美文欣賞：Application and Perseverance實踐與堅持

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The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, affords ample opportunities for acquiring experience of the best kind.

人生最大的收獲往往是通過最簡單的方法或?qū)ΤＷR的準(zhǔn)確應(yīng)用而獲得的。每一個平凡的日子都會為我們提供許多機會， 并使我們的閱歷有所增強。

Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the bestnavigators. In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities are found the most useful,such as common sense, attention, application, and perseverance.

人們常常認(rèn)為：機會是可遇而不可求的。而那些懂得細(xì)心觀察生活的人往往會發(fā)現(xiàn)：機會總是更偏向于勤勉的人，正如海風(fēng)與波浪經(jīng)常會與航海家做伴一樣。哪怕是在對人類事業(yè)的最高追求上，實踐也是最有效的途徑之一。當(dāng)然，頑強的毅力也是必不可少的。

Genius may not be necessary, though even genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these ordinary qualities. The very greatest men have been among the least believers in the power of genius, and as worldly wise and persevering as successful men of the commoner sort. Some have even defined genius to be only common sense intensified. A distinguished teacher and president of a college spoke of it as the power of making ef forts. John Foster held it to be the power of lighting one's own fire.

天賦并不是獲取成功的制勝法寶，即便是天才也同樣會意識到常識的重要性。事實上，一些偉大人物往往是那些最不相信天賦的人。真正的智者和成功人士也并非在哪一方面特別出眾，甚至他們曾被認(rèn)為是缺少天賦的人。沒錯，他們之所以能夠獲得成功正是憑借著扎實的基本功，對基本常識的強化訓(xùn)練。一位校長兼優(yōu)秀教師曾說過，他的成功源自不懈的努力。約翰•福斯特則把這種力量稱之為“點燃生活的火焰”。

Newton's was unquestionably a mind of the very highest order, and yet, when asked by what means he had worked out his extraordinary discoveries, he modestly answered, "By always thinking unto them." At another time he thus expressed his method of study: "I keep the subject continually before me, and wait till the first dawnings open slowly by little and little into a full and clear light." It was in Newton's case, as in every other,only by diligent application and perseverance that his great reputation was achieved.

無可爭議，牛頓的頭腦是最高才智的頭腦，但當(dāng)我們問及他是通過什么方法取得了如此重大的發(fā)現(xiàn)時，他非常謙虛地答道：“全靠對那些問題不斷地深思。”另一次，他這樣表述他的研究方法：“我從未停止探索的腳步，當(dāng)我看到第一縷曙光后，堅定的信念支 持著我最終看到了清晰的世界。”正是通過勤奮和實踐，牛頓才最 終獲得了不朽的名譽和偉大的成就。

Dalton,the chemist,repudiated the notion of his being "a genius," attributing everything which he had accomplished to simple industry and accumulation. John Hunter said of himself, "My mind is like a beehives; but full as it is of buzz and apparent confusion, it is yet full of order and regularity, and food collected with incessant industry from the choiceset stores of nature. "

英國化學(xué)家道爾頓對世人稱他為“天才”的做法進(jìn)行了批判。 他認(rèn)為自己之所以能獲得成功完全憑借自身的不懈努力和對知識的不斷積累。約翰•亨特也曾說過：“我的思想如同一個蜂箱，常常嗡嗡作響，甚至還會出現(xiàn)混亂，但通過不懈的努力，嗡嗡聲已經(jīng)消失了，蜜蜂們也都恢復(fù)了正常的秩序，而且還學(xué)會了如何從大自 然的寶庫中尋找食物。”

We have, indeed, but to glance at the biographies of great men to find that the most distinguished inventors, artists, thinkers, and workers of all kinds, owe their success, in a great measure, to theirindefatigable industry and application.

我們同樣可以在諸多人物傳記中看到：大多數(shù)杰出人物，無論是發(fā)明家、藝術(shù)家、思想家、工人，還是社會各界人士，都無一例外地將自己的成就歸功于勤奮和實踐。