It’s Never Too Late for Success
佚名 / Anonymous
You and your parents can stop worrying — Pasteur, Edison, Darwin and lots more were far from being geniuses in their teens.
History books seldom mention it, but the truth is that many of our greatest figures were practically “beatniks” when they were teenagers. They were given to daydreaming, indecision, hebetude (plain dullness), and they showed no promise of being doctor, lawyer or Indian chiefs.
So young men and women, if you suffer from the same symptoms, don’t despair. The world was built by men and women whose parents worried that they would “never amount to a hill of beans”. You don’t hear too much about their early failure because parents prefer to cite more inspiring examples.
So it goes. You have the Wright brothers, who were brilliant at engineering in their early teens, and you have Thomas Alva Edison, whose teacher tried to get him out of the class because his brain was addled. You have the Nobel Prize physicist Enrico Fermi, who at 17 had read enough mathematics to qualify for a doctor’s degree. And you have the great Albert Schweitzer, who wavered between music and the church until he was 30. Then he started his medical studies.
Charles Darwin’s early life was a mess. He hated school, and his father once shouted: “You care for nothing but shooting dogs and rat catching, and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family!” He was sent to Glasgow to study medicine, but he couldn’t stand the sight of blood. He was sent to divinity school and barely managed to graduate. Where upon he chucked the whole business and shipped to the South Seas on the famous exploring ship — Beagle. On that voyage, one of history’s greatest scientists was born. It was here that he collected the material for the book that would revolutionized biological science — The Origin of the Species.
And added to all the aforementioned paradoxes you have a small army of child prodigies who were graduated from college when they were 15, and are now obscure clerks in accounting departments. And you have a small army of men who were too stupid or indolent to get into or finish college and who are today presidents of the firms that hire the prodigies.
So who’s to say what about youth? Any young boy or girl who knows what he or she wants to do in life is probably the better off for it. But no teenager needs despair of the future. He has that one special advantage over the greatest man alive — time.
你和你的父母可以不必担忧了，巴斯德、爱迪生、达尔文，还有其他很多赫赫有名的人，他们在少年时代都没有表现出多少天赋。
虽然历史书中很少提到这些，但事实上，很多天才在青少年时代都是“垮掉的一代”。他们爱幻想，做事优柔寡断，思维明显迟钝，根本看不出有成为医生、律师或印度首领的可能。
所以年轻的人们，如果你与我叙述的一样，请不要灰心。那些被父母认为“永远成不了大器”的人们，创造了这个世界。之所以对于他们早期的失败你毫不知情，是因为你的父母更愿意选择激励人心的事例。
因此，你知道怀特兄弟年少时就在工程学上显示出过人的天赋；托马斯·阿尔瓦·爱迪生的老师曾试图把他赶出教室，因为他的思维错乱；诺贝尔物理学奖得主恩里科·费米，17岁掌握的数学知识就达到博士的水平；阿尔伯特·施韦策30岁时还在选择自己的道路，不知道从事音乐事业还是宗教事业，最后选择了医学。
查尔斯·达尔文的早期生活一团糟。他不爱上学，父亲曾经斥责他说：“你整天除了打狗捉鼠，就不会干别的，你早晚都要把全家人的脸丢尽。” 他被送到格拉斯哥学医，可是他一见血就晕。又被送到神学院，可他差点毕不了业。于是他舍弃一切，乘着举世闻名的Beagle号探险船，驶向南太平洋。这次远航，造就了历史上一位最伟大的科学家。他在途中搜集资料，完成了《物种起源》这一引发生物学革命的著作。
除了上面提到的这些矛盾的天才，你一定听说过一些神童的故事。他们15岁就大学毕业，而今却成了财务部门的普通职员。你还听说过一些人，他们太笨，太懒，根本考不上大学，即便考上了也不能毕业，却成为今天的公司董事长，而他们的雇员就是那些神童。
因此，谁又能预言年轻人的将来？任何一个小男孩或小女孩，知道自己一生中追求什么，或许对未来更有利。但是，每个青少年都不需要为自己的将来感到绝望。比起那些最伟大的人，他们具有的一大优势就是时间。
记忆填空
1. The world was by men and women whose parents that they would“never amount to a hill of beans”. You don’t too much about their failure because parents prefer to cite more inspiring .
2. You the Nobel Prize physicist Enrico Fermi, who at 17 had read enough mathematics to qualify for a doctor’s . And you have the great Albert Schweitzer, who wavered between music the church until he was 30. he started his medical studies.
3. And you have a small army of who were too stupid or indolent to get into or finish college and are today presidents of the firms that hire the prodigies.
佳句翻译
1. 所以年轻的人们，如果你与我叙述的一样，请不要灰心。
2. 他们15岁就大学毕业，而今却成了财务部门的普通职员。
3. 任何一个小男孩或小女孩，知道自己一生中追求什么，或许对未来更有利。
短语应用
1. You and your parents can stop worrying — Pasteur, Edison, Darwin and lots more were far from being geniuses in their teens.
far from doing：远远不足
2. He was sent to divinity school and barely managed to graduate.
manage to：设法；达成