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TheFineArtofPuttingThingsOff中英对照.doc

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The Fine Art of Putting Things Off 拖延的艺术 Michael Demarest 迈克尔·德马雷斯特 1Never put off till tomorrow, exhorted Lord Chesterfield in 1749, what you can do today. That the elegant earl never got around to marrying his sons mother and had a bad habit of keeping worthies like Dr. Johnson cooling their heels for hours in an anteroom attests to the fact that even the most well-intentioned men have been postponers ever. Quintus Fabius Maximus, one of the great Roman generals, was dubbed Cunctator” (Delayer) for putting off battle until the last possible vinum break. Moses pleaded a speech defect to rationalize his reluctance to deliver Jehovahs edicts to Pharaoh. Hamlet, of course, raised procrastination to an art form. “今天能做的事情决不要推到明天。”切斯特菲尔德伯爵在1794年劝告儿子说。但是这位高雅德伯爵一直没有抽出时间来与孩子母亲举行婚礼,还有让约翰逊博士等名士在接待室久等的坏习惯。这足以证明,用心最善之人亦可是拖沓之士。罗马的一位大将军昆塔斯·费边·马克西姆斯为了有尽可能多的机会喝酒消闲,常常推迟战斗,被人起了“拖延者”的绰号;摩西不愿向法老传达耶和华的法令,便借口说自己语言有缺陷;当然哈姆雷特更是把拖延上升为一种艺术形式。 2The world is probably about evenly divided between delayers and do-it-nowers. There are those who prepare their income taxes in February, prepay mortgages and serve precisely planned dinners at an ungodly 6:30 p.m. The other half dine happily on leftovers at 9 or 10, misplace bills and file for an extension of the income tax deadline. They seldom pay credit-card bills until the apocalyptic voice of Diners threatens doom from Denver. They postpone, as Faustian encounters, visits to barbershop, dentist or doctor. 世上的人基本上可以平均地分成两类:拖延者和马上行动者。有些人二月份九准备好交个人所得税,预先偿还抵押借款,按计划准时在常人难以忍受的六点半开饭;另一些人则乐于在九点或十点时吃些剩饭剩菜、错放账单和文件以期延长缴税的期限。他们非要等到信用卡总部警告他们后果自负才肯去付信用卡上的帐。就像浮士德遇见魔鬼一样,他们推迟去理发店、去看牙医或看医生。 3Yet for all the trouble procrastination may incur, delay can often inspire and revive a creative soul. Jean Kerr, author of many successful novels and plays, says that she reads every soup-can and jamjar label in her kitchen before settling down to her typewriter. Many a writer focuses on almost anything but his task—for example, on the Coast and Geodetic Survey of Maines Fr
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