美国人的现代生活方式英文阅读(2)

若木分享 2017-08-03 12:09:17

　　各种生活方式、健康生活，欢迎点击↓↓

　　现代人的生活方式英语阅读：现代生活刮起“瑜伽风”

　　近年在世界各地兴起和大热的瑜伽，并非只是一套流行或时髦的健身运动这么简单。瑜伽是一种非常古老的能量知识修炼方法，集哲学、科学和艺术于一身。瑜伽的基础建筑在古印度哲学上，数千年来，心理、生理和精神上的戒律已经成为印度文化中的一个重要组成部分。古代的瑜伽信徒发展了瑜伽体系，因为他们深信通过运动身体和调控呼吸，可以完全控制心智和情感，以及保持永远健康的身体。现代生活刮起又一次“瑜伽风”，我们一起做瑜伽吧!

　　on one of her regular visits to new york from virginia, christine breighner told rebecca damon, a longtime friend, that she didn't want to visit the tourist sites she'd seen before. she wanted to extend her horizons beyond the latest broadway show or exhibit at the met. not too long before, damon had received a brochure advertising a call-and-response chanting session called kirtan after a yoga class. now she passed it along

　　"i read the brochure and said, 'oh, that might challenge my comfort zone, so we should do it,' " said breighner.

　　recently, breighner and damon attended a friday night kirtan at the integral yoga institute. the two friends, along with about 60 participants, sat on cushions facing a group of musicians who wore traditional indian kurtas — collarless cotton tunics — and played a variety of instruments, including bongos, a wooden flute and harmonium, an accordion-like organ.

　　for about two hours, the musicians played and chanted in sanskrit while the audience responded when moved. some clapped and swayed as they repeated the words; others simply listened with closed eyes and beatific smiles. the mood became more festive as the evening wore on, with many participants jumping up to dance: springing straight up and down, making chorus-line kicks and even walking on their hands.

　　it was a definite scene — a mix of a religious revival meeting, a grateful dead concert, and summer camp. and it could certainly challenge many comfort zones. but if you can adjust your comfort level to include white people in dreadlocks and saris, if you can roll with belting out several rounds of "hare krishna" and "om nama shivaya," then you might just enjoy yourself.

　　and with the average kirtan in new york requesting a donation of $10 to $15, it's a relatively inexpensive route to bliss in difficult times.

　　as with meditation, the intent of chanting is to calm and focus the mind, relieving it from its usual chatter — grocery lists, money worries, petty arguments. "chanting works well because it engages the mind and because it's musical," said mitra somerville, 49, who leads integral's community kirtan. "the melody and the vibration of the words are very soothing and uplifting so people can really connect with it."

　　and an increasing number of americans seem to be connecting with kirtan. at the omega center in rhinebeck, new york, attendance to its ecstatic chant festival has doubled over the last five years. the numbers are also up at integral. jo sgammato, 57, the center's general manager, said the friday-night kirtan would have about 25 participants 10 years ago; now the center will sometimes host 400 in a single weekend when kirtan stars like krishna das, jai uttal and wah! perform. at the jivamukti yoga school in manhattan, 700 people came last september to see krishna das, setting a record for kirtan at the center.

　　if you've ever taken a yoga class where a rich, sonorous voice chanted on cd, chances are it was krishna das, who has become so popular over the last five years that he now performs at mainstream venues like the wadsworth theater in los angeles, the berklee performance center in boston and last month at town hall in manhattan.

　　现代人的生活方式英语阅读：现代人的联系方式让人抓狂

　　full disclosure: this is an opinionated rant. why do i have to go to linkedin, facebook, and twitter to send messages? why do people insist on using these non-standard messaging systems? if people said, "don't call me on the telephone -- i prefer the delephone," you would think they were crazy. for a while, this was a minor inconvenience, but now it is starting to get out of control.

　　do what you gotta do some people won't respond to email (or take a while to respond) but reply immediately when you contact them with twitter direct messages. other people do the same in facebook or friendfeed. and yet other people send messages that pile up in yooh, and then i get the skype pings.

　　and gmail chat requests.

　　oops, almost forgot friendfeed.

　　this is getting out of hand. do what you gotta do. if one of these is the only way to reach somebody i need to reach, then i'll use it. but these are too many messaging systems, and they are becoming a productivity drain.

　　open standards always win lots of people say that email sucks, that it's broken. this "e-fail" mantra is really about the inadequacy of email systems, something that many entrepreneurs recognize and are aiming to fix. the reason why email will always be with us is that it is an open standard, and this mantra is always worth repeating:

　　* open standards always win

　　winners and losers from a standards shakeout twitter has possibly gotten this right once again. because it is open, anybody can build an interface for its direct messages.

　　linkedin totally fails on this count. linkedin is a great and very useful research tool. when i don't know how to contact somebody, finding out which of my contacts knows them is invaluable. i use it frequently. but then, i want to be able to contact that person by email (or telephone, or twitter if that is their preference). linkedin's messaging system is simply an irrelevant chore.

　　methinks facebook messaging may go the same way. not being a big facebook user, i may miss the point. but i have noticed that the sort of person who in the past preferred to be contacted via facebook now prefers communication via twitter.

　　the integration opportunity

　　this pain point is, of course, an opportunity. this integration has been referred to in the past as "unified messaging," but many of those solutions were too complex. you needed to buy into everything to use it at all.

　　some great solutions are probably already out there. i am not talking about something like tweetdeck, which is perfect for somebody who lives in twitter. rather, the interesting thing is integrating twitter direct messages into existing messaging and email systems.

　　现代人的生活方式英语阅读：逃离现代生活，不插电的夏令营

　　people in the us have a special camp to go to this summer.

　　美国今夏有了一个特别的夏令营。

　　those who are tired of the social media treadmill and want to unplug for a couple of days can consider going to a fast-growing summer camp three hours outside of san francisco, reported reuters.

　　据路透社的报道，这个夏令营正适合那些厌倦了不断刷新社交媒体，想过几天不插电生活的人们。这个火热升温的夏令营在距旧金山三小时车程的郊外举办。

　　checking into the camp involves handing over your personal electronics to volunteers in white lab coats.

　　加入夏令营之后，你需要上交所有的个人电子产品，由身穿白色实验服的志愿者保管。

　　camp grounded, now in its second year, offers hyper-connected attendees a break from the incessant noise of social media relentlessly battling for their attention.

　　这个名为camp grounded的夏令营，开营已有两年。那些随时活在网络上的人们可以通过参加这个夏令营与吵杂的社交媒体短暂告别，不再为怎么出风头而苦恼。

　　the rules of this “digital detox” camp are clear: no shop talk, no alcohol, and most importantly, no phones, computers, tablets or watches.

　　对于这种“数码排毒”夏令营，规则十分明了：不谈工作，不喝酒，最重要的是，没有手机、电脑、平板、甚至连手表也没有。

　　co-founder levi felix has stressed it is not just an experience for tech workers, although current and former silicon valley employees make up a big part of the clientele. this year, campers ranged from college grads to recent retirees, felix said in an interview with reuters.

　　李维?菲利克斯是该营的创办人之一，他在接受路透社的采访中说，虽然大部分营员都正在或曾经在硅谷工作，但是该夏令营不只为技术工作者打造。今年的营员中，既有刚毕业的大学生，也有刚退休的老人。

　　in recent years, the “unplugging movement” has been gathering steam, although it has been criticized by the press for stirring “postmodern techno-anxiety” and failing to recognize the positive impacts of technology. each march, thousands of people unplug from their devices for 24 hours, as part of an event organized by the nonprofit organization reboot.

　　近些年，“不插电运动”正如火如荼，尽管被一些媒体评价为“煽动后现代科技焦虑”，并指出忽视了科技的积极影响。每年三月，还是会有成千上万人参加非营利性机构reboot组织的活动，包括关掉所有的电子设备24个小时。

　　tech-free getaway options like camp grounded are growing in the us, reported npr. hotels like the lake placid lodge in new york and hotel monaco chicago are offering digital detox or “black-out” services. the “check-in to check-out” package at the lake placid lodge invites guests to leave their electronic devices at the front desk to enjoy the peace and serenity of their environment.

　　据npr的报道，像camp grounded这种逃离科技、回归原始的生活方式在美国正为越来越多的人接受。一些酒店，如纽约的普莱西德湖酒店、摩纳哥芝加哥酒店，都推出了“数码排毒”与“熄灯”服务。普莱西德湖酒店更是推出“入住即获解放”服务，其顾客可以将自己的电子产品全部寄放在前台，尽情享受自然的宁静与内心的平和。

　　time to take control

　　做电子产品的主人

　　david stewart, founder of socialstudio, a company making social media applications, said he was not surprised that the digital detox camp was teeming with techies. “people designing addictive products are the most aware of the occasional human need to be free from them,” he said, admitting it can be a challenge for developers to strike a balance between engaging users and spamming them with notifications.

　　社交媒体应用程序开发公司socialstudio创始人大卫.斯图尔特表示，对于“数码排毒营”充斥着数码技术人员，他并不觉得惊讶。他说：“越是设计让人沉迷产品的人，就越明白人们要偶尔远离这些产品。”他也承认，对于开发者，在吸引用户和让他们得到过多信息之间寻找平衡点，确实是一个挑战。

　　with no iphones or computers to distract them, campers at camp grounded participate in “playshops” featuring yoga, laughing contests and writing sessions, the npr reported.

　　另据npr报道，没有了iphone和电脑的干扰，camp grounded的营员会参加各种有趣的活动，包括瑜伽、大笑比赛、以及写作课程。

　　but for many of the participants, the most exciting activity is conversation. campers adopt nicknames and are barred from talking about work or disclosing their age. npr quoted one participant as saying that not being able to discuss work or even reveal their actual names allows everyone to quickly understand each other on a more personal level.

　　不过，对于大多数营员而言，最有趣的活动还是和其他人聊天。每个营员都有自己的绰号，并且在聊天中不可谈及工作或年龄。npr在报道中引用了一位营员的话，“不用讨论工作，甚至不用透露真实姓名，让每个人都能在私人的层面上更快了解彼此。”

　　felix says that life off the grid is not the end goal of the retreat. “it’s not about not using [technology]. it’s about being in control of using it,” he told the npr. “it’s all about what you do when the devices are gone.”

　　在接受npr的采访中，菲利克斯则说，参加这种夏令营的最终目的并不是为了脱离现代社会。“重点并不是让人们不用(科技产品)，而拥有控制能力，即使没有这些电子产品，你会做些什么。”

美国人的现代生活方式英文阅读(2)

各种生活方式、健康生活，欢迎点击↓↓