The Touchstone 试金石

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[00:04.63]The Touchstone 试金石

[00:06.87]When the great library of Alexandria burned,

[00:10.58]the story goes, one book was saved.

[00:13.76] But it was not a valuable book;

[00:16.16]and so a poor man, who could read a little, bought it for a few coppers¹.

[00:21.08]The book wasn’t very interesting,

[00:23.71]but between its pages there was something very interesting indeed.

[00:27.76]It was a thin strip² of vellum on which was written the secret of the "Touchstone"!

[00:33.34]The touchstone was a small pebble³ that could turn any common metal into pure gold.

[00:39.25] The writing explained that it was lying among

[00:42.53]thousands and thousands of other pebbles⁴ that looked exactly like it.

[00:46.47] But the secret was this:

[00:48.76]The real stone would feel warm,

[00:51.17]while ordinary pebbles are cold.

[00:53.47]So the man sold his few belongings⁵,

[00:56.42]bought some simple supplies,

[00:58.61] camped on the seashore,

[01:00.25]and began testing pebbles.

[01:02.11]He knew that if he picked up ordinary pebbles

[01:05.28] and threw them down again because they were cold,

[01:08.35] he might pick up the same pebble hundreds of times.

[01:11.51]So, when he felt one that was cold,

[01:14.57] he threw it into the sea.

[01:16.44]He spent a whole day doing this but none of them was the touchstone.

[01:21.26]Yet he went on and on this way.

[01:23.88] Pick up a pebble.

[01:25.30] Cold—throw it into the sea.

[01:27.49] Pick up another. Throw it into the sea.

[01:30.55]The days stretched into weeks and the weeks into months.

[01:34.72] One day, however, about midafternoon,

[01:37.88] he picked up a pebble and it was warm.

[01:40.62] He threw it into the sea before he realized what he had done.

[01:44.34] He had formed such a strong habit of throwing each pebble into the sea

[01:49.04]that when the one he wanted came along,

[01:51.78] he still threw it away.

[01:53.74]So it is with opportunity.

[01:56.26]Unless we are vigilant⁶,

[01:58.12]it’s easy to fail to recognize an opportunity

[02:01.51]when it is in hand

[02:03.26]and it’s just as easy to throw it away.

1 coppers   

铜( copper的名词复数 )； 铜币

参考例句：

• I only paid a few coppers for it. 我只花了几个铜板买下这东西。
• He had only a few coppers in his pocket. 他兜里仅有几个铜板。

2 strip   

n.长条，条状；连环漫画；n.脱衣舞；vt.脱衣，剥夺；挤干(牛奶)；vt.拆卸；去除(烟叶的茎)；vi.脱衣，表演脱衣舞；剥落

参考例句：

• I need one more strip of cloth to finish this decoration.我还要一根布条来完成这个装饰品。
• We had to strip the old paint from the doors.我们只好把门上的旧漆刮掉。

3 pebble   

n.卵石，小圆石

参考例句：

• The bird mistook the pebble for egg and tried to hatch it.这只鸟错把卵石当蛋，想去孵它。
• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。

4 pebbles   

[复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pebbles of the drive crunched under his feet. 汽车道上的小石子在他脚底下喀嚓作响。
• Line the pots with pebbles to ensure good drainage. 在罐子里铺一层鹅卵石，以确保排水良好。

5 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

6 vigilant   

adj.警觉的，警戒的，警惕的

参考例句：

• He has to learn how to remain vigilant through these long nights.他得学会如何在这漫长的黑夜里保持警觉。
• The dog kept a vigilant guard over the house.这只狗警醒地守护着这所房屋。