Make Time for Awe1

Cayte Boslerdec

Novelty and perceptual2. perceptual： 感知的，感觉的。vastness force us into the present moment, which has health benefits.

Jason Silva is a self-described epiphany junkie.3. epiphany： 顿悟；junkie： 迷。He recently enthused to me about how some movies, for example, manage to capture attention and create a complete, immersive transformation for the viewer.4. 他最近兴奋地跟我讲电影是如何成功吸引观众的关注，并为他们创造出一种彻底的身临其境的转变。enthuse： 兴奋地说，津津乐道地讲述；capture： 吸引；immersive： 身临其境的；transformation： 转换，转变。

In hisShots of AweYouTube series, Silva wants to interrupt your mundane existence with “philosophical espresso shots” designed to inspire you to live to the fullest.5. mundane： 世俗的，平凡的；espresso： 浓缩的；inspire： 启发，鼓舞；to the fullest： 尽情地，最充分地。

It’s easy to get swept away by Silva’s vision of the future: a revolutionary convergence of biotechnology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence.6. 人们很容易被席尔瓦对未来的看法所震撼，这种看法革命性地融合了生物技术、纳米技术和人工智能。He considers awe to be a pivotal ingredient in making ideas resonate.7. pivotal： 关键的；ingredient： 要素，组成部分；resonate： 共鸣，共振。In his three-minute clips, he hardly takes a breath as he spouts rousing optimism over digitally animated film.8. clip： (电影、广播、电视节目的) 片断；spout： 滔滔不绝地讲；rousing： 激动人心的；animated： 动画的。

A new study published in the journalPsychological Scienceshows there are residual health benefits to having your mind blown.9. Psychological Science：《心理科学》，美国心理协会（American Psychological Society, APS）出版的科学杂志，在世界心理杂志中排名前十；residual：残留的，剩余的；blow one’s mind： 使某人印象深刻，使某人极度兴奋。“People increasingly report feeling time-starved, which exacts a toll on health and well-being,”10. time-starved： 缺少时间的；exact： 强要，勒索；toll：影响，代价，exact a toll指付出代价。states the study. Using three experiments,researchers Melanie Rudd and Jennifer Aaker of the Stanford University, and Kathleen Vohs of the University of Minnesota,examined whether awe can expand perceptions of timeavailability.11. perception： 感觉，感知；availability：可用性，空闲。They found that participants “who felt awe, relative to other emotions, felt they had more time available, were less impatient,were more willing to volunteer their time to help others, and more strongly preferred experiences over material goods.”12. relative to： 相对于；impatient： 不耐烦的，急躁的；volunteer： 主动提供。

日复一日、模式单一的生活让我们的感觉麻木，思维狭隘，甚至在不知不觉间原地打转、虚度光阴。“敬畏”的感觉可以帮助我们打破这种僵局，重拾生命中的灵感和热情，以更加开阔的视野和感恩的心情迎接新鲜的每一天。

It can be hard to generalize what people consider jaw-dropping, but Vohs says research demonstrates what consistently creates an awesome experience.13. generalize： 概括；jaw-dropping： 令人目瞪口呆的；demonstrate： 证明，展示；awesome： 令人敬畏的，令人畏惧的。Travel ranks14. rank： 给……排等级，位列。high. So does gazing at the cosmos on a clear night or watching a sensational film, as well as anytime we encounter massive quantities: colorful tulips in bloom, a bustling market in India, or a stunning school of fish.15. gaze at： 盯住，凝视；cosmo： 宇宙，此处使用复数指“宇宙天体”；sensational：耸人听闻的，激动人心的；in bloom：盛开，开着花；bustling：熙熙攘攘的，忙乱的；stunning： 令人震惊的；school： 鱼群。

Novelty and perceptual vastness forces us into the present moment.The study underscores the importance of cultivating small doses of awe in the everyday to boost life satisfaction.16. underscore： 强调；cultivate： 培养，养成；small doses： 少量；boost： 促进，增强。

“Awe is quite threatening in certain ways, and something that is challenging and unwelcome can border on17. border on： 接近，近似。fear,” says Vohs, recalling an astonishingly big fish he saw while swimming in the ocean.18. recall： 回想起，回忆说；astonishingly：令人惊讶地，惊人地。“It was giant—no big teeth, and it seemed like a gentle soul19. soul： 人。just floating in the water—but still!”

The study describes awe as an experience of such perceptual expansion that you need new mental maps to deal with the incomprehensibility of it all.20. 这项研究把敬畏描述为一种感知范围扩大的经历，你需要新的心理地图来应对这一切的不可知性。incomprehensibility： 不可理解，不可知性。

People mostly walk around with a sense of knowing what is going on in the world. They have hypotheses about the way people behave and what might happen; those are pretty air-tight.21. hypotheses： hypothesis的复数，假设，臆测；air-tight： 无懈可击的。It is hard to get people to shake22. shake： 摆脱。from those because that’s just how the brain works.We are always walking around trying to confirm the things we already think. When you are in a state of awe, it puts you off-balance and asa consequence, we think people might be ready to learn new things and have some of their assumptions questioned.”23. off-balance： 不平衡的，不稳定的；assumption： 假设，设想。Rudd, of Stanford, is currently working on a follow-up24. follow-up： 后续的。study to understand just how awe-inspired moments might open a person up to learning new information.

“Technologies that capture and control attention,including storytelling, IMAX films, and video games,hijack the perceptual apparatus.25. IMAX： 指Image Maximum，最大影像；hijack： 劫持； apparatus： 装置，设备。They put you into a state of immersion26. immersion： 沉浸，浸入。—you lose yourself,” says Silva.He thinks we are predisposed27. predisposed： 预先有倾向的，预先有意向的。to ignore everyday wonders. “Not being in a state of awe is a way to save energy. It is easier to run on autopilot28. autopilot： 自动驾驶仪。. It takes energy to blow your mind, but being overwhelmed is worth it. It’s what gives life its luster.”29. overwhelm：（感情上）使受不了，使不知所措；luster：光泽，光彩。

Whether it’s making time for a walk through nature,meditation, or watching an amazing clip, he recommends rituals that elicit awe for a break in the day and an overall healthier lifestyle.30. 无论是抽时间在大自然中散步、沉思，还是观看一段精彩的视频时，他都建议要养成一种习惯，一种对每天的闲暇时光和健康的生活方式都充满敬畏的习惯。meditation： 冥想，沉思；ritual： 习惯；elicit：引起。Silva does not shy away from the range of emotions one might have when considering something of magnitude.31. shy away from： 回避，躲避；magnitude： 巨大，庞大。He grapples with the tinge of sadness in his personal epiphanies,32. grapple with： 努力对付，尽力克服；tinge： 些许（颜色、感情或性质）。such as the realization that everyone and everything we find beautiful and magnificent will one day end. That’s a theme he explores in his videoExistential Bummer, his video about loss and impermanence.33. bummer： 令人不快的事，讨厌的事；impermanence：无常，暂时性。

“We are simultaneously worms and gods,”34. simultaneously： 同时地；worm： 可怜虫。he says,an idea that drives him to produce more creatively. “Man is literally split in two: He has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness, in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground ... to blindly and dumbly rot and disappear forever.”35. 人确实是分裂的：他知道自己卓越且独特，在自然界中傲视众生，但是最终也要回归地下……默默无声地腐烂并永远消失。uniqueness： 独特性，独一无二；stick out of： 显眼，显得突出；towering： 非常成功的，非常有力的；majesty： 威严，壮丽；dumbly：无言地，沉默地。