时间:2018-12-07 作者:英语课 分类:感悟人生


英语课

Shortly after the close of World War I, I learned an invaluable 1 lesson one night in London. I was manager at the time for Sir Ross Smith. During the war, Sir Ross had been the number one Australian pilot out in Palestine; and shortly after the peace was declared, he surprised the world by flying halfway 2 around it in thirty days. No such feat 3 had ever been attempted before. It created a great sensation.


The Australian government awarded him fifty thousand dollars; the King of England knighted him; and for a while, he was the most talked-about man under the Union Jack 4. I was attending a banquet one night given in Sir Ross's honor; and during the dinner, the man sitting next to me told a humorous story which hinged on the quotation 5 "There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hews them how we will."


The raconteur 6 mentioned that the quotation was from the Bible. He was wrong. I knew that, I knew it certainly. There couldn't be the slightest doubt about it. And so, to get a feeling of importance and display my advantage, I appointed myself as an unwelcome committee of one to correct him. He stuck to his guns. What? From Shakespeare? Impossible! Absurd! That quotation was from the Bible. And he knew it.


The storyteller was sitting on my right; and Frank Gammond, an old friend of mine, was seated at my left. Mr. Gammond had devoted 7 years to the study of Shakespeare, so the storyteller and I agreed to ask the question to Mr. Gammond. Mr. Gammond listened, kicked me under the table, and then said: "Dale, you are wrong. The gentleman is right. It is from the Bible."


On our way home that night, I said to Mr. Gammond: "Frank, you knew that quotation was from Shakespeare,""Yes, of course," he replied, "Hamlet, Act Five, Scene Two. But we were guests at a happy time, my dear Dale. Why prove to a man he is wrong? Is that going to make him like you? Why not let him save his face? He didn't ask for your advice. He didn't want it. Why argue with him? Always avoid your sharp angle." The man who said that taught me a lesson I'll never forget. I not only had made the storyteller uncomfortable, but had put my friend in an embarrassing situation. How much better it would have been had I not become argumentative.


It was a sorely needed lesson because I had been a horde 8 arguer. During my youth, I had argued with my brother about everything under the Milky 9 Way. When I went to college, I studied logic 10 and argumentation and went in for arguing contests. Talk about being from Missouri, I was born there. I had to be shown. Later, I taught debating in the argumentation in New York; and once, I am ashamed to admit, I planned to write a book on the subject. Since then, I have listened to, engaged in, and watched the effect of thousands of arguments. As a result of all this, I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way under high heaven to get the best of an argument - and that is to avoid it .


Avoid it as you would avoid rattlesnakes and earthquakes.


Nine times out of ten, an argument ends with each of the contestants 11 more firmly convinced than ever that he is absolutely right.


You can't win an argument. You can't because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it. Why? Well, suppose you triumph over the other man and shoot his argument full of holes and prove that he is noncompomenty. Then what? You will feel fine. But what about him? You have made him feel inferior. You have hurt his pride. He will resent your triumph.



1 invaluable
adj.无价的,非常宝贵的,极为贵重的
  • A computer would have been invaluable for this job.一台计算机对这个工作的作用会是无法估计的。
  • This information was invaluable to him.这个消息对他来说是非常宝贵的。
2 halfway
adj.中途的,不彻底的,部分的;adv.半路地,在中途,在半途
  • We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路,天就黑了。
  • In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上,最忌讳的是有始无终。
3 feat
n.功绩;武艺,技艺;adj.灵巧的,漂亮的,合适的
  • Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
  • He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。
4 jack
n.插座,千斤顶,男人;v.抬起,提醒,扛举;n.(Jake)杰克
  • I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
  • He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。
5 quotation
n.引文,引语,语录;报价,牌价,行情
  • He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
  • The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。
6 raconteur
n.善讲故事者
  • The raconteur mentioned that the quotation was from the Bible.说故事的那位个人,指出那句话是出自圣经。
  • His grandfather was a fine raconteur.他的祖父是位很好讲故事的人。
7 devoted
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
8 horde
n.群众,一大群
  • A horde of children ran over the office building.一大群孩子在办公大楼里到处奔跑。
  • Two women were quarrelling on the street,surrounded by horde of people.有两个妇人在街上争吵,被一大群人围住了。
9 milky
adj.牛奶的,多奶的;乳白色的
  • Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
  • I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。
10 logic
n.逻辑(学);逻辑性
  • What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑?
  • I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。
11 contestants
n.竞争者,参赛者( contestant的名词复数 )
  • The competition attracted over 500 contestants representing 8 different countries. 这次比赛吸引了代表8个不同国家的500多名参赛者。
  • Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency. 两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。 来自《简明英汉词典》
学英语单词
3-epimerase
add fuel to the flame
adhesin
air release pipe
alphitite
alternate operating columns
anabiotic state
anaphalis margaritacea benth. et hook.
Anemone sinensis Bunge
anthophilous insect
basal
bathing place
bearing performance
bidding sheet
biostratinomy
Brunckite
burier
carinthias
centrallassite
chihuahuan
clearing error
corrugated vessel
cruzados
darwazagay (darwazahgai)
daughter-herdmate comparison
decremental chain
Dendara
direct transmission
dochmii
doxxed
economic clerk
elctrohemostasis
electromechanical coupling factor
excitation variable
film fern
genital appendage
genus grindelias
genus Todus
gingival plane
gulf stream system
have an eye for something
high-impedance receiver front end
high-quality
hispidissimus
human excrement
hunyn
Jack in a Box
labile phosphate group
lissomer
loaded freeboard
macroderma gigas
Marine Corps Intelligence Activity
metric property
minionettes
missletoe
mistake as the parties
mobile-source
net export
nonharmonic constants
nonimbedded command
OODBMS
outborrowing
part in bending
PDRB
permanent orbital station
photoelectric measuring device
pilot ladders
point-focussed electron gun
preteenage
ravenousnesses
re-romanize
remissal
rings missing
Romanicist
rossler-edelmann process
SCKL
seawater-sediment interface
singles court
skilled worker
slack feeder
slag ballast
smarty-pant
specker
Strux
strychnine glycerophosphate
supraphons
sympathetic trunk (or sympathetic chain)
tandem ion analyzer
thallium acetate
thioindigo test
transliterators
trigger-price equilibrium
tripfag
twisted hair
two-dimensional interferometry
unchauvinistic
unfertilizable
value voter
valve oil
weasel out
xoxocotlan
Zhicheng