书城外语每天都是精彩:英语诵读美文240篇(英汉对照)
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第214章

How High Can You Jump?

Guidance for Reciting

Dare and the world always yields. If it beats you sometimes,dare it again and again and it will succumb.

Flea trainers have observed a strange habit of fleas while training them. Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it. The fleas will jump up and hit the top of the cardboard box over and over and over again. As you watch them jump and hit the lid,something very interesting becomes obvious. The fleas continue to jump,but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top.

When you take off the lid,the fleas continue to jump,but they will not jump out of the box. They won't jump out because they can't jump out. Why?The reason is ******. They have conditioned themselves to jump just so high. Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high,that's all they can do!

Many times,people do the same thing. They restrict themselves and never reach their potential. Just like the fleas,they fail to jump higher,thinking they are doing all they can do.

Notes

restrict [ris5trikt] v. 限制,约束

你能跳多高?

诵读导言

大胆挑战,世界总会让步。如果有时候你被它打败了,不断地挑战,它总会屈服的。

跳蚤训练人在训练时发现跳蚤有一个奇怪的习惯。训练时,跳蚤被放在有顶盖的纸板盒里。跳蚤会不断地跳起来,撞击顶盖。你观察它们跳起来撞击顶盖,会慢慢注意到一个有趣的现象。它们仍不断地往上跳,但不会再撞到顶盖。

当你把顶盖拿开时,跳蚤还会接着跳,但不会跳出盒子。它们不会跳出来是因为它们已经跳不出来了。为什么?原因很简单。它们已经习惯于只跳这么高了。而一旦习惯于只跳这么高后,它们就只能跳这么高!

很多时候,人们也是一样。他们自己限制自己,从来不去努力开发自己的潜力。就像跳蚤一样,他们没有能够跳得更高,还以为已经把自己的能力发挥到了极限。

口语点津

可用“You have to jump at the chance”来表达“把握机会”;用“jump sb.”表达“殴打某人”:We jumped at him last night. (我们昨晚扁了他一顿);用“jump in”表达“借用一下马上归还”;用“He,who lies down with dogs must rise up with flea.”来表达“近朱者赤,近墨者黑”。