之前在池老师的公众号上面知道了英语流利说，刚好我又是在外企 ， 就想着 练习 一下英语。自此走上了这条不归路。

前期的特别简单，一般都是从Level3 开始学起的，一天都可以学一页。 但是到了Level 6  一个小时都可能学不完一个课程，就感觉后期真的有点耗时间，因为毕竟不是靠英语吃饭的，后期感觉有些偏难。

而且在Level5 的时候呢，总觉得就是靠熟悉了，熟悉的文章确实就会了，但是如果碰到差不多难度的，感觉还是不会。

好了， 废话不多说，上文章。

Level 7 Unit 1 Part 1 listenning Procrastination

Article

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

Now when a normal students write paper , they might spread the work out like this.

you get started maybe a little slowly , but you get enough done at the first week that some heavier days later on ,everything get things done , things stay with.

I would , would have it all ready to go , but then , actually ,the paper would come along ,and then I would kind of do this .

And that would happens every single paper .

But then came my 90 pages senior thesis, a paper you're supposed to spend a year on .

And i knew for a paper like that , My normal workflow, was not an opinion , it was a too big project.

So I planned things out , And I decided , i kind of had to go something like this .

This is how the year would go.

So I'd start off light , and I'd bumb it up in the middle month,and then in the end , I would kick it up ino high gears just like a little staircase , How hard could it be to walk up the stairs?

But then funnist thing happened , those first few month.

They came and went , and I could not quite do staff

So I had an awesome new revised plan.

Then those middle  months actually went by , and I did not really write words and so we were here.

One day I woke up , with three days until the deadline. Still not happen writen a word , and so I did the only thing I could.

I wrote 90 pages over 72 hours , pulling not one but two all-nighters , humans are not supposed to put two all-nighters .

Sprinted across campus,doven in slow motion, and got it in just at the deadline.

I thought that was the end of everything.

But a week later I got a call , it is school.

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

It was very , very bad thesis.

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

Anyway today I am a writer-blogger guy , I wrote the blog we're believed.

And couples of years ago , I decide to write about procrastination.

My behavior has always perplexed the non-procrastinators around me , And I wanna to explain to the non-procrastintors of the world

What goes on in the heads of the procrastinators and why we are the way we are .

Now ,I had a hypothesis, that either brain in the procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other peoples.

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

And I actually brought them to show you today, And I want you take a look carefully to see if you can notice the difference. I know that if you're not a trained brain experts , it's not that obvious ,but just take a look okay?

Both brains have a Rational decision maker in them , but the procrastinator's brain also has an instant gratification monkey.

Now what does this mean for the procrastinators , well it means everything is fine until this happens

So the rational decision maker were made the rational decision to do something productive , but the monkey does not like that plan , so he actually takes the wheel.

And he asys actually let's read entire wikipedia page of the Nancy kerrigan/ Tonya Harding scandal ,I just remember what that happen

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

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

All of that's going to take a while So we are not going to really have room on the schedule for any work today. Sorry.

The instant gratification mokey does not seem like a guy you want behind the wheel he lives entirely in the present moment

He has no memory of the past , no knowledge of the future , he only cares about two things easy and fun.

if you re a dog and you spend your whole life doing nothing other easy and fun things, you are huge success.

And to the monkey, humans are just another animal species, you have to keep well-slept, well-fed and propagating into the next generation,  Which in tribal time , might have worked okay.

But if you haven't noticed now we are not in tribal time, we are in an advanced civilization , 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 abaility to do things no other aniamls can do.

we can visilise the future , we can see the big picture.

we can make long-term plans , and he wants to take all of that into account.

And he wants to just have us do whatever make sence to be doing rigt now.

Now somethimes it makes sense to be thing that are easy and fun, like when you are having dinner or going to bed or enjoying well-earned leisure time.

That is why there is an overlap.

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

And that is when we have a conflict.

And for the procrastinators, that conflict tends to end a certain way everytime, leaving him spending a lot of time in this orange zone , an easy and fun place that entirely out of the make sence cycle.

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

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

The fun you have in the dark play ground, is not actually fun because it is completely unearned,and the air is filled with guilt, dread,anxiety,self-hatred -- all of those good proscrastinator feeling.

And the question is, in this situation wth the monkey behind the wheel how does the procrastinator ever get himself over here to this blue zone , a less pleasant place but where really important things happen

Well turns out that the procrastionator has a guardian angel , someone who was always looking down on him and watching over him in his darkest moments , someone called the Panic Monster.

Now the panic monster is dormant most of the time, but he suddenly wakes up anytime a deadline gets too close or there is danger of public embarrasment,a career disater or some other scary consquence.

Now he became very relevant in my life ,pretty recently , because the people of TED reached out to me about six months ago , and invited me to do a TED talk

Now of course I said yes , it is always been a dream of mine to have done a ted talk in the past

But in the middle of all this excitment, the Rational Decision makers seemed to have something else in his mind.

he was saying " are we clear, on what we just accepted?"

do we do we get what is going to be now happening one day in the future , we need to sit down and work on this right now

The monkey said totally agreed but let's just open Google Earth and Zoom into the bottom of india ,like 200 feet above the ground, and scroll up for two and a half hours till we get to the top of the country,so we can get a better feel for india.

As six months turned into four and then two and then one , the people of the TED decided to release the speakers.

And I opened up the website , and there was my face , staring right back at me and guess who woke up ?

So the panic monster starts losing his mind and fews seconds later, the whole system in mayhem

And the monkey who were remember he was terrified the panic monster,bump he is up the tree.

And finally finally the rational decisional maker can take the wheel and I can start working on the talk.

Now the panic monster explains all kinds of pretty insane procrastinator behavior ,like how someone like me could spend two weeks unable to start the openig sentence of a paper.

And then miraculously find the unbelievable work ethic to stay up all night and write 8 pages .

And this entire situation with the three characters , this is the procrastinator's system.

And this what I decide I write about in the blog , just couples of years ago.

When I did, I was amazed by their responsed.

Literally, thousands of emails came in,from all different kinds of people , from all over the world , doing all different kinds of things

these people who were nurses , bankers, painters , engineers and lots and lots of PHD students

and they were all writing, saying the same thing , I have this problem too.

But what struck me was the contrast between the light tone of the post and the heaviness of these emails .

Thess people were writing with intense frastration about what procrastination had done to their lives, about what this monkey had done to them.

And I thought about this, and I said well, if the  procrastinator system works, then what is going on?

Why are all of these people in such a dark place , well, it trurs out that there is two kinds of procrastination

Everything I've talked about today, the examples I've given they all have deadlines, And when there is deadlines ,the effect of procrastination are contained to the short term , because the panic monster gets involved

But there is second kind of procrastination, that happens in situations, when there is no dealine.

So if you wanted a career where you're a self-starter -- something in the arts ,something entrepreneurial.

There is no deadline on those things at first, because nothing is happening at first not until you've gone out and done the hard work to get momentum , get things going.

This also all kinds of important things outside of your career that do not involve any deadlines like seeing your family or exercising and taking care of your health, working on your relationship or getting out of a relationship , that is not working.

Now if the procrastinator's only mechanisam of doing these hard things, is the panic monster that is the problem , because in all of them non-deadline situations , the panic monster does not show up because they did not wake up for.

so the effects of the procrastination , they are not contained, they just extend outward forever.

And it's long-term kind of procrastination , that is much less visible , much less talked about , than the funnier, short term deadline based-kind.

It's usually suffered quietly and privately.

And it is can be the source of huge amount of long term of unhappiness and regrets.

And I thought, you know that is why those people are emailing and that is why they're in such a bad place .

It is not that they're cramming for some projects

It is that long-term procrastination has made them fell like a spectator at times in their own lives

you know the frastration is not that they could not achieve their dreams is that they were even able to start chasing them .

So I read about these emails and I had a little bit of an epiphany, That I do not think the non-procrastinator's existed ,

Now you may not all be a mess like some of us , and some of you may have a healthy relationship with the deadlines.

But remeber the monkey's sneakiest trick is when the deadline are not there.

That is not that many boxes , especially since we were already used a bunch of those.

So I think we need to all take a long hard look at that calender.

we need to think about what we are really procrastinating on because everyone is procrastinating on something in life.

we need to stay aware of Instant gratification Monkey.

And because there's not that many boxes on there , it's a job that should probably start today.

practice.

The graph contrast us how he plan his work ,with actually did his work

What was the hypothesis of the urban's article?

If you pull an all-nighters, you stay up late to finish a test or an assignment

I had an hypothesis that the barins of procrastinators were actually different than the brains of other people.

our procrastination can be the source of huge amount of long term unhappiness and regrets.

Word

Gratification /ɡrætɪfɪ'keɪʃn/

the state of feeling pleasure when sth goes well for you or when your desires are satisfied; sth that gives you pleasure 满足；满意；快感；令人喜悦的事物

staircase  /'steəkeɪs/

a set of stairs inside a building including the posts and rails (= banisters ) that are fixed at the side （建筑物内的）楼梯

doven  /'dɔvən/

vi. 作祈祷

in slow motion

慢动作 

perplexed /pə'plekst/

adj. confused and anxious because you are unable to understand sth; showing this 困惑的；迷惑不解的

hypothesis /haɪ'pɒθɪsɪs/

[ C ] an idea or explanation of sth that is based on a few known facts but that has not yet been proved to be true or correct （有少量事实依据但未被证实的）假说，假设

spiral

a shape or design, consisting of a continuous curved line that winds around a central point, with each curve further away from the centre 螺旋形；螺旋式

tribal /ˈtraɪbl/

[ usually before noun ] connected with a tribe or tribes 部落的；部族的

tribal art 部落艺术

tribal leaders 部落首领

dread  /dred/  v.n.

to be very afraid of sth; to fear that sth bad is going to happen 非常害怕；极为担心

anxiety  /æŋ'zaɪətɪ/ n.

[ U ] ~ (about/over sth) the state of feeling nervous or worried that sth bad is going to happen 焦虑；忧虑

self-hatred /'self'heitrid/ n.

a feeling of intense dislike for oneself 自我仇视

dormant  /ˈdɔːmənt/ adj

Something that is dormant is not active, growing, or being used at the present time but is capable of becoming active later on. 休眠的

mayhem  /ˈmeɪhem/

[ U ] confusion and fear, usually caused by violent behaviour or by some sudden shocking event 骚乱；慌乱

miraculously /mi'rækjuləsli/

adv. 奇迹般地；神奇地；非凡地；出乎意料地

Literally /'lɪt(ə)rəlɪ/

adv

1. a literal way 按字面；字面上

2. used to emphasize the truth of sth that may seem surprising （强调事实可能令人惊讶）真正地，确实地

momentum  /mə'mentəm/

1. the ability to keep increasing or developing 推进力；动力；势头

2. a force that is gained by movement 冲力

cram  /kræm/

1. V-T If you cram things or people into a container or place, you put them into it, although there is hardly enough room for them. 把…塞进

2. V-T/V-I If people cram into a place or vehicle or cram a place or vehicle, so many of them enter it at one time that it is completely full. 挤满; 塞进

spectator  /spek'teɪtə/

a person who is watching an event, especially a sports event （尤指体育比赛的）观看者，观众

——note at witness

Epiph·any    /ɪˈpɪfəni/

a Christian festival, held on the 6 January, in memory of the time when the Magi came to see the baby Jesus at Bethlehem 显现节，主显节（1月6日纪念贤士朝拜耶稣）

sneaky    /ˈsniːki/

( informal ) behaving in a secret and sometimes dishonest or unpleasant way 悄悄的；偷偷摸摸的；鬼鬼祟祟的