时间:2018-11-30 作者:英语课 分类:英语励志美文精华


英语课

The Soundest Investment of All


by C. Jared Ingersoll


I feel very presumptuous 1 and uncomfortable about trying to explain out loud the things I believe in. But I do think that all human problems are in some way related to each other, so perhaps if people compare their experiences they may discover something in common in hunting the answers.


I am a very fortunate man for I lead a full and what is for me a happy life. I say this even though I happen to have had, in the course of it, a couple of severe personal blows. My first wife collapsed 2 and died one day while she and I were ice skating, after eighteen years of a most happy existence together. My only son, a sergeant 3 in the army combat engineers, was killed in Italy in the last war. Nevertheless, these tragedies did not throw me completely and I have been able to fill my life anew with happiness.


I do not mean to sound calloused 4. Those blows hurt me deeply. I guess that two basically important things helped me most to recover. One is the fact that I have come to see life as a gamble. The other is a belief in what some people call the hereafter. I try to live fully 5 so that when and if my luck changes there will be little room for regret or recrimination over time lost or misspent. My belief in the hereafter is wrapped in the intangible but stubborn thoughts of a layman 6. Very likely I would get lost in trying to describe or defend, by cold logic 7, my belief in God but nobody could argue me out of it.


I have come to believe that I owe life as much as it owes me, and I suppose that explains this fine satisfaction I get out of endeavoring to do a job to the best of what ability I have, and out of helping 8 somebody else.


As a kid I used to ride a rake in the hayfields. I got a tremendous kick out of trying to sweep every field clean as a whistle. Here I made a surprising and happy discovery: that there could be actual enjoyment 9 in the exercise of thoroughness and responsibility, and that duty didn’t have to be a drudge 10.


I don’t know exactly why, but I like to do things for other people. Not only family responsibilities, work on a hospital board, and various church organizations but also the most inconsequential things that might hardly seem worth the time. My office happens to be on Independence Square and now and then I have occasion to direct a tourist to the Liberty Bell or fill him in on a little of the history of Philadelphia. The tourist doesn’t seem to mind and it makes me feel good. I’m afraid I’m not very profound. I have tried to comprehend why something so simple and so sound as the Golden Rule is so often forgotten or held in disrepute. I can only say—and I say this quite selfishly—that I have found it a good investment. It has paid me a very high return, undoubtedly 11 more than I deserve.



1 presumptuous
adj.胆大妄为的,放肆的,冒昧的,冒失的
  • It would be presumptuous for anybody to offer such a view.任何人提出这种观点都是太放肆了。
  • It was presumptuous of him to take charge.他自拿主张,太放肆了。
2 collapsed
adj.倒塌的
  • Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
  • The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。
3 sergeant
n.警官,中士
  • His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
  • How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹?
4 calloused
adj.粗糙的,粗硬的,起老茧的v.(使)硬结,(使)起茧( callous的过去式和过去分词 );(使)冷酷无情
  • A most practical and emotionally calloused Youth interrupted. 一个非常讲究实际而心肠很硬的年轻人插了一嘴。 来自辞典例句
  • McTeague exhibited his hard, calloused palms. 麦克梯格摊开那双生满老茧坚硬的手掌。 来自辞典例句
5 fully
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
6 layman
n.俗人,门外汉,凡人
  • These technical terms are difficult for the layman to understand.这些专门术语是外行人难以理解的。
  • He is a layman in politics.他对政治是个门外汉。
7 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。
8 helping
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
9 enjoyment
n.乐趣;享有;享用
  • Your company adds to the enjoyment of our visit. 有您的陪同,我们这次访问更加愉快了。
  • After each joke the old man cackled his enjoyment.每逢讲完一个笑话,这老人就呵呵笑着表示他的高兴。
10 drudge
n.劳碌的人;v.做苦工,操劳
  • I feel like a real drudge--I've done nothing but clean all day!我觉得自己像个做苦工的--整天都在做清洁工作!
  • I'm a poor,miserable,forlorn drudge;I shall only drag you down with me.我是一个贫穷,倒运,走投无路的苦力,只会拖累你。
11 undoubtedly
adv.确实地,无疑地
  • It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
  • He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。
学英语单词
AAGC
Aeschynomene americana
Allium schoenoprasum L.
amalgam plugger
application-development language
artificial stocking
bandage gauze
bat ribbon
binary synchronous device data block
bind-days
boysen berry
Brissaud's dwarf
chemical anticarcinogenic drug
chemoconvulsant
cherryville
Chrysomelidae
concolor
counter sample
cupids
dichloramine
disodic alkaliine
drill-sharpening machine
Echogynography
ecotonal
electrochemistry at liquid-liquid interface
electronic sign
Entale
extraneous term
fenoxazoline
fine ream
foamed polystyrene chaplet
garage shop
genus epipactiss
genus Sagina
gleewoman
haroutounian
heteropolyanion
homotopy type invariant
hot-finished material
Idb-1016
idea champions
incomplete compaction
injurious weed
isolar
jet cutting car
junta
ketchuppy
leptosols
load bearing characteristic
magnetization curve
medicinal perfume
methyl-1-testosterone
Midgard, Midgarth
mikester
military characteristics
monkey bread
moon trefoils
motor timer
mulesing
multiple-reclosing breaker
nuclear-level density
off-set seismic operation
optical fiber source
oral traditions
overfarm
overparameterize
oximctry
parachute troops
partial cracking
piston ring groove cleaner
Ponte di Legno
portal-type frame
pre-established harmony
quicktongued
ranque
rascally
salvage and salvage charge
sharpness of vision
Ship's Sinking
sovann
spiroplasma
Spy Wednesday
stamate
teleprocessor
Theilman
thiocolchicine
thread fasteners
tibetan high
Tiedemann's nerve
to pop the question
Transdanubia
trial by media
unstainable
vapor compression refrigerating machine
vertimeter
VWAP
Waddingworth
West Midland
wet snow
wet-chemical technique
white walnuts
wood pattern