Make Time for Awe1

Cayte Boslerdec

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

Jason Silva is a self-described epiphany junkie.3. epiphany： 頓悟；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. 他最近興奮地跟我講電影是如何成功吸引觀眾的關注，并為他們創造出一種徹底的身臨其境的轉變。enthuse： 興奮地說，津津樂道地講述；capture： 吸引；immersive： 身臨其境的；transformation： 轉換，轉變。

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： 濃縮的；inspire： 啟發，鼓舞；to the fullest： 盡情地，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. 人們很容易被席爾瓦對未來的看法所震撼，這種看法革命性地融合了生物技術、納米技術和人工智能。He considers awe to be a pivotal ingredient in making ideas resonate.7. pivotal： 關鍵的；ingredient： 要素，組成部分；resonate： 共鳴，共振。In his three-minute clips, he hardly takes a breath as he spouts rousing optimism over digitally animated film.8. clip： (電影、廣播、電視節目的) 片斷；spout： 滔滔不絕地講；rousing： 激動人心的；animated： 動畫的。

A new study published in the journalPsychological Scienceshows there are residual health benefits to having your mind blown.9. Psychological Science：《心理科學》，美國心理協會（American Psychological Society, APS）出版的科學雜志，在世界心理雜志中排名前十；residual：殘留的，剩余的；blow one’s mind： 使某人印象深刻，使某人極度興奮。“People increasingly report feeling time-starved, which exacts a toll on health and well-being,”10. time-starved： 缺少時間的；exact： 強要，勒索；toll：影響，代價，exact a toll指付出代價。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： 感覺，感知；availability：可用性，空閑。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： 相對于；impatient： 不耐煩的，急躁的；volunteer： 主動提供。

日復一日、模式單一的生活讓我們的感覺麻木，思維狹隘，甚至在不知不覺間原地打轉、虛度光陰。“敬畏”的感覺可以幫助我們打破這種僵局，重拾生命中的靈感和熱情，以更加開闊的視野和感恩的心情迎接新鮮的每一天。

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： 證明，展示；awesome： 令人敬畏的，令人畏懼的。Travel ranks14. rank： 給……排等級，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，凝視；cosmo： 宇宙，此處使用復數指“宇宙天體”；sensational：聳人聽聞的，激動人心的；in bloom：盛開，開著花；bustling：熙熙攘攘的，忙亂的；stunning： 令人震驚的；school： 魚群。

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： 強調；cultivate： 培養，養成；small doses： 少量；boost： 促進，增強。

“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，回憶說；astonishingly：令人驚訝地，驚人地。“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. 這項研究把敬畏描述為一種感知范圍擴大的經歷，你需要新的心理地圖來應對這一切的不可知性。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的復數，假設，臆測；air-tight： 無懈可擊的。It is hard to get people to shake22. shake： 擺脫。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，不穩定的；assumption： 假設，設想。Rudd, of Stanford, is currently working on a follow-up24. follow-up： 后續的。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： 裝置，設備。They put you into a state of immersion26. immersion： 沉浸，浸入。—you lose yourself,” says Silva.He thinks we are predisposed27. predisposed： 預先有傾向的，預先有意向的。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： 自動駕駛儀。. 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：光澤，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. 無論是抽時間在大自然中散步、沉思，還是觀看一段精彩的視頻時，他都建議要養成一種習慣，一種對每天的閑暇時光和健康的生活方式都充滿敬畏的習慣。meditation： 冥想，沉思；ritual： 習慣；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，龐大。He grapples with the tinge of sadness in his personal epiphanies,32. grapple with： 努力對付，盡力克服；tinge： 些許（顏色、感情或性質）。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，討厭的事；impermanence：無常，暫時性。

“We are simultaneously worms and gods,”34. simultaneously： 同時地；worm： 可憐蟲。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. 人確實是分裂的：他知道自己卓越且獨特，在自然界中傲視眾生，但是最終也要回歸地下……默默無聲地腐爛并永遠消失。uniqueness： 獨特性，獨一無二；stick out of： 顯眼，顯得突出；towering： 非常成功的，非常有力的；majesty： 威嚴，壯麗；dumbly：無言地，沉默地。