超越自我篇07：Up to You 由你决定

Jerry was the kind of guy who was always in a good mood and always had something positive to say.

One day I went up to Jerry and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?” Jerry replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘Jerry, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood.”

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested¹.

“Yes it is,” Jerry said. “Life is all about choices. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people will affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. It’s your choice how you live life.”

I reflected on what Jerry said. Soon thereafter², I changed my job. We lost touch. Several years later, I heard that Jerry was robbed and was shot. I saw Jerry about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied, “I feel really good.”

I asked him what had gone through his mind when he was taken to the hospital.

Jerry replied, “The first thing came to my mind was that I should have closed the back door. Then I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live, or I could to die. I choose to live.”

Jerry continued, “The nurse kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the emergency room and the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses scared me. In their eyes, I read, ‘He’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Well, a nurse asked if I was allergic³ to anything,” said Jerry, “‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses were waiting for my reply…I took a deep breath and yelled⁴, ‘Bullets!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘ I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’”

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned⁵ from him that every day we have the choice to live positively⁶.

1 protested   

v.声明( protest的过去式和过去分词 )；坚决地表示；申辩

参考例句：

• He protested he was being cheated of his rightful share. 他提出抗议说他被人骗取了他依法应得的份额。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Amy protested she was being cheated of her rightful share. 艾米提出抗议，说有人骗取了她依法应得的份额。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 thereafter   

adv.此后，以后

参考例句：

• Thereafter they did not speak.此后他们就不再讲话了。
• On the opening day all tickets are a dollar, thereafter,they'll be two dollars.开张那天票价一元，以后两元。

3 allergic   

adj.过敏的，变态的

参考例句：

• Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
• Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏，比如花粉。

4 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

6 positively   

adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实

参考例句：

• She was positively glowing with happiness.她满脸幸福。
• The weather was positively poisonous.这天气着实讨厌。