Unit1 Neat People vs. Sloppy People 原文与翻译

1、neat people vs. sloppy peoplesuzanne brittive finally figured out the difference between neat people and sloppy people. the distinction is, as always, moral. neat people are lazier and meaner than sloppy people. sloppy people, you see, are not really sloppy. their sloppiness is merely the unfortunat

2、e consequence of their extreme moral rectitude. sloppy people carry in their minds eye a heavenly vision, a precise plan, which is so stupendous, so perfect, it cant be achieved in this world or the next. sloppy people live in never-never land. someday is their mtier. someday they are planning to al

3、phabetize all their books and set up home catalogs. someday they will go through their wardrobes and mark certain items for tentative mending and certain items for passing on to relatives of similar shape and size. someday sloppy people will make family scrapbooks into which they will put newspaper

4、clippings, postcards, locks of hair, and the dried corsage from their senior prom. someday they will file everything on the surface of their desks, including the cash receipts from coffee purchases at the snack shop. someday they will sit down and read all the back issues of the new yorker. for all

5、these noble reasons and more, sloppy people never get neat. they aim too high and wide. they save everything, planning someday to file order and straighten out the world. but while these ambitious plans take clearer and clearer shape in their heads, the books spill from the shelves onto the floor, t

6、he clothes pile up in the hamper and closet, the family mementos accumulate in every drawer, the surface of the desk is buried under mounds of paper and the unread magazines threaten to reach the ceiling. sloppy people cant bear to part with anything. they give loving attention to every detail. when

7、 sloppy people say theyre going to tackle the surface of a desk, they really mean it. not a paper will go unturned; not a rubber band橡皮筋 will go unboxed. four hours or two weeks into the excavation, the desk looks exactly the same, primarily because the sloppy person is meticulously creating new pil

8、es of papers with new headings and scrupulously stopping to read all the old book catalogs before he throws them away. a neat person would just bulldoze the desk. neat people are bums and clods at heart. they have cavalier attitudes toward possessions, including family heirlooms. everything is just

9、another dust-catcher to them. if anything collects dust, its got to go and thats that. neat people will toy with the idea of throwing the children out of the house just to cut down the clutter. neat people dont care about process. they like results. what they want to do is get the whole thing over w

10、ith so they can sit down and watch the rasslin on tv. neat people operate on two unvarying principles: never handle any item twice, and throw everything away. the only thing messy in a neat persons house is the trash can. the minute something comes to a neat persons hand, he will look at it, try to

11、decide if it has immediate use and, finding none, throw it in the trash. neat people are especially vicious with mail. they never go through their mail unless they are standing directly over a trash can. if the trash can is beside the mailbox, even better. all ads, catalogs, pleas for charitable con

12、tributions, church bulletins and money-saving coupons go straight into the trash can without being opened. all letters from home, postcards from europe, bills and paychecks are opened, immediately responded to, then dropped in the trash can. neat people keep their receipts only for tax purposes. tha

13、ts it. no sentimental salvaging of birthday cards or the last letter of a dying relative ever wrote. into the trash it goes. neat people place neatness above everything, even economics. they are incredibly wasteful. neat people throw away several toys every time they walk through the den. i knew a n

14、eat person once who threw away a perfectly good dish drainer because it had mold on it. the drainer was too much trouble to wash. and neat people sell their furniture when they move. they will sell a la-z-boy recliner while you are reclining in it. neat people are no good to borrow from. neat people

15、 buy everything in expensive little single portions. they get their flour and sugar in two-pound bags. they wouldnt consider clipping a coupon, saving leftover, reusing plastic non-dairy不含牛奶的；没有乳制品whipped cream n. 生奶油 containers or rinsing off tin foil and draping it over the unmold dish drainer. yo

16、u can never borrow a neat persons newspaper to see whats playing at the movies. neat people have the paper all wadded up and in the trash by 7:05 a.m. neat people cut a clean swath through the organic as well as the inorganic world. people, animals, and things are all one to them. they are so insens

17、itive. after theyve finished with the pantry, the medicine cabinet, and the attic, they will throw out the red geranium英drenmn. 天竺葵 (too many leaves), sell the dog (too many fleas), and send the children off to boarding school (too many scuffmarks on the hardwood floors).整洁人与邋遢人苏珊娜布里特我终于悟出了整洁人和邋遢人的区

18、别。他们的区别总是表现在德行上。整洁人比邋遢人来得更懒惰、更吝尚。要知道，邋遢人其实并非真的邋遢。他们的邋遢只是过于讲究德行而造成的不良后果。邋遢人心目中有着美妙的想象，有着周密的计划，既宏伟又完满，今生来世都无法实现。邋遢人生活在理想王国里。他们最善于筹划有朝一日怎么办。有朝一日，他们要把自己的书全都按照字母顺序编排好，建立一个家庭图书目录。有朝一日，他们要把自己的衣服全都翻个遍，有的标明要试试能不能修补一下，有的标明要送给体型身材差不多的亲戚。有朝一日，邋遢人要制作家庭剪贴簿，把剪报、明信片、头发以及大学四年级班级舞会上用过的枯萎的装饰花放在里面。有朝一日，他们要把办公桌上的所有东西，包括

19、在快餐店买咖啡的现金收据，全都归档整理好。有朝一日，他们要坐下来阅读所有过期的纽约人。由于这些以及其他雄心勃勃的理由，遨遏人从来整洁不起来。他们把目标定得太高太远，于卜么东西都要保留下来，计划有朝一日再整理、再归档，把一切搞得井井有条。然而，就在这些宏伟的计划在心单渐渐成形的时候，书从书架上散落到地上，衣篮和衣柜单堆满了衣服，个个抽屉里都放满了纪念品，桌面上摆满了一摞摞的材料，没读过的杂志都快顶到天花板了。邋遢人什么东西都不舍得丢掉，什么小东西都当成宝贝。当邋遢人说是要清理桌面时，他们还真不是说着玩的。每一张纸片都要翻个个儿，每一根橡皮筋都要装到盒子里。经过四小时或两星期的大清理，桌面上还跟先前一模一样，主要因为邋遢人会一丝不苟地立起新的名目，建起新的文件堆，还要把所有的旧书目仔仔细细地查看一番，才肯最终扔掉。整洁人则会把桌了清除得一干二净。整洁人其实都是些懒汉和笨蛋。他们对自己的东西漫不经心，就是传家宝也毫不在意。在他们看来，任何东西都会吸引灰尘。什么东西一染上灰尘就得处理掉，没有什么好说的。为了减少家里的凌乱，整洁人还捉摸想把孩了扔出去。整洁人并不在乎过程，而是喜欢结果。他们只想把什么都了结了，好坐下来打开电视看摔跤。整洁人有两条一定不易的行为准则：什么东西都不做二次处理，统统都要扔掉。整洁人家里唯一凌乱的就是垃圾箱。整洁人一拿到一样东