大学英语四级考试拓展阅读-晨读美文10-17.docVIP

大学英语四级考试拓展阅读-晨读美文10 ?第十篇：The 50-Percent Theory of Life 生活理论半对半 ??? The 50-Percent Theory of Life??? ??? I believe in the 50-percent theory. Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they re worse. I believe life is a pendulum swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.牋?牋?Let抯 benchmark the parameters: yes, I will die. I抳e dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale.牋?牋?Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad things like coaching my son抯 baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he抯 swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassion so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered pile of Legos.牋?牋?But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and the good flip-flop acrobatically. This is what convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory.牋?牋?One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone that neighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal---the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioned died; the well went dry; the marriage ended; the job lost; the money gone. I was living lyrics from a country tune---music I loathed. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team buoyed my spirits.牋?牋?Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the bad. Worse than normal wouldn抰 last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. The reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that can thrive. The 50-percent theory even helps me see hope beyon