Short Story 2 (Kısa Hikaye 2)

* Aşağıda kelimelerinin Türkçe anlamları verilmiş hikayeyi okuyup anlamaya çalışınız.

  Seviye: A1 A2-B1 B2-C1 C2

  Süre: 5-10 dakika

Simplify Your Life

(Hayatınızı Basitleştirin)

Years ago, a cigarette commercial asked if you were smoking more, but enjoying it less. That describes the way many of us live today. We are doing more, but enjoying it less. And when that doesn’t work, we compound the problem. In our frantic search for satisfaction, we try stuffing still more into our days, never realizing that we are taking the wrong approach. The truth is simple; so simple it is hard to believe. Satisfaction lies with less, not with more. Yet, we pursue the myth that this thing, or that activity, will somehow provide the satisfaction we so desperately seek. Arthur Lindman, in his devastating book, “The Harried Leisure Class,” described the futility of pursuing more. His research focused on what people did with their leisure time. He found that as income rose, people bought more things to occupy their leisure time. But, ironically, the more things they bought, the less they valued any one of them. Carried to an extreme, he predicted massive boredom in the midst of tremendous variety. That was more than twenty years ago, and his prediction seems more accurate every year. Lindman of course, is not the first to discover this. The writer of Ecclesiastes expressed the same thought thousands of years ago. It is better, he wrote, to have less, but enjoy it more. If you would like to enjoy life more, I challenge you to experiment with me. How could you simplify your life? What could you drop? What could you do without? What could you stop pursuing? What few things could you concentrate on? The more I learn, the more I realize that fullness of life does not depend on things. The more I give up, the more I seem to gain. But words will never convince you. You must try it for yourself.

Vocabulary Kelimeler

simplify (v) basitleştirmek

commercial (n) ticari reklam

compound (v) birleştirmek

frantic (adj) çılgın

satisfaction (n) tatmin olma, doyum

stuff (v) yığmak

lie with (phr.v) -e bağlı olmak, -e dayanmak

pursue (v) peşinde koşmak, izlemek

myth (n) gizem, sır

desperately (adv) ümitsizce, umutsuzca

devastating (adj) yıkıcı, zarar veren

focus on (p.v) odaklanmak

leisure time (n) boş vakit

income (n) gelir

ironically (adv) iğneleyici bir şekilde

predict (v) sezmek, tahmin etmek

massive (adj) toplu

boredom (n) can sıkıntısı

in the midst (prep) ortasında

tremendous (adj) çok büyük, kocaman

accurate (adj) tam, doğru, kesin

give up (phr.v) bırakmak, vazgeçmek

convince (v) inandırmak, kandırmak