为你读书：Fear of Six Inches 《六英尺的恐惧》

面对未知的事情，我们或多或少会感到迷茫和恐惧，这种患得患失为生活蒙上了阴影。而当我们最终选择拥抱未知、迎接挑战，再回头看当初的茫然无措，竟觉得毫无必要。本期选文《六英尺的恐惧》向我们阐明了这一道理：生活本就充满未知，与其选择焦虑和恐惧，不如去拥抱更广阔的世界。一切未知，才最迷人。

——编者语

A man walking in the night slipped from a rock. Afraid that he would fall down thousands of feet, because he knew that place was a very deep valley, he took hold of a branch that was hanging over the rock. In the night all he could see was a bottomless abyss. He shouted, his own shout reflected back — there was nobody to hear.

一个人在赶夜路时，突然从岩石上跌了下去，吓得他赶紧抓住了岩石上的树枝，因为他知道这一带有个深谷，一不小心就会跌入上千英尺的深渊。一晚上，他唯一能看到的就是深不见底的峡谷。他大呼救命，但只听到了自己的回音——没有人能听到他呼救。

  

You can imagine that man and his whole night of scare. Every moment there was death, his hands were becoming cold, he was losing his grip... and as the sun came out, he looked down and he laughed. There was no abyss. Just six inches down there was a rock. He could have rested the whole night, slept well — the rock was big enough — but the whole night was a nightmare.

你可以想象一下他的处境和整晚的恐惧。死神随时都可能降临。他的手开始发凉，渐渐地抓不住了……当太阳升起的时候，他朝下看了看，笑了。下面压根就没有什么深渊。在他下方六英尺的地方有一块大石头。岩石那么大，他本可以在那儿休息一个晚上，美美地睡上一觉，但昨晚他却在梦魇中度过。

 

Fear is only six inches deep. Now it is up to you whether you want to go on cling to the branch and turn your life into a nightmare, or whether you would love to leave the branch and stand on your feet.

恐惧只是六英尺的距离而已。接下来，到了你做决定的时候了：你是想要继续抓着树枝过梦魇一般的生活，还是选择把手从树枝上松开，双脚着地？

 

词汇点津：

abyss [ə'bɪs] n. 深渊

例句：

They improvised and steered the economy away from the abyss.

他们采取应急措施，引导经济走出了深渊。

 

grip [grɪp] n. 紧握

例句：

His strong hand eased the bag from her grip.

他强有力的手使她把紧握的包松开。

 

nightmare ['naɪtmeə] n. 恶梦

例句：

All the victims still suffered nightmares.

所有的受害者仍为恶梦所扰。

 

inch [ɪn(t)ʃ] n. 英寸

例句：

She shortened the skirt by an inch.

她把裙子缩短了一英寸。