阅读理解
We often think that our affairs, great or small, must be tended continuously and in detail, or our world will break apart, and we will lose our places in the universe. That is not true, or if it is true, then our situations were so temporary that they would have collapsed (崩溃} anyway.
Once a year or so get away for a day. On the eve of my day of absence, I inform housemates, my family and close friends that I will not be reachable for twenty-four hours; then I disconnect the telephone. I sat for at least an hour in a very hot bathtub; then I lay out my clothes in preparation for my morning escape, and knowing that nothing will disturb me, I sleep well.
On the morning I wake naturally, for I will have set no clock, nor informed my body timepiece when it should alarm. I dress in comfortable shoes and casual clothes and leave my house going no place. If I am living in a city, I wander streets, window-shop, or stare at buildings. I enter and leave public parks, libraries, and theatres. I stay in no place for very long.
Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously, separates the past from the future. Jobs, family and friends can exist one day without any one of us. Each person deserves the day in which no problems are faced up to, no solutions searched for, We need hours of aimless wandering or sitting on park benches, observing the mysterious world of ants.
If we step away for a time, we are not as many may think, being irresponsible, but rather we are preparing ourselves to more ably perform our duties. When I return home, Jam always surprised to find some questions I sought to evade had been answered and some entanglements (瓜葛) I had hoped to flee had become separated out in my absence. A day away can help drive away the bitterness, transform hesitation, and renew the spirit.
