TED Talk Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator (II)

走进拖延症的心理世界

And that would happen every single paper.   我的每一篇论文都是这种情况。

But then came my 90-page senior thesis, a paper you're supposed to spend a year on.  直到我长达90页的毕业论文任务，这篇论文理应花一年的时间来做。

And I knew for a paper like that, my normal work flow was not an option.  我也知道这样的工作，我先前的工作方式是行不通的。

It was way too big a project.  这个项目太大。

So I planned things out, and I decided I kind of had to go something like this.  所以我制定了计划，决定按照这样的方式工作。

This is how the year would go.  这样来安排我这一年。

So I'd start off light, and I'd bump it up in the middle months, and then at the end, I would kick it up into high gear just like a little staircase.   开头我会轻松一点，中期任务逐渐增加，到最后，我再全力冲刺一下。

How hard could it be to walk up the stairs?    整体是这种阶梯式安排，一层一层走楼梯有多难?

No big deal, right?    所以没什么大不了的，是吧?

But then, the funniest thing happened.    但后来，好笑的事情出现了。

Those first few months?    头几个月时光匆匆而逝

They came and went, and I couldn't quite do stuff.    我还没有来得及动工。

So we had an awesome new revised plan.    所以我们明智的调整了计划。

And then ——But then those middle months actually went by, and I didn't really write words, and so we were here.    然后，中间的几个月也过去了，我还是一个字也没有动，眨眼就到了这里。

And then two months turned into one month, which turned into two weeks.     然后两个月变成了一个月，再变成了2周。

And one day I woke up with three days until the deadline, still not having written a word, and so I did the only thing I could:     一天我醒来，发现离交稿日期只剩3天了，但我还一个字都没写。我别无选择，

I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours, pulling not one but two all-nighters——humans are not supposed to pull two all-nighters    只能在接下来的72小时里，连续通宵两个晚上赶论文——一般人不应连续通宵两个晚上。

——sprinted across campus, dove in slow motion, and got it in just at the deadline.    90页赶出来后，我飞速冲过校园，像电影中的特写慢镜头一样，恰好在截止日期前的最后一刻交上。

I thought that was the end of everything.   我以为事情就这么完了

But a week later I get a call, and it's the school.   但一周后，我接到一个电话，是学校打来的。。”

And they say, "Is this Tim Urban?"    他们说：“你是Tim Urban吗?”

And I say, "Yeah."     我说：“是。”

And they say, "We need to talk about your thesis."   他们说：“我们要说一说你的毕业论文。”

And I say, "OK."   我说：“好啊。”

And they say, "It's the best one we've ever seen."    他们说：“这是我见过最棒的论文。”

I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought, "This guy is amazing!"    我只想享受下你们对我的崇拜，想听你们说：“这老兄太厉害了！”

That did not happen.   那并未发生。

It was a very, very bad thesis.    这篇论文写得非常非常烂。

【选择】-What happen to Urban when he was assigned his thesis.   -He made a logical plan to finish it, but ended up procrastinating yet again.

【听读】-Which part of Urban's story is false?  -The school thought his senior thesis was excellent.

【词汇】 To kick into high gear means 开足马力 to work at top speed or efficiency.

【填空】 But then came my 90-page senior thesis, a paper you're supposed to spend a year on.  And I knew for a paper like that, my normal work flow was not an option. 

【词汇】

Anyway, today I'm a writer-blogger guy.    不管怎样，我现在成为了一个博客写手

I write the blog Wait But Why.    经营着“wait but why”这个博客

And a couple of years ago, I decided to write about procrastination.   几年前，我决定写写拖延这件事。

My behavior has always perplexed the non-procrastinators 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.    我的行为方式总让身边非拖延者感到不能理解。我很想对世界上非拖延者的人解释一下，我们拖延症患者的脑子是什么样的，为什么我们会拖延。

Now, I had a hypothesis that the brains of procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other people.    首先我假设，拖延症患者的大脑实际上和其他人的大脑不一样。

And to test this, I found an MRI lab that actually let me scan both my brain and the brain of a proven non-procrastinator, so I could compare them.    为了验证这一点，我找了家核磁共振实验室，给我和另一个确定是非拖延症的人，进行了脑部扫描，我好将二者进行对比，

I actually brought them here to show you today.   今天我带到现场，给大家展示一下。

I want you to take a look carefully to see if you can notice a difference.     我希望大家仔细观察，看能不能注意到差异。

I know that if you're not a trained brain expert, it's not that obvious, but just take a look, OK?    我知道大家并非专业的大脑专家，较难看出他们的差异，但大家不妨先看一眼，如何?

So here's the brain of a non-procrastinator. Now ... here's my brain.   这张是非拖延者的大脑，这张是我的大脑。

There is a difference.    两张是有一点不同。

Both brains have a Rational Decision-Maker in them, but the procrastinator's brain also has an Instant Gratification Monkey.     两个大脑都有一个理性决策人，但在拖延症患者的大脑里，还有一个及时行乐的猴子。

Now, what does this mean for the procrastinator? 那这对拖延症患者来说意味着什么呢? 

Well, it means everything's fine until this happens. 这意味着平时没什么异样，但一旦发生了以下的情况

[This is a perfect time to get some work done.] [Nope!] 

So the Rational Decision-Maker will make the rational decision to do something productive, but the Monkey doesn't like that plan, so he actually takes the wheel, 理性的决策人做出理性的决策，要去做一些实际的工作，但猴子不喜欢这个计划，所以他抢过方向盘，

and he says, "Actually, let's read the entire Wikipedia page of the Nancy Kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal, because I just remembered that that happened.       说道：“说实话，我们还是去维基百科上查一查NKTH的丑闻吧。”因为我刚想起来还发生过这件事。

Then——Then we're going to go over to the fridge, to see if there's anything new in there since 10 minutes ago.      然后我们会去翻冰箱，看看和十分钟前相比有没有什么新的东西。

After that, we're going to go on a YouTube spiral that starts with videos of Richard Feynman talking about magnets and ends much, much later with us watching interviews with Justin Bieber's mom.     然后我们去youtobe看一连串的视频，从Richard Feynman谈论磁铁开始，一直到很久很久之后看到一个Justin Bieber妈妈的访谈才结束。

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!      以上这些事情都得花时间，所以我们今天没有时间再来工作了。

【选择】 -What does Urban do for a living? -He writes a blog.

【选择】-According to Urban, how is the mind of a procrastinator different from the mind of a non-procrastinator? -It's more likely to be distracted.

【词义】-What does gratification mean?   (n.) 满意；喜悦；使人满意之事  -getting pleasure from satisfying a desire.

【听读】I just wanted wo enjoy that one moment when all of you thought, " This guy is amazing!”

【听读】How hard could that be to walk up the stairs? No big deal, right?

【词汇】