The School of Life｜我们看了那么多新闻，却屏蔽了自己的内心

The News from Without – and the News from Within

We know that we must, to lay claim to any respectability or competence, keep up with the news. That's why we've ringed the Earth with satellites, crisscrossed it with fiber optic cables, and created networks of news bureaus that inform us with urgency of pretty much any event to have unfolded anywhere on the planet in the last few moments.

We are, furthermore, equipped with tiny devices that we keep very close to hand, so as to monitor all unfolding stories in close to real time. We've been granted a ringside seat on the second-by-second flow of history.

As a result, we see a lot more. And at the same time, strangely, we see a lot less. The constant presence of news from without hampers our ability to pick up on an equally important, though far less prestigious source of news from within.

We are not, by nature, well equipped to see inside ourselves. Consciousness bobs like a small boat on a sea of disavowed emotions. A lot of feelings and ideas require a high degree of courage to confront. They threaten to make us uncomfortably anxious, excited or sad were we to learn more about them. So, we use the news without to silence the news from within. We have the most prestigious excuse ever invented not to spend too much time roaming freely inside our own minds.

It's not that the news from without is unimportant to someone (indeed, it will be the most important thing in certain people's lives a continent away or in a company in the capital or somewhere in the upper reaches of government), it's just that this news is almost certainly wholly disconnected from our real priority over the coming years, which is to make the most of our life and our talents in the time that remains to us.

It's touching that we should give so much of our curiosity over to strangers, but it's poignant that we are forced eventually to pay such a high price for this constant dispersal of energy.  

We dismiss fragile, tentative thoughts about what we should do next, who we should call, what we really need to do, thoughts upon which an adequate future for us depends – for the sake of the more obvious drama of the moment. But the drama won't save us; it cares not a jot about our development or our real responsibilities.

It feels counter-intuitive to think that there might be certain things much more important than the news. But there is: our own lives – which we have, troublingly, been granted such prestigious reasons and means to avoid confronting.

词汇表
lay claim to [kleɪm] 声称拥有，主张获得
respectability [ˌrespekˈtəbləti]  体面，得体，可敬
ring [rɪŋ] 环绕，包围
crisscross [ˈkrɪskrɒs] 使交叉，使纵横交错
fiber optic cable [ˈfaɪbə(r) ˈɒptɪk ˈkeɪbl] 光纤电缆
news bureau [ˈbjʊərəʊ] 新闻机构，新闻社
unfold [ʌnˈfəʊld] 展开，打开，呈现，发生
grant [ɡrɑːnt] 授予，同意，承认，允许
ringside seat [ˈrɪŋsaɪd] 前排座位；有利的观察位置，绝佳视角
second-by-second flow （时间）分秒流淌，逐秒演进
hamper [ˈhæmpə(r)] 妨碍，阻碍，束缚
prestigious [preˈstɪdʒəs] 有威望的，有声望的；冠冕堂皇的
bob [bɒb] （在水中）上下来回地移动，摆动
disavow [ˌdɪsəˈvaʊ] 否认，不承认，抵赖
roam [rəʊm] 漫步，漫游，闲逛
continent [ˈkɒntɪnənt] 大陆，洲，陆地
upper reach（组织、机构等的）高层部分；上游地区
disconnected [ˌdɪskəˈnektɪd] 断开的，分离的，脱节的
poignant [ˈpɔɪnjənt] 令人心酸的，惨痛的，深刻的
dispersal [dɪˈspɜːs(ə)l] 分散，扩散；传播；驱散
dismiss [dɪsˈmɪs] 摒弃，不考虑，不理会，驳回
fragile [ˈfrædʒaɪl] 脆弱的，易碎的
tentative [ˈtentətɪv] 踌躇的，犹豫的，试探性的
for the sake of [seɪk] 为了，为了…的利益
care not a jot [dʒɒt] 毫不在意，一点也不关心
counter-intuitive [ˌkaʊntər ɪnˈtjuːɪtɪv] 有悖直觉的，违反常理的
troublingly [ˈtrʌblɪŋli] 令人苦恼地，令人不安地

🏫翻译、视频版和pdf见公众号【琐简英语】，回复"1"可进入【打卡交流群】