时间:2018-11-30 作者:英语课 分类:英语励志美文精华


英语课

I Do a Lot of Office Fishing


by Richard Salmon 1


Some years ago, I started to look at the stars through high-powered binoculars 2 and began reading books written by astronomers 3 for people like me. I became an entranced stargazer for a while.


The men who have learned as much as we know about the universe point out that the sun is an insignificant 4, moderately hot star in a nebula 5 where it is fixed 6. The Milky 7 Way, which I have always wanted to spell “w-h-e-y,” is composed of our brothers and sisters, and we are all moving around a central hub. And the hub is moving toward some place, I don’t know where. My brothers and sisters are numbered in billions of billions, and our galaxy 8 itself is one of many, many…how many, I don’t know.


Our sun is so small and our earth, its offspring, is so tiny that when I think of the magnitude, I think of what O. Henry described as a “Statue of What’s the Use.”


What difference does it make that I exist? What possible influence can I make, or my nation make, or a world make?


Where am I going on this ride and does it make any sense? Who’s the boss and what’s He got in mind?


That’s what I got to thinking…it’s all too big, too inevitable 9, too uncontrollable, and if I think about it with my eyes closed, it’s a pretty pessimistic picture.


Then one day I saw a hunting dog in the woods, an English setter flecked with black. His tail tangled 11 with dock burs. This is a common occurrence to guys like me. I always want to stop and pull out the burs. But this time, out of nowhere, came the realization 12 that this bounding, healthy dog was performing an important job: the job of transporting seeds that were constructed for the very purpose of hitchhiking. The fluff of milkweed sails on the wind to start a new colony miles from its original parent. This dog and its tangle 10 of dock burs are all part of a plan. And so am I.


I believe the plan on this small, lonely earth is to make the best of it—a policy that is becoming increasingly more difficult as the number of human beings increases.


When I came to New York many years ago, I found that in big cities people live faster and decide things quicker than country folk. They have to, in order to survive in the struggle for existence.


Several times a week I slug it out with city dwellers 14 for a place in the subway. They seem a bad lot. But when I pass a city dweller 13 on a trout 15 stream I find he’s just like other people. He’ll speak to me with interest, even warmth. He will ask me how many trout I’ve taken, what fly was successful. And I break down and tell him, and point out that perhaps the black gnat 16 he’s using is too large.


I have tried to make the best of it by doing a lot of office fishing, some front porch fishing, and some quiet mulling about the magnificent things such as dock burs and remote stars. What’s more, I have found it fun; fun that has brought me a lot of happiness, a lot of contentment, and a lot of peace.



1 salmon
n.鲑,大马哈鱼,橙红色的
  • We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
  • Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗?
2 binoculars
n.双筒望远镜
  • He watched the play through his binoculars.他用双筒望远镜看戏。
  • If I had binoculars,I could see that comet clearly.如果我有望远镜,我就可以清楚地看见那颗彗星。
3 astronomers
n.天文学者,天文学家( astronomer的名词复数 )
  • Astronomers can accurately foretell the date,time,and length of future eclipses. 天文学家能精确地预告未来日食月食的日期、时刻和时长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings. 天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪,为什么只有土星有光环。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 insignificant
adj.无关紧要的,可忽略的,无意义的
  • In winter the effect was found to be insignificant.在冬季,这种作用是不明显的。
  • This problem was insignificant compared to others she faced.这一问题与她面临的其他问题比较起来算不得什么。
5 nebula
n.星云,喷雾剂
  • A powerful telescope can resolve a nebula into stars.一架高性能的望远镜能从星云中分辨出星球来。
  • A nebula is really a discrete mass of innumerous stars.一团星云实际上是无数星体不连续的集合体。
6 fixed
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的
  • Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗?
  • Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定,我们就不应该随意改变。
7 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。
8 galaxy
n.星系;银河系;一群(杰出或著名的人物)
  • The earth is one of the planets in the Galaxy.地球是银河系中的星球之一。
  • The company has a galaxy of talent.该公司拥有一批优秀的人才。
9 inevitable
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的
  • Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
  • The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。
10 tangle
n.纠缠;缠结;混乱;v.(使)缠绕;变乱
  • I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
  • If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你,我就不跟他们争吵。
11 tangled
n.实现;认识到,深刻了解
  • We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
  • He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。
12 dweller
n.居住者,住客
  • Both city and town dweller should pay tax.城镇居民都需要纳税。
  • The city dweller never experiences anxieties of this sort.城市居民从未经历过这种担忧。
13 dwellers
n.居民,居住者( dweller的名词复数 )
  • City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 trout
n.鳟鱼;鲑鱼(属)
  • Thousands of young salmon and trout have been killed by the pollution.成千上万的鲑鱼和鳟鱼的鱼苗因污染而死亡。
  • We hooked a trout and had it for breakfast.我们钓了一条鳟鱼,早饭时吃了。
15 gnat
v.对小事斤斤计较,琐事
  • Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.小事拘谨,大事糊涂。
  • He's always straining at a gnat.他总是对小事很拘谨。
学英语单词
ablemost
accumulate at interest
algebrai
analytical psychotherapy
Anopheles kochi
Bayinnaung
be on the way out
bird song
bonser
BSD license
cable pothead
camertons
constricted section
convectional degree of distortion
copper section
cornua cutaneum
credentials committee
creditcard
dacryocystis
dichlortetracycline
dimethyl
diphtberia antitoxin unit
dynamic support system
educated guess
elementary file
elocute
empty template
episcopals
equilibrium of the position
Ewell, Richard Stoddert
Fengbin Township
fiducial time corrections
floral initiation
gapped-bead-on-plate
genus oecanthuss
gingival stippling
goldy cap
guarantee the reliability of the buyer
healedmyocardial infarction
hodmadod
hydropsyche spinata
hypodactylism
Indian beeswax
indian sub - continent
indoor-outdoor thermometer
inspection planning
interventional radiology
irrigation shovel
jilt-flirt
kordts
kuito (silva proto)
lilypad
lobuli quadrangularis
London Interbank Offer Rate
luchuensis
malignant fibrous histiocytoma
markovitz
mazlish
measured income
molecular weight estimation apparatus
monetary interest
moss-agate sputhum
mother hubbards
multidisciplinary group
multiprogramming queue
narrow-band lock-in nim amplifier
neutralisations
northern bluefin (tuna)
nsms
nursing department
omn. man.
permabanning
phytogeographic
picture-framings
police village
polytetrafluoroe thylene resin
precision coaxial connector
prismatic administration
pulse count converter
pulse stacker
rail top
rethought
salmi(s)
spring absorber
stadholdership
stagewise regression
system prgramming language
Taganrog
take leave of my senses
tegmental nucleus
teleprocessing security
time lines
time-domain
TNFBP
TPLI
tractus olfactorius intermediate type
under steam
unmanned space probe
vertical side marker
Ves'yegonskiy Rayon
water-carrying agent
wood-trimmer