Chapter 56

I must say a word about fear. It is life's only true opponent.
Only fear can defeat life. It is a clever, treacherous¹ adversary,how well I know. It has no decency², respects no law orconvention, shows no mercy. It goes for your weakest spot,which it finds with unerring ease. It begins in your mind,always. One moment you are feeling calm, self-possessed,happy. Then fear, disguised in the garb³ of mild-mannereddoubt, slips into your mind like a spy. Doubt meets disbeliefand disbelief tries to push it out. But disbelief is a poorlyarmed foot soldier. Doubt does away with it with little trouble.
You become anxious. Reason comes to do battle for you. Youare reassured⁴. Reason is fully⁵ equipped with the latest weaponstechnology. But, to your amazement⁶, despite superior tactics anda number of undeniable victories, reason is laid low. You feelyourself weakening, wavering. Your anxiety becomes dread⁷.
Fear next turns fully to your body, which is already awarethat something terribly wrong is going on. Already your lungshave flown away like a bird and your guts⁸ have slithered awaylike a snake. Now your tongue drops dead like an opossum,while your jaw⁹ begins to gallop¹⁰ on the spot. Your ears go deaf.
Your muscles begin to shiver as if they had malaria¹¹ and yourknees to shake as though they were dancing. Your heartstrains too hard, while your sphincter relaxes too much. And sowith the rest of your body. Every part of you, in the mannermost suited to it, falls apart. Only your eyes work well. Theyalways pay proper attention to fear.
Quickly you make rash decisions. You dismiss your last allies:
hope and trust. There, you've defeated yourself. Fear, which isbut an impression, has triumphed over you.
The matter is difficult to put into words. For fear, real fear,such as shakes you to your foundation, such as you feel whenyou are brought face to face with your mortal end, nestles inyour memory like a gangrene: it seeks to rot everything, eventhe words with which to speak of it. So you must fight hard toexpress it. You must fight hard to shine the light of wordsupon it. Because if you don't, if your fear becomes a wordlessdarkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, youopen yourself to further attacks of fear because you never trulyfought the opponent who defeated you.

1 treacherous   

adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的

参考例句：

• The surface water made the road treacherous for drivers.路面的积水对驾车者构成危险。
• The frozen snow was treacherous to walk on.在冻雪上行走有潜在危险。

2 decency   

n.体面，得体，合宜，正派，庄重

参考例句：

• His sense of decency and fair play made him refuse the offer.他的正直感和公平竞争意识使他拒绝了这一提议。
• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。

3 garb   

n.服装，装束

参考例句：

• He wore the garb of a general.他身着将军的制服。
• Certain political,social,and legal forms reappear in seemingly different garb.一些政治、社会和法律的形式在表面不同的外衣下重复出现。

4 reassured   

adj.使消除疑虑的；使放心的v.再保证，恢复信心( reassure的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The captain's confidence during the storm reassured the passengers. 在风暴中船长的信念使旅客们恢复了信心。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The doctor reassured the old lady. 医生叫那位老妇人放心。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

7 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

8 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。

10 gallop   

v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔；飞速发展

参考例句：

• They are coming at a gallop towards us.他们正朝着我们飞跑过来。
• The horse slowed to a walk after its long gallop.那匹马跑了一大阵后慢下来缓步而行。

11 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。