早读英语精华本下册 Unit2

　　A Pair of Socks（II） 一双袜子
My amazement¹ at his pride and joy in salesmanship will be easily understood by all who read this article. In many shops the customer has to wait for someone to wait upon him. And when finally some clerk does deign² to notice you, you are made to feel as if you were interrupting him. Either he is absorbed in profound thought in which he hates to be disturbed or he is skylarking with a girl clerk and you feel like apologizing for thrusting yourself into such intimacy³.
He displays no interest either in you or in the goods he is paid to sell. Yet possibly that very clerk who is now so apathetic⁴ began his career with hope and enthusiasm. The daily grind was too much for him; the novelty wore off; his only pleasures were found outside of working hours. He became a mechanical, he became incompetent⁵; then he saw younger clerks who had more zest⁶ in their work, promoted over him. He became sour. That was the last stage. His usefulness was over.
I have observed this melancholy⁷ decline in the lives of so many men in so many occupations that I have come to the conclusion that the surest road to failure is to do things mechanically. There are many teachers in schools and colleges who seem duller than the dullest of their pupils; they go through the motions of teaching, but they are as impersonal⁸ as a telephone.
我对他推销时的自豪与欣喜所感到的诧异,读者诸君当不难理解，在很多店铺,顾客不得不等待有人来招呼?当终于有个售货员肯屈尊理你,那样子又让你感觉像是打扰了他，他不是陷于讨厌被人搅扰的深思之中,就是和女售货员嬉戏调笑;而你不适时的插入打断了他们的亲昵,为此你感觉好像需要道歉似的。
他显示出对你和他拿着工资去卖的东西毫无兴趣，然而,就是这样一个如此冷漠的售货员,或许当初也是满怀希望和热情开始工作的。天天枯燥乏味的苦差事令他不堪忍受,新鲜感磨去了,惟一的乐趣只能在工作之外找到，他成了一个机械的。没有干劲的售货员，机械呆板之后便是笨拙无能。随后,看到比他年轻。工作热情比他高的售货员得到了提拔,在他之上,他于是变得烦躁刻薄，此时便到了他职业生涯的最后阶段。他不再有用了。
我观察到,很多职业中的太多人在人生道路上都有这种可悲的堕落。由此我得出结论:机械地应付差事是离失败最近的路。大中小学里的许多教师,似乎比他们最最迟钝的学生还要呆滞;他们似乎也搞搞教学,却毫无人的感情,就如同一部电话机。

1 amazement   

n.惊奇，惊讶

参考例句：

• All those around him looked at him with amazement.周围的人都对他投射出惊异的眼光。
• He looked at me in blank amazement.他带着迷茫惊诧的神情望着我。

2 deign   

v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事)

参考例句：

• He doesn't deign to talk to unimportant people like me. 他不肯屈尊和像我这样不重要的人说话。
• I would not deign to comment on such behaviour. 这种行为不屑我置评。

3 intimacy   

n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行

参考例句：

• His claims to an intimacy with the President are somewhat exaggerated.他声称自己与总统关系密切，这有点言过其实。
• I wish there were a rule book for intimacy.我希望能有个关于亲密的规则。

4 apathetic   

adj.冷漠的，无动于衷的

参考例句：

• I realised I was becoming increasingly depressed and apathetic.我意识到自己越来越消沉、越来越冷漠了。
• You won't succeed if you are apathetic.要是你冷淡，你就不能成功。

5 incompetent   

adj.无能力的，不能胜任的

参考例句：

• He is utterly incompetent at his job.他完全不能胜任他的工作。
• He is incompetent at working with his hands.他动手能力不行。

6 zest   

n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣

参考例句：

• He dived into his new job with great zest.他充满热情地投入了新的工作。
• He wrote his novel about his trip to Asia with zest.他兴趣浓厚的写了一本关于他亚洲之行的小说。

7 melancholy   

n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的

参考例句：

• All at once he fell into a state of profound melancholy.他立即陷入无尽的忧思之中。
• He felt melancholy after he failed the exam.这次考试没通过，他感到很郁闷。

8 impersonal   

adj.无个人感情的，与个人无关的，非人称的

参考例句：

• Even his children found him strangely distant and impersonal.他的孩子们也认为他跟其他人很疏远，没有人情味。
• His manner seemed rather stiff and impersonal.他的态度似乎很生硬冷淡。