成功的秘诀The Secret of Success

 　　A young man once asked Albert Einstein what the secret of success was. The great scientist told him that the secret of success was hard work.

　　有个年轻人曾经问阿伯特.爱因斯坦成功的秘诀是什么。这位伟大的科学家告诉他成功的秘诀是勤奋。

　　A few days later the young man asked him the same question again. Einstein was very annoyed¹.

　　几天后这个年轻人又问他同样的问题，爱因斯坦很恼火。

　　He did not say anything but wrote a few words on a piece of paper and handed it to the young man. The young man looked at the piece of paper. On it was written:

　　他一句话也没说，只是在一张纸上写下几个字，递给那年轻人。年轻人看了纸条，只见上面写着：

　　X=Y+X+Z

　　“What does this mean?” asked the young man.

　　“这是什么意思？”年轻人问道。

　　“A means² success,” explained the old scientist. “X stands for hard work, Y stands for good methods, and Y means that you should stop talking and get down to work.”

　　“A表示成功，”这位老科学家解释说，“X代表勤奋，Y代表好的方法，Z的意思是别空谈，认真的工作。”

1 annoyed   

adj.烦恼的，恼怒的，生气的，恼火的

参考例句：

• I imagine she was pretty annoyed when she found out.我想她发现此事后一定很生气。
• He was annoyed with complaints made from outside.他因外界的种种怨言而感到烦恼。

2 means   

n.方法，手段，折中点，物质财富

参考例句：

• That man used artful means to find out secrets.那人使用狡猾的手段获取机密。
• We must get it done by some means or other.我们总得想办法把它干完。