TED演讲procastination英文文稿.doc

TED演讲英文文稿Procrastination/ prəʊˌkræstɪ'neɪʃn/(拖延症)
00:11
So in college, I was a government major(主修行政管理专业的学生), which means I had to write a lot of papers. Now, when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work out a little(一点点地展开工作) like this. So, you know --
00:25
you get started(=start) maybe a little slowly, but you get enough done in the first week that, with some heavier(=busier) days later on(infml后来), everything gets done, things stay civil/ˈsɪvl/(文明的).
00:33(Laughter/ˈlɑ:ftə(r)/笑声)
00:34
And I would want to do that like that. That would be the plan. I would have it all ready to go, but then, actually, the paper would come along(出现), and then I would kind of(用于表示不确定，“有点，可以这么说”) do this.
00:45(Laughter)
00:47And that would happen every single paper.
00:50
But then came my 90-page senior thesis(/ˈθi:sɪs/毕业论文), a paper you're supposed to spend a year on. And I knew for a paper like that, my normal work flow(工作流程) was not an option(/ˈɒpʃn/选择). It was way(used with prep or adv.非常) too big a project. So I planned things out(精心安排，筹划), and I decided I kind of had to go something like this. This is how the year would go. So I'd start off(开始) light(ad.轻松地), and I'd bump it up(to increase sth.) in the middle months, and then at the end, I would kick it up into high gear(/gɪə(r)/全力冲刺) just like a little staircase. How hard could it be to walk up the stairs? No big deal(没什么大不了的), right?
01:22
But then, the funniest thing happened. Those first few months? They came and went, and I couldn't quite(=really) do stuff /stʌf/. So we had an awesome(/ˈɔːsəm/very good) new revised(/rɪˈvaɪz/改变，调整) plan.
01:30(Laughter)
01:31And then --
01:32(Laughter)
01:34
But then those middle months actually went by, and I didn't really write words, and so we were here. And then two months turned into one month, which turned into two weeks. And one day I woke up with three days until(在…之前) the deadline, still not having written a word, and so I did the only thing I could: I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours, pulling not one but two all-nighters -- humans are not supposed to pull two all-nighters(开两晚夜车) – sprinted(/sprɪnt/飞跑，冲刺) across campus(/ˈkæmpəs/校园), dove(dive,扑向，冲向) in slow motion(/ˈməʊʃn/移动，运动), and got it in(--manage to do sth.) just at the deadline.
02:10
I thought that was the end of everything. But a week later I get a call, and it's the school. And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?" And I say, "Yeah." And they say, "We need to talk about your thesis(/ˈθi:sɪs/毕业论文)." And I say, "OK." And they say, "It's the best one we've ever seen."
02:28(Laughter)
02:31(Applause/əˈplɔ:z/掌声)
02:35That did not happen.
02:37(Laughter)
02:39It was a very, very bad thesis.
02:42(Laughter)
02:44
I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought, "This guy is amazing!"
02:50(Laughter)
02:51
No, no, it was very, very bad. Anyway(不管怎么说), today I'm a writer-blogger guy. I write the blog Wait But Why. And a couple of years ago, I decided to write about procrastination
(/prəʊˌkræstɪ'neɪʃn/拖延症). My behavior has always perplexed(/pəˈpleks/使迷惑) the non-procrastinators(/proʊˈkræs.tə.neɪ.t̬ɚ/拖延者) around me, and I wanted to explain to the non-procrastinators of the world what goes on in the heads of procrastinators, and why we are the way we are. Now, I had a hypothesis(/haɪˈpɒθəsɪs/假设) that the brains of procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other people. And to test this, I found an MRI(核磁共振成像) lab that actually let me scan(/skæn/扫描) both my brain and the brain of a proven non-procrastinator, so I could compare them. I actually brought them here to show you today. I want you to take a look carefully to see if you can notice a difference. I know that if you're not a trained brain expert, it's not that(=so) obvious(/ˈɒbviəs /明显的), but just take a look, OK? So here's the brain of a non-procrastinator.
03:42(Laughter)
03:45Now ... here's my brain.
03:49(Laughter)
03:54
There is a difference. Both brains have a Rational(/ˈræʃnəl /理智的) Decision-Maker in them, but the procrastinator's brain also has an Instant Gratification(/ˌgrætɪfɪˈkeɪʃn /满足) Monkey. Now, what does this mean for the procrastinator? Well, it means everything's fine until this happens.
04:08
[This is a perfect time to get some work done.] [Nope!]
04:11
So the Rational Decision-Maker will make the rational decision to do something productive(/prəˈdʌktɪv /富有成效的), but the Monkey doesn't like that plan, so he actually takes the wheel(/wi:l /方向盘), and he says, "Actually, let's read the entire(/ɪnˈtaɪə(r)/整个，全部) Wikipedia(维基百科) page of the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal(/ˈskændl/丑闻), because I just remembered that that happened.
04:27(Laughter)
04:28Then --
04:29(Laughter)
04:30
Then we're going to go over to the fridge(/frɪdʒ /冰箱), to see if there's anything new in there since 10 minutes ago. After that, we're going to go on a YouTube spiral(/ˈspaɪrəl /) that starts with videos of Richard Feynman talking about magnets(/ˈmægnət/磁铁) and ends much, much later with us watching interviews with Justin Bieber's mom.
04:46(Laughter)
04:48
"All of that's going to take a while, so we're not going to really have room on the schedule for any work today. Sorry!"
04:54(Sigh/saɪ/叹气)
04:57
Now, what is going on here? The Instant Gratification Monkey does not seem like a guy you want behind the wheel. He lives entirely(=completely) in the present moment. He has no memory of the past, no knowledge of the future, and he only cares about two things: easy and fun.
05:15
Now, in the animal world, that works fine. If you're a dog and you spend your whole life doing nothing other than(除了) easy and fun things, you're a huge success!
05:24 (Laughter)
05:26
And to the Monkey, humans are just another animal species(/ˈspi:ʃi:z/物种). You have to keep well-slept, well-fed and propagating(/ˈprɒpəgeɪt/繁衍) into the next generation, which in tribal(/ˈtraɪbl/部落的) times(时代) might have worked OK. But, if you haven't noticed, now we're not in tribal times. We're in an advanced civilization(/ˌsɪvəlaɪˈzeɪʃn/文明), and the Monkey does not know what that is. Which is why we have another guy in our brain, the Rational Decision-Maker, who gives us the ability to do things no other animal can do. We can visualize(/ˈvɪʒuəlaɪz/设想) the future. We can see the big picture. We can make long-term plans. And he wants to take all of that into account/ əˈkaʊnt/(把…考虑在内). And he wants to just have us do whatever makes sense(有意义，合理) to be doing right now. Now, sometimes it makes sense to be doing things that are easy and fun, like when you're having dinner or going to bed or enjoying well-earned leisure(/ˈleʒə(r)/闲暇) time. That's why there's an
overlap(/ˌəʊvəˈlæp/重叠). Sometimes they agree(一致). But other times, it makes much more sense to be doing things that are harder and less pleasant, for the sake of(为了,因为) the big picture. And that's when we have a conflict. And for the procrastinator, that conflict tends to end a certain way every time, leaving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone(/zəʊn/区域), an easy and fun place that's entirely out of the Makes Sense circle. I call it the Dark Playground.
06:41 (Laughter)
06:42
Now, the Dark Playground is a place that all of you procrastinators out there know very well. It's where leisure(/ˈleʒə(r)/) activities(休闲活动) happen at times(=sometimes) when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening. The fun you have in the Dark Playground isn't actually fun, because it's completely unearned(不应得的), and the air is filled with guilt, dread(/dred/忧虑,恐惧), anxiety(/æŋˈzaɪəti/焦虑), self-hatred(/ˈheɪtrɪd/自我憎恨) -- all of those good procrastinator feelings. And the question is, in this situation, with the Monkey behind the wheel, how does the procrastinator ever get himself over here to this blue zone, a less pleasant place, but where really important things happen?
07:16
Well, turns out the procrastinator has a guardian(/ˈgɑ:diən/) angel(守护天使), someone who's always looking down on(俯瞰) him and watching over(照看) him in his darkest moments -- someone called the Panic(/ˈpænɪk/恐慌) Monster(怪物).
07:27 (Laughter)
07:33
Now, the Panic Monster is dormant(/ˈdɔ:mənt/蛰伏的) most of the time, but he suddenly wakes up anytime a deadline gets too close or there's danger of public embarrassment(/ɪmˈbærəsmənt/难堪), a career disaster or some other scary(/ˈskeəri/使人恐慌的) consequence(/ˈkɒnsɪkwəns/结果). And importantly, he's the only thing the Monkey is terrified(/ˈterɪfaɪd/) of(非常害怕). Now, he became very relevant(/ˈreləvənt/密切相关的) in my life pretty(=quite) recently, because the people of TED reached out to me(=contact联系到我) about six months ago and invited me to do a TED Talk.
08:00 (Laughter)
08:06
Now, of course, I said yes. It's always been a dream of mine to have done a TED Talk in the past.
08:11 (Laughter)
08:15
(Applause) But in the middle of all this excitement, the Rational Decision-Maker seemed to have something else on his mind. He was saying, "Are we clear on what we just accepted? Do we get what's going to be now happening one day in the future? We need to sit down and work on this right now." And the Monkey said, "Totally agree, but let's just open Google Earth and zoom in(拉近镜头) to the bottom of India, like 200 feet above the ground, and scroll(/skrəʊl/) up(向上 ) for two and a half hours till we get to the top of the country, so we can get a better feel(总体印象) for India."
08:48 (Laughter)
08:54 So that's what we did that day.
08:55 (Laughter)
08:59
As six months turned into four and then two and then one, the people of TED decided to release(/rɪˈli:s/公布) the speakers. And I opened up the website, and there was my face staring right back at me. And guess who woke up?
09:12 (Laughter)
09:16
So the Panic Monster starts losing his mind(发疯,抓狂), and a few seconds later, the whole system's in mayhem(/ˈmeɪhem/混乱).
09:21 (Laughter)
09:26
And the Monkey -- remember, he's terrified of the Panic Monster – boom(吼叫), he's up the tree! And finally, finally, the Rational Decision-Maker can take the wheel and I can start working on the talk.
09:36
Now, the Panic Monster explains all kinds of pretty insane(/ɪnˈseɪn/疯狂的，精神失常的) procrastinator behavior, like how someone like me could spend two weeks unable to start the opening sentence of a paper, and then miraculously(/mɪ'rækjələslɪ/奇迹般地) find the unbelievable work ethic(/ˈeθɪk/)(职业操守) to stay up all night and write eight pages. And this entire situation, with the three characters -- this is the procrastinator's system. It's not pretty, but in the end, it works. This is what I decided to write about on the blog a couple of years ago.
10:08
When I did, I was amazed by the response. Literally(/ˈlɪtərəli/毫不夸张地) thousands of emails came in, from all different kinds of people from all over the world, doing all different kinds of things. These are people who were nurses, bankers, painters, engineers and lots and lots of PhD students.
10:23 (Laughter)
10:25
And they were all writing, saying the same thing: "I have this problem too." But what struck(strike打动，触动) me was the contrast(/ˈkɑntræst /差异，悬殊) between the light
tone(/təʊn/语气) of the post(a piece of writing that forms part of a blog) and the heaviness of these emails. These people were writing with intense(/ɪnˈtens/强烈的) frustration(/frʌˈstreɪʃn/挫败) about what procrastination had done to their lives, about what this Monkey had done to them. And I thought about this, and I said, well, if the procrastinator's system works, then what's going on? Why are all of these people in such a dark place?
10:54
Well, it turns out that there's two kinds of procrastination. Everything I've talked about today, the examples I've given, they all have deadlines. And when there's deadlines, the effects of procrastination are contained(/kənˈteɪn/控制) to the short term because the Panic Monster gets involved(介入). But there's a second kind of procrastination that happens in situations when there is no deadline. So if you wanted a career where you're a self-starter(主动做事的人) -- something in the arts, something entrepreneurial(/ˌɒntrəprəˈnɜːriəl/创业的) -- there's no deadlines on those things at first, because nothing's happening, not until you've gone out and done the hard work to get momentum(/məˈmentəm/推动力), get things going. There's also all kinds of important things outside of your career that don't involve any deadlines, like seeing your family or exercising and taking care of your health, working on your relationship or getting out of a relationship that isn't working.
11:38
Now if the procrastinator's only mechanism(/ˈmekənɪzəm/行为方式) of doing these hard things is the Panic Monster, that's a problem, because in all of these non-deadline situations, the Panic Monster doesn't show up. He has nothing to wake up for, so the effects of procrastination, they're not contained; they just extend(/ɪkˈstend/扩及,波及) outward(向外地) forever. And it's this long-term kind of procrastination that's much less visible(/ˈvɪzəbl/明显的) and much less talked about than the funnier, short-term deadline-based kind. It's usually suffered quietly and privately(/'praɪvətlɪ/私下地). And it can be the source of a huge amount of long-term unhappiness, and regrets(后悔). And I thought, that's why those people are emailing, and that's why they're in such a bad place. It's not that they're cramming(/kræm/) for(急匆匆地做,突击学习) some project. It's that long-term procrastination has made them feel like a
spectator(/spekˈteɪtə(r)/旁观者), at times(=sometimes), in their own lives. The frustration
(/frʌˈstreɪʃn/挫败) is not that they couldn't achieve their dreams; it's that they weren't even able to start chasing(chase/tʃeɪs/追寻) them.
12:35
So I read these emails and I had a little bit of an epiphany(/ɪ'pɪfəni/顿悟,突然明白) -- that I don't think non-procrastinators exist. That's right -- I think all of you are procrastinators. Now, you might not all be a mess(/mes/一团糟的人,看上去邋遢的人), like some of us,
12:52 (Laughter)
12:53
and some of you may have a healthy relationship with deadlines, but remember: the Monkey's sneakiest(/ˈsni:ki/偷偷摸摸地) trick(/trɪk /诡计,花招) is when the deadlines aren't there.
13:02
Now, I want to show you one last thing. I call this a Life Calendar. That's one box for every week of a 90-year life. That's not that(=so) many boxes, especially since we've already used a bunch(/bʌntʃ/) of(=a number of) those. So I think we need to all take a long, hard(费劲地) look at that calendar(/ˈkælɪndə(r)/日程表). We need to think about what we're really procrastinating on, because everyone is procrastinating on something in life. We need to stay aware of(注意到…存在)the Instant Gratification Monkey. That's a job for all of us. And because there's not that many boxes on there, it's a job that should probably start today.
13:44 Well, maybe not today, but ...
13:47 (Laughter)
13:48 You know. Sometime soon.

Where Does the Time Go
---- A Great Big World

Where does the time go时间都去哪了
I don't want this to