双语阅读：春天来了，给生活来次大扫除

发布时间：2024-12-08 16:37

定期清理杂物，给生活来次大扫除 #生活乐趣# #日常生活趣事# #每日生活新鲜事# #每日新鲜事儿汇总#

你的衣橱里是否挂满了自买回后就没再穿过的衣服？你的书柜里是不是摆满了连碰都没碰过的书籍？你的生活中是不是充斥着无数毫无意义的杂事儿？我们想拥有的太多，结果生命中堆满了不重要却占据了我们大部分时间、空间和精力的东西。春天都来了，是时候来一次大扫除了，扔掉生命中那些没用的东西，让生活保持清爽。

I have been spring cleaning. Yes, I know it's still winter but considering the state of my house I'll be lucky to get it all done before spring.

我已开始着手春季大扫除了。是的，我知道现在还是冬天，不过看看我屋子里乱七八糟的样子，如果能在春天前把一切都收拾妥当，那就算幸运的了。

I recently read that 20 percent of the things you own hold 80 percent of the total value of those things. I had a look at the things surrounding me and realized there was a lot of truth in what I read. I decided, then and there2), I only wanted to be surrounded by valuable things. I also decided the way to achieve this was to throw 80 percent of my house away.

我最近读到一句话：你所拥有的东西中，20%的物品占据着所有物品80%的价值。我看了一眼周围的东西，突然意识到这句话的确很有道理。我当即决定只把有价值的东西留在身边。我还决定，要实现我的“宏图大计”，我必须将屋子里那80%没用的东西全部清理出去。

Rationality and considered behavior are clearly my strong points.

理性思考和审慎行动显然是我的强项。

I started in the bathroom cupboard.

我的清理行动就从浴室的橱柜开始。

It's amazing how much stuff you can actually fit in there. I didn’t want to just randomly throw things away though—I wanted to be accurate. So I counted everything, multiplied it by 0.8 and discovered I needed to get rid of 57 items.

橱柜里竟然能塞进那么多东西，这太令人惊讶了。但我不想就这么把东西随意地扔掉——我希望做到准确无误。于是，我清点了橱柜里所有的东西，然后将总数乘以0.8，最后发现，我需要扔掉57件东西。

Living alone for too long can make you do these sorts of things.

一个人独自生活得太久，就容易干这样的傻事。

I began with what I thought I could do without. That dried up blue nail polish3)? Gone. That foul4) smelling moisturizer5)? Gone. That anti-frizz serum6) that turned out to be quite pro-frizz? Gone.

我从那些自己觉得用不着的东西开始下手。那瓶已经干了的蓝色指甲油？扔掉。那瓶味道难闻的保湿霜？扔掉。那瓶越抹头发越毛躁的抗毛躁护发精华液？扔掉。

But by the time I got to 20, it was a real stretch: I might use this one day. I like the smell of this. This one has cute packaging. I still had 37 things to go but I couldn’t bear to throw any more away.

不过，当我扔到第20件的时候，我发现我真是选不出来了：这个我可能哪天要用；那个的味道我很喜欢；这个的包装很可爱。我还得扔掉37样东西呢，但现在却一样也舍不得再扔了。

So I changed my approach. Instead of trying to work out what I didn't want, I began to think about what I did want. What was important? What was useful? The result surprised me. I put eight things back in the cupboard before I began having difficulty deciding whether or not a product was valuable enough to keep.

于是，我改变了战术。我不再绞尽脑汁去想哪些东西是我不需要的，而是开始考虑哪些是我确实需要的。哪个重要？哪个有用？结果令我大吃一惊。我挑出了八样东西放回橱柜，但紧接着在第九件上又犯难了：这个有用吗？还要留着吗？

Once I had all the important things on the shelf, deciding what to do with the 29 things on the floor was easy. 20 went straight into the bin without any sense of loss. The other things, while not as important, still had enough value to hang on to7). So I ended up only throwing 40 things away. But on the other hand—I ended up throwing 40 things away!

等我把所有重要的东西都放到了架子上，再决定如何处理地上那29件东西就简单多了。其中20件直接扔进垃圾桶，一点儿也不觉得惋惜。剩下那几件，尽管没那么重要，不过还有些价值，留一留也无妨。因此，我最终只扔掉了40件东西。不过换个角度想——我最终居然扔掉了40件东西！

As I knelt on my bathroom floor, looking at my freshly uncluttered cupboard, I started to get excited. Imagine if I did this to every cupboard! No! To every room! No—to my whole life! Instead of focusing on the things I don’t want, what if I focused on the things I do want? And instead of cluttering up my life with unnecessary junk, why don't I treasure the things that are important and discard the rest?

当我跪在浴室的地板上，看着眼前刚整理出来的井然有序的橱柜，开始有些激动起来。试想一下，如果我给每个橱柜都来一次这样的大扫除！不！每个房间！不——我的整个生活！如果我不去关注那些不需要的东西，而是多想一想自己真正需要什么，结果会是怎样？为什么我不能好好珍惜那些生命中最重要的东西，把其他的一切全部抛开，不再让无用的废物填满我的生活呢？

Throwing things away is a good feeling. It creates a sense of lightness and leaves you with less ways to mess up your house.

把没用的东西扔掉，这感觉真好。你会感到如释重负，也不会动不动就把房子搞得乱七八糟了。

But we do so many unnecessary things in life, too, that only leave us tired, poor and unhappy. Because of my spring cleaning-induced epiphany8), I am now making a conscious effort to throw these things away, too.

但是，在生活中，我们也会做许多毫无必要的事情，这些事令我们筋疲力尽、捉襟见肘、郁郁寡欢。这次大扫除让我顿悟了生活的真谛，我现在也开始有意识地在生活中抛弃这些毫无必要的事情。

Watching TV when there's nothing on? Gone. Late fines for not returning DVDs on time? Gone. Pressing the snooze button9) too often, creating a stress-fueled dash to get to work on time? Gone. And all without any sense of loss.

没什么好节目了还盯着电视看？不这么干了。因为不及时归还租借的DVD碟片被罚款？不这么干了。不断按下闹钟上的“重响”功能键，结果为了赶上按时上班而紧张地一路狂奔？不这么干了。这一切都可以统统放弃而丝毫不会觉得有任何损失。

That's the thing about unnecessary stuff—you never miss it.

不必要的东西就是这样——你永远不会怀念它。

So much is lost by holding on to what we don't need, and there is so much to gain by letting it go.

执着于我们不需要的东西令我们失去了太多，而放手之后我们却会有丰硕的收获。

注释

1.spring clean：(尤指在春季的)大扫除

2.then and there：当场；立即

3.nail polish：指甲油；趾甲油

4.foul [faʊl] adj. 难闻的

5.moisturizer [ˈmɔɪstʃəˌraɪzə(r)] n. 润肤膏

6.anti-frizz serum：抚平毛躁精化