我对这少年做买卖的自豪感和喜悦的心情觉得惊异，读者对此当不难理解。因为在许多商店，顾客得静候店员的招呼。当一个店员终于屈尊注意到你，他那种模样会让你觉得你在打扰他。他不是沉浸在沉思中，恼恨别人打断他的思路，就是在同女店员嬉笑聊天，让你感到不该打断了如此亲昵的谈话，反要向他道歉似的。

　　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 apathetic 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, not inspired, salesman. After being mechanical, he became incompetent; then he saw younger clerks who had more zest in their work, promoted over him. He became sour. That was the last stage. His usefulness was over.

　　无论对你，或是对他领了报酬专门来出售的货物，他都毫无兴趣。然而就是这么个无动于衷的店员，可能当初也是怀着希望和热情开始他的职业的。年复一年枯燥乏味的苦差使叫他无法忍受；新奇感被磨掉了；只在工作之余，他才能找到一点欢乐。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；他看到那些工作热情比他高的年轻店员晋升，超过了他，他开始烦躁不安。他已走到最后一站，已全无价值。

　　I have observed this melancholy 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 impersonal as a telephone.

　　各行各业都有许许多多人在生活的道路上走下坡路，意气消沉。我见得太多了，便得出了一个结论：机械地干工作必然导致失败。一些学院和学校里面许多教师，几乎比他们最迟钝的学生还要呆板；他们也进行教学活动，但就像一台电话机一般，丝毫没有一点人情味。