Nayia Moysidis

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My greatest fear is, that one day I’ll wake up and discover I’m average. That nothing stands out about me.1. 我沒有什么過人之處。stand out: 出色，突出。That I have no discerning qualities,no noteworthy characteristics, that nothing within me thirsts for more.2. discerning: 有洞察力的，有見識的；quality:品質，才能；noteworthy: 值得注意的，顯著的；thirst: 渴望，渴求。That one day, I’ll discover I’m unremarkable. That one day, I’ll just be a shadow.

I know a few things about this must seem ridiculous.Firstly, that from all the fears in the world, from venomous snakes to crazed killers to the uncertainty of death, that being ordinary would be what petri fies me.3. 首先，世界上所有的恐懼，從致命的毒蛇到瘋狂殺人魔再到死亡的不確定性，這種種恐懼中平凡卻是我最害怕的。venomous:有毒的；petrify:（因恐懼、驚慌等而）驚呆，嚇呆。But I’m not afraid of anything else, and I’m not ashamed to admit the cause of my deepest anxiety. Or that the first time I finishedDon Quixote4.Don Quixote:《堂吉訶德》，西班牙作家塞萬提斯的反騎士小說。主角堂吉訶德幻想自己是個騎士，因而作出種種令人匪夷所思的行徑，最終從夢幻中蘇醒過來。文學評論家多稱其為西方文學史上的第一部現代小說，是世界文學的瑰寶之一。, I sat back in the stillness of the dead night and struggled to steady my breath. On those last pages,within which he stopped believing in his fantasy world, in his kingdom of virtuous knights and epic battles,5. virtuous: 道德高尚的，品性正直的；epic: 史詩般的。and he died.And I knew him too well, understood that too deeply.

我第一次讀完《堂吉訶德》后，似乎被覺悟的驚雷劈中，全身無法動彈。書的結尾，堂吉訶德不再相信夢幻的世界，不再相信神圣的騎士王國和史詩般宏大的戰(zhàn)斗。于是，他死了。我想，我們每個人都一樣，如果停止戰(zhàn)斗，自我將不復存在，武器會生銹，精神會萎靡，靈魂會墮落，最終我們將變得平淡無奇。我，害怕平凡。

Secondly, that I’m sharing something so intimate with a universe of people I do not know. But if you’ve ever felt this way, I think I do know you. I know that your friends suggest you put too much pressure on yourself, that your family tells you to stop pushing so hard. That if you stop worrying and focus on the things you can control, you’d enjoy life a whole lot more. That if you just stopped reaching for things so far out of your grasp6. out of one’s grasp: 為某人所不能理解的，為某人力量所不能達到的。, you’d be happier. That you should learn to relax.To unwind7. unwind: 使松弛，使不緊張。. To be.

They have a point. If you stopped, you would be happier.Your every day would be calmer. Your waking moments would be filled with peace instead of crippling desire, with tranquility instead of pulsing ambition, with delicious gratitude instead of unquenchable thirst.8. 睜開雙眼，你滿腦子不會是令人疲憊的欲望而是內心的平靜，不會是勃勃的野心而是淡定自若，不會是無法平息的渴望而是滿懷感激。cripple: 使受損，使喪失活動能力；pulsing: 有生命力的，有激情的；unquenchable: 不能遏制的，不能熄滅的。

But some of us simply cannot. Like Don Quixote before us, if we stop fighting, we will cease to exist. Our armor will rust, our spirits will wilt,9. armor: 裝甲，盔甲；rust: 生銹，荒廢；wilt: 喪失勇氣，頹喪。and our souls will fade until we are unrecognizable. All that will remain will be a memory of the people we once were. Because without our dreams, who are we?

The only way to become unremarkable is to believe that you are. To give in to your fear. To hang your sword and turn away from the battle. In Don Quixote’s own words: “I know who I am and who I may be, if I choose.”

It’s your choice.