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Lesson 46
Hobbies
业余爱好
Who, according to the author, are 'Fortune's favoured children'?
A gifted American psychologist has said, 'Worry is a spasm of the emotion;
the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go.' It is useless to
argue with the mind in this condition. The stronger the will, the more futile
the task. One can only gently insinuate something else into its convulsive
grasp. And if this something else is rightly chosen, if it is really attended by
the illumination of another field of interest, gradually, and often quite
swiftly, the old undue grip relaxes and the process of recuperation and repair
begins.
The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is therefore a policy
of the first importance to a public man. But this is not a business that can be
undertaken in a day or swiftly improvised by a mere command of the will. The
growth of alternative mental interests is a long process. The seeds must be
carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground; they must be sedulously tended,
if the vivifying fruits are to be at hand when needed.
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three
hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say:
'I will take an interest in this or that.' Such an attempt only aggravates the
strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected
with his daily work, and yet get hardly any benefit or relief. It is no use
doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human
beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those
who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use
offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week's sweat and effort, the
chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no
use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been
working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about
trifling things at the weekend.
As for the unfortunate people who can command everything they want, who can
gratify every caprice and lay their hands on almost every object of desire --
for them a new pleasure, a new excitement is only an additional satiation. In
vain they rush frantically round from place to place, trying to escape from
avenging boredom by mere clatter and motion. For them discipline in one form or
another is the most hopeful path.
It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are
divided into two classes: first,those whose work is work and whose pleasure is
pleasure; and secondly those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the
former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the
office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of
sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most
modest forms. But Fortune's favoured children belong to the second class. Their
life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough.
Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays, when they come, are grudged as
enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes, the need
of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort,
is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are
those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.
WINSTON CHURCHLL Painting as a Pastime
New words and expressions 生词与短语
gifted
adj. 有天才的
psychologist
n. 心理学家
spasm
n. 一阵(感情)发作
futile
adj. 无用的
insinuate
v. 便潜入，暗示
convulsive
adj. 起痉挛的
illumination
n. 启发，照明
undue
adj. 不造当的
grip
n. 紧张
recuperation
n. 休息
improvise
v. 临时作成
sedulously
adv. 孜孜不倦地
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发表于 2016-7-11 22:48:01