100个儿童英语小故事: The Thorny Road of Honor 光荣的荆棘路

 

062 The Thorny¹ Road of Honor

Every country has great and respectable² people. They teach us about battle, glory and failure in life.

"Know yourself." Socrates, who we all know, was held in contempt³ by many people. But he wanted to know a lot of things. Even now, he is respected by people.

"The future is in the dark." The prophet⁴ 'Homer' always worried about the future, so his hair all turned white. After a while, his eyes went blind. But he is always remembered as the greatest prophet of history. Great men have always been produced continuously.

"Have mercy on me. Please give me a penny" The great poet Camoniz was a beggar when he was young. But he has a magnificent monument of his own. If no one had given him money, he would have died from hunger.

There is another man to talk about. He stayed in prison for a long time. "I am not crazy!" He is the one who invented steam power, but he could not be recognized as a great man in his days. People said that he was crazy. The great inventor, Salomon Deco ended his life in a mental institution.

"I have found a new continent." Famous Columbus found the new Continent, but he got arrested and died in chains.

"Someday, you will find out about the new continent." He died in chains, but now he is very famous for his discovery of the American Continent.

"The earth goes around the sun." Galileo knew the earth circles the sun, but he suffered from blindness and deafness.

"Still, the earth goes around the sun." He told people the earth travels around the sun even though it got him in trouble. Everything has a painful thorny path. Tolerate and stand firm no matter what comes your way. The mere⁵ pain of the moment will turn into glory.

1 thorny   

adj.多刺的，棘手的

参考例句：

• The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题。
• The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点。

2 respectable   

n.品格高尚的人；adj.值得尊重的，人格高尚的，不少的

参考例句：

• She seems respectable enough.她看上去挺体面的。
• His savings were just enough to pay for a respectable funeral.他的存款刚好够办一个体面的葬礼。

3 contempt   

n.轻视，藐视，受辱，丢脸

参考例句：

• She looked at him with immediate and undisguised contempt.她用毫不掩饰的轻蔑眼光看着他。
• He refused to answer in contempt of the rules of the court.他藐视法院规章，拒绝回答。

4 prophet   

n.预言家，先知，提倡者

参考例句：

• A prophet made a prophecy that the kingdom would fall.一位预言家预言那个王国将要灭亡。
• The pity is that you are not a prophet.可惜你不能未卜先知。

5 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。