1705008082 We seem so frightened today of being alone that we never let it happen. Even if family, friends, and movies should fail, there is still the radio or television to fill up the void. Women, who used to complain of loneliness, need never be alone any more. We can do our housework with soap-opera heroes at our side. Even day-dreaming was more creative than this; it demanded something of oneself and it fed the inner life. Now instead of planting our solitude with our dream blossoms, we choke the space with continuous music, chatter and companionship to which we do not even listen. It is simply there to fill the vacuum. When the noise stops there is no inner music to take its place. We must relearn to be alone.

1705008083

1705008084 ● alone是形容词, 不可以做of的宾语，一定要加一个being。frightened of being alone：我们畏惧寂寞。never let it happen：不让寂寞发生。想尽办法，消除寂寞。

1705008085

1705008086 ● fail：失败；不能帮我们消除寂寞。fill up the void：填补空虚。

1705008087

1705008088 ● need never be alone：need用于否定句中，后面通常不用to。alone要和be连接着用，前面已经说过了。

1705008089

1705008090 ● soap-opera：低级广播剧（所以得名，恐怕是由于替肥皂公司做广告而起）。at our side：一面做家务工作，一面听收音机（或看电视），广播剧中的人物就在我们身旁，我们毋庸忧惧寂寞了。

1705008091

1705008092 ● 这种消遣方法，本文作者是反对的。她认为听低级广播剧的时候，脑筋只是消极地接受，不能积极地创造。

1705008093

1705008094 ● day-dreaming：白日梦。过去家里没有收音机，我们无聊的时候，只好胡思乱想。作者认为这样做白日梦反而多一点创造性。was more creative：注意时态。这是在收音机尚未普及之时。前面有一句who used to complain也用的是过去式。过去是那样，现在是这样。

1705008095

1705008096 ● it demanded something of oneself，做白日梦还需要自己动用脑筋。它向自己要求些什么。demand和of是连用的，例如：He demanded a dollar of me。fed：喂饲，滋养。做白日梦也可使精神生活内容更为充实。使精神生活内容充实，作者在下一句换了一种说法：在我们的寂寞（的土地）上，种上梦想的花朵。

1705008097

1705008098 ● the space：这块空地（即无聊的时候）。choke：窒息。扼杀这块地皮的生机。我们非但不去（instead of）种花以培养生机，反而扼杀之。continuous music, chatter and companiomhip：作者用这几个字代替广播或电视的节目——不断的音乐，不断的聊天，不断的有人跟你作伴。

1705008099

1705008100 ● 我们虽说是在听广播，其实也并不聚精会神地听。空闲的时候，本来可以用以思想的，现在让广播节目占据住了，这些节目我们其实也不好好地听的。

1705008101

1705008102 ● It is simply there中的It代替continuous music等等。fill the vacuum：填补空虚。

1705008103

1705008104 ● 人的奇思妙想，可以说是内心的音乐。但是近代人只倚赖外面的杂声，以填补精神的空虚。外面的杂声停止之时，我们内心没有音乐去取代杂声的地位。

1705008105

1705008106 ● 如何应付寂寞，也成了一种学问。古人是知道的，今人必须重新学习，如何在寂寞之中，充实内心生活。

1705008107

1705008108 It is a difficult lesson to learn today—to leave one’s friends and family and deliberately practice the art of solitude for an hour or day or a week. I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious. Life rushes back into the void, richer, more vivid, fuller than before.

1705008109

1705008110 ● deliberately：故意地。practice：美国人拿practice当动词用，英国人则用practise。practice the art of solitude：实习独处之道。

1705008111

1705008112 ● being alone两个字连起来，是一名词短语，前面已经说过了。

1705008113

1705008114 ● 介词to这样的用法，《简明牛津字典》里有一个例句：

1705008115

1705008116 There is a moral to it.（这件事情里有一个教训；我们可以从这件事情得到一个教训。）

1705008117

1705008118 这里是：我发现在寂寞里有一种性质——一种不可思议（令人难信）的宝贵的性质。

1705008119

1705008120 ● Life：在寂寞之时，我们可以思想。我们想起各种问题，各种人物，好像生命又涌回到这段空虚里来。这时的生命，较之我们平日的生活更为丰富，更为生动，更为充实。

1705008121

1705008122 For a full day and two nights I have been alone. I lay on the beach under the stars at night alone. I made my breakfast alone. Alone I watched the gulls at the end of the pier, dip and wheel and dive for the scraps I threw them. A morning’s work at my desk, and then, a late picnic lunch alone, on the beach. And it seemed to me, separated from my own species, that I was nearer to others: the sandpiper, running in little unfrightened steps down the shining beach ahead of me; the slowly flapping pelicans over my head, coasting down wind; the old gull, hunched up, grouchy, surveying the horizon. I felt a kind of impersonal kinship with them and a joy in that kinship. Beauty of earth and sea and air meant more to me. I was in harmony with it, melted into the universe, lost in it, as one is lost in a canticle of praise, swelling from an unknown crowd in a cathedral. “Praise ye the Lord, all the fishes of the sea—all ye birds of the air—all ye children of men—Praise ye the Lord!”

1705008123

1705008124 ● 这一段作者讲她自己practice the art of solitude的经验。

1705008125

1705008126 ● 前三句都用alone结尾，第四句用alone开头。这是造句变化之法。gulls：海鸥。pier：码头。dip：以身浸水。wheel：盘旋地飞。dive：俯冲。三个动词都是不定式。在watched后面的不定式动词是不要用to的。scraps：碎片（食物）。

1705008127

1705008128 ● A morning’s work：这是不完全句子。separated from my own species：与我同类隔绝；离开人群。我因此和别种动物更为接近。

1705008129

1705008130 ● sandpiper：矶鹞。unfrightened：见人不畏，本是形容鸟的，但是作者用来形容steps，鸟的动作（奔跑）因此更为传神。shining：此字乃是画龙点睛之笔。得此字而全景乃耀然光亮矣。

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