英語美文朗讀 第548期 The power of thought

Before April 1954, it was believed that no one could run a mile in less than four minutes. People had tried to do it repeatedly for over a thousand years, and yet it failed. It was considered impossible.

 

在1954年4月之前，人們認為，沒有人能在4分鐘之內(nèi)跑完一英里。一千多年以來，人們進行了無數(shù)次嘗試，但都失敗了，所以大家都認為這是不可能實現(xiàn)的。

 

The human body was simply not capable of a four-minute mile. It was called the four-minute barrier. And then in Oxford, on the sixth of May, Roger Bannister came along and he ran a mile in three minutes fifty-nine point four seconds.

人類的身體，就是做不到在4分鐘之內(nèi)跑完一英里，人們把這叫做四分鐘界限。接著，在5月6日，牛津，Roger Bannister出現(xiàn)了，他跑一英里只花了3分鐘59.4秒。

 

Interestingly, Bannister was not a pro-athlete. He attained this record with minimal training while practicing as a junior doctor, but as part of his training he relentlessly visualized the achievement, in order to create a sense of certainty in his mind and body. He thought and pondered on his success daily.

有意思的事，Bannister并不是專業(yè)運動員。他是一位見習醫(yī)生，正在實習，他的跑步訓練非常有限，他能卻打破這個記錄。但是，在他的訓練過程中，他一直想象自己會成功，這樣，無論是在生理上還是心理上，他都堅信自己能做到。他每天都在思考，想象著自己的成功。

 

Now here's what's significant about that event. From then on, the four-minute barrier has since been broken by over 1,400 athletes, including high schoolers. The record set by Bannister only lasted 46 days before being broken by John Landy in Finland. What happened? What made what seemed impossible now possible to many?

這件事情為什么很重要？因為，從那以后，有超過1400位運動員突破了這個四分鐘界限。Bannister創(chuàng)下的記錄，46天后就被芬蘭的John Landy打破了。到底怎么回事？是什么把不可能變成了可能？

 

Here's what changed. When he crashed through the barrier, the rest of the world saw that it was possible. And the previous myth was only a mental barrier. It was the mind that set the limitation and not the body.

我來告訴你吧。在Bannister打破記錄的時候，全世界都看見了，這是有可能實現(xiàn)的。此前的神話，不過是心理上的阻礙而已。設下界限的，不是身體，而是思想。

 

It took Bannister a sense of extreme belief, extreme thought in his mind, to remind himself, that it was possible. And when he reminded himself that it was possible, his subconscious just had to agree with him, pushing his body to create the effect of his manifestation. He alone created that certainty in his mind without seeing any proof that it was possible.

Bannister對自己的成功保持絕對的信心，心中懷有絕對成功的想法，提醒自己，這是有可能實現(xiàn)的，這樣他才打破了記錄。當他告訴自己，這是有可能的，他的潛意識就會認同他的觀念，不斷鞭策他的身體，去追求能夠成功的效果。他自己在心中創(chuàng)造了信心，就算有任何事情告訴他這是不可能的，他也不去理會。

 

From then onwards, when other athletes got on the track, they knew it had been done. Holding that thought in mind made them go on to break the barrier and break his record. They thought about it into reality. Mind power is one of the most influential and most useful powers you possess.

從那以后，其他運動員走上跑道的時候，他們知道，四分鐘內(nèi)跑完一英里，這件事情已經(jīng)實現(xiàn)過了。心中有這樣的想法，他們就能夠繼續(xù)去越過阻礙，打破記錄。他們把想法變成了現(xiàn)實。思想的力量，是你擁有的最強大、最有用的力量。

 

This power consists of your thoughts. The thoughts that pass through your mind are responsible for everything that happens in your life. Your predominant thoughts influence your behavior and attitude and control your actions and reactions.

這種力量，由你的想法組成。你頭腦里面的想法，決定了你生活中發(fā)生的所有事情。那些最強大的想法，影響了你的行為和心態(tài)，控制了你的舉動和反應。

 

Some call it the law of attraction, while science calls it the reticular articulating system. This law of attraction uses the power of the mind to translate whatever is in our thoughts and materialize them into reality. The results of positive thoughts are always positive consequences. The same holds true for negative thoughts, always leading to bad outcomes.

有人說，這就是吸引力法則，而科學上把這稱為網(wǎng)狀表達系統(tǒng)。這種吸引力法則，運用思維的力量，把我們頭腦中的所有想法，轉(zhuǎn)變成了事實。積極的想法，會帶來積極的結(jié)果。消極的想法，會帶來消極的結(jié)果。

 

When it comes to science, we have a system in our body called the reticular articulating system, RAS. This system helps our brains decide what information to focus on and the ones to disregard.

在科學領域，我們身體內(nèi)有一個系統(tǒng)，叫做網(wǎng)狀表達系統(tǒng)，簡寫為RAS。這個系統(tǒng)幫助我們的大腦決定關注什么信息，忽略什么信息。

 

When your purpose is clearly defined, and you have a mission, and you live every single moment with certainty that you will achieve it, you influence what the RAS filters into the subconscious, positive information.

如果你有清晰的目標，有明確的使命，你生命中的每一秒都在努力實現(xiàn)夢想，你的RAS系統(tǒng)就會過濾信息，它讓積極的信息進入你的潛意識里。

 

The consequence of this is that you begin to pay attention to the things that help you achieve your goals, things you otherwise would have never paid attention to. That's what the power of thought gives you.

結(jié)果就是，你開始注意那些能夠幫助你實現(xiàn)目標的事情，而原來你從來沒有關注過它們。這就是思想帶給你的力量。