我们花了10天的时间完成了村上春树的一本回忆录What I Talk About When I Talk About Running。我们享受了阅读的乐趣，从村上春树的文字中收获了很多人生的感悟，其中多处段落值得再次翻阅去细细品味和感受。村上春树在本书中表面上是写跑步，其实更多地向我们展现了他的写作和人生。

譬如他写道：

If Something is worth doing, it's worth giving it your best-or in some cases beyond your best.

值得做的事，就值得把它做好，甚至做到更好。

Running every day is a kind of lifeline for me , so I'm not going to lay off or quit just because I'm busy. If I used being busy as an excuse not to run, I 'd never run again . I have only a few reasons to keep on running, and a truckload of them to quit. All I can do is keep these few reasons nicely polished.

放弃的理由有千万种，坚持下去的理由总是那么几个。当你有放弃的念头涌现时，一定要问问自己: 我当初为什么要坚持呢？我的初心是什么？当你铭记起初心，那么使你坚持下去的“个别”原因就可以打败“万千种”诱导你放弃的借口。铭记初心，方能成就自我。勿忘初心，你做到了吗？

What I mean is, I didn’t start running because somebody asked me to become a runner. Just like I didn’t become a novelist because someone asked me to. One day, out of the blue, I wanted to write a novel. And one day, out of the blue, I started to run— simply because I wanted to. I’ve always done whatever I felt like doing in life. People may try to stop me, and convince me I’m wrong, but I won’t change.

无论你做什么事情，这都是你自己的选择，没有任何其他人可以左右你的选择。选择去做自己热爱的事情，义无反顾，勇敢前行。各位，加油！

当然，我们也在其中学到了很多地道表达和习惯用语。

我从一本书中总结了以下12个习惯用语，希望对你的英文学习有所帮助。

1. think out loud/think aloud(出现1次）

to think about something by talking, either to yourself or with other people 边想边说, 边想边说出声, 自言自语

eg: Oh, sorry. I was thinking aloud.噢，对不起。 我在自言自语。

原文：Instead, this is a book in which I’ve gathered my thoughts about what running has meant to me as a person. Just a book in which I ponder various things and think out loud.

2. make a go of sth(出现1次）

to do something successfully 成功做成某事

eg: She was determined to make a go of her programming business.

原文：Most people I knew had predicted that the bar wouldn’t do well. They figured that an establishment run as a kind of hobby wouldn’t work out, that somebody like me, who was pretty naive and most likely didn’t have the slightest aptitude for running a business, wouldn’t be able to make a go of it

3. flat out(出现1次）

(1)in a direct manner; bluntly直率地，不圆滑地；直接的

eg：I told him flat out ‘No’. 我斩钉截铁地告诉他“不”

(2)At top speed以最高速度

eg: Workers are working flat out to meet the rise in demand for new cars. 为满足对新轿车需求的增加，工人正全力以赴地工作。

原文: Most people I knew were flat out against my decision, or else had grave doubts about it.

4. out of the blue（出现3次）

unexpectedly; without warning 出乎意料；突然；晴天霹雳

eg: The decision came out of the blue. 这个决定来得很突然。

原文：One day, out of the blue, I wanted to write a novel. And one day, out of the blue, I started to run—simply because I wanted to.

5. keep one’s head above water（出现1次）

to just be able to manage, especially when you have financialdifficulties在艰难的处境下生存，努力克服生活、工作和财务上的困难。

eg:We have so little money that we can hardly keep our headsabove water.

原文：Up till then, it had been a question of sheer survival, of keeping my head above water, and I didn’t have room to think of anything else.

6. be nothing short of sth /be nothing less than sth（出现1次）

used to emphasize that something or someone has a particular quality or seems to be something简直是; 近乎〔用于强调〕

eg:His behaviour was nothing short of rudeness.他的行为非常无礼。

原文： Running twenty six miles in heat like that is nothing short of an act of madness.

7. throw in the towel（出现1次）

to stop trying to do something because you lack determination or because you think you cannot win“认输，放弃”。在拳击比赛中，教练可以将毛巾投入赛场内，作为停止比赛的信号。在有人放弃或承认失败的情况下，使用这个成语。

eg: What keeps you motivated in difficult situations when you want to throw in the towel? 当你想要认输时，是什么在困境中给你动力？

原文：My time was going to be awful anyway, I thought, so why not just throw in the towel?

8. be quick/slow on the uptake（出现1次）

( informal)to be quick/slow to understand sth 领悟得快╱慢

eg: Is he always this slow on the uptake? 他总是理解得这么慢吗？

原文：Muscles are like work animals that are quick on the uptake. If you carefully increase the load, step by step, they learn to take it.

9. no mean feat / achievement / task etc.（出现1次）

something that is very difficult to do, so that someone who does it deserves to be admired不小的业绩/成就/任务等

eg: They sold 1 million cards in the first year of business-no mean feat, given the problems many businesses are facing.考虑到许多公司面临的种种问题，他们在开张的第一年就卖出了一百万张卡 — 真是很不错的业绩。

原文：Shipping all these records back to Japan was no mean feat.

10. at a fast, good, steady, rapid etc. clip （出现3次）

quickly迅速；很快地

eg: Traffic was moving at a good clip.往来车辆的速度很快。

原文：Up to around the eighteenth mile I was going along at a good enough clip, and I was sure I’d run a decent time.

11. if my memory serves me (well/right/correctly)(出现2次）

used for saying that you think you have remembered something correctly如果我记得不错的话

eg: He was mayor from 1945 to 1949, if my memory serves me correctly.

原文：If memory serves, I’ve never seen her wearing the same outfit twice.

12. rain cats and dogs(出现1次）

used for saying that a lot of rain is falling下倾盆大雨

eg:Heardly had we left home when it began to rain cats and dogs.我们刚离开家,就下起倾盆大雨来了.

原文：It was raining cats and dogs, plus the windshield wiper on my rental car was acting up, and by the time I returned to Cambridge late at night I was exhausted.

以上这些习惯用语尽管在本书中出现了3次，2次，1次，但是其他作品中会多次出现，值得我们去记忆和应用。例如: make a go of sth可以替换succeed in doing sth，thow in the towel和give up 通用，at a fast clip代替quickly, rain cats and dogs动词短语可以替换downpour的名词用法等等。大家平时多积累这些习惯用语，可以让自己的口语表达更地道，也可以应用于英文写作中，让行文更富有变化。

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