I believe in the "50-percent theory". Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are 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.
Let's benchmark the parameters: Yes, I will die. I've 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.
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's baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he's 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.
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.
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-conditioner 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 CityRoyals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed my spirits.
Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the bad. Worse than normal wouldn't last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. They reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that I can thrive. The 50 percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals' recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.
Oh, yeah, the corn crop? For that one blistering summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination before heat,withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing corn from floods. That winter my crib overflowed with corn -- fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filled with kernels from heel to tip -- while my neighbors' fields yielded only brown, empty husks.
Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.
我相信“50%理论”。一半时间事情比正常情况好；另一半时间情况更糟。我相信生活是一个摇摆不定的过程。理解什么是正常的需要时间和经验，这给了我处理未来惊喜的视角。
让我们测试一下参数：是的，我会死的。我已经处理了父母双双的死亡，一个最好的朋友，一个敬爱的老板和珍爱的宠物。其中一些死亡在我眼前是暴力的，或者是缓慢而痛苦的。坏东西，它属于天平的底部。
还有一些要点：浪漫和与合适的人结婚；生孩子和做爸爸的事情，比如指导我儿子的棒球队，在船上和狗一起游泳的时候在小溪里划来划去，发现他的同情心如此之深，甚至在他的善良中也能体现出来。蜗牛啊，他的想象力如此生动，他用一堆散放的乐高积木建造了一艘宇宙飞船。
但是在中间有一片广阔的生命草地，在那里，坏的和好的触发器以杂技的方式。这就是使我相信百分之五十理论的原因。
有一年春天，我在一个容易被洪水淹没的低洼地过早地种下了玉米，邻居们都笑了。我对浪费的努力感到懊恼。夏天变得残酷——这是我有生以来最糟糕的热浪和干旱。空调坏了，井水干了，婚姻结束了，工作丢了，钱也没了。我当时正在听乡村音乐的歌词——我讨厌的音乐。只有一支奋进的堪萨斯城市之旅，为他们的第一个世界系列赛，鼓舞了我的精神。
回首那个可怕的夏天，我很快就明白，所有后来的好事都只是抵消了坏事。比正常情况更糟的情况不会持续太久。我感激并享受这宁静的时光。他们让我重振旗鼓，迎接下一个令人讨厌的惊喜，并保证我能茁壮成长。百分之五十的理论甚至帮助我看到了希望，超越了我的皇家队最近的衰退，一个苦苦挣扎的菜鸟播种的领域，以便在不久的将来，我们可以收获十月的收成。
哦，是的，玉米收成？在那一个酷热的夏天，地面的湿度正好，早点种植可以在高温前授粉，使顶部枯萎，而且由于缺乏雨水，直立的玉米免遭了洪水的侵袭。那年冬天，我的小床上堆满了玉米——一对又肥又健康的三茎玉米穗，从头到尾都是谷粒——而我邻居们的田里只产出褐色的空壳。
虽然过去的种植量可能已经低于50%的预期，而且将来很可能会再次出现，但我仍然为干旱期间盛开的作物所支撑。
重点词汇
believe in相信; 信任; 信奉，信仰
Half the time常常;几乎总是
better than比…好
other half妻子;丈夫;另一半
best friend最好的朋友
at the bottom of是…的真正原因; 是…的根源
there are有; 可数名词的复数形式; 许多重要事情要谈
high points最有意思的部分; high point的复数