2023-01-27|閱讀時間 ‧ 約 7 分鐘

Motivational content

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“Indifference is a power”——Aeon 雜誌（文章主要提倡“Stoicism ，即「斯多葛主義」”，教導大眾如何在面對逆境時，仍然能夠保守快樂的心靈。以下將分段節錄引文。）

We do this to our philosophies. We redraft their contours based on projected shadows, or give them a cartoonish shape like a caricaturist emphasizing all the wrong features. This is how Buddhism becomes, in the popular imagination, a doctrine of passivity and even laziness, while Existentialism becomes synonymous with apathy and futile despair. Something similar has happened to Stoicism, which is considered – when considered at all – a philosophy of grim endurance, of carrying on rather than getting over, of tolerating rather than transcending life's agonies and adversities.

文首以特別具象的描寫方式開啟，「give them a cartoonish shape」其實暗示人們扭曲或是醜化哲學思想。「, while」帶出性質相同的意味，此處理解作「而」。值得注意的是，作者以標點「-」帶出節奏停頓，以補充資訊，例如補上「when considered at all」，令設想更為完整。

挑選修辭細讀，此段末句帶出了三次「of」，修辭學上稱為「triplet」，類近於中文的排比，增加文章氣勢；而「of」後面多帶名詞性質的語句。

The truth is, indifference really is a power, selectively applied, and living in such a way is not only eminently possible, with a conscious adoption of certain attitudes, but facilitates a freer, more expansive, more adventurous mode of living. Joy and grief are still there, along with all the other emotions, but they are tempered – and, in their temperance, they are less tyrannical.

讀者可以留意節奏的變化，這也是因逗號的分隔而產生停頓，顯出作者的謹慎。此段同見省略句子成分，「when it is selectively applied」被縮略成→「selectively applied」。作者也重施故技，運用「triplet」的寫作手法，令節奏緩急有致。

另外，同學也可借此段學習更為高階的寫作思維，即是顧及語句的節奏停頓，因為善用標點才能讓讀者默念或是朗讀時，掌握文章的語氣。「but they are tempered」來了個語氣的急轉，而隨後「-and」的連接令人期待下文。

Any misfortune ‘that lies outside the sphere of choice’ should be considered an opportunity to strengthen our resolve, not an excuse to weaken it. This is one of the truly great mind-hacks ever devised, this willingness to convert adversity to opportunity, and it's part of what Seneca was extolling when he wrote what he would say to one whose spirit has never been tempered or tested by hardship: ‘You are unfortunate in my judgment, for you have never been unfortunate. You have passed through life with no antagonist to face you; no one will know what you were capable of, not even you yourself.’ We do ourselves an immense favor when we consider adversity an opportunity to make this discovery – and, in the discovery, to enhance what we find there.

「resolve」一詞多義，作名詞時解「決心」。「convert adversity to opportunity」可理解為「化危為機」。而「extolling」即是「讚美、稱道」。

句子銜接而言，「for」可作「because of」，引出原因。

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