Chapter 5
一、问答
1. What does “you are always choosing”? Can you define it and give an example?
There are a lot of things happened to you everyday and you have to choose how to interpret and respond, so you are always choosing.
Such as when I was in school, I had to choose to study hard or play with classmates, if I think studying was more important to me. I would nearly spent all my time on studying and wouldn’t go outside with others.
2. What’s the point of telling William Jame’s story?
If we choose something we like, we can do it better; if we choose something is being forced upon us against our will, we feel victimized and miserable.
3. Any responsibility problems you had with your boyfriend/girlfriend or parents? If any, please tell us your story.
I would like to tell a story of my relative’s son. One year ago he graduated from a university and found a job in a stated owned enterprise as a worker. He felt unbalanced to work outside everyday. He thought he should work in office as others and he was treated unfairly, so he began to complain. His leader was pissed off after hearing his complaint, so the young man has little chance to be promoted. He was depressed.
二、感想
We are always choosing the values by which we live and the metrics by which we measure everything that happens to us. Often the same event can be good or bad, depending on the metric we choose to use.
我们无法决定会发生什么事情，但我们可以决定自己怎样来看待这些事情。我们每个人心中都有衡量事情的标准，一件事情是好是坏取决于我们选择的标准，也就是我们的价值观。
With great power comes great responsibility.
这句话让我想到前几天看的电影《正义联盟》，神奇女侠、蝙蝠侠、超人等七位具有超能力的英雄，面对一个全新的世界威胁，联合起来，共同承担起保护地球的责任和使命。能力越强的人承担的责任越大，肩负的使命越重要。这句话听上去是很有道理的，但是将前后两个词换个位置，却有更加深远的含义。
“With great responsibility comes great power.” The more we choose to accept responsibility in our lives, the more power we will exercise over our lives
“责任越大，能力才会越强。” 作者认为，生活中承担的责任越多，我们的能力会更强大，而我们首先要做的是勇于承担责任。
Nobody else is ever responsible for your situation but you. Many people may be to blame for your unhappiness, but nobody is ever responsible for your unhappiness but you. This is because you always get to choose how you see things, how you react to things, how you value things.
没有人会为你的处境负责，除了你自己。没有人会为你的不幸买单。这是因为你要自己选择怎样看待问题，怎样做出反应，怎样去评价。
作者讲述这样一个故事，很值得我们深思。有一个男孩，他的女朋友抛弃了他和别人好了，这个男孩悲痛万分，觉得是这个女孩对不起他，他打电话，跑到女孩那里，乞求她回来，但都无济于事。经过一段时间的伤心痛苦之后，男孩开始意识到，虽然女孩抛弃了他，但是自己也要重新振作起来。他开始花更多的时间和朋友交往，旅游，做更多的事情，渐渐地就不那么伤心了。一年后，当他再回想这件事，他注意到以前没有留意的问题。他意识到和前女友交往过程中，自己也有很多问题，如态度傲慢冷淡，伤害了女友却浑然不觉，所以女友才会跟他分手。在男孩以后的交友过程中，他避免了这些错误，所以和朋友关系一直很好。这段最痛苦的经历成为男孩人生中最重要的最有影响的一段经历，也成就了这个男孩的成长。
这个故事告诉我们，当你面对问题时，要勇于承担责任，埋怨别人只会给自己造成更大的伤害。你的痛苦与别人无关。
三、字词
1. A problem that was somehow thrust upon you without your choosing.
2. When we feel that our problems are being forced upon us against our will, we feel victimized and miserable.
thrust upon与force upon同义，强加于人
如：If we choose something is being forced upon us against our will, we feel miserable.
3．I was able to look back and see warning signs of my exgirlfriend’s character, signs I had chosen to ignore or brush off when I was with her.
4. Other times I took her for granted and blew her off and hurt her.
brushes off 与blew off 同义，不予理睬; 冷落
如： When I tried to talk to her about it she just brushed me off.
