69. Mean What You Say p.476

 

　　Some people say that promises are made to be broken. That certainly seems to be true in this cutthroatsociety that we live in. But if you break your promise, you will ruin your reputation¹ and no one will trustyou anymore. So whenever we say, "I give you my word," we should mean it. There is nothing worse than to belet down by others because they have not kept their promises.
In fact, it isn't so difficult to keep promises. Just remember never to promise anything we are not surewe can live up to. In short, therefore, to be trustworthy, we should always say what we mean and mean whatwe say.

 

(You should) mean what you say  说话算话
make/keep/break promises
in cutthroat society 竞争激烈的社会    competitive 竞争的    to compete with others
ruin/destroy one's reputation
give you my word = Don't go back on your word   word不用复数  words吵架    promises 可用复数
let down = disappointed  失望
as a matter of fact -- in fact
live up to 做到    live up to one's expectations(永远用pl)达到某人的期望
 

1 reputation   

n.名誉，声誉，声望，信誉

参考例句：

• We are very anxious to keep up the reputation of the firm.我们对于保持公司的名誉非常急切。
• He has not too good a reputation in the matter of honesty.就诚实而言，他的名声不太好。