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210.The stocky stonemason
第210課 肥胖的石匠
The government passed a stipulation that stocky stonemasons would no longer be receiving their stipends. The edict stipulated that in six months, if they had not made great strides in losing weight, they would face a lot of strife. Even though he found his work rather stodgy and strenuous, Ed Branson always managed to stitch together some pride in his work. Besides, he still needed his salary. While he was a stout man, he was not lazy. He was in fact looking forward to the exercise program that awaited him.
政府通過了一項規定，內容是肥胖的石匠再也領取不到薪水。這項法令規定，六個月之后，如果他們沒有在減輕體重方面取得巨大進展，他們就會面臨許多挑戰。盡管埃德·布蘭森覺得自己的工作很乏味，而且勞累，但是他總能在工作中拼湊出一些足以令人自豪的事情。而且，他還需要薪水。他雖然肥胖，但并不懶惰。實際上他在盼望著即將到來的鍛煉計劃。
Ed lived near a strait. Everyday he began walking along the strand, straying far away from the pizza parlors that people from his social stratum usually frequented. At first, he was failing to stretch before each workout. Then he strained his lower back muscle and learned his lesson. While he was recovering from his ailment, he couldn't exercise and began to eat heavily. To offset the effects of the heavy eating, he began taking stimulants. This caused a sharp sting in his chest one day, so he soon quit taking them. He soon ceased to exercise at all.
埃德生活在海峽附近。每天他都遠離他這個社會階層的人們經常光顧的比薩屋，開始沿著海濱散步。起初，在每次鍛煉之前，他腰都伸不直。后來，他拉傷了后背下部肌肉，吸取了教訓。在恢復的過程中，他無法鍛煉，開始大吃大喝。為了抵消多吃的影響，他開始服用興奮劑。結果，有一天胸部出現一陣劇烈疼痛，因此他不久就戒掉了興奮劑。緊接著，他又徹底放棄了鍛煉。
"What I need are some outside stimuli, a few things that will get me interested in exercising again," he thought to himself. He recalled that along the strand, there were many women of striking beauty from all social strata. In addition, strings of birds would fly by and sing. These memories strengthened his resolve to lose weight and retain his income. Still, sometimes it was difficult to stay motivated, so he had to resort to his imagination. Whenever he caught himself slowing down while jogging, he imagined his old football coach chasing behind him with a strap in one hand, eager to slap idle legs.
“我需要的是一些外部刺激，一些能讓我對鍛煉重新產生興趣的東西，”他心里想。他記得在海濱，有很多來自各個社會階層的極為漂亮的女人。此外，一行行的鳥兒經常鳴叫著飛過。這些記憶加強了他減輕體重、保住收入的決心。然而，有時候難以保持原有動力，所以他只得借助于想象。每當他發現自己跑步的速度減慢時，他就想象著他的老足球教練在后面追他，手里拿著皮帶，準備抽打偷懶的腿。
Ed kept up the exercise regimen, lost the required weight, and saved his job. A stocky stonemason he was no longer.
埃德堅持這種鍛煉養生法，體重達到了要求，保住了工作。他再也不是肥胖的石匠了。
