英語美文：20歲的生活

　　摘要:20多歲對于女性來說是非常美好的年紀(jì)。這個(gè)階段你在生活和事業(yè)上都可以冒險(xiǎn)，而且兩者似乎都有著無限可能。但不確定性也可能帶來壓力、懷疑(奔三的危機(jī))以及對你是否能實(shí)現(xiàn)目標(biāo)或者真正擁有一切的焦慮。在那些你感到沮喪，想要舉手投降的時(shí)候，看看這些建議。讀下去，你會明白一切都會好的。

　　Being a woman in your 20s is a glorious thing. You’re at a stage where you can take risks in life and in your career, and the possibilities for both are seemingly endless. But that uncertainty can also cause stress, doubt (cough, quarter-life crisis, cough), and anxiety over whether you’ll ever reach your goals or truly have it all. So for all those times you just want to throw up your hands in frustration, this advice is for you. Read on, and know that it’s all going to be OK.

　　On Constant Worrying

　　20多歲對于女性來說是非常美好的年紀(jì)。這個(gè)階段你在生活和事業(yè)上都可以冒險(xiǎn)，而且兩者似乎都有著無限可能。但不確定性也可能帶來壓力、懷疑(奔三的危機(jī))以及對你是否能實(shí)現(xiàn)目標(biāo)或者真正擁有一切的焦慮。在那些你感到沮喪，想要舉手投降的時(shí)候，看看這些建議。讀下去，你會明白一切都會好的。

　　關(guān)于持續(xù)的擔(dān)憂

20歲的生活

　　Dufu says one of the greatest pieces of advice she ever received was about her constant worrying. “My mentor said, ‘If you would spend less time worrying about choices you don’t have and actually creating those choices, you would be better off.’ You know that dynamic of worrying about moving to a new city when you haven’t even applied to the job? Take that energy and instead apply it to the job application or interview.”

　　杜芙說她得到的最寶貴的建議之一是關(guān)于她持續(xù)的擔(dān)憂。“我的導(dǎo)師說，‘如果你少花點(diǎn)時(shí)間擔(dān)憂那些沒有的選擇，而去創(chuàng)造出一些選擇，你就會感覺好很多。’你甚至還沒有開始申請新工作就在為搬去一個(gè)新城市擔(dān)憂嗎?把這個(gè)精力花在申請工作或者準(zhǔn)備面試上吧。”

　　On the Quarter-Life Crisis

　　關(guān)于奔三危機(jī)

　　There might be no getting around the dreaded quarter-life crisis, but Dufu says connecting with people who are going through, or have already gone through, the same thing is crucial. “You need someone to tell you you’re not going crazy, people who have already been there, done that — who know it’s going to be OK and can help you achieve clarity through guidance and encouragement.”she says.

　　也許你沒有辦法逃避可怕的奔三危機(jī)，但杜芙說和那些正在經(jīng)歷或者已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷過奔三危機(jī)的人交流一下，這也很重要。“你需要有人告訴你，你不會瘋掉。那些已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷過的人知道，一切都會好的，而且可以幫助你在指引和鼓勵(lì)中明確自我。”

　　On Wanting to Have It All

　　關(guān)于想要擁有一切的欲望

　　A woman can have it all in the traditional sense, says Dufu, who herself has a marriage, job, two kids, and a healthy lifestyle. But, she says, she sacrifices other things — like attending events — to do so. The question shouldn’t be, “Can you have it all?” but rather, “Can you have what’s important to you?” she says. “The answer is yes if you can prioritize and not try to live by someone else’s expectations. Because every woman has a list of things she feels like she’s supposed to be doing, and some people manage it by creating more time in the day for themselves or by shortening that list to certain core things.”

　　杜芙說，在傳統(tǒng)意義上說，女人可以擁有一切。她自己就擁有婚姻、工作、兩個(gè)孩子，還有健康的生活方式。但是她說自己為了擁有這些而犧牲了其他事情，比如出席活動(dòng)。她說，問題不應(yīng)該是“你能擁有一切嗎?”，而應(yīng)該是“你能擁有對你來說重要的東西嗎?”“答案是肯定的，如果你能把事情按優(yōu)先順序排列，并且不要按他人的期待來生活。因?yàn)槊總€(gè)女人都有一個(gè)列表，上面是她認(rèn)為應(yīng)該做的事，有的人爭取更多時(shí)間來做這些事，而有的人則把這個(gè)列表縮短，只保留那些核心的事情。”

　　On Surrounding Yourself With Other Women

　　關(guān)于處理和其他女孩的關(guān)系

　　You may not have said, “You go, girl,” since the eighth grade, but Dufu makes a strong case for bringing back the phrase. “We are susceptible to what our peers say, and what they tell us can be the difference between applying for a job or not,” she says. “Sometimes you need a woman saying,Girl, you need to go for that,because encouragement and a community of trust is really important. We think we have to do things by ourselves, but the truth is your advancement is a team sport, and you have to have people supporting you.”

　　從八年級開始你應(yīng)該就不會說“加油吧，姑娘”，但杜芙強(qiáng)烈建議大家重新用上這句話。“我們很容易受同伴話語的影響，她們對我們所說的話可能會影響到你是否去申請一份職位，”杜芙說。“有時(shí)候你需要有個(gè)女孩告訴你，‘姑娘，你應(yīng)該去爭取，’因?yàn)楣膭?lì)和群體的信任確實(shí)非常重要。我們覺得自己必須親自做一些事情，但事實(shí)是你的進(jìn)步是團(tuán)隊(duì)合作的結(jié)果，你必須要有一些人支持你。”

　　英語單詞短語：

　　uncertainty [ʌn'sɜːt(ə)ntɪ] n. 不確定，不可靠

　　clarity ['klærɪtɪ]n. 清楚，明晰;透明

　　prioritize [prai'ɔritaiz, 'praiəri-] vt. 把…區(qū)分優(yōu)先次序

　　相關(guān)閱讀:你可以過自己想過的生活

　　Occasionally, life can be undeniably, impossibly difficult. We are faced with challenges and events that can seem overwhelming, life-destroying to the point where it may be hard to decide whether to keep going. But you always have a choice. Jessica Heslop shares her powerful, inspiring journey from the worst times in her life to the new life she has created for herself:

　　生活有時(shí)候困難得難以置信，但又不容置疑。我們面臨的挑戰(zhàn)與困境似乎無法抵御，試圖毀滅我們生活，甚至使你猶疑是否繼續(xù)走下去。但是你總有選擇的余地。從人生低谷走向新生活的杰西卡·赫斯樂普，在這里與我們分享她啟迪心靈、充滿震撼力的生活之旅。

　　In 2012 I had the worst year of my life.

　　2012年是我生活中最艱難的一年。

　　I worked in a finance job that I hated and I lived in a concrete jungle city with little greenery. I occupied my time with meaningless relationships and spent copious quantities of money on superficialities. I was searching for happiness and had no idea where to find it.

　　我做著討厭的財(cái)務(wù)工作，住在難尋綠色的高樓林立的城市。我忙于無意義的交往，在一些膚淺表面的東西上大筆開銷。我尋找快樂，卻又不知道它在哪里。

　　Then I fell ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and became virtually bed bound. I had to quit my job and subsequently was left with no income. I lived with my boyfriend of then only 3 months who financially supported me and our relationship was put under great pressure. I eventually regained my physical health, but not long after that I got a call from my family at home to say that my father’s cancer had fiercely progressed and that he had been admitted to a hospice.

　　然后我患上了慢性疲勞綜合癥，幾乎到了臥床不起的地步。我不得不辭掉工作，同時(shí)也就斷了財(cái)源。我和那時(shí)僅相處了3個(gè)月的男友住在一起，經(jīng)濟(jì)上完全依賴于他，我們的關(guān)系承受著巨大壓力。終于我恢復(fù)健康，但不久，我接到家里的電話，父親的癌癥急劇惡化，已經(jīng)住進(jìn)了臨終關(guān)懷中心。

　　I left the city and I went home to be with him.

　　我離開了城市，回家陪父親。

　　He died 6 months later.

　　6個(gè)月之后，他去世了。

　　My father was a complete inspiration to me. He was always so strong that, for a minute after he drew his last breath, I honestly thought he would come back to life. I couldn’t believe I would never again cuddle into his big warm chest and feel safe no matter what.

　　父親的事讓我徹底清醒。他一直很強(qiáng)壯，在他咽氣之后一分鐘里，我真的認(rèn)為，他會活過來。我不能相信，我再也不能依偎在他溫暖的懷抱里，享受他寬大的胸懷帶給我的安全感。

　　The grief that followed was intense for all of us 5 children and our mother, but we had each other.

　　母親和我們5個(gè)兄弟姐妹極為難過，但至少我們還擁有彼此。

　　But my oldest sister at that time complained of a bad back. It got so bad after 2 months that she too was admitted to hospital.

　　但是，那時(shí)我大姐開始抱怨著背痛，2個(gè)月后，因疼痛加劇也住進(jìn)了醫(yī)院。

　　They discovered that she had highly advanced cancer in her bones and that there was nothing that they could do.

　　醫(yī)生們檢查發(fā)現(xiàn)，她已是骨癌晚期，對此他們已無能為力。

　　She died 1 month later.

　　1個(gè)月之后，她也走了。

　　I could never put into words the loss of my sister in my life.

　　大姐的逝去讓我陷入難以形容的痛苦之中。

　　She was a walking, talking angel and my favourite person in the whole world. If someone could have asked me the worst thing that could ever happen, it would have been losing her.

　　在這個(gè)世界上，她是一個(gè)能走路、會說話的天使，我最喜歡的人。如果有人問我，世界上發(fā)生的最壞的事情是什么，那就是失去她。

　　She was my soul-mate and I never thought I would journey this lifetime without her.

　　她是我的靈魂伴侶，我從來沒有想過，我會走過沒有她陪伴的生命旅程。