小故事背诵达人 钝了的斧子

Dull Axe¹

钝了的斧子

Jon likes his job and he used to be quite good at it. In fact, ten years ago when he began working at T&T, he was considered one of the best in the company. However, over the past few years Jon's performance at work has been slipping. Jon got more and more frustrated² as his friends progressed and he didn't.

强热爱工作，他曾经是这一行的高手，事实上，十年前他开始在T&T 工作时，他被认为是公司的顶尖高手。可是过去几年来，强的工作表现往下滑落。看着他的朋友突飞猛进，自己却一点长进也没有，强越来越沮丧。

Finally, one day Jon asked a friend for some advice. “I don't understand. I try so hard but I can't get up in the company.”

最后有一天，强向一位朋友寻求忠告，“我不懂，我这么努力，在公司却没办法上升。”

His friend looked serious and asked, “When was the last time you sharpened your axe?”

他的朋友表情认真地问，“你上次磨利斧头是什么时候的事？”

Jon looked at his friend as though he was crazy and said, “What are you talking about?”

强看着朋友的表情好像他是疯子，并说，“你在说什么？”

His friend replied, “When was the last time you took courses to upgrade your skills? You work in a competitive industry. If you don't update your skills, you will fall behind.”

朋友回答，“你上次什么时候去上课提升你的技术？你在竞争的产业里工作，如果你不更新你的技术，就会落后。”

Jon felt silly and laughed “I have spent all of my time trying to cut trees with a dull axe. All I needed to do was sharpen it!”

强觉得自己很傻，大笑，“原来我一直在拿一把钝掉的斧头砍树木，却忘了需要磨利它！”

1 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

2 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》