Đừng nên tự kiềm chế

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You’ve read elsewhere about the sin (tội) of promiscuity (tính hay chung chạ bừa bãi; sự lang chạ). Let me tell you about the sin of self-restraint (tự kiềm chế).

Consider Martin, a charming (đẹp, duyên dáng, yêu kiều; có sức quyến rũ, làm say mê, làm mê mẩn) and generally prudent (thận trọng) young man with a limited sexual history, who has been gently (nhẹ nhàng, êm ái, dịu dàng) flirting (tán tỉnh) with his coworker (đồng nghiệp) Joan. As last week’s office party approached, both Joan and Martin silently and separately entertained the prospect that they just might be going home together. Unfortunately, Fate, through its agents at the Centers for Disease Control, intervened. The morning of the party, Martin happened to notice one of those CDC-sponsored subway ads touting the virtues of abstinence (kiêng khem, kiêng cữ). Chastened (chế ngự, kiềm chế), he decided to stay home. In Martin’s absence, Joan hooked up with the equally charming but considerably less prudent Maxwell – and Joan got AIDS.

When the cautious (thận trọng, cẩn thận) Martin withdraws from the mating game (cuộc chơi hẹn hò), he makes it easier for the reckless (thiếu thận trọng, hấp tấp, khinh suất, liều lĩnh, táo bạo) Maxwell to prey on the hapless (rủi ro, không may) Joan. If those subway ads are more effective against Martin than against Maxwell, they are a threat (mối nguy) to Joan’s safety (sự an toàn). This is especially so when they displace (đổi chỗ, dời chỗ, chuyển chỗ) Calvin Klein ads, which might have put Martin in a more socially beneficent mood.

If the Martins of the world would loosen up a little, we could slow the spread of AIDS. Of course, we wouldn’t want to push this too far: if Martin loosens up too much, he becomes as dangerous as Maxwell. But when sexual conservatives (khuynh hướng bảo thủ) increase their activity by moderate amounts, they do the rest of us a lot of good. Harvard professor Michael Kremer estimates that the spread of AIDS in England could plausibly be retarded (làm cho chậm lại, làm cho trễ, làm cho muộn lại; làm chậm sự tiến bộ, làm chậm sự phát triển (trí óc, thân thể..); trì hoãn tiến trình, trì hoãn sự hoàn thành (một công trình..)) if everyone with fewer than about 2.25 partners per year were to take additional partners more frequently.

Bài trước: Có rút lại chưa nhỉ?