人人說英語-從ABC到流暢口語(11)：精選美文誦讀

Concentration and perseverance built the great pyramids on Egypt's plains.

專心致志，鍥而不舍，埃及平原上終于建起了宏偉的金字塔。

The master of a single trade can support a family. The master of several trades cannot support himself.

精通一行的人可以養(yǎng)家糊口，樣樣精通的人卻不能養(yǎng)活自己。

Now I know that in order to grow and flourish I must spare no efforts in doing things and keep a little in advance of the times. Those who reach the top are the ones who are not content with doing only what are required of them. They do more. They go the extra mile. And another.

現(xiàn)在我知道，為了輝煌的成就，我必須全力以赴，必須永遠走在時間前面。那些頂尖人物都不會只滿足分內(nèi)的工作，他們比常人做得更多，走得更遠。

I will spare no efforts in doing things.

凡事我將全力以赴。

Now I know that I cannot pursue a worthy goal steadily and persistently with all the powers of my mind and yet fail. If I focus the rays of sun with a burning glass, even in the coldest days of winter, I can kindle a fire with ease.

現(xiàn)在我知道，只要我一心一意向一個有價值的目標穩(wěn)步前進，堅持不懈，就一定不會失敗。如果我用取火鏡聚集太陽光，即使在寒冷的冬天，我也可以輕松燃起火來。

I will spare no efforts in doing things.

凡事我將全力以赴。

The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish good results while the strongest, by dispersing his effort over many chores, may fail to accomplish anything.

弱小的人，只要集中力量于一點，也能得到好的結果；相反，強大的人，如果把力量分散在許多雜務上，也會一事無成。

Drops of water, by continually falling, hone their passage through the hardest of rocks but the hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no trace behind. I will leave my trace. The world will know I have been here.

小小水滴，持之以恒，也能將堅硬的巖石穿透；相反，湍流呼嘯而過，卻了無蹤跡。我將留下我的蹤跡，讓世人知道我曾來過。

I will spare no efforts in doing things.

凡事我將全力以赴。

難點解析：

1 原文：Now I know that in order to grow and flourish I must spare no efforts in doing things and keep a little in advance of the times.

譯文：現(xiàn)在我知道，為了輝煌的成就，我必須全力以赴，必須永遠走在時間前面。

難點征服：in order to是固定用法，意思是“為了......”，比如：We started early in order to arrive before dark.為了在天黑前到達，我們很早就動身了。spare no efforts in doing something是固定短語，意思是“不遺余力做某事，全力以赴做某事”，比如：In a large multi-ethnic developing country like ours, we must spare no efforts in strengthening and improving the Party's leadership.在我們這樣一個多民族發(fā)展的大國，必須盡大努力加強和改進黨的領導。

2 原文：Those who reach the top are the ones who are not content with doing only what are required of them.

譯文：那些頂尖人物都不會只滿足分內(nèi)的工作。

難點征服：這句話是用了兩個who引導的定語從句，第一個who reach the top定語從句用來修飾those；第二個who are not content with doing only what are required of them定語從句用來修飾ones。be content with是一個固定用法，意為“對......滿意”，比如：He was content with his work.他對自己的工作很滿意。

3 原文：They go the extra mile. And another.

譯文：他們比常人做得更多，走得更遠。

難點征服：“And another”是一個省略句，完整形式是and they go another mile，其意思比第一句更深刻一層，即在做更多的事情，努力更多后，我們才能走得更遠。

4 原文：The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish good results while the strongest, by dispersing his effort over many chores, may fail to accomplish anything.

譯文：弱小的人，只要集中力量于一點，也能得到好的結果；相反，強大的人，如果把力量分散在許多雜務上，也會一事無成。

難點征服：while是一個連詞，意為“然而”，表示兩種現(xiàn)象的類比。因此，while兩側句子所用的句型及時態(tài)應當一致。

5 原文：Drops of water, by continually falling, hone their passage through the hardest of rocks but the hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no trace behind.

譯文：小小水滴，持之以恒，也能將堅硬的巖石穿透；相反，湍流呼嘯而過，卻了無蹤跡。

難點征服：這個句子是將水滴和湍流相對比，中間用轉折連詞but過渡，形成強烈的對比效果。rushes和leaves是兩個并列的動詞，共同作為torrent的謂語。