Being Superior to Your Previous Self
欧内斯特 · 海明威 / Ernest Hemingway
First listen and then answer the questions.
1. Is it true that the man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without?
2. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self. What’s your opinion?
In a calm sea every man is a pilot.
But all sunshine without shade, all pleasure without pain, is not life at all. Take the lot of the happiest—it is a tangled yarn. Bereavements and blessings, one following another, make us sad and blessed by turns. Even death itself makes life more loving. Men come closest to their true selves in the sober moments of life, under the shadows of sorrow and loss.
In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tells so much as character, not brains so much as heart, not genius so much as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated by judgment.
I have always believed that the man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without. In an age of extravagance and waste, I wish I could show to the world how few the real wants of humanity are.
To regret one’s errors to the point of not repeating them is true repentance. There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.
在风平浪静的大海上，每个人都是领航员。
但是，只有阳光而无阴影，只有欢乐而无痛苦，那就不是人生。以最幸福的人的生活为例——它是一团纠缠在一起的纱线。丧亲之痛和幸福祝愿，彼此相接，使我们悲喜交加。甚至死亡本身也会使生命更加可亲。在人生的清醒时刻，在哀痛和伤心的阴影之下，人们与真实的自我最为接近。
在人生或者职业的各种事务中，性格的作用比智力大得多，头脑的作用不如心情，天资不如由判断力所节制着的自制、耐心和规律。
我始终相信，开始在内心生活得更严肃的人，也会在外表上开始生活得更朴素。在一个奢华浪费的年代，我希望能向世界表明，人类真正需要的东西是非常少的。
悔恨自己的错误，而且力求不再重蹈覆辙，这才是真正的悔悟。优于别人，并不高贵。真正的高贵应该是优于过去的自己。
Learning for Better Understanding
Do the following statements agree with the information in the reading
text?
Write
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
(1) There is something noble in being superior to some other man.
(2) In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tells so much as character, not brains so much as heart, not genius so much as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated by judgment.
Practicing for Better Learning
Please fill in the blanks with the proper words according to the given sentences.
1. The wind _up her hair.
风把她的头发吹乱了。
2. But he is a man of great dignity, talents and high ideals.
他是一个很有尊严的人，具有超人的才华和崇高的理想。
Now a Try
Why does the author say the true nobility is in being superior to your
previous self?
自信是你立足于世界的关键，也是取胜于各行各业的关键。真诚努力的自信可以使人达到登峰造极的境界，然而我们却经常看到很多人缺少基本的自信因素。
第一章 Chapter Three智慧的人生不等待——人生没有终点站
Relish the Moment
Read the article quickly and answer the following questions.
1. What do you usually do when you travel by train?
2. Did you regret for the passing time?
Tucked away in our subconsciousness is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows, we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.