精美英文欣赏:莫让目标太遥远

编者按:

我们在为事业奋斗时，总需要制定一定的目标；它就像海上的指向灯为我们引航指路。看不到这盏灯，我们前进的路程中就会觉得暗淡无光，分不清方向，甚至迷失。所以要让目标之光照亮你的眼睛。

Keep Your Goals in Sight

When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb¹.She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours.

Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.

On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense² she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone³ figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid⁴ grip of the sea, she struggled on—hour after hour— while millions watched on national television.

Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much farther. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had . . . until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.

Still thawing⁵ her chilled body several hours later, she told a reporter, "Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it." It was not fatigue⁶ or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men’s record by two hours!

莫让目标太遥远

佛罗伦斯·查德威克向前方望去，除了绵延无尽的大雾，她什么也看不到。她一直在游泳，已经游了几乎16个小时，身体都麻木了。

在那之前，她已经是第一位从两个方向游过英吉利海峡的女子。现在，她已34岁，她的目标是要成为第一个从卡达琳纳岛游到加利福尼亚海岸的女子。

1952年7月4日的那个早晨，大海就像一个冰浴盆，雾是那么浓，她甚至连救援她的船只都看不到。鲨鱼游向她孤单的身躯，只能靠来复枪来击退。她迎向冰冷的海水，努力向前游，就这样一小时一小时过去了；无数观众则坐在电视机前观看这一情景。

在佛罗伦斯旁边的一艘船里，她母亲和她的教练不断地鼓励她。他们告诉她离海岸已经不远了，然而除雾以外，她却什么也看不到。他们激励她不要放弃，事实上，她一直在坚持，然而在距离目的地只有半英里的时候，她却要求，将她拖出水面。

几个小时后，她一边暖着身体，一边对着记者说：“怎么说呢，我不是为自己找借口，但如果我能看见陆地的话，我会成功的。”瞧，在这次游泳中，击败她的不是劳累和冰冷的海水，而是雾。因为有雾，她根本看不到自己的目标。

两个月后，她又试着游了一次。这一次，尽管雾还是那样浓，但她始终带着必胜的信念，头脑中始终有一个清楚的目标，她知道雾后面的某个地方就是陆地，这一次她成功了！佛罗伦斯·查德威克最终成为第一个游过卡达琳纳海峡的女子，并且以快两个小时的速度打破了男子游过该海峡的记录，这让男子记录黯然失色。

1 numb   

adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木

参考例句：

• His fingers were numb with cold.他的手冻得发麻。
• Numb with cold,we urged the weary horses forward.我们冻得发僵，催着疲惫的马继续往前走。

2 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

3 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

4 frigid   

adj.寒冷的，凛冽的；冷淡的；拘禁的

参考例句：

• The water was too frigid to allow him to remain submerged for long.水冰冷彻骨，他在下面呆不了太长时间。
• She returned his smile with a frigid glance.对他的微笑她报以冷冷的一瞥。

5 thawing   

n.熔化，融化v.（气候）解冻( thaw的现在分词 )；（态度、感情等）缓和；（冰、雪及冷冻食物）溶化；软化

参考例句：

• The ice is thawing. 冰在融化。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• It had been snowing and thawing and the streets were sloppy. 天一直在下雪，雪又一直在融化，街上泥泞不堪。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

6 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。