作者简介：Rachel Toor，On the Road to Find Out 的作者，美国东华盛顿大学创造性写作副教授，个人网站 http://www.racheltoor.com，同时她也欢迎大家上careers@chronicle.com 参与评论提问。
At the beginning of every race and every book project, the same thought occurs: This is impossible
人们站在起跑线上和拿起笔准备开始写一本书的时候，都会觉得这是一项不可能完成的任务。
When people ask me what running and writing have in common, I tend to look at the ground and say it might have something to do with discipline: You do both of those things when you don’t feel like it, and make them part of your regular routine. You know some days will be harder than others, and on some you won’t hit your mark and will want to quit. But you don’t. You force yourself into a practice, the practice becomes habit and then simply part of your identity. A surprising amount of success, as Woody Allen once said, comes from just showing up.
当人们问我跑步和写作有什么共同之处的时候，我往往会从两者的基础说起，告诉他们两者都需要自律：即使你不想做这两件事情的时候也要坚持做下去，并且把它们变成你日常生活的一部分。你知道有些时候会比平时更加难坚持，有些时候你无法达成你的目标并且想要放弃。但是你不能放弃。你逼迫自己继续练习，而这些练习将变成你的习惯甚至你人格的一部分。就想伍迪艾伦说过的一样，坚持下去往往会有奇迹般的成功。
Or perhaps I’ll mutter something about sought-after outcomes: You want to nail it; you want, if nothing else, to beat yourself, to beat your best self. You want something to show for the effort. You want the applause that comes when you’ve finished, and finished well. You want the markers of achievement—you’d like to think you are just doing it for you, but most of us are not that self-realized. The material rewards mean something.
又或许我会从两者所获得的成就上来比较：你想要完成它；不论其他，你想要打败自己，打败最好的自己。你想要一些事情来证明自己的付出。你想要在你成功地跑到终点时获得别人的掌声。你想要成就些什么—你或许认为你做这一切都是为了自己，然而很多人并不是如此。实质性的收获是有诱惑力的。
When I think harder about it, what I believe running and writing have most in common, at least for me, is the state of vulnerability they leave you in. Both require bravery, audacity, a belief in one’s own abilities, and a willingness to live the clichés: to put it on the line, to dig deep, to go for it. You have to believe in the “it,”and have to believe, too, that you are worthy.
当我再深入思考这个问题时，我个人觉得跑步和写作共同的之处是它们都将你自己放在了一个脆弱的位置。两者都需要勇气，胆量，对自己能力的信心，并且愿意忍受枯燥：坚持，深入，并且努力完成。你必须坚信自己的“目标”，并且坚信你可以做到。
That is hard because the results always seem impossible. At the beginning of every track practice, when the coach gives us a workout, I think: I can’t do that. No one could ever do that. When I line up at the start of a marathon, I imagine driving from Hopkinton to Boston or from Staten Island to Central Park and I tell myself that’s too far to run. At longer races, when I know the unimaginable elevation of the peaks I’ll have to climb and descend in 30 or 50 miles of tough trail, I wonder what’s wrong with me to believe I could do something so challenging. It’s too hard, I think. I can’t do that.
这不是一件容易的事情因为它们看起来几乎不可能。每当教练给我们布置完任务之时，在每次练习之前我都会觉得：我做不到。没有人可以做到。当我们站在马拉松的起跑线上时，我想象着从霍普金斯开车到波士顿或是从斯坦腾岛开到中央公园，然后告诉我自己这距离实在太远了。在更长的比赛中，当我知道我需要跑30至50英里的山路越过不可想象的高山时，我时常想我怎么会觉得自己能完成这么具有挑战的事情呢。这实在太难了，我想。我做不成。
Which is exactly how I feel when I’m starting on a book project. It’s impossible. I will not be able to make it the whole way and will need to quit, probably somewhere in the middle, and I’ll be left with nothing, depleted and humiliated. Who am I to be pitted against that Herculean task? I’d rather muck out the stables.
这和我刚开始写一本书的感觉如出一辙。这根本不可能。我不可能完成整本书，我一定会在中途放弃，然后我会一无所成，劳累而挫败。我怎么能完成如此困难的任务呢？我还是去扫扫马厩罢了。
So I trick myself. If I really believed I had to run all the way from Hopkinton to Boston, I’d bring money for a taxi or the T. Instead I tell myself I have to run only one mile. I know I can do that. For a runner who’s properly trained, the right marathon pace should feel doable, if not easy, for most of the race. Just one mile. Then the clock on my watch starts over.
所以我选择了哄骗自己。如果我真心觉得我需要从霍普金斯一直跑到波士顿的话，我一定会带上钱来坐出租车。所以我转为告诉我自己我只需要跑一公里。我知道我可以完成这个。作为一个专业训练的跑步运动员，合适的马拉松节奏可以应付大部分的路程。只跑一公里。于是我手表开始计时。
“One true sentence,”Hemingway wrote in A Moveable Feast: “I would stand and look out over the roofs of Paris and think, ‘Do not worry. You have always written before and you will write now. All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.’ So finally I would write one true sentence, and then go on from there. It was easy then because there was always one true sentence that I knew or had seen or had heard someone say. If I started to write elaborately, or like someone introducing or presenting something, I found that I could cut that scrollwork or ornament out and throw it away and start with the first true simple declarative sentence I had written.”
“一句精句，”海明威在《流动的餐宴》中写到：“我会站在屋顶眺望着巴黎并想‘不要担心。你之前一直在写作，你现在也可以。你只需要写出一句精句。写下你觉得最有真谛的句子就行。’ 所以最后我会写下一句精句，然后再慢慢展开。这很简单因为我总是会有一句精句或者听到别人说过。当我开始辞藻华丽地写作，或是向别人介绍展示些什么似的，我发现我可以去掉那些装饰，并用我最开始写的那个简单陈述性的句子开始。”
One mile. One true sentence. You go on from there.
一公里。真正的一公里。你可以由此起步。
That Hemingway’s quote has become a chestnut doesn’t make it any less helpful to me when I get stuck on the page or quake at the starting line. Simply covering the distance or finishing the book isn’t enough to feel successful. I will wish I could have gone faster, could have written better. But at least I will get it done and learn how to improve. After four books and something like 50 or 60 marathon-length or longer races, I still feel like a novice. You’re always beginning over again. A new blank page. A new starting line.
虽然海明威的句子已被无数人所引用，这并不影响它在我刚开始挣扎着写作或是跑步时对我的帮助。单纯的跑完或是写完书不能让我们觉得成功。我会希望能够跑得更快或是写得更好。但至少我会完成并且学习怎样改进。在写完了四本书和跑完了五六十个马拉松之后，我仍然觉得自己是一个初学者。你将永远从起点开始。一页新的白纸。一个全新的起跑线。
A slogan adopted by many cross-country teams is “My sport is what your sport does for punishment.”There’s an idea among those who play with balls that running is a necessary evil for staying fit, not something you need to excel at or enjoy. I think about this each time an academic says to me, "I need to finish this article/book, but I’m not a writer."
越野跑队的一句口号是“你们受到的惩罚是我们平时的运动”。对那些练习球类运动的人来说跑步是为了保持体力的必须苦差，而不是什么值得很好地完成或是享受的事情。每当有学者对我说，“我需要完成这篇文章/这本书，但是我不是一个作家”时我都会想到这个观点。
They say it the way I say I’m short or I have green eyes. My height and eye color are immutable (except, of course, for the shrinkage that comes with aging). When I say I can’t parallel park, it’s a whole different story. Clearly I have chosen not to pay enough attention to the fundamentals of parking to be able to pull my car into a space without having to wriggle it near the curb. I don’t need to parallel park that often. When I do, I can get the job done in a serviceable (though I suspect, in some cities, ticket-worthy) fashion. It’s likely there are people who could show me tricks that would make the process a whole lot easier. Or I could practice. But parallel parking isn’t a skill I value enough to take the time to master.
他们说这些时的语气就和我说我很矮或是我有绿眼睛一样。我的身高和眼睛的颜色是不可以改变的（当然，随着年龄的收缩不算）当我说我不会平行停车时，这则是一个完全不一样的故事。显然是我自己选择了对停车的基础不加以注意，所以导致了我不能够在不碰到草丛的情况下停车。我平时不需要经常平行停车。当我需要时，我还是可以勉强地完成的（虽然在某些城市我或许会被开罚单）而且当我需要停车时常常会有人帮助我，让我更加轻松地完成。或者我也可以选择多加练习。但是平行停车并不是一个我足以重视，需要让我花时间去练习的技能。
Some people, when they hear about my running habit, say, “I could never do a marathon.”Hooey, I say. Anyone can run a marathon. It requires a commitment of time, energy, and a willingness to get through the parts that aren’t fun. You need to run when you don’t feel like it. You need to set a reasonable, reachable goal. You need to break it down into manageable chunks and build up your strength.
有些人听到我跑步的习惯是会说：“我永远不可能跑完一个马拉松。”胡说，我说。任何一个人都可以跑完马拉松。只是这需要付出时间，精力和克服枯燥无趣部分的意愿。你需要在不情愿跑步的时候坚持跑。你需要一个合理的，可以达到的目标。你需要锻炼肌肉和力量。
And I need to remind myself of the same thing when I think I will never be able to write another book. Or finish an essay.
而且每当我觉得自己永远不可能再写完一本书，或是一篇文章的时候我都会这样提醒自己。
Done is better than perfect, I tell myself, though the overachiever in me bridles against that. I know when I’ve "finished" something too soon, and I can’t bear to reread it in print. Sometimes at around mile 21 you want to quit. Sometimes at mile 8 you think, "18 more miles? Are you kidding me? No way."
完成比完美更重要，我告诉自己，虽然我内心的完美主义总是对此而不满。我知道有时当我匆匆写完稿子，印出来之后将变得不忍直视。有些时候在跑了21英里的时候你想要放弃了。有些时候在8英里的时候你就开始想，“还有18英里？你在逗我吗？根本不可能跑完。”
Running has made me a more disciplined writer, and writing has reminded me to be brave when racing. I’ve learned—I’m trying to learn—to keep faith in the face of flagging mind, body, spirit, and confidence. I know that any valuable achievement will require that I make myself uncomfortable and may well hurt. I’ve learned to recognize the pain: "Here we are again. This is the part that sucks. This is the place where I want to give up."
跑步使我变成了一个更加自律的作家，而写作则教会了我在跑步的时候需要有勇气。我学会了—我正在努力学习—在决心，体力，意志和信心之时保持信念。我知道任何有价值的成就将会需要我在过程中受苦受伤。我学会了直面痛苦：“我们又到了这个时刻。这将是令人讨厌的一部分。这是我曾经想要放弃的地方。”
It doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes I can’t hold the pace and finish far past my goal time. Sometimes I look at a manuscript and put it away—maybe forever. On days when the track looks too big to get around it even once, I tell myself, “One true sentence.” And then I run.
当然有时候事与愿违。有时候我跑步时不能够控制好节奏并且远远超出了我的预计时间。有时候我看着写完的稿子又将其弃之一边—或许再也不会去碰。每当路途看起来太过遥不可及之时，我总会告诉自己，“一句精句”。然后我就会开始行动。
Depleted: adj.1. having resources completely depleted 2. no longer sufficient adj. 耗尽的；废弃的；贫化的v. 使减少；弄空；耗尽…的资源（deplete的过去分词）
Wriggle: n.1. the act of wiggling 2. to move in a twisting or contorted motion, (especially when struggling)vi. 蠕动；蜿蜒而行vt. 使蠕动；蠕动到；不知不觉地潜入n. 蠕动；扭动
【智梦简介】
智梦是一家专注美国本科留学的教育咨询机构。
我们的使命：
“智梦教育团队深知留学申请关系到学生及其家长的前途和未来，我们将竭尽所能帮助每一位智梦学员发掘其潜在的特质，以开放透明的申请方式，让他们能不留遗憾的争取到自己的理想学校。与此同时，培养他们成为诚实守信、独立思考、德才兼备的国际化人才。”
我们的愿景：
“智梦教育将成为一所发掘学术兴趣，培养学术能力，塑造具有公民意识的新时代留学生的学校。”
举报