英语沙龙：工作

Work

It is physically¹ impossible for a well-educated,intellectual,

or brave man to make money the chief object of his thoughts;

as physically impossible as it is for him to make his dinner the principal object of them.

All healthy people like their dinner,

but their dinner is not the main object of their lives.

So all healthy?minded people like making money

—ought to like it and to enjoy the sensation² of winning it;

but the main object of their lives is not money; it is something better than money.

A good soldier, for instance, mainly wishes to do his fighting well.

He is glad of his pay—very properly so,

and justly grumbles³ when you keep him ten months without it;

still his main notion⁴ of life is to win battles, not to be paid for winning them.

So of doctors.

They like fees no doubt—ought to like them;

yet if they are brave and well educated,the entire object of their lives is not fees.

They, on the whole,desire to cure the sick,

and—if they are good doctors, and the choice were fairly put to them

—would rather cure their patient and lose their fee than kill him and get it.

And so with all other brave and rightly trained men;

their work is first, their fee second, very important always,but still second.

But in every nation, there is a vast class of people who are cowardly,

and more or less stupid. And with these people,

just as certainly the fee is first and the work second,

as with brave people the work is first and the fee second.

And this is no small distinction. It is the whole distinction.

It is the whole distinction in a man.

You cannot serve two masters; you must serve one or the other.

If your work is first with you, and your fee second, work is your master.

Observe, then, all wise work is mainly threefold in character.

It is honest,useful, and cheerful.

I hardly know anything more strange than that you recognize honesty in play,

and do not in work.

In your lightest games you have always someone to see what you call “fair play”.

In boxing you must hit fair; in racing⁵, start fair.

Your watchword is fair play; your hatred⁶, foul⁷ play.

Did it ever strike you that you wanted another watchword also,

fair work, and another hatred also, foul work?

1 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

2 sensation   

n.感觉，感知力，激动，轰动

参考例句：

• He lost all sensation in his legs through cramp.他的腿部因抽筋而失去知觉。
• Seeing him again after so many years was a strange sensation.那么多年以后又见到他，是一种不可思议的感觉。

3 grumbles   

抱怨( grumble的第三人称单数 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声

参考例句：

• He grumbles at his lot instead of resolutely facing his difficulties. 他不是果敢地去面对困难，而是抱怨自己运气不佳。
• I'm sick of your unending grumbles. 我对你的不断埋怨感到厌烦。

4 notion   

n.概念，意念，看法

参考例句：

• One common Chinese notion is that the elders ought to be respected.中国人共有的一种观念是长者应受到尊敬。
• He had a sudden notion to visit all his relatives.他心血来潮，突然想去拜访他所有的亲戚。

5 racing   

n.竞赛，赛马；adj.竞赛用的，赛马用的

参考例句：

• I was watching the racing on television last night.昨晚我在电视上看赛马。
• The two racing drivers fenced for a chance to gain the lead.两个赛车手伺机竞相领先。

6 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

7 foul   

adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规

参考例句：

• Take off those foul clothes and let me wash them.脱下那些脏衣服让我洗一洗。
• What a foul day it is!多么恶劣的天气！