到
inveterate adj. 根深蒂固的
self-improvement n. 自我完善
cheme n. 簡單的計劃，方案
ambitious adj. 雄心勃勃的
pitfall n. 意外的困難，易犯的錯誤
modest adj. 要求不過分的
assiduously adv. 刻苦地
self-discipline n. 自我約束
frame n. 軀體
betray v. 暴露，顯露
troop v. 成群結(jié)隊地走動
unsettle v. 使不安
taunt n. 嘲笑，奚落人的話
jibe n. 嘲弄，挖苦
good-humouredly adv. 和氣地，心情好地
wane v. 逐漸變小，變?nèi)?BR> diminish v. 減少，縮小
hypnotize v. 使欲睡，使朦朧
undoing n. 禍根，毀滅的原因
screen n. 電視機屏幕
【重點詞匯講解】
【formidable】
例句：
1. Mr Kirk is a formidable candidate, but not without weaknesses.
柯克是一位實力強勁的候選人，但也不是十全十美。
2.The Economist was fortunate that Norman decided to park his formidable intellect
at 25 St James's Street.
諾曼決毅將其曠世之才奉獻給圣•詹姆斯大街25號，是《經(jīng)濟學(xué)人》的幸運。
【recur】
英英：happen or occur again
例句：
1. His illness is likely to recur.
他的病可能復(fù)發(fā)。
2. Let us recur to the subject later on.
讓我們稍后再重回到我們的主題。
3. When his wife left him he had to recur to drinking.
當妻子離他而去時他只好借酒澆愁。
【attainment】
例句:
1. It is possible of attainment.
這事可能達到。
2. They think it may contribute to intellectual growth and lead to the attainment of
actual goals.
他們認為白日做夢有助于智力的發(fā)展，能引導(dǎo)人們實現(xiàn)要達到的目標。
【inveterate】
例句：
1. Hitler was not only an avid reader but also an inveterate underliner.
*不僅酷愛讀書，還有寫寫劃劃的習(xí)慣。
2.The inveterate thought of the first language will influence you when you try the
second language.
母語思維對第二語言學(xué)習(xí)有很大的影響。
【pitfall】
例句：
1. The pitfall of working abroad is numerous.
在國外工作存在許多的無法預(yù)期的困難。
2. The pitfall is the trappings of success can catch you off guard.
陷阱就是，成功的表象來襲時，你可能猝不及防。
【modest】
例句：
1. But in almost all cases they carry only a modest risk for the disease.
但是在幾乎所有的病例中，這些變異只是帶來了適度的危險性。
2. The seemingly modest unemployment rate of 4.4% in February understates the pain.
二月份貌似適度的4.4%的失業(yè)率并沒有如實地反映痛苦。
【assiduously】
例句：
1. I will apply myself assiduously to the new work.
謝謝。我將會全力以赴地投入到新的工作中去的。
2. Every turn of the affair is assiduously shared on Twitter.
事件的每一個細節(jié)，都被忠實地記錄下來并在推特上分享。
【betray】
英英：reveal unintentionally
例句：
1. She would not betray his secrets to me.
她不會把他的秘密泄露給我。
2. A friend does not betray confidences.
朋友是不會泄露秘密的。
3. Time has left many scars on his body; thousands of wrinkles betray his age.
時間給他的身體留下太多的痕跡，上千的皺紋泄露他的年齡。
【unsettle】
英英：disturb the composure of
例句：
1. This strike may unsettle the economy.
這次罷工可能會使經(jīng)濟不安定。
2. Were the arrests an attempt to unsettle Rio and gain the upper hand in the negotiations?
逮捕力拓雇員是否是為了令力拓不安，以及在談判中占得上風?
3. Mass violence threatened to unsettle the very foundations of government.
大規(guī)模的暴力行動有使政府基礎(chǔ)為之動搖的危險。
【wane】
英英：grow smaller
例句：
1. The moon wax till it become full, and then wane.
月亮漸漸變圓直至滿盈，然后再變虧缺。
2. As time went on, their hopes began to wane.
隨著時間的消逝，他們的希望開始變得渺茫。
3. Dick Cheney, the hawkish vice-president, has seen his influence wane.
同屬鷹派的副總統(tǒng)迪克·切尼，也看到了他影響力的日薄西山。
【diminish】
英英：decrease in size, extent, or range
例句:
1. Anger is much likelier to mount than diminish.
憤怒可能增加更多，而不是減少。
2. Nothing could diminish her enthusiasm for the project.
什么也不能影響她對這項計劃的熱忱。
3. Our water supply have diminish as a result of the drought.
由于旱災(zāi)我們的水貯備減少了。
【undoing】
例句：
1. This temptation to cover the distance between himself and reader can be his
undoing: he has begun to write to please.
想要掩蓋他和讀者之間的距離，這個想法就是他毀滅的原因，因為他已經(jīng)為了取悅大眾而寫作了。
2. Our attempt to climb higher was our undoing:we fell off the rock.
企圖爬得更高是我們失敗的原因，我們從巖石上摔了下來。
【常用表達】
【year in year out】年復(fù)一年
【a thousand and one】許許多多
【carry out】貫徹，執(zhí)行
【little by little】漸漸的
【keep mind fresh】保持清醒