Why Do We Work So Hard?



We work as we do because – of course – we need to; because nothing is cheap, because the bills are incessant; because of all the good and wise and sensible reasons that we've been highly aware of since mid-adolescence at least.



But that is too neat, and we know it deep down; we know that there is also – alongside this – something a bit more complicated that we use the idea of necessity to avoid.



We work so hard because we are in terror of stillness.

Because being scared of the world offers the most respectable distraction from a dread of our own minds.

Because we have no idea how to let anyone know us outside of our achievements; because it seems inconceivable that we have any value beyond what we do.

Because we were schooled early on in the art of being terrified – and we are still too young to question our elders.

Because we use the noise from without to drown the murmurs from within.

Because we can't read poetry; for we despise anything that doesn't have a charted purpose or goal, and that therefore threatens to collide us with the unexpected.

Because we don't allow ourselves to be acquainted with the night.

Because if we started with the questions, we have no idea where we might have to go – and what might need to be discarded.

Because we are in flight from untenable sadness and regret.

Because we haven't got too many (or even any) real friends.

Because few people ever just held us quietly.

Because we have no idea what to do with ourselves other than run.

Because we find peace so much harder than war.

And because the real work might lie elsewhere.



词汇表

bill [bɪl] 账单

incessant [ɪnˈsesnt] 连续不断的，没完没了的

sensible [ˈsensəbl] 明智的，理智的，合理的

mid-adolescence [ˌædəˈlesns] 青春期中期

deep down 在心底，实际上

be in terror of [ˈterə(r) ] 害怕，恐惧

stillness [ˈstɪlnəs] 静止，寂静

be scared of [skeəd] 害怕，恐惧

respectable [rɪˈspektəbl] 体面的，得体的，值得尊敬的

distraction [dɪˈstrækʃn] 分心的事物；注意力分散

dread [dred] 恐惧，畏惧

inconceivable [ˌɪnkənˈsiːvəbl] 难以想象的，不可思议的

school [skuːl] 培养，教育

terrified [ˈterɪfaɪd] 恐惧的，很害怕的

murmur [ˈmɜː(r)mə(r)] 低语， 杂音

despise [dɪˈspaɪz] 鄙视，看不起

charted [ˈtʃɑː(r)tɪd] 既定的，明确的，规划好的

threaten to [ˈθretn] 可能会，威胁着要

collide [kəˈlaɪd] 碰撞，冲突，抵触

be acquainted with [əˈkweɪntɪd] 熟悉，了解，与…相识

discard [dɪˈskɑː(r)d] 丢弃，摒弃

be in flight from [flaɪt] 逃避，逃离

untenable [ʌnˈtenəbl] 难以忍受的，难维持的；站不住脚的



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