时间:2018-11-30 作者:英语课 分类:英语励志美文精华


英语课

Man Is Like a Fruit Tree


by Elmer H. Bobst


Once, while taking my boat down the inland waterway to Florida, I decided 1 to tie up at Georgetown, South Carolina, for the night and visit with an old friend. As we approached the Esso dock, I saw him through my binoculars 2 standing 3 there awaiting us. Tall and straight as an arrow he stood, facing a cold, penetrating 4 wind - truly a picture of a sturdy man, even though in his eighties. Yes, the man was our elder statesman, Bernard Baruch.


He loaded us into his station wagon 5 and we were off to his famous Hobcaw Barony for dinner. We sat and talked in the great living room where many notables and statesmen, including Roosevelt and Churchill, have sat and taken their cues. In his eighty-second year, still a human dynamo, Mr. Baruch talked not of the past but of present problems and the future, deploring 6 our ignorance of history, economics and psychology 7. His only reference to the past was to tell me, with the wonderful sparkle in his eyes, that he was only able to get eight quail 8 out of the ten shots the day before. What is the secret of this great man's value to the world? The answer is his insatiable desire to keep being productive.


Another friend of mine, the head of one of our largest corporations, a great steel company, is approaching his middle seventies, and he is still a great leader. He, too, never talks of the past. Instead, he tackles the problems of each day in his stride, brims with plans for the future and, incidentally, shoots in the low seventies on any golf course. He is a happy man because he is productive.


Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently, I walked into the locker 9 room of a rather well-known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables, talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community. If material prosperity were the chief requisites 10 for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through Scotch 11 and soda 12. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased. When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.


What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book of Genesis which caught my eyes while I was thumbing through my Bible. The words were few but they became indelibly impressed on my mind: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread."


To me that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections. In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal 13 words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight - have finished the course - I have kept the faith.



1 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
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 standing
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
4 penetrating
adj.(声音)响亮的,尖锐的adj.(气味)刺激的adj.(思想)敏锐的,有洞察力的
  • He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
  • He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。
5 wagon
n.四轮马车,手推车,面包车;无盖运货列车
  • We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
  • The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。
6 deploring
v.悲叹,痛惜,强烈反对( deplore的现在分词 )
7 psychology
n.心理,心理学,心理状态
  • She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
  • He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
8 quail
n.鹌鹑;vi.畏惧,颤抖
  • Cowards always quail before the enemy.在敌人面前,胆小鬼们总是畏缩不前的。
  • Quail eggs are very high in cholesterol.鹌鹑蛋胆固醇含量高。
9 locker
n.更衣箱,储物柜,冷藏室,上锁的人
  • At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
  • He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。
10 requisites
n.必要的事物( requisite的名词复数 )
  • It is obvious that there are two requisites. 显然有两个必要部分。 来自辞典例句
  • Capacity of donor is one of the essential requisites of \"gift\". 赠与人的行为能力是\"赠与\"的一个重要前提。 来自口语例句
11 scotch
n.伤口,刻痕;苏格兰威士忌酒;v.粉碎,消灭,阻止;adj.苏格兰(人)的
  • Facts will eventually scotch these rumours.这种谣言在事实面前将不攻自破。
  • Italy was full of fine views and virtually empty of Scotch whiskey.意大利多的是美景,真正缺的是苏格兰威士忌。
12 soda
n.苏打水;汽水
  • She doesn't enjoy drinking chocolate soda.她不喜欢喝巧克力汽水。
  • I will freshen your drink with more soda and ice cubes.我给你的饮料重加一些苏打水和冰块。
13 immortal
adj.不朽的;永生的,不死的;神的
  • The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
  • The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽!
学英语单词
A.E.S.
adiabatic damping
agvs (automated guided vehicle system)
alalunga
alfalfa mosaic
anticultists
aracari
aristoxenuss
Austrophobes
axis angle
bachas
bansela
barlby
Bourdeilles
Boxer Rising
brakemakers
busting
cake shampoo
Calamus rotang
calling for
centaurium calycosums
cleavable
combustible case
computer civilization
construction guide
crack filler
cutting movement
cycloprate
DEPLOC
destructive oxidation
diarthrodactylous
direct-current excited reactor
discontinuous crystallizer
Ecclestone
edging device
eleanors of aquitaine
electronic detector
end matched specimen
fetishizer
finger-prints
fleetwide
Flyte
foot-rest
forewalk
fryar
goathair
hard space
hydrodynamic aided rotary shaft lip seal
i am curious orange
in-flood
International Council for the Exploration of the Sea
Iosiderite
KUW
Ligusticum acutilobum
logic fallacies
media life
melanodon
meridional cell
nonsprouting
nuclear runaway
nucleus dentatus
oestringen
ople tree
output transfer function
parallel flow heating furnace
pebble-dashed
pentamethine
phasetrajectory
Pivoteau
Price County
rabones
radiation health physics
railway wear tolerance
ray crossing
red onions
refractometrically
Riemann-Christoffel tensor
safety protective lighting
SATA cables
sheep-stealer
shift position
Ship Re-mortgage
shoot a glance at sb
Shuakhevi
straight-through flow
straw in the wind
subs' bench
sulfoxidation
tarsoconjuntiva graft
tavernas
tetrarchic
three-section cut
tin-cans
tomographic scanner X
top-side
trabeculae cranii
trade mode
university-levels
up one level
ventral celiotomy
yummily
Zimb.