We book airline tickets, visit beaches, admire glaciers, say hello to penguins, watch elephants drinking,

我們會訂機票、到海灘旅遊、欣賞冰河、拜訪企鵝，看看大象喝水，

and so on.

等等。

In all this, the emphasis is almost always on the experience itself,

這些，重點幾乎總是經驗的本身，

which lasts a certain amount of time and then is over.

它們在你心中能持續一段時間，然後就被遺忘了。

The idea of making a big deal of revisiting an experience in memory sounds a little strange or simply sad.

把想在記憶中徹底重遊一個地點弄得大張旗鼓聽起來有點奇怪，或是說有點感傷。

We are not assiduous or devoted cultivators of our past experiences

我們並不是那麼的勤奮致力耕耘回想舊有的經歷。

We shove all the nice things that have happened to us at the back of the cupboard of our minds

我們會把曾發生在我們身上美好的事都推向我們心中的深處，

and don't particularly expect to see them ever again.

並且不會特別預期會再回想起它們。

They happen, and then we're done with them.

它們發生了，然後我們就讓它們這樣過去了。

They do sometimes come back to us, unbidden.

它們的確有時候會無預警地回來找我們。

We may be on a boring train ride to work but suddenly, an image of a beach at dusk comes to life.

我們可能無聊的坐著火車去工作，突然間，一幅黃昏海灘的畫面在腦海中栩栩如生。

Or, while we're having a bath we remember climbing a flower-covered mountain with a friend a decade before.

或者，當我們在洗澡時，我們想起了十年前和朋友在爬著一座開滿花朵的山坡。

But little attention tends to get paid to such moments.

但我們對於這種瞬間不太會去注意。

We don't engineer regular encounters with them.

我們不會規律地策劃去回想它們。

We may feel we have to dismiss them as daydreaming or thinking about nothing.

我們可能會覺得這是白日夢或是無用的回想而去消除它們。

But what if we were to alter the hierarchy of prestige a little,

但我們何不改變一點傳統的思維，

and argue that regular immersion in our memories is a critical part of what can sustain and console us.

並且表明經常沉浸在我們的記憶中其實對我們是一個很重要的支持與慰藉。

And not least, is perhaps the cheapest and most flexible form of entertainment.

而且至少，這也許是最便宜也最有彈性的娛樂。

We should learn, regularly, to travel around our minds and think it almost as prestigious to sit at home

我們應該有規律地學習在我們的內心裡遨遊，並且認為這就如同在家裡坐著一般，

and reflect on a trip we once took to an island as to trek to this island encased in our cumbersome bodies.

思考著我們曾經到過的小島的一場健行，就好像我們在我們自己的軀殼裡健走一般。

In our neglect of our memories, we are spoiled children who squeeze only a portion of the pleasure from our experiences,

就那些被我們忽略的記憶來說，我們就像是壞小孩，只在我們所經歷的事物中抓住了一小部份的愉悅，

and then toss them aside to seek new thrills.

然後把它們踢到一旁而再去尋找新的刺激。

Part of why we feel the need for so many new experiences may simply be

為何我們需要這麼多新的體驗，有部分原因可能僅是

that we're so bad at absorbing the ones we've had.

因為我們很難去吸收已擁有的體驗。

To help us focus more on our memories, we need nothing technical.

想讓我們對我們的記憶更專注，我們不需要任何科技的輔助。

We certainly don't need a camera.

我們當然也不需要一台相機。

There is a camera in our minds already that is always on. It takes everything we've ever seen.

我們的心中早就有一台永遠開啟的相機，它可以拍下任何我們曾看過的東西。

Huge chunks of experience are still there in our heads, intact and vivid, just waiting for us to ask ourselves

一大堆曾有過的體驗仍完整且活生生的在我們腦海裡，只等著我們去詢問我們自己一些

leading questions like, 'Where did we go after we landed?' or, 'What was the first breakfast like?'

引導性的問題，像是，「降落後我們去了哪裡？」，或是，「第一個早餐吃的是什麼呢？」

When we can't sleep, when there is no wifi, we should always think of going on memory journeys.

當我們睡不著，當沒有無線網路可以使用時，我們應該總是想著來場記憶之旅。

Our experiences have not disappeared just because they're no longer unfolding right in-front of our eyes.

我們過往的體驗並沒有逝去，它們只是不再在我們眼前展開罷了。

We can remain in touch with so much of what made them pleasurable, simply through the art of evocation.

只要透過喚醒記憶的藝術，我們仍可以與大多數讓我們快樂的體驗聯繫。

We talk endlessly of virtual reality, yet we don't need gadgets

我們說的是無窮盡的虛擬實境，但不需要裝置。

we have the finest virtual reality machines already in our own heads.

我們的腦袋裡已經有最好的虛擬實境機器了。

We can, right now, shut our eyes and travel into and linger amongst the very best and most consoling

我們可以，現在，閉上眼，然後旅行並逗留在我們自身過去那最棒、最令人安慰

and life-enhancing bits of our past.

且有生命力的部分之中。