新概念英語第三冊(含lrc文本) Lesson 50 New Year resolutions

Lesson 50
New Year resolutions
新年的決心
Listen to the tape then answer the question below.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What marked the end of the writer's New Year resolutions?

The New Year is a time for resolutions. Mentally, at least, most of us could compile formidable lists of 'dos' and 'don'ts'. The same old favorites recur year in year out with monotonous regularity. We resolve to get up earlier each morning, eat less, find more time to play with the children, do a thousand and one jobs about the house, be nice to people we don't' like, drive carefully, and take the dog for a walk every day. Past experience has taught us that certain accomplishments are beyond attainment. If we remain inveterate smokers, it is only because we have so often experienced the frustration that results from failure. Most of us fail in our efforts at self-improvement because our schemes are too ambitious and we never have time to carry them out. We also make the fundamental error of announcing our resolutions to everybody so that we look even more foolish when we slip back into our bad old ways. Aware of these pitfalls, this year I attempted to keep my resolutions to myself. I limited myself to two modest ambitions: to do physical exercise every morning and to read more of an evening. An all-night party on New Year's Eve provided me with a good excuse for not carrying out either of these new resolutions on the first day of the year, but on the second, I applied myself assiduously to the task.
The daily exercises lasted only eleven minutes and I proposed to do them early in the morning before anyone had got up. The self-discipline required to drag myself out of bed eleven minutes earlier than usual was considerable. Nevertheless, I managed to creep down into the living room for two days before anyone found me out. After jumping about on the carpet and twisting the human frame into uncomfortable positions, I sat down at the breakfast table in an exhausted condition. It was this that betrayed me. The next morning the whole family trooped in to watch the performance. That was really unsettling, but I fended off the taunts and jibes of the family good-humouredly and soon everybody got used to the idea. However, my enthusiasm waned. The time I spent at exercises gradually diminished. Little by little the eleven minutes fell to zero. By January 10th, I was back to where I had started from. I argued that if I spent less time exhausting myself at exercises in the morning, I would keep my mind fresh for reading when I got home formwork Resisting the hypnotizing effect of television, I sat in my room for a few evenings with my eyes glued to book. One night, however, feeling cold and lonely, I went downstairs and sat in front of the television pretending to read. That proved to be my undoing, for I soon got back to my old bad habit of dozing off in front of the screen. I still haven't given up my resolution to do more reading. In fact, I have just bought a book entitled How to Read a Thousand Words a Minute. Perhaps it will solve my problem, but I just haven't had time to read it!

New words and expressions 生詞和短語

resolution
n. 決心

mentally
adv. 內心里

compile
v. 編輯，編制

formidable
adj. 令人畏懼的

recur
v. 再發(fā)生，又出現(xiàn)

regularity
n. 規(guī)律性

accomplishment
n. 成就

attainment
n. 達到

inveterate
adj. 根深蒂固的

self-improvement
n. 自我完善

scheme
n. 簡單的計劃，方案

ambitious
adj. 雄心勃勃的

pitfall
n. 意外的困難，易犯的錯誤

modest
adj. 要求不過分的

assiduously
adv. 刻苦地

self-discipline
n. 自我約束

frame
n. 軀體

betray
v. 暴露，顯露

troop
v. 成群結隊地走動

unsettle
v. 使不安

taunt
n. 嘲笑，奚落人的話

jibe
n. 嘲弄，挖苦

good-humouredly
adv. 和氣地，心情好地

wane
v. 逐漸變小，變弱

hypnotize
v. 使欲睡，使蒙朧

undoing
n. 禍根，毀滅的原因

screen
n. 電視機屏幕