托福写作素材：天赋还是后天努力

 　Anonymous¹ asks, "Which is more important to success, talent or hard work?"

　　When Talent Fails

　　Countless² talented people fail. They are better equipped through some natural gift, some set of experiences, or through training. It is clear to everyone around them that they have greater competencies and greater abilities. Almost all of these talented people recognize that they are more talented than their peers.

　　The reason these talented people fail has nothing to do with their lack of talent and everything to do with their unwillingness⁴ to put that talent to work. Talented people sometimes believe that talent alone is enough to succeed. But being unwilling³ to do the work, they fail.

　　When Hard Work Fails

　　Some people who work very hard fail, but not nearly as often as the talented person who is unwilling. A hard worker tends to produce results through the sheer force of will. They're willing to just keep at something until they produce some result.

　　When hard workers fail it is because they believe that working hard alone is enough. Because they don't work at learning more and improving their effectiveness, they fail. I have seen many a hard-working salesperson⁵ fail because, despite their willingness to work, they wouldn't work on developing their chops.

　　Talent + Hard Work

　　The question anonymous asks supposes that talent and hard work are mutually exclusive, that you can be one or the other. But the most successful people are the talented people who work hard putting those talents to good use. They are matched only by the hard worker who is thoughtful enough to learn quickly, make distinctions that produce better results, and hustle⁶ to grow their overall competencies.

　　The only choice to made is whether you are going to work hard if you are gifted with some talent, or whether you are going to develop yourself and learn if you are a hard worker who lacks the natural talent.

　　注解：

　　固定搭配

　　are better equipped ： 装备有

　　The reason  xxx has nothing to do with  xxx,  everything to do with  xxx: 某事的原因跟xx没关系而是跟xxx有关系

　　not nearly as often as ：没有后者的频率高（对比的时候常用）

　　are mutually exclusive：互相排斥

　　putting those talents to good use：使用好这些天分

　　are gifted with some talent：有天赋

　　并列结构（细节的罗列）

　　natural gift, some set of experiences, or through training：

　　天赋、经验和训练

　　greater competencies and greater abilities：跟强的技能和更大的能力（一回事）

　　learning more and improving their effectiveness：

　　学习到更多、增加效率

　　developing their chops：增加效率

　　learn quickly, make distinctions that produce better results, and hustle to grow their overall competencies

　　：快速学习、在那些有更好产出的方面变得更优秀、快速增加各方面的能力

　　Citation⁷：

　　http://thesalesblog.com/2014/12/05/talent-or-hard-work/

　　2012.2.11 ML

　　Talented people's leadership is born naturally and can't be learned by people. Do you agree or disagree.

1 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

2 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

3 unwilling   

adj.不情愿的

参考例句：

• The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
• His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。

4 unwillingness   

n. 不愿意，不情愿

参考例句：

• Her unwillingness to answer questions undermined the strength of her position. 她不愿回答问题，这不利于她所处的形势。
• His apparent unwillingness would disappear if we paid him enough. 如果我们付足了钱，他露出的那副不乐意的神情就会消失。

5 salesperson   

n.售货员，营业员，店员

参考例句：

• A salesperson works in a shop.售货员在商店工作。
• Vanessa is a salesperson in a woman's wear department.凡妮莎是女装部的售货员。

6 hustle   

v.推搡；竭力兜售或获取；催促；n.奔忙(碌)

参考例句：

• It seems that he enjoys the hustle and bustle of life in the big city.看起来他似乎很喜欢大城市的热闹繁忙的生活。
• I had to hustle through the crowded street.我不得不挤过拥挤的街道。

7 citation   

n.引用，引证，引用文；传票

参考例句：

• He had to sign the proposition for the citation.他只好在受奖申请书上签了字。
• The court could issue a citation and fine Ms. Robbins.法庭可能会发传票，对罗宾斯女士处以罚款。