Most Beautiful People 最美的人们（在线收听）

[00:00.00]Most Beautiful People 最美的人们

[00:10.66]The most beautiful people are those who have known defeat,

[00:15.46]suffering, struggle, loss,

[00:17.22]and have found their way out of the depths.

[00:19.73]These persons have an appreciation,

[00:22.26]a sensitivity and an understanding of life

[00:25.64]that fills them with compassion, gentleness,

[00:28.72]and a deep loving concern.

[00:30.34]A Boy Named Sparky 一个叫斯帕基的男孩

[00:37.02]For Sparky, school was all but impossible.

[00:41.28]He failed every subject in the eighth grade.

[00:44.14]He flunked physics in high school,

[00:45.98]getting a grade of zero.

[00:47.52]Sparky also flunked Latin, algebra, and English.

[00:50.90]He didn’t do much better in sports.

[00:52.99]Although he did manage to make the school’s golf team,

[00:56.04]he promptly lost the only important match of the season.

[00:59.34]There was consolation match;

[01:01.51]he lost that too.

[01:02.72]Throughout his youth Sparky was awkward socially.

[01:06.10]He was not actually disliked by the other students;

[01:08.74]no one cared that much.

[01:10.26]He was astonished if a classmate ever said hello

[01:13.22]to him outside of school hours.

[01:14.98]There’s no way to tell how he might have done at dating.

[01:18.03]Sparky never once asked a girl to go out in high school.

[01:21.52]He was too afraid of being turned down.

[01:23.72]Sparky was a loser.

[01:25.68]He, his classmates…everyone knew it.

[01:28.53]So he rolled with it.

[01:30.18]Sparky had made up his mind early in life that

[01:32.90]if things were meant to work out,

[01:34.44]they would.

[01:35.43]Otherwise he would content himself

[01:37.16]with what appeared to be his inevitable mediocrity.

[01:39.58]However, one thing was important to Sparky—drawing.

[01:43.73]He was proud of his artwork.

[01:45.60]Of course,no one else appreciated it.

[01:47.78]In his senior year of high school,

[01:50.08]he submitted some cartoons to the editors of the yearbook.

[01:53.25]The cartoons were turned down.

[01:55.12]Despite this particular rejection,

[01:57.51]Sparky was so convinced of his ability

[02:00.04]that he decided to become a professional artist.

[02:02.98]After completing high school,

[02:05.73]he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios.

[02:08.01]He was told to send some samples of his artwork,

[02:10.76]and the subject for a cartoon was suggested.

[02:13.48]Sparky drew the proposed cartoon.

[02:16.12]He spent a great deal of time on it

[02:18.76]and on all the other drawings he submitted.

[02:21.15]Finally, the reply came from Disney Studios.

[02:24.13]He had been rejected once again.

[02:26.63]Another loss for the loser.

[02:28.49]So Sparky decided to write his own autobiography in cartoons.

[02:32.76]He described his childhood self—

[02:35.39]a little boy loser and chronic underachiever.

[02:38.56]The cartoon character would soon become famous worldwide.

[02:42.05]For Sparky, the boy who had such lack of success in school and whose work

[02:47.09]was rejected again and again was Charles Schulz.

[02:50.79]He created the Peanuts comic strip and the little cartoon character

[02:54.64]whose kite would never fly

[02:56.48]and who never succeeded in kicking a football—Charlie Brown.