2018年高考英语天津卷(二) - 阅读理解D

Give yourself a test. Which way is the wind blowing? How many kinds of wildflowers can be seen from your front door? If your awareness is as sharp as it could be, you’ll have no trouble answering these questions.
给自己做个测试。风往哪个方向吹？从你的正门可以看到多少种野花？如果你意识敏锐，你就可以毫不费力地回答这些问题。

Most of us observed much more as children than we do as adults. A child’s day is filled with fascination, newness and wonder. Curiosity gave us all a natural awareness. But distinctions that were sharp to us as children become unclear; we are numb to new stimulation, new ideas. Relearning the art of seeing the world around us is quite simple, although it takes practice and requires breaking some bad habits.
我们中的大多数人在儿童时期观察到的要比成年人多得多。儿童节充满了魅力、新鲜感和奇迹。好奇心给了我们所有人一种天生的意识，但随着孩子们的成长，对我们来说敏锐的区别变得不清晰；我们对新的刺激、显得想法变得麻木。重新学习观察周围世界的艺术相当简单，尽管这需要练习，需要改掉一些坏习惯。

The first step in awakening senses is to stop predicting what we are going to see and feel before it occurs. This blocks awareness. One chilly night when I was hiking in the Rocky Mountains with some students, I mentioned that we were going to cross a mountain stream. The students began complaining about how cold it would be. We reached the stream, and they unwillingly walked ahead. They were almost knee-deep when they realized it was a hot spring. Later they all admitted they’d felt cold water at first.
唤醒感官的第一步是在它发生之前停止预测我们将看到和感觉到什么。这会阻碍意识。一个寒冷的夜晚，当我和一些学生在落基山脉徒步旅行时，我提到我们要穿过一条山涧。学生们开始抱怨天气会很冷。我们到了小溪边，他们不情愿地向前走。当他们意识到这是一个温泉时，他们几乎都跳入了溪水中。后来，他们都承认一开始以为会很冷。

Another block to awareness is the obsession many of us have with naming things. I saw bird watchers who spotted a bird, immediately looked it up in field guides, and said, a "ruby-crowned kinglet" and checked it off. They no longer paid attention to the bird and never learned what it was doing.
另一个阻碍意识的障碍是我们中的许多人对命名事物的痴迷。我发现观鸟者发现一只鸟，就会立即在野外向导中查找，说这是“红玉冠戴菊鸟”，并检查。然后不再注意这只鸟，不去观察它在做什么。

The pressures of "time" and "destination" are further blocks to awareness. I encountered many hikers who were headed to a distant camp-ground with just enough time to get there before dark. It seldom occurred to them to wander a bit, to take a moment to see what’s around them. I asked them what they’d seen. "Oh, a few birds," they said. They seemed bent on their destinations.
“时间”和“目的地”的压力进一步阻碍了意识。我遇到过许多远足者，他们前往一个遥远的营地，天黑前有足够的时间。他们很少闲逛，花时间看看周围。我问他们看到了什么，“哦，几只鸟，”他们说。他们似乎一心只想到达目的地。

Nature seems to unfold to people who watch and wait. Next time you take a walk, no matter where it is, take in all the sights, sounds and sensations. Wander in this frame of mind and you will open a new dimension to your life.
大自然似乎向观望和等待的人展现。下次你散步时，无论它在哪里，都要欣赏所有的风景、声音和感觉。在这种心态中漫步，你会为你的生活打开一个新的维度。