The Island Test

July 2006 I've discovered a handy test for figuring out what you're addicted to.

2006 年 7 月，我发现了一个方便的测试，可以测出你对什么上瘾。

Imagine you were going to spend the weekend at a friend's house on a little island off the coast of Maine.

想象一下，您要在缅因州海岸附近的一个小岛上的朋友家里度过周末。

There are no shops on the island and you won't be able to leave while you're there.

岛上没有商店，您在岛上时将无法离开。

Also, you've never been to this house before, so you can't assume it will have more than any house might.

另外，您以前从未去过这所房子，所以您不能假设它会比任何房子都多。

What, besides clothes and toiletries, do you make a point of packing?

除了衣服和洗漱用品之外，您还注重打包什么吗？

That's what you're addicted to.

这就是你上瘾的。

For example, if you find yourself packing a bottle of vodka (just in case), you may want to stop and think about that.

例如，如果您发现自己带了一瓶伏特加（以防万一），您可能需要停下来想一想。

For me the list is four things: books, earplugs, a notebook, and a pen.

对我来说，清单上有四样东西：书、耳塞、笔记本和笔。

There are other things I might bring if I thought of it, like music, or tea, but I can live without them.

如果我想到的话，我可能会带来其他东西，比如音乐或茶，但没有它们我也可以生活。

I'm not so addicted to caffeine that I wouldn't risk the house not having any tea, just for a

我对咖啡因还没有那么上瘾，所以我不会冒着房子没有茶的风险，只是为了喝一杯

weekend.

周末。

Quiet is another matter.

安静又是另一回事了。

I realize it seems a bit eccentric to take earplugs on a trip to an island off the coast of Maine.

我意识到去缅因州海岸附近的一个岛屿旅行时带上耳塞似乎有点奇怪。

If anywhere should be quiet, that should.

如果任何地方都应该安静的话，那就应该如此。

But what if the person in the next room snored?

但如果隔壁房间的人打鼾怎么办？

What if there was a kid playing basketball?

如果有一个孩子在打篮球怎么办？

(Thump, thump, thump...

（扑通扑通……

thump.) Why risk it?

扑通扑通。）为什么要冒险呢？

Earplugs are small.

耳塞很小。

Sometimes I can think with noise.

有时我可以带着噪音思考。

If I already have momentum on some project, I can work in noisy places.

如果我已经对某个项目有了动力，我就可以在吵闹的地方工作。

I can edit an essay or

我可以编辑一篇文章或

debug code in an airport.

在机场调试代码。

But airports are not so bad: most of the noise is whitish.

但机场并没有那么糟糕：大部分噪音都是发白的。

I couldn't work with the sound of a sitcom coming through the wall, or a car in the street playing thump-thump music.

我无法忍受透过墙壁传来的情景喜剧的声音，或者街上汽车播放的重重音乐的声音。

And of course there's another kind of thinking, when you're starting something new, that requires complete quiet.

当然，还有另一种想法，当你开始新事物时，需要完全安静。

You never know when this will strike.

你永远不知道什么时候会发生这种情况。

It's just as well to carry plugs.

带上插头就好了。

The notebook and pen are professional equipment, as it were.

笔记本和笔可以说是专业设备。

Though

虽然

actually there is something druglike about them, in the sense that their main purpose is to make me feel better.

事实上，它们有点像吸毒，因为它们的主要目的是让我感觉好一点。

I hardly ever go back and read stuff I write down in notebooks.

我几乎不会回去阅读我在笔记本上写下的东西。

It's just that if I can't write things down, worrying about remembering one idea gets in the way of having the next.

只是如果我不能把事情写下来，担心记住一个想法就会妨碍下一个想法。

Pen and paper wick ideas.

笔和纸芯的想法。

The best notebooks I've found are made by a company called Miquelrius.

我发现的最好的笔记本电脑是由一家名为 Miquelrius 的公司制造的。

I use their smallest size, which is about 2.5 x 4 in.

我使用它们的最小尺寸，约为 2.5 x 4 英寸。

The secret to writing on such narrow pages is to break words only when you run out of space, like a Latin inscription.

在如此狭窄的页面上书写的秘诀是，只有在空间不足时才断词，就像拉丁铭文一样。

I use the cheapest plastic Bic ballpoints, partly because their gluey ink doesn't seep through pages, and partly so I don't worry about losing them.

我使用最便宜的塑料 Bic 圆珠笔，部分原因是它们的胶状墨水不会渗入页面，部分原因是我不用担心丢失它们。

I only started carrying a notebook about three years ago.

大约三年前我才开始携带笔记本。

Before that I used whatever scraps of paper I could find.

在此之前，我使用了我能找到的所有纸片。

But the problem with scraps of paper is that they're not ordered.

但纸片的问题在于它们没有被排序。

In a notebook

在笔记本中

you can guess what a scribble means by looking at the pages around it.

你可以通过查看周围的页面来猜测涂鸦的含义。

In the scrap era I was constantly finding notes I'd written years before that might say something I needed to remember, if I could only figure out what.

在废品时代，我不断地发现我几年前写的笔记，这些笔记可能会说出我需要记住的东西，如果我能弄清楚的话。

As for books, I know the house would probably have something to read.

至于书籍，我知道家里可能会有一些东西可以读。

On the average trip I bring four books and only read one of them, because I find new books to read en route.

在平均旅行中，我会带四本书，但只读其中一本，因为我会在途中找到新书阅读。

Really bringing

真的带来了

books is insurance.

书籍是保险。

I realize this dependence on books is not entirely good—that what I need them for is distraction.

我意识到这种对书籍的依赖并不完全是好事——我需要书籍来分散注意力。

The books I bring on trips are often quite virtuous, the sort of stuff that might be assigned reading in a college class.

我旅行时带的书通常都很有价值，是大学课堂上应该阅读的东西。

But I know my motives aren't virtuous.

但我知道我的动机并不善良。

I bring books because if the world gets boring I need to be able to slip into another distilled by some writer.

我带书是因为如果世界变得无聊，我需要能够潜入另一个由某个作家提炼的世界。

It's like eating

就像吃饭一样

jam when you know you should be eating fruit.

当你知道你应该吃水果时就果酱。

There is a point where I'll do without books.

到了某个时候我就不需要书了。

I was walking in some steep mountains once, and decided I'd rather just think, if I was bored, rather than carry a single unnecessary ounce.

有一次，我在一些陡峭的山上行走，并决定如果我感到无聊，我宁愿只是思考，而不是携带一盎司不必要的东西。

It wasn't so bad.

情况并没有那么糟糕。

I found I could entertain myself by having ideas instead of reading other people's.

我发现我可以通过提出想法来娱乐自己，而不是阅读别人的想法。

If you stop eating jam, fruit starts to taste better.

如果你停止吃果酱，水果的味道就会开始变好。

So maybe I'll try not bringing books on some future trip.

所以也许我会在以后的旅行中尝试不带书。

They're

他们是

going to have to pry the plugs out of my cold, dead ears, however.

不过，我得把我冰冷、死气沉沉的耳朵里的塞子撬出来。