英语名篇诵读 成功是什么

What Is Success

成功是什么

The simplest definition of success I think is “to set out to do something and to succeed in

doing it”. It really doesn't matter what, or how humble¹ the undertaking² is.

Believe you can succeed and you will. Achieving success in whatever endeavor you

choose may be the goal of life. Because it gives you freedom from worry. Could that be?

Success means different things to every one of us. Some people believe it is measured in

financial terms, i.e. having wealth; others believe it is helping³ others rather than helping

themselves. A bit of both perhaps!Or it could be simply achieving for achievement's sake. Success

is such a personal thing. To many people it is the very root of their being — the reason for existing

is to achieve something worthwhile in our lives. To the vast majority of the population it doesn't

matter much whether they want to be successful or not; that's OK by me, as long as that is what

you really want and you are happy with life. However, most people are motivated to a great

extent by public recognition and a relentless⁴ pursuit of achievement.

How many people too are really happy?How many people are really doing what they want to

with their lives?

No matter what motivates you personally...whatever you choose to do with your life, don't

expect instant success. The years of struggle, commitment and learning in excelling at whatever

endeavor or trade you choose, is no easy task. I would whole-heartedly agree with that statement.

It takes a lot of courage, character and discipline to achieve success in any field. Nearly all

successful people have doubted themselves at some point and wanted to give up. Yet they carried

on. So many people give up within an inch or two away from the gold in the seam down the mine

— a whisker away from success. One thing is for sure:success breeds SUCCESS, as it gathers a

momentum⁵ of its own everything seems to fit into place.

I like all of the following quotations⁶. They all stand for what success means to me personally.

So I'll share them with you:

“Success is the continuous journey towards the achievement of predetermined worthwhile

goals.”“To live your life in your own way. To reach the goals you've set for yourself. To be the

person you want to be — that is success.”

我认为成功最简单的定义，就是“着手去做一件事，并且做成了”。做的是什么事，或

者这件事是多么卑微，都真的不重要。

相信你能成功，你就能成功。生活的目的可能是，在你所选择努力去做的任何事情上

获得成功。因为这使你不再忧心。是那样吗？

对于我们每个人来说，成功有着不同的含义。有的人相信成功是用经济条件来衡量

的，就是说，要有财富。另一些人相信成功是助人而不是利己。也许两者都得有点儿吧！

或者就只是为了成功而成功。成功是这样一种个人的事情。对许多人来说，成功是他们生

命的根本——生存的理由就是在生活中获得有价值的东西。对于大多数人来说，是否成功

不那么重要；只要那是你真心想要的，而且你对生活满意，我看就可以了。然而，许多人

在很大程度上以社会的承认作为动力，为成功进行着无情的竞争角逐。

有多少人真的幸福呢？有多少人真正做着他们一生中想做的事情呢？

不论你的个人动机是什么……也不管你的人生选择做什么，不要指望一蹴而就。经年

的奋斗不息，全身心的投入，孜孜以求在所选择的专业或行业中出类拔萃，绝非易事。我

完全赞同那种说法。要想在任何一个领域获得成功，都需要勇气、品德和自律。几乎所有

的成功人士都曾在某个时候怀疑过自己，想要放弃。但他们坚持下来了。而有那么多的人

在离矿井中的金矿层仅有一两英寸的地方放弃了——离成功只一步之遥。有一件事是确定

的：一事成功，事事成功，因为它自身积累了动力，一切都似乎一帆风顺了。

我喜欢下面所有的引语。它们都代表了我个人认为的成功的含义，在此与君同享：

“成功是不断向预先确定的有价值的目标前进的旅程。”“按自己的方式生活。达到自己

确定的目标。成为你想成为的人——那就是成功。”

1 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

2 undertaking   

n.保证，许诺，事业

参考例句：

• He gave her an undertaking that he would pay the money back with in a year.他向她做了一年内还钱的保证。
• He is too timid to venture upon an undertaking.他太胆小，不敢从事任何事业。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 relentless   

adj.残酷的，不留情的，无怜悯心的

参考例句：

• The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
• Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。

5 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

6 quotations   

n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价

参考例句：

• The insurance company requires three quotations for repairs to the car. 保险公司要修理这辆汽车的三家修理厂的报价单。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These quotations cannot readily be traced to their sources. 这些引语很难查出出自何处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》