Hidden Moments(1)
隐形时刻
They taught us in the fable of the tortoise and the hare so early, most of us dismissed it as a children’s tale and ignored the powerful lesson it contains: Others may be brighter. Others may learn quicker and retain more. Yet whosoever keeps on plodding relentlessly toward the goal of mastering another language, though his gifts be dim, stands a better chance than the unmotivated genius whose dazzle ignited so much envy in high school Spanish class.
早在孩提的时候，我们就听过龟兔赛跑的故事。但长大后我们就渐渐忘记了这个童话，也忽略了其中包含的真谛：有人也许更聪明，有人也许学习得更快，记忆得更持久。但是如果你能坚持不懈的向着你的目标（掌握你希望掌握的语言）前进，即使你没有天分，仍然具有那些沉睡的天才所无法比拟的优势。
Harnessing your hidden moments, those otherwise meaningless scraps of time you’d normally never think of putting to any practical use, and using them for language study – even if it’s no more than fifteen, ten, or five seconds at a time – can turn you into a triumphant tortoise.
释放隐形时刻的巨大能量吧，要不然它们对你来说只是毫无意义的时间边角料。
利用它们来学习一门外语，哪怕只有十五、十，甚至是五秒钟，都可以使你取得最终的胜利。
By now you’re slogging your way through the grammar and enjoying it more (or suffering it less) than you did in college because you no longer feel obliged to dwell upon a knotty point until you understand it before moving forward. You will not fail a test or risk a bad grade if you abandon some grammatical black hole that tries to swallow you, and move on ahead.
到目前为止，你正在语法学习中缓缓前行，你对语法的感觉已经不像在大学时那样了，因为你并不需要一定弄懂哪个语法难题后才能继续前行。没有考试，当然也不必担心考试是否通过，你可以放下包袱，轻松前行。
You’re battling your way through the foreign language newspaper, your slow progress mitigated by the awareness that this is the real world and the daily language won’t get any tougher than that text.
虽然有很多困难，但你还是坚持读外文原版的报纸。虽然进步缓慢，但是当你意识到你正在阅读的报纸就是真实的世界，真实世界里的文字也不过如此，那么你的士气就会又振奋了许多。
You’re cherry picking through your phrase book, learning how to say practical things in your target language and rehearsing all those precious phrases as though they were your part in a play.
你从你的短语书籍中筛选词汇，学习那些生活中很实用的内容，并像是在演戏一样来练习它们。
Your cassettes are beginning to bore you without teaching you a great deal (yet).
You’re amassing a flash card collection.
By now you’ve probably met someone from the country whose language you’re learning and, like a rookie cop about to make his first collar, you risked your ego by attempting a greeting. He laughed appreciatively – and answered you in English.
你的磁带开始让你感到有些厌倦，因为它们不能教你更多新东西。
你的学习卡片开始变得越来越多。
如果此时你遇到一个人，她或他的母语正好是你正在学习的那种语言，你也许会鼓起勇气，上前打声招呼。但是他或她则会微笑着用英语来回答你。
Hidden moments will heal your deficiencies soon enough, but first let’s talk about the unhidden moments, the study time you’ve arranged to commit to your endeavour. This book is written for those who can’t or don’t want to expend the time or money required to attend formal classes. Successful self teaching is our objective. If you can
take a whole hour every day and devote it to your studies, you’re in excellent position to make satisfying, even dramatic, progress. If you can devote a half hour a day, you’re still poised for success.
If you can’t commit a regular block of time, if the best you can do is an hour here, a half hour there, and maybe a three hour block of time over the weekend, that’s satisfactory, provided you keep it up and maintain momentum.
很快隐形时刻就可以弥补你时间的不足。但我们先来谈谈那些现身的时刻，也就是你为自己语言学习所安排的时间。这本书是写给那些不能够，或是不愿意花费时间和金钱去专程上语言学习课程的人。成功自学是我们的目标。如果每天你可以留给你的语言学习整整一个小时的时间，那么用不了多久你会看到自己惊人的进步。即使你每天为自己能安排出半个小时的时间，那么你仍然大有希望取得成功。如果你不能安排有规律的时间段，如果你最多只能做到无规律的偶尔抽出一小段时间，只要你能保持士气，这也仍然是有希望的。
Gardens unattained go to weed. Apples bitten into and abandoned turn brown. Likewise, your collection of language data – words, phrases, rules, and idioms – will dissolve into a useless mass if not kept up.
Apportion as much time as you reasonably can and as regularly as you can, and then enjoy the magic as the hidden moments kick in.
无人照料的花园会杂草丛生，咬过后丢弃的苹果会氧化变色。同样道理，如果你不能坚持，那么你努力积累的语言素材——单词、短语、语法和成语都会变成一堆毫无用处的废物。
这是2010年珍藏在新浪博客上的翻译练习，如今拿出来再重温一下，顺便和大家分享！