一、【Text】课文
The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of 'dos' and 'don'ts'. The same
old favorites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity. We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat less, find more
time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the house, be nice to people we don't like, drive carefully, and
take the dog for a walk every day. Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond attainment. If we
remain inveterate smokers, it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration that results from failure. Most of us fail
in our efforts at self-improvement because our schemes are too ambitious and we never have time to carry them out. We also
make the fundamental error of announcing our resolutions to everybody so that we look even more foolish when we slip back into
our bad old ways. Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep my resolutions to myself. I limited myself to two modest
ambitions: to do physical exercise every morning and to read more of an evening. 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, but on the second, I
applied myself assiduously to the task.
The daily exercises lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the morning before anyone had got up. The
self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable. Nevertheless, I managed to
creep down into the living room for two days before anyone found me out. After jumping about on the carpet and twisting the
human frame into uncomfortable positions, I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition. It was this that betrayed
me. The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the performance. 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. However, my enthusiasm waned. The
time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero. By January 10th, I was back to
where I had started from. I argued that if I spent less time exhausting myself at exercises in the morning, I would keep my mind
fresh for reading when I got home form work Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my room for a few evenings
with my eyes glued to a book. One night, however, feeling cold and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television
pretending to read. That proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen. I
still haven't given up my resolution to do more reading. In fact, I have just bought a book entitled How to Read a Thousand
Words a Minute. Perhaps it will solve my problem, but I just haven't had time to read it!
●resolution n. 决心
●mentally adv. 内心里
●compile v. 编辑，编制
●formidable adj. 令人畏惧的
●recur v. 再发生，又出现
●regularity n. 规律性
●accomplishment n. 成就
●attainment n. 达到
●inveterate adj. 根深蒂固的
●self-improvement n. 自我完善
●scheme n. 简单的计划，方案
●ambitious adj. 雄心勃勃的
●pitfall n. 意外的困难，易犯的错误
●modest adj. 要求不过分的
●assiduously adv. 刻苦地
●self-discipline n. 自我约束
●frame n. 躯体
●betray v. 暴露，显露
●troop v. 成群结队地走动