英语美文：朝着自己选择的方向前进

 Look What You Find along the Way

如果你曾因失败而气馁，请继续读下去。通常，完成你的预期目标其实并不是那么重要的事。让我解释一下。　If you have ever been discouraged because of failure, please read on.Achieving what you set out to do usually is not the important thing. Let me explain. 

　　Two brothers decided¹ to dig a deep hole behind their house. As they were working, a couple of older boys stopped to watch. 

　　“What are you doing?” asked one of the visitors. 

　　“We plan to dig a hole all the way through the earth, ” one of the brothers volunteered excitedly. 

　　The older boys began to laugh, telling the younger ones that digging a hole all the way through the earth was impossible. After a long silence, one of the diggers picked up a jar full of spiders, worms and a wide assortment² of insects. He removed the lid and showed the wonderful contents to the scoffing³ visitors. Then he said quietly and confidently, “Even if we don’t dig all the way through the earth, look what we found along the way!” 

　　Their goal was far too ambitious⁴, but it did cause them to dig. And that is what a goal is for—to cause us to move in the direction we have chosen; in other words, to set us to digging! 

　　But not every goal will be fully⁵ achieved. Not every hope will come to pass. Not every endeavor⁶ will be completed. But when you fall short of your aim, perhaps you can say, “Yes, but look at what I found along the way! Look at the wonderful things which have come into my life because I tried to do something!” 

　　It is in the digging that life is lived. And I believe it is joy in the journey, in the end, that truly matters.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 assortment   

n.分类，各色俱备之物，聚集

参考例句：

• This shop has a good assortment of goods to choose from.该店各色货物俱全，任君选择。
• She was wearing an odd assortment of clothes.她穿着奇装异服。

3 scoffing   

n. 嘲笑, 笑柄, 愚弄 v. 嘲笑, 嘲弄, 愚弄, 狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• They were sitting around the table scoffing. 他们围坐在桌子旁狼吞虎咽地吃着。
• He the lid and showed the wonderful the scoffing visitors. 他打开盖子给嘲笑他们的老人看这些丰富的收获。

4 ambitious   

adj.有雄心的，劲头十足的，有野心的

参考例句：

• One may be poor but never ceases to be ambitious.人穷志不穷。
• He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 endeavor   

vt.／n.努力，尽力，尝试

参考例句：

• Thereupon,we knew,our endeavor was valuable.于是，我们知道，我们的努力是有价值的。
• We endeavor to make our customers satisfied.我们力图使顾客都满意。