英语美文朗读 第383期 All youre required to do is listen

Isn't it interesting how our sense of self can get agitated when we witness something that, I guess reflects or mirrors something within ourselves that we feel like we want to let out, but we haven't been able to yet? It's a trapping of the ego when the fact that someone else shines feels like it impedes upon our own capacity to shine?

 

我们看到别人做成了一件事，而这件事是我们一直想做的，这种时候，我们就会变得不安，就像我们内心一直有一种冲动，但还没能将它释放出来一样，这是一个挺有趣的现象。其实，这是因为，我们的自我被限制住了，当我们看到别人成功，就会觉得，这阻碍了我们成功。

 

It's almost like we come from a scarcity mindset and we think that there is no room for two people to shine. Like, well, that guy's excellence somehow diminishes the space in which I can stand. And I've experienced that as well. Like I've experienced that feeling. I know that disquiet, you know, it's somehow the existence of another negates my own.

我们认为，东西都是有限的，两个人不可能同时成功。我们认为，别人的优秀会阻碍我们变得优秀。我也有过这样的经历，我也有过这样的感觉。我理解那种不安，不知怎么的，别人的存在，会让我自己显得更渺小。

 

But they can't be true. It's not true. That is a trapping of the ego, that is also a trapping of comparison. I think comparison is only healthy if it inspires you to want to do better. Not if it makes you vain and bitter, which it can do to all of us. The people that you're around, they're going to influence you in a terrifying way because you're just around them. So you don't think to look beyond them. They're the people that you encounter.

但是，这些感觉不可能是真的，它们不是真的。这只是因为你的自我被困住了，因为你总是在拿自己跟别人作对比。我认为，如果与别人比较能让你做得更好，这个比较才是有益的。如果它让你变得虚荣，感到痛苦，那么它就不是有益的，我们都可能会深受其害。你周围的人，会极大地影响你，这仅仅是因为你在他们周围。所以，你要多多注意他们，他们才是你遇到的人。

 

And this is why I think people have to be so careful with who they follow online, how they cultivate their online world, because it used to be you couldn't get too freaked out because there were only so many like incredible people around you. But now it's like you can curate this feed of people who are extraordinary at the very thing that you want to be extraordinary at.

所以，我认为，我们在网上关注什么人，我们如何建设我们自己的网络世界，这是需要小心对待的。以前，你周围有很多优秀的人，所以你感觉很崩溃。然而，现在，看到别人很擅长做你想做的事，你就可以从他们身上吸取经验，让自己在这方面做得更好。

 

They are better than you. They're further ahead and you can convince yourself that you can get there. And it becomes like this, where you're in this weird thing where you're inspired by them, but like you said, it's also diminishing their sense of self. It's very interesting, right? Because they say, you know, on a small scale you become the people that you hang out with because of the mutual mental mirroring that occurs when you interface with other humans.

他们比你优秀，他们走在你的前面，你就可以告诉自己，你也能做到。然后，很奇怪的事情是，一方面，他们鼓励你前进，另一方面，就像你刚刚说的，他们也让你感觉很渺小。很有意思，对吧？他们说，在一定程度上，你会变成经常和你在一起的人，因为人们在互动的过程中，会不知不觉地模仿对方。

 

You can't help, the process of osmosis by which you mirror and, or acquire the qualities of that what you surround yourself with, including the people you surround yourself with. But what can also happen is you can compare yourself to the people that you're around. But then what happens now with people like us, like you were saying, okay, so now you're not surrounded necessarily just by the physical people that are around you, which is again, as a constraint, limited size. Now you're also surrounded by the feeds you follow. You're surrounded by the Instagrammers that you follow.

你会模仿他人，你身边的人和事是什么样的，你就会变成什么样的，这发生在你生活的每一方面，这是不可避免的。但是，很有可能，你会把自己跟周围的人作对比，然后，就像你刚才说的，像我们这样的人，我们身边不仅有些人，他们在一定程度上限制了我们，与此同时，我们身边还有那些我们关注的事，比如我们在Instagram上关注的人。

 

And so every time you scroll, you become what you behold, but you also compare yourself with, and it can give you the illusion that the world and the marketplace is smaller than it actually is. And so it's like, that guy's got a million followers. He's eclipsing my capacity to have a voice. Or that guy has got 500 million likes. He somehow eclipsing the integrity of the work I'm putting out. But that's also an illusion.

所以，每次你浏览屏幕，你就成为了你正在关注的人，但你也会拿自己来与他们比较，这会让你产生一种幻觉，你会觉得这个世界很小，舞台很小，但事实并非如此。比如，你会觉得，那个人有一百万粉丝，他让我的声音变得很渺小，或者，那个人得了五亿个赞，他让我的努力黯然失色。然而，这也是幻觉。