So in college I was a government major, which means I had to write a lot of papers.

所以大學時我是政府專業，這代表我得寫很多論文。

情態助動詞 B1

Now when a normal student writes a paper, they might spread the work out a little like this.

現在一般學生寫論文時，可能會像這樣稍微分散工作。

情態副詞

So you know, you get started maybe a little slowly, but

所以你知道，一開始可能有點慢，但

you get enough done in the first week that with some heavier days later on, everything gets done and things stay civil.

第一週你就能完成足夠的內容，之後再多花點時間，所有事情都能完成，一切都會順利。

But then actually the paper would come along and then I would kind of do this.

但實際上論文來了之後，我就會這樣做。

And that would happen every single paper.

而且每篇論文都會發生這種情況。

但是接著就來了我那九十頁的畢業論文。

A paper you're supposed to spend a year on.

這是一篇你應該花一年時間去寫的論文。

I knew for a paper like that my normal workflow was not an option.

我知道像那樣的論文，我平常的工作流程是行不通的。

So I planned things out and I decided it kind of had to go something.

所以我規劃事情，而且我決定它必須有點像這樣。

So I'd start off light and I'd bump it up in the middle months.

所以一開始我會輕鬆點，然後在中間幾個月增加強度。

And then at the end I would kick it up into high gear.

然後到了最後，我會把它提升到高檔。

How hard could it be to just walk up the stairs?

Those first few months, they came and went and I couldn't quite do stuff.

那最初的幾個月，就這樣過去了，我卻無法完成事情。

所以我們就有了一個超棒的新修訂計畫。

But then those middle months actually went by and I didn't really write words.

但接著那中間的幾個月就這樣過去了，我根本沒在寫作。

And then two months turned into one month, which turned into two weeks.

然後兩個月變成一個月，又變成兩個星期。

And one day I woke up with three days until the deadline, still not having written a word.

有一天我醒來，離截止日期只剩三天，我還沒寫一個字。

I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours, pulling not one but two all nighters.

我花了72小時寫了90頁，不只熬了兩個通宵，還衝過校園，慢動作跳進去，在截止日期前趕上了。

Humans are not supposed to pull two all nighters, sprinted across campus, dove in slow motion and got it in just at the deadline.

人類不應該熬兩個通宵，衝過校園，慢動作跳進去，在截止日期前趕上了。

I thought that was the end of everything.

And they say, we need to talk about your thesis.

他們說，我們需要談談你的論文。

And they say it's the best one we've ever seen.

他們說，這是我們看過最棒的一篇。

那是一篇非常、非常糟糕的論文。

I just wanted to enjoy that one moment when all of you thought this guy is amazing.

我只是想享受那一刻，你們都覺得這個人很棒。

沒有，沒有，那非常、非常糟糕。

總之，我現在是個作家部落客。

And a couple years ago I decided to write about procrastination.

幾年前我決定寫關於拖延症的文章。

My behavior has always perplexed the non procrastinators around me.

我的行為一直讓周遭不拖延的人感到困惑。

And I wanted to explain to the non procrastinators of the world what goes on in the heads of procrastinators and why we are the way we are.

我想向全世界不拖延的人解釋，拖延者的腦袋裡在想什麼，以及我們為什麼是這樣的人。

Now, I had a hypothesis that the brains of procrastinators were actually different than the brains of of other people.

現在，我有一個假設，拖延者的腦袋跟一般人其實不太一樣。

And to test this, I found an MRI lab that actually let me scan both my brain and the brain of a proven non procrastinator so I could compare them.

為了驗證這個，我找到了一間核磁共振實驗室，讓我掃描我的腦袋，還有一個確定不拖延的人的腦袋，這樣我就可以比較了。

And I actually brought them here to show you today.

我今天真的把它們帶來這裡給你們看。

And I want you to take a look carefully to see if you can notice a difference.

我想請你們仔細看看，能不能發現有什麼不一樣。

And I know that if you're not a trained brain expert, it's not that obvious, but

我知道，如果你們不是受過訓練的腦部專家，可能不太明顯，但是

Okay, so here's the brain of a non procrastinator.

Both brains have a rational decision maker in them.

兩個腦袋裡都有一個理性的決策者。

But the procrastinator's brain also has an instant gratification monkey.

但拖延者的腦袋裡還有一個即時享樂猴。

Now, what does this mean for the procrastinator?

那麼，這對拖延者來說意味著什麼呢？

Well, it means everything's fine until this happens.

嗯，這意味著一切都沒事，直到發生這種情況。

So the rational decision maker will make the rational decision that to do something productive.

所以理性的決策者會做出理性的決定，去做一些有生產力的事情。

So he actually takes the wheel and he says, actually

所以他實際上會掌管一切，然後說，其實

let's read the entire Wikipedia page of the Nancy Kerrigan Tanya Harding scandal, because I just remembered that that happened.

我們來讀完南西·凱里根和坦雅·哈丁醜聞的整個維基百科頁面，因為我剛才想起這件事發生過。

Then we're gonna go over to the fridge, we're gonna see if there's anything new in there since 10 minutes ago.

然後我們要去冰箱看看，看看有沒有什麼新東西，自從十分鐘前以來。

After that, we're gonna go on a YouTube spiral that starts with videos of Richard Feynman talking about magnets and ends much, much later with us watching interviews with Justin Bieber's mom.

在那之後，我們要開始一個YouTube的螺旋，從理查·費曼談論磁鐵的影片開始，然後很久很久以後，我們會看賈斯汀·畢柏媽媽的訪談。

So we're not going to really have room on the schedule for any work today.

所以我們今天行程上真的沒有時間做任何事了。

The instant gratification monkey does not seem like a guy you want behind the wheel.

這個即時享樂猴子看起來不像你想讓牠掌管一切。

He has no memory of the past, no knowledge of the future, and

牠沒有過去的記憶，也沒有未來的知識，而且

he only cares about two eggs, easy and fun.

牠只在乎兩件事：輕鬆和有趣。

Now, in the animal world, that works fine.

If you're a dog and you spend your whole life doing nothing other than easy and fun things, you're a huge success.

如果你是一隻狗，你一輩子只做輕鬆有趣的事，那你就是個大贏家。

And to the monkey, humans are just another animal species he has to keep well slept, well fed, and

而且對猴子來說，人類只是另一種牠必須讓牠們睡飽、吃好，

propagating into the next generation, which in tribal times, might have worked.

然後繁衍下一代。在部落時代，這樣做或許還行得通。

Okay, but if you haven't noticed, now we're not in tribal times.

好了，但如果你沒注意到，我們現在已經不是部落時代了。

我們身處一個進步的文明社會。

And the monkey does not know what that is.

Which is why we have another guy in our brain, the rational decision maker, who gives us the ability to do things no other animal can do.

這就是為什麼我們的大腦裡還有另一個角色，就是理性的決策者，他賦予我們做其他動物做不到的事情的能力。

And he wants to take all of that into account, and

而牠想把所有這些都考慮進去，

he wants to just have us do whatever makes sense to be doing right now.

他只想讓我們做當下最合理的事。

Now, sometimes it makes sense to be doing things that are easy and fun, like when you're having dinner or going to bed or enjoying well earned leisure time.

現在，有時候做些輕鬆有趣的事是很合理的，像是吃晚餐、睡覺，或是享受應得的休閒時光。

這就是為什麼有時候會有重疊。

other times, it makes much more sense to be doing things that are harder and less pleasant for the sake of the big picture.

有時候，為了長遠的目標，做些比較辛苦、沒那麼愉快的事反而更合理。

And for the procrastinator, that conflict tends to end a certain way every time, leaving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone, an easy and fun place that's entirely out of the make sense circle.

而對拖延者來說，這種衝突每次的結局都差不多，讓他花很多時間在這個橘色區域，一個完全脫離「做起來合理」圈子的輕鬆有趣的地方。

Now, the dark playground is a place that all of you procrastinators out there know very well.

這個黑暗遊樂場是你們這些拖延者都非常熟悉的地方。

It's where leisure activities happen at times when leisure activities are not supposed to be happening.

這就是休閒活動本不該發生時，卻發生休閒活動的地方。

聽演講 | 學英文 | 你為何總是拖延？他用漫畫揭示拖延症真相，帶你直擊拖延者的大腦！ | 中英對照 英文學習 | 英語演講 | Learn English with ted talks (聽演講 | 學英文 | 為什麼你總在拖延？他用漫畫畫出了拖延症的真實樣子 帶你走進拖延者大腦 | 中英對照 英語学習 | 英文演讲 | Learn English with ted talks)

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