新年计划的力量

编辑:给力英语新闻 更新:2018年1月1日 作者:纽约时报(时报辩论会)

The Power of New Year's Resolutions

New Year's resolutions can be memorable because they are either life changing or repeated every 365 days. Tell us one that stands out in your mind.

新年计划可以是令人难忘的，因为它们要么改变了你的生活，要么每隔365天重复一次。欢迎分享你心里觉得特别的新年计划。

My 1987 New Year's Resolution Was the Best and Last

1987年那个新年计划是我最重要的，也是最后一个新年计划

By Barney Frank

巴尼·弗兰克(Barney Frank)

Barney Frank was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. He is on Twitter.

巴尼·弗兰克1981到2013年间一直是代表马萨诸塞州的众议员。他有自己的Twitter页面。

In January 1987, I decided to end 34 years of subterfuge by publicly volunteering that I am gay.

1987年1月，我决定结束34年的掩饰，主动公开自己是同性恋。

It took 10 years to come to that point. I decided I had a moral obligation and a personal need to come out in 1977. But reasons for delay kept coming — most important, the papal intervention in 1980 that ordered my predecessor Father Robert Drinan to leave Congress, creating an opening for a closeted me.

做出那个决定用了十年。早在1977年，我就确定自己在道德上有此义务，个人方面也需要出柜。但一再出现延后的理由，最重要的是，1980年教皇出面干涉，下令我的前任罗伯特·德里南(Robert Drinan)神父辞去国会职务，给没有公开身份的我创造了一个空缺职位。

By 1986 -- after trying to be in publicly, while out privately -- I realized I was reaching the soon-or-never stage. It became clear that 1987 was a good year to do it, giving the voters time to get used to the idea before the 1988 election.

到1986年，在尝试了在公开场合隐瞒，私下里公开身份后，我意识到自己快到一个不很快公开，就永远都没有机会了的阶段。1987年明显是我公布身份的好时机，因为它能让选民在1988年举行选举之前有时间习惯这件事。

But being the first member of Congress to acknowledge being gay voluntarily was a daunting step. And yet I did not want another year to start slipping away.

但做第一个主动承认自己是同性恋的国会议员，是令人生畏的一步。但我不想又让一年开始溜走。

So when the calendar hit '87, I hit go. It took five months. The media’s policy was to refrain from identifying public figures as L.G.B.T unless the individual initiated the discussion. But I wanted to preserve the option of telling voters that my sexuality was irrelevant. It is hard to make a public announcement of something and then object when people discuss it.

因此，当日历翻到87年时，我决定了。这个过程用了五个月。媒体当时的政策是避免指认公众人物是LGBT（女同、男同、双性恋及变性者的简称），除非当事人主动谈论。但我希望保留告诉选民我的性取向不重要这个选项。谁都难以就一件事发表公开声明后，在人们讨论时又表示反对。

So I told The Boston Globe that they had to ask. My carefully prepared answer: “Yeah, so what?” Happily, my fears and doubts proved to be greatly exaggerated. This New Year’s resolution worked out so well that I haven’t made one since.

于是，我对《波士顿环球报》(The Boston Globe)说，得由他们来问。我精心准备了答案：“是的，那又怎样呢？”幸运的是，现实证明，我之前的担心和疑虑基本没有必要。这个新年计划实现得如此之好，以至在那之后我再未做过其他新年计划。

For Me, Resolutions Happen Every Day of the Year

对我来说，一年中的每一天都可以制定计划

By Carli Lloyd

卡莉·劳埃德(Carli Lloyd)

Carli Lloyd, an Olympic and World Cup champion, is a professional soccer midfielder and a partner in the Universal Soccer Academy.

卡莉·劳埃德是奥运会和世界杯冠军，也是职业的足球中场球员，还是环球足球学校(Universal Soccer Academy)的合伙人。

For me, here’s the thing about New Year’s resolutions. If there are things I need to change about how I live my life and live the game of soccer, those are not things that wait until the first of every year.

我对新年计划的态度是，如果在对待生活和足球比赛上有些地方需要改变，它们不需要等到每年伊始。

Change is constant and that’s a good thing, as long as you are focused on having a positive impact on your life and the lives of others around you. For me, every day of the year is a chance to improve on something.

变化是不断的，是好事，只要你关注的是对自己的生活，以及周围其他人的生活带来积极的影响。对我来说，一年里的每一天都是改善的机会。

And besides, I used to always resolve to stop biting my nails, and I never could. But my wedding is coming up next year, so I’m going to keep trying!

而且，我过去总是下决心要停止咬手指甲，却从没做到过。但因为明年就要举行婚礼了，所以我会继续努力。

Every Year Is the Same: To Find Calm in the Chaos

每年都一样：处乱不惊

By Donna Karan

唐娜·卡兰(Donna Karan)

Donna Karan, a designer, is the founder of Urban Zen and Urban Zen Foundation.

唐娜·卡兰，设计师，城市禅宗(Urban Zen)及城市禅宗基金会(Urban Zen Foundation)创始人。

When my husband Stephan was dying, I gave him a Christmas gift of 10 acres on the island of Parrot Cay. I told him my New Year’s resolution was to build a house to keep the family together.

我丈夫斯蒂芬临死时，我把鹦鹉岛上一块10英亩的土地送给他作为圣诞礼物。我对他说，我的新年计划是建一所房子，让一家人团聚在一起。

I built the house, but I’m still working on bringing the family together down there. With grown children, it’s not as easy as it sounds.

我已经把房子建好了，但仍在努力让家人都住到那里去。对已经长大成人的子女来说，事情没有听上去那么容易。

My annual resolution is always the same: to find calm in the chaos of my life. That’s a never-ending proposition, one I’ve never really achieved, which is why I go for it year after year.

我每年的计划都一样：在生活中处乱不惊。这是一个永无止境的计划，我从未真正实现过。这也是我年复一年地坚持这个计划的原因。

Ten Years Later, I'm Still Trying to Give Up Cursing

十年过去了，我依然在尝试不再骂人

By Donté Stallworth

唐特·斯托尔沃思(Donté Stallworth)

Donté Stallworth, a former N.F.L. player, is a journalist.

唐特·斯托尔沃思，前美国国家橄榄球联盟（National Football League，简称NFL）球员，现在是一名记者。

Closing out the year of 2005, I aimed to stop cursing, something that has eluded me for many years.

2005年结束时，我就计划不再骂人了。但这么多年了，我还是没做到。

I mostly used profanities -- a lot of them -- during the course of a football game. But expletives also found ways to escape my tongue in casual conversations.

我主要是在比赛期间骂人，说很多脏话。但闲谈时，我嘴里也会溜出咒骂之词。

New Year’s day 2006, the final game of that season I had kept my mouth completely shut through much of the game. But then, well, you know the rest, I failed miserably.

2006年元旦那天，是那个赛季的最后一场比赛。在那场比赛的很多时间里，我都完全闭嘴。但然后，大家都知道后来发生的事情，我彻底失败了。

I told myself there’s always next year but 10 years later I’m just as bad today as I was then. Maybe 2016 is finally the year I stop.

我对自己说，总是有来年的，但十年过去了，今天的我还和那时候一样糟糕。或许2016年里，我最终会停止骂人。

My Resolution to Practice Daily Mindfulness

每日练习正念的计划

By Laurene Powell Jobs

劳伦·鲍威尔·乔布斯(Laurene Powell Jobs)

Laurene Powell Jobs is the president of Emerson Collective.

劳伦·鲍威尔·乔布斯是Emerson Collective的主席。

When I first moved to California I expected to become one of those mindful souls. I so admire people who carry a natural aura of peace and harmony with effortless grace.

刚搬到加利福尼亚州时，我希望成为那些有正念的人中的一员。他们轻松优雅，带有一种自然的平和融洽气质，我很羡慕。

But as it turns out, this kind of aura requires a daily discipline. So three years ago, I made — and actually managed to keep — a resolution to practice daily mindfulness, and it has been transformative. Mindfulness means training your attention and awareness on the moment — on the pace of your breathing, on the sights and sounds around you — even if just for a few minutes each day. And many days, a few minutes is the most I can manage.

但事实证明，这种气质需要每天加以训练。因此三年前，我定下了每天都练习正念的计划。实际上，我成功地把这个计划保持了下来。它带来了变化。正念意味着训练人将自己的注意力和觉察力聚焦于当下的时刻，即呼吸节奏以及周围的景象和声音，哪怕每天只能训练几分钟。在很多日子里，我最多也只有几分钟可以进行训练。

If you don’t take the time to recharge, if you’re not anchored in a deeper sense of purpose, your tank will run dry — fast. Mindfulness has fueled my persistence, even my capacity to endure the kind of rhetoric we’re hearing against (among other things!) immigrants in America.

如果不花时间充电，不坚持一种更深刻的目标意识，你的油箱就会枯竭，而且速度很快。正念有助于我坚持不懈，甚至有助于提升我忍受我们在美国听到的那种反移民（等）言论的能力。

Mindfulness also provides a source of strength and clarity that helps me bring my best to Emerson Collective, the organization I founded several years ago to foster social and economic progress in marginalized communities. Making even the smallest gains in, for instance, education or immigration takes energy and optimism, and just enough California mindfulness to keep us on our A game. Even on debate nights.

正念也是一种保持力量充沛、思维清晰的源泉，帮助我用最好的状态管理我几年前创办的Emerson Collective。这个组织的目标是促进处于社会边缘的社区的社会和经济进步。即便是如教育或移民领域非常小的进展，都需要投入精力和保持乐观。只有足够的这种加州正念才能让我们保持最佳水平，即便是在辩论之夜也一样。

This Year, Take a Deep Breath and Focus on Others

（本文为节译。）

翻译：陈亦亭