Once we understand the adaptability of the brain and the body in this way, we start to think about human potential in an entirely different light, and it points us to an entirely different approach to learning.
一旦我们理解了大脑和身体的这种能力，我们会以完全不同的眼光思考人的潜能，这又会引导我们以完全不同的方式去学习。
Consider this: Most people live lives that are not particularly physically challenging.
They sit at a desk, or if they move around, it’s not a lot.
They aren’t running and jumping, they aren’t lifting heavy objects or throwing things long distances, and they aren’t performing maneuvers that require tremendous balance and coordination.
Thus they settle into a low level of physical capabilities—enough for day-to-day activities and maybe even hiking or biking or playing golf or tennis on the weekends, but far from the level of physical capabilities that a highly trained athlete possesses.
These “normal” people cannot run a mile in under five minutes or ten miles in under an hour; they cannot throw a baseball three hundred feet or hit a golf ball three hundred yards; they cannot do triple gainers off the high board or triple axels on ice skates or triple backflips in a gymnastics floor routine. These are the sorts of things that require far more practice than most people are willing to devote, but—and this is important—they are also the sorts of abilities that can be developed because the human body is so adaptable and responsive to training.
The reason that most people don’t possess these extraordinary physical capabilities isn’t because they don’t have the capacity for them, but rather because they’re satisfied to live in the comfortable rut of homeostasis and never do the work that is required to get out of it. They live in the world of “good enough.”
词汇
1）maneuver v./n. 机动，移动
2）tremendous adj. 巨大的
3）possess v. 占有，拥有
4）triple adj. 三部的，三个的
5）gainer 反射翻腾
6）high board 跳板
7）axel （滑冰）一周跳
8）ice skate 溜冰
9）backflip n. 后空翻
10）gymnastics n. 体操，体育
11）devote v. 奉献，把…奉献（给）
12）responsive adj. 响应的，反应灵敏的
13）rut n. 一成不变，老一套
14）homeostasis n. 动态平衡，自我稳定
