-Q & A-

001 Have you thought about death or dying? How did you feel when you were thinking about them?

When I was still a little girl I couldn't help to thinking about death if I slept alone. At that time, the dark room I slept in was just like a coffin to me, and once I closed my eyes, the horrible scenario where stink bugs and evil spirits were eating my body would flood over me. It make me so frightened that I had to keep my lamp on all the night because I believed these bugs and spirits were afraid of light.

002 How knowing “then you die” would affect the way we live? What is the sunny side of death?

After knowing "then you die", we can learn to accept the inevitable fact and then choose our values more freely, unrestrained by the illogical quest for immortality, and freed from dangerous dogmatic views.

The sunny side of death is that as the only thing we can know with any certainty, it must be the compass by which we orient all of our other values and decisions.

003 Did you have a transformational moment growing up? Something you would consider a wake-up call?

I didn't have a transformational moment growing up. Because it seems that I always go back and forth on the road of growing up. By saying this I mean, sometimes, I might have learnt a lesson from someone or something, and I was excited at that very moment; but sometimes later I would forget the exicitement and deal with things like before.

- Take-away message -

虽然现在已经接受死亡是必然的，但还是做不到坦然面对。所以就像作者所说的，太过在意一些原本没那么重要的事情，甚至有时候在其中迷失了自己。

作者在好望角的崖顶上尝试临近死亡的举动有震撼到我，原来不仅我们心里害怕死亡，我们的身体也不由自主地对死亡做出反映。

- Words & Expressions -

001 perplexed

原文：“The Aussie stands for a moment, perplexed, still looking at me, clearly thinking of what to say next.”

释义：adj. confused and worried by something that you do not understand

造句：When students get perplexed in class, the teacher should stop to clarify his or her idea once again.

002 plague

原文：“It’s these dynamics that plague us now.”

释义：v. to causes pain, suffering, or trouble to someone, especially for a long period of time

用法: be plagued by/with sth （经常用于被动语态)

造句：The bitter taste in her mouth has plagued her for a long time.

003 on the off chance

原文：“Then I look again to my right, at the little ants milling about the signage below me, snapping photos, chasing tour buses, on the off chance that somebody somehow sees me.”

释义：if you do something on the off chance, you do it hoping for a particular result, although you know it is not likely

造句：He didn't really expect to be accepted by the company. He just called on the off chance.

004 snap （熟词生义） (informal)

原文：“To my right, tourists are dotted across the landscape below, snapping photos and aggregating themselves into antlike formations.”

释义：v. to take a photagraph

005 denounce

原文：“In his first job as an assistant professor, Becker quickly fell into a crowd that denounced the practice of psychiatry as a form of fascism.”

释义：v. to express strong disapproval of someone or something,especially in public

造句：A customer denounced the company as a liar.

2018-01-30 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - 009