最近每天早上6:00起床，朗读英语。我觉得这样做很有趣，虽然选的材料都是略显枯燥的VOA special。步骤是下载mp3和对应的pdf稿件，听，作上重要标注:停顿、重读、连读。读时先是同步跟读，之后再一段一段地自己读。如果你知道“临”和“摹”概念，你就知道我说的是先摹后临。

这里放上我今天早上临读的一段VOA ECONOMICS REPORT - The US Housing Rescue Plan: What It Includes. 读时我刻意压低嗓音，扮出一副沧桑的声音。我对Steve Ember的声音天生着迷。他就是美国的赵忠祥。

录音在此:

文本如下:
Last week, the United States Congress approved a major housing bill. President George Bush signed it into law on Wednesday. The plan could help an estimated four hundred thousand homeowners late in their payments and in danger of losing their homes. The G will guarantee up to three hundred billion dollars in lower-cost refinancing of loans. In return, lenders must agree to forgive part of the original loan. But experts say as many as three million owners are in trouble. With falling prices, many people owe more than their homes are worth.

对比一下原声，就知道业余与专业的差距有多大了，呵呵。我一直在努力。

其实最想模仿的，还是《功夫熊猫》里面的龟仙人的台词。试想一下，伸长脖子，牙齿跑风，开口颤巍巍道“Yesterday is a history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift, that is why it is called Present.”，这种表演该多有趣。等我把VOA的这一篇搞定了，再来进军功夫熊猫。

注:编辑音频，我使用过的软件有:

• Adobe Audition 2.0[最新版本为3.0。我觉得使用2.0就足矣，3.0占用资源太大。最古老的版本叫cool edit pro，后被Adobe收购。]，以可视化的方式编辑音频，效果很好。
• Audacity 我用它来录音。因为Adobe Audition 2.0虽然全能，但是在我的旧电脑上录音时，总有吞音现象。而Audacity 小巧玲珑，录音还是难不倒它的。
• windows自带的录音机？试过，强烈不推荐。功能太少，录制时间太短（虽然也有办法延长）。

Welcome to the real world! It sucks. You’re gonna love it!

在 Friends第一季第一集中有这样一句，是Monica说给Rachel的，告诉眼前的生活才是实实在在的。就跟向它致敬的《武林外传》里的片尾曲所唱：“这世界真的也许有太多的你不如意，可你的生活虽然坎坎坷坷仍在继续”。Rachel剪断了信用卡，脱离了可以为之提供锦衣玉食的老爸，靠作咖啡店的侍应来维持生计。在此之前，她连洗衣都不会。可是在其余五人的帮助下，她渐渐融入、熟悉、并最终握了real world里的生活。

在《Matrix I》中，Morpheus对Neo也说了这样一句话: Welcome to the real world. 其实，如果认为它的潜台词是“It sucks. You’re gonna love it! ”，也能说得通。活得太sucky了，每天吃鼻涕一样的共产餐，以致于Cypher有如下的抱怨: All I do is what he tells me to do. If I had to choose between that and the Matrix, I’d choose the Matrix，并最终反水（被Tank给轰死了）。

Neo倒没有公开对这sucky的现实有何报怨，而是被动或主动地适应和掌握，最终认识和找到了自己的力量，最终 love it，而且fight for it，他的牺牲换来了阴阳两界（matrix和zion）一段时期的和平。

Welcome to the real world! 句中的real涵义十足，值得好好玩味，尤其是对于刚刚毕业到了单位开始上班的freshman来说。和菜头有几篇文章，仿佛是对这些freshmen说的Welcome to the real world。观点独到，笔力强劲，着力推荐。

和菜头的文档，推荐阅读：

• 比特海日志24月26日，上班这件事
• 上班这件事之二《欢迎来到肖申克》
• 上班这件事之三《两种官僚》
• 上班这件事之四《白天不懂夜的黑》

另，关于suck一词，可参考《小笨霖英语笔记》：

Suck 这个字在美国用的很多, 它就是指很烂, 很差的意思. Suck 是一个动词, 所以在使用上跟烂这个形容词是不太一样的, 例如你可以说, That traffic here really sucks! 就是说这里的交通糟透了的意思.  有时也听得到人家用 suck 的形容词 sucky. 例如有一次我室友的女朋友先是车子抛锚, 然后又下起大雨, 更糟的是她还找不到电话可以求救. 所以她那天一来我们这, 就说了一句, Today is very sucky, everything sucks. 说得很好吧!

Suck 这个字的原意是指用嘴巴吸的意思, 所以有人就设计了这么一个吸果冻的比赛.规则很简单, 就是不能用手, 只能用嘴巴把果冻吸光. 所以比赛一开始, 只听到观众大喊, Hey, you suck! 表面上听来是说, 你快点吸的意思, 事实上则是暗地里骂人烂的意思.

曾有人写了一封信跟我谈到, 关于’suck’这个字该不该用. 大家参考看看.

I noticed something that I wanna tell you.. Maybe it’s not a big deal actually.  In your message, I saw a word “sucks” um.. I think that’s not a good word though… you know I think girls souldn’t say that words.. even a guy… I don’t know I can hear that word all over the place but I still can’t get used to it.. in my opinion, that’s worser than say “fuck” or “shit” but that are all bad words anyway.. ok, don’t say those words ok? cause I have very expectation on you and I don’t want to hear those words from you ok? maybe it’s not that big deal though…. don’t know.. 

笔者是觉得在美国说 suck 或许没有 shit 或 fuck 来的这么槽, 但是没把握还是不要乱用这个字比较好. 如果要用, 请用在同辈之间及比较熟的好朋友身上.

读了和菜头《莲波体》一文，很有晒晒旧文的冲动。这种冲动，就跟孔乙己之流唱黄梅戏“我也曾赴过琼林宴，我也曾打马御街前”的感觉一样，看到别人谈诗论赋，也禁不住想起自己的往昔岁月。“吟安一个字，捻断数茎须”、“两句三年得，一吟双泪流”。尝试过诗译的人都知道其中甘苦。

在大二时，看到英语精读课本中附了一首小诗，Robert Frost的《Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening》，就花费了周日下午两个小时的时间，把它翻译为古体。昨天翻箱子没找到，就从网上搜索了一下原诗。幸而还能回忆起译作，记在这里，以资回忆。

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

雪夜驻林畔

翻译者：rex.zhasm

谁家林苑我自知， 苑：养禽兽植树木的地方。
山村有君矮茅茨。 茨：用芦苇、茅草盖的屋顶。《谷口书斋寄杨初阙》：“泉壑带茅茨，云霞生薜帷。”
我赏君林君不见，
琼花飘落雪满枝。 琼花：喻雪花。

幼驹踟蹰思茫然， 踟蹰：徘徊不前的样子。《陌上桑》：“五马立踟蹰。”
驻足之处无人烟。
横柯郁郁冰湖阔， 横柯：纵横的树枝。《与朱元思书》：“横柯上蔽，在昼犹昏”。
此夜全年为最暗。 郁：茂盛。

鸣銮振辔驹心惑， 銮：古时皇帝车驾所用的铃。
困顿于此谁之过。 辔：马笼头, 马缰。《木兰辞》：“南市买辔头”。
万籁俱寂唯雪飘，
雪飘又被风吹过。

长路漫漫幽林窅， 窅yǎo，喻深远。
风雪兼程为应邀。
安得暖榻度残宵，
安得暖榻度残宵。

分析：该诗的英文部分不难理解，读起来也琅琅上口。翻译时难点之一是押韵。细读原诗，其韵脚格式为：
aaba,bbcb,ccdc,dddd，即，每段一二四句押韵，第三句决定下段的韵脚。到第四段收尾，三四句重复。

在翻译时，又加上了很多小零碎，以便凑字数。明眼人一望可知。为了押韵，（即使只是粗粗地押韵），不得已用上了生僻字，例如“窅”字，我估计这一辈子，这个字也就用这一回而已。

其实，一无挂碍的地方最洒脱，例如最后一句，安得暖榻度残宵（And miles to go before I sleep），我认为是整篇中翻译最好的句子，虽然不像其它句子那样形似。

读完拙译，再来看：

Down by the salley gardens my love and I did meet;
斯遇佳人，仙苑重深

She passed the salley gardens with little snow-white feet.
玉人雪趾，往渡穿林

……

相比之下，“斯遇佳人”这首，翻译得浑然天成，完全没有斧凿的痕迹，让我汗颜不已。

自思涉猎多个领域，每个领域都浅尝辄止；到处始乱终弃，未曾从一而终。因此也就每个领域都达不到深入的境界，惜哉。

(China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-14 06:53

▲: stop

↗:
↘:
_ underline: stress.

It was rare for emperors to live long lives in ancient Chinese dynasties. Some emperors were later found to have poisoned themselves to early deaths▲ after hiring quack doctors to make certain medicines, which they believed would keep them young forever, but proved to be fatal.

They, as emperors, considered themselves tianzi (sons of the Heaven), and had limitless power, thousands of ‘concubines¹ and absolute freedom to have their needs met ↗and desires satisfied↘.

As a result, they considered their lives more worthy than their subjects and cherished the dream of keeping themselves alive permanently. Ironically, they would have lived much longer had they been ordinary folks.

Nowadays, quite powerful or wealthy people are not silly enough▲ to follow the examples of those emperors or kings. But some of them hold perceptions² similar to those of ancient celebrities³.

For example, some wealthy people in China squander⁴ their money on such delicacies as shark fins, snakes, monkey heads and other endangered animals. They believe the more money they spend on the food they eat, the more healthy they will likely become.

The stupidity of this logic is that ▲ the price of a food is directly connected with its nutritious value. But that is hardly the case. In reality, the price of food is dependent on how rare it is. Such dishes made of shark fin, esculent⁵ swift’s⁶ nests, hedgehog⁷ fungus^8,9 , rare snakes, monkey heads or pangolins¹⁰ are prohibitively expensive ▲simply because they are quite rare and hard to get.

Such stu:’pidity can sometimes go so far ▲ as to squander money on some food ▲ simply because the food has a pe’culiar name. A kind of algae¹¹ plants called facai, the same pronunciation of the Chinese phrase of “strike it rich” used to be very popular ▲ with quite wealthy people in fancy restaurants ▲ because they liked its name and believed ▲ eating such food would likely bring them more chances of making money.

It is none of our business what kind of food that millionaires or billionaires prefer to eat. It is their freedom to be ripped off by restaurants that offer them a dish for hundreds or thousands of yuan. It is their right to choose to eat delicacies that may cause damage to their health in the long run.

But if their preference for a particular item of food ▲ has an impact on the fate of a particular animal or the environment, such a preference is proble’matic¹².

A recent survey indicates that▲ the number of sharks in the world is in rapid decline and some particular types of sharks are even on the verge¹³ of extinction ▲ because they have been overfished in recent years to meet increasing demand for dishes made of shark fin.

We still remember how the craze(rex: not crazy!) to collect facai caused serious soil erosion¹⁴ and .deser:tifi’cation¹⁵ to the grasslands in northern China. The State Council had to issue urgent documents to ban the collection of such plants.

The fashion of eating snakes is said to be one of the major reasons ▲ why the rapid decline of snakes in paddy¹⁶ fields has resulted in the multiplication of rodents. The result has been di’sa:strous¹⁷ damage to crops in southern China.

I’ve read some reports that the content of ‘mer:cury in shark fins is high enough to affect the health of those who often eat them.

This reminds me of ‘alchemy in ancient times. It was just the pills of immor:’tality¹⁸ from alchemy that killed some of the emperors. And the content of mercury was also high in such pills.

In this sense, those who often eat dishes or soups made of shark fin ▲are poisoning themselves with the same substance as some of the emperors.

Some nutritionists also suggest that▲ many of the expensive foods made of rare animals are not necessarily more nutritious ▲than the ordinary meat we usually eat.

Then why do wealthy people choose to eat those things?

It may be because they are the few who can afford such expensive food, which has added to their sense of com’placency¹⁹ and pride▲ because they never think twice before ordering such dishes. Eating such rare animals, in this sense, has become a matter of vanity ▲rather than he need(?rex) for necessary nutrition.

If this is the case, those wealthy people who choose to eat rare ‘delicacies²⁰ to satisfy their vanity are less wise than those emperors who poisoned themselves to death. Their unreasonable consumption has contributed to the environmental or ecological problems of the entire world.

Behind these perceptions are the misconception that the emperors and millionaires or billionaires believe their supreme power or fortune can make a difference to the nature of their lives. At least they hope so.

But except for ma.teria’listic²¹ changes supreme power or great fortune can bring about, nothing can change the nature of life. None of the efforts to make life immortal ▲ has ever succeeded at anytime, anywhere `blogid`=6710 AND - and it never will.

So leading one’s life as it is▲ is the best way to enjoy life, however powerful or wealthy a person is(rex: might be).

(China Daily 07/14/2007 page4)

1. concubines: In certain societies, such as imperial China, a woman contracted to a man as a secondary wife, often having few legal rights and low social status
2. perception: The process, act, or faculty of perceiving
3. celebritie: A famous person
4. squander: To spend wastefully or extravagantly; dissipate.See Synonyms at waste
5. esculent: Suitable for eating; edible
6. swift: Any of various small, dark, insect-eating birds of the family Apodidae, related to the hummingbirds and noted for their long, strong wings and swift flight
7. hedgehog: Any of several small insectivorous mammals of the family Erinaceidae of Europe, Africa, and Asia, having the back covered with dense, erectile spines and characteristically rolling into a ball for protection
8. fungus: Any of numerous eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Fungi, which lack chlorophyll and vascular tissue and range in form from a single cell to a body mass of branched filamentous hyphae that often produce specialized fruiting bodies. The kingdom includes the yeasts, molds, smuts, and mushrooms.
9. hedgehog fungus: 猴菇菌
10. pangolins: Any of several long-tailed, scale-covered mammals of the order Pholidota of tropical Africa and Asia, having a long snout and a sticky tongue for catching and eating ants and termites.Also called scaly anteater
11. 藻类, 海藻
12. Posing a problem; difficult to solve
13. The extreme edge or margin; a border.See Synonyms at border
14. The process of eroding or the condition of being eroded,腐蚀, 侵蚀
15. The transformation of arable or habitable land to desert, as by a change in climate or destructive land use
16. A specially irrigated or flooded field where rice is grown
17. Accompanied by or causing distress or disaster; calamitous
18. Endless life or existence
19. A feeling of contentment or self-satisfaction, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger or trouble
20. Something pleasing and appealing, especially a choice food
21. 唯物论的, 唯物主义的

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ps: 由于本文总是收到海外垃圾评论，已关闭本文的评论。

原文链接：14 Ways to Cultivate a Lifetime Reading Habit，译后发表于译言。

原作者: Leo Babauta
译者: zhasm

养成了读书习惯，就相当于为自己建立了逃避生活中几乎各种苦难的避难所。－－毛姆

继“减肥”、“停止拖延”、“恋爱”之后，“多读书”成了许多人为自己设置的最高目标之一。这是很自然的：好书能激发无穷乐趣，能教给你超越你日常视野的东西，能创造出非常生动的角色，以致于你就像真正认识他们一样。

如果你想养成阅读习惯，这里可以提供几种方法以助你一臂之力。

首先，请意识到，如果读的是好书的话，那么阅读就是一件很的赏心悦目的事情。如果书比较令人生厌（或者是极为艰深难读的书），你不得不强迫自己阅读，那么无疑是一件苦差事。如果一本书读了好多天仍无法体验到阅读的快感，那就考虑把它丢到一旁，找本真正喜欢的书来读吧。

除此之外，请尝试以下小窍门来培养自己终身的阅读习惯：

1. 定时。每天至少抽出5－10分钟雷打不动的读书时间。这是无论每天发生什么事情都不会受到影响的时间。例如，养成在早餐或午餐时阅读的习惯（甚至一个人吃晚餐时）。如果你每次坐在马桶上时读书，在睡觉之前读书，那么你就拥有每天四次、每次10分钟或曰每天四十分钟的阅读时间。这是一个良好的开端，它有助于养成良好的每日读书习惯。但你要做的还很多。
2. 随身携带书籍。不论到哪里，都带上本书。每次出门，我都检查一遍，是否带了如下物品：驾照，钥匙，书；最少要携带这些东西。书在我的车里陪伴着我，被我带到办公室，约会中，以及许多其它地方，能带就带，除非我确认的的确确不会阅读的情况，例如看电影时。如果你需要花时间等待（例如在医院候诊或在机动车的部门^[译注])，就带上你的书，阅读吧。那是打发时间的好方法。
3. 列出清单。把要读的好书列出清单。你可以记在日记中，或口袋中的记事本上，在你的个人主页上，个人wiki百科上，任何地方都可以。一有了好书信息，就把它记在上面，不管是从网上得知，还是从别人那里了解到。保持列表的及时更新，并把读过的划掉。高科技手段：创建一个gmail帐户用作读书列表，每次听到好书信息，就发给它个邮件。现在你的收件箱就是你的读书列表啦！读完一本就把它移到“完成”文件夹。如果愿意，你甚至可以用读书笔记来回复该邮件（到相同的地址，即自己给自己回信），这样就使本书的相关内容只出现在同一邮件主题中，因此，你的Gmail帐户也就是你的读书日志了。
4. 找个安静的地方。在你家找个放着一张舒适的椅子的角落（不要躺下，除非你要睡觉），拿本好书倚在椅子上，不受任何干扰。为避免分心，应该远离电视，电脑，音乐，喧闹的家人/室友。如果没有这样的地方，那就创造一个吧！
5. 减少看电视/上网时间。如果你真想多读书，就要减少消耗在看电视、上网方面的时间。这对很多人来说会比较困难。但是，你在电视／网络上所省下的每一分钟，都能用在读书上。这会带来好几小时的读书时间。
6. 读给你的孩子听。如果你有孩子，你必须、必须读给他们听。在他们的儿童时代就培养其读书，是确保他们长大后拥有读书习惯的最佳时机，同时也会帮助他们在一生中获得成功。找一些适合儿童的好书，读给他们听。同时，你也是在帮助自己养成读书习惯，同时还跟自己的孩子一起度过了美好时光。
7. 作记录。与读书列表类似，此记录不应该只写下你所读的书的书名和作者，如果可能的话还应该写下读书的起止日期。更好的作法是在其后写下你对此书的感想。几个月之后，再返回来看记录，回顾自己的阅读经历，真是一种绝佳体验。
8. 光顾二手书店。我最喜欢去的地方是诳打折书店，卖掉旧书（我通常会带去几箱书），同时在那里淘到许多旧书，得到一个极低的折扣。我通常会花仅仅几个美元的价格，买到一打或更多的书，所以我虽然读了不少书，但是买书却不会让我花费太多钱。浏览人们捐赠的新书也不错。把诳旧书店当成常规活动吧。
9. 安排一个图书馆日。当然了，比旧书店还要便宜的地方是图书馆。把它当成每周的活动吧。
10. 阅读有趣的和耐读的书。找那些能够吸引你并让你持续阅读的书。即使不是文学名著，它们也让你充满阅读欲望－－这就是阅读的目标。一旦养成了阅读的习惯，你就能转移到更艰深的内容上。但是现在，请先阅读能吸引你的、有趣的书吧。Stephen King, John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Nora Roberts, Sue Grafton, Dan Brown …所有这些畅销书作者都具有同一个特点，即，他们会讲故事。其它的作者你也许会喜欢，Vonnegut, William Gibson, Douglas Adams, Nick Hornby, Trevanian, Ann Patchett, Terry Pratchett, Terry McMillan, F. Scott Fitzgerald. 他们都是讲故事高手。
11. 舒服一点。在最钟意的时间来阅读。喝点好茶或好咖啡，或者以其它方式款待自己。找一把舒服的椅子，配上个好的垫子。在日出或日落时阅读，或者在海边阅读。
12.  建立读书博客。形成阅读习惯的最好方法之一是建立博客。如果没有，就建立一个。它是免费的。让你的家人去浏览你的博客，给你提出阅读建议，发表评论。这会让你对自己的阅读目标负责。
13. 设置一个远大目标。告诉自己今年要读50本书（或者类似数量），然后完成目标。但是请确认，你仍然是在享受读书过程，而不是苦苦挣扎。
14. 设置一小时或一天的读书时间。如果晚上你关掉了电视或网络，你和所有的家庭成员就能抽出一小时（可能是晚餐过后）的阅读时间。或者你也可以抽出一整天的时间来阅读，如果能召集所有家庭成员一起读的话不妨一起读。这真是超级有趣的体验。 

还有其它有助于培养读书习惯的好点子吗？或者有没有好书或好作者推荐？有的话就请回贴吧！

译注：DMV，Department of Motor Vehicles，机动车的部门，以服务不佳和需要较长时间的等待著称。