欲望与生俱来，人人都有。它可以催人上进，使人奋起，创造事业辉煌；也可以使人得陇望蜀，永不满足，最终陷于痛苦。如何看待，如何运用，不同人的心中有一杆不同的秤…
Appetite
One of the major pleasures in life is appetite, and one of our major duties should be to preserve it. Appetite is the keenness of living: it is one of the senses that tells you that you are still curious to exist, that you still have an edge on your longings and want to bite into the world and taste its numerous flavors and juices. By appetite, of course, I don’t mean just the desire for food, but any condition of unsatisfied desire, any burning in the blood that proves you want more than you’ve got, and that you haven’t used up your life. Wilde said he felt sorry for those who never got their heart’s desire, but sorrier still for those who did. For appetite, for me, is this state of wanting, which keeps one’s expectations alive.
I remember learning this lesson long ago as a child, when treats and indulgence were few, and when I discovered that the greatest pitch happiness was not in actually eating a toffee but in gazing at it beforehand. True, the first bite was delicious, but once the toffee was gone one was left with nothing, neither toffee nor lust. Besides, the whole toffeeness of toffees was imperceptibly diminished by the gross act of having eating it. No, the best was in wanting it, in sitting and looking at it, when one tasted an endless treasure house of flavors. So, for me, one of the keenest pleasures of appetite remains in the wanting, not the satisfaction. In wanting a peach, or a whisky, or a particular texture or sound, or to be with a particular friend, for in those condition, of course, I know that the object of desire is always at its most flawlessly perfect. For that matter, I don’t want three square meals a day — I want one huge, delicious, orgiastic, table groaning blow out, say every four days, and then not be too sure where the next one is coming from①. A day of fasting is not for me just a device for denying oneself a pleasure, but rather a way of anticipating a rarer moment of supreme enjoyment.
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行文点评
作者开篇点题，指出One of the major pleasures in life is appetite。进而作者给appetite下了一个定义，即对任何事物的渴望。接着用王尔德的话引出作者的观点： Appetite is the state of wanting。在第二段中，作者用I remember...讲述了自己吃太妃糖的亲身经历，描述生动形象，贴近生活，由这段经历作者引出了文章的主题——欲望最大的乐趣在于对之渴求，而非满足。
好文妙译
欲望
生活中一项最大的乐趣便是有个好胃口，而我们的主要职责之一便是保持这一好胃口。胃口是对生活的一种强烈的愿望，这是一种感觉，它告诉你你仍渴望着，你还有许多渴望尚待实现，还想继续生活在这世界上，品尝各种风味。所谓胃口(欲望)，当然，我不仅仅指对食物的热望，而且指任何未满足的渴望的情形，任何血液的沸腾都证明了你要的不仅仅是这些，你还未好好享受人生。王尔德说他对那些从未得到满足的人表示遗憾，但对那些已经心满意足的人更感到悲哀。欲望对我来说，是一种渴求的状态，它使希望永存。
appetite n.①胃口，食欲②欲望
keenness n.渴望
numerous a.众多的，许多的
flavor n.①味，滋味，味道②特色，风味
indulgencen.放任
pitchn.程度，强度
beforehandad.预先，事先
lustn.渴望，欲望vi.(after, for)对…有强烈的欲望
imperceptibly ad.察觉不到地, 微细地
diminish vi.变少，变小，降低vt.减少，减小，降低
orgiastic a.狂欢的
groan vi.①呻吟，抱怨②发出呻吟的声音
fast v.禁食，斋戒
device n.手段，策略
supremea.①最高的，至上的②极度的，最重要的
佳句临摹
①【注释】blow out 减弱；停止；熄灭
【临摹】Somebody opened the door and the candle blew out.有人打开了门，蜡烛随之被吹灭了。
思如泉涌
A sound mind is in a sound body. 健全的精神寓于健康的身体中。
All progress is based upon a universal innate desire on the part of every organism to live beyond its income. 世人莫不怀着一种与生俱来的欲望，要把支出超过收入，此乃一切进步的动力。
