Fear Is Not a Good Excuse恐懼不足好借口

Peggy Frezon　任新超

If there was a way to avoid exercise，I found it. Aerobics1？ Bad knees. Personaltrainer？ Too expensive. Tread -mill2？ No room.

“Theres one exercise I bet you cantgive up，”my husband challenged.“Walking.Its free， easy， and you dont needany special equipment.”

But I had an excuse： fear.

I used to take walks. Putting on mysneakers and hitching3 a leash4 to myspunky5 little spaniels6 collar， wed hitthe pavement7 together. Kellys tailwaved like a flag. Walking with my dog，exercise was actually enjoyable until oneday when Kelly and I were walkingthrough a park near my neighborhood.

如果有辦法避免運動，我找到了。有氧運動？對膝蓋不好。私人教練？太貴了。跑步機？沒有地方放。

“我敢打賭有一種鍛煉你不會放棄。”我丈夫質疑道，“走路。它免費、簡單，而且你不需要任何特殊設備。”

但我有個借口：恐懼。

我以前經常散步。我穿上運動鞋，將牽引繩鉤在我那只活蹦亂跳的小西班牙獵犬的項圈上，然后一起上街。凱莉的尾巴像一面旗幟一樣揮舞。和我的狗一起散步時，鍛煉其實令人很愉快，直到有一天凱莉和我在我家附近的公園散步時為止。

She wandered at the end of her leashalong a bank that sloped8 down toward ariver. Watching her happily， I didnt noticeanyone else around us until an alarming，huge shape appeared： a dog big enough toeclipse9 the sun， ears flat， teeth bared.

Im not usually afraid of dogs. Butwhen I saw that huge， vicious-looking creaturerunning straight toward us， I almostjumped in the river.

In the large， grassy openness therewasnt even a little tree to shield10 us. Mygrip tightened on Kellys leash， my mindfilled with fear that my lovely pooch wouldsoon serve as an appetizer11 for themonster. The dog rushed down. I froze interror. But Kelly yanked ahead. She wasntafraid at all.

Then， in the distance， a young manwearing a hoodie sweatshirt whistled. Thedog hesitated12， turned and ran back toits owner.

它沿著一條朝著河傾斜的河堤，在牽引繩的一端徘徊。我開心地看著它，沒有注意到周圍的任何人，直到一個令人恐懼的，巨大的身影出現：一只大到足以遮住太陽，聳拉著耳朵，齜著牙齒的狗。

我通常不怕狗。但是當我看到那個巨大、長相兇殘的生物徑直朝我們跑來時，我差點跳進了河里。

在長滿草的大開闊地帶，甚至連掩護我們的一棵小樹也沒有。我緊緊抓住凱莉的牽引繩，腦子里充滿了恐懼，擔心我可愛的小狗很快就會成為這個龐然大物的開胃菜。那只狗沖了下來。我嚇得渾身僵硬。但是凱莉拉著牽引繩向前，它一點也不怕。

然后，遠處一個穿著連帽衫的年輕人吹了口哨。那只狗猶豫了一下，轉身，然后又跑回到主人身邊。

I was safely home in my easy chairbefore my breathing returned to normal. Ifdangerous dogs roamed the park， they couldbe anywhere. I lifted Kelly onto my lap.“Nomore walks for us， girl.” With that， Idfound an excuse to avoid exercise again.

Over the next few weeks I attempted aworkout DVD， but plopped back down onthe couch before working up a sweat. Thoseladies didnt inspire me to get moving.Before long my clothes started to feel tightagain. While Kelly could run around in thebackyard， that didnt solve my fitness needs.Maybe walking was the best exercise， but Iwas too afraid to face the possibility ofmeeting another dangerous dog.

One Saturday as I sat working at mydesk， Kelly lay on the sofa， staringwistfully13 out the window. Was she missingthe walks， the change of scenery， and thehappiness of playing outside？ I got up andjoined her at the window. Neighborhoodchildren jumped off a school bus. A womanwith a stroller14 passed by. The scene didntlook as dangerous as I imagined.

在我的呼吸恢復正常之前，我已經安全地回家坐在安樂椅上了。如果危險的狗在公園里游蕩，它們可能在任何地方。我把凱莉抱到膝蓋上。“我們不能再散步了，姑娘。……