New Year resolutions
新年决心
What marked the end of the writer's New Year resolutions?
是什么标志着作家新年决议的结束？
The New Year is a time for resolutions.
新的一年是下定决心的时候。
Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of 'dos' and 'don'ts'.
至少在精神上，我们大多数人都可以编制出可怕的"应该做"和"不该做"的清单。
The same old favourites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity.
同样的老宠儿年复一年地以单调的规律出现.
We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat less,
我们决心每天早上早点起床，少吃点东西,
find more time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the house,
找更多的时间和孩子们一起玩，做一千零一份关于房子的工作,
be nice to people we don't like, drive carefully, and take the dog for a walk every day.
对我们不喜欢的人好一点，小心驾驶，每天带着狗散步。
Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond attainment.
过去的经验告诉我们，某些成就是无法实现的。
If we remain inveterate smokers,
如果我们仍然顽固的吸烟者,
it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration that results from failure.
这只是因为我们经常经历失败带来的挫折。
Most of us fail in our efforts at sel-improvement because our schemes are too ambitious and we never have time to carry them out.
我们大多数人在改进sel方面的努力失败了，因为我们的计划过于雄心勃勃，我们从来没有时间去执行它们。
We also make the fundamental error of announcing our resolutions to everybody
我们还犯了向所有人宣布我们的决议的根本错误
so that we look even more foolish when we slip back into our bad old ways.
所以当我们回到我们糟糕的旧方式时，我们看起来更加愚蠢。
Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep my resolutions to myself.
意识到这些陷阱，今年我试图把我的决议留给自己。
I limited myself to two modest ambitions: to do physical exercises every morning and to read more of an evening.
我把自己限制在两个适度的野心：每天早上做体育锻炼和阅读更多的一个晚上。
An all-night party on New Year's Eve provided me with a good excuse for not carrying out either of these new resolutions on the first day of the year,
除夕夜的一个通宵晚会为我提供了一个很好的借口，在一年中的第一天不执行这些新决议中的任何一项,
but on the second, I applied myself assiduously to the task.
但是在第二个方面，我孜孜不倦地完成了这项任务。
The daily exercises lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the morning before anyone had got up.
每天的练习只持续了十一分钟，我建议在任何人起床之前一大早就做。
The self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed 11 minutes earlier than usual was considerable.
比平时早11分钟把自己从床上拖下来所需要的自律是相当大的。
Nevertheless, I managed to creep down into the living room for two days before anyone found me out.
尽管如此，在有人发现我之前，我还是设法潜入客厅两天。
After jumping about on the carpet and twisting the human frame into uncomfortable positions,
在地毯上跳来跳去，把人体框架扭到不舒服的位置后,
I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition.
我筋疲力尽地坐在早餐桌前.
It was this that betrayed me.
正是这背叛了我。
The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the performance.
第二天早上，全家人都成群结队地去看演出。
That was really unsettling but I fended off the taunts and jibes of the family good-humouredly and soon everybody got used to the idea.
这真的很令人不安，但我很幽默地避开了家庭的嘲弄和嘲笑，很快每个人都习惯了这个想法。
However, my enthusiasm waned.
然而，我的热情减弱了。
The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished.
我花在锻炼上的时间逐渐减少。
Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero.
十一分钟一点一点地降到了零。
By January 10th, I was back to where I had started from.
到1月10日，我回到了我开始的地方。
I argued that if I spent less time exhausting myself at exercises in the morning,
我认为，如果我在早上锻炼时花更少的时间让自己筋疲力尽,
I would keep my mind fresh for reading when I got home from work.
当我下班回家时，我会保持头脑新鲜阅读。
Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television,
抵制电视的催眠作用,
I sat in my room for a few evenings with my eyes glued to a book.
我在房间里坐了几个晚上，眼睛盯着一本书。
One night, however, feeling cold and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television pretending to read.
然而，一天晚上，我感到寒冷和孤独，下楼坐在电视机前假装看书。
That proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen.
这被证明是我的毁灭，因为我很快又回到了我在屏幕前打瞌睡的旧坏习惯。
I still haven't given up my resolution to do more reading.
我仍然没有放弃我的决心做更多的阅读。
In fact, I have just bought a book entitled How to Read a Thousand Words a Minute.
事实上，我刚刚买了一本书，题为如何阅读一分钟一千字。
Perhaps it will solve my problem, but I just haven't had time to read it!
也许它会解决我的问题，但我只是没有时间阅读它！
