西奧多·羅斯福/ Theodore Roosevelt
西奧多·羅斯福（1858—1919），美國第26任總統、作家、探險家和軍事家，畢業於哈佛大學，曾發表《勤奮地生活》演說，旨在針對19世紀末美國驕奢**逸、貪圖享樂之風盛行，藉此文以遏製當時的腐
敗現象，這篇《艱辛的人生》也反映了他這種反對怠惰安逸、崇尚奮鬥人生的思想。
Ace in the Hole
Understand these new words before you read this article.
1. strive [straiv] v. 努力；奮鬥
2. deserve [di'z?:v] v. 應受，應得
3. ultimate ['?ltim?t] adj. 最終的；根本的
A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as an individual.
We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious efforts, the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been effort stored up in the past. A man can be free from the necessity of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him have worked to good purpose. If the freedom thus purchased is used aright, and the man still does actual work, though of a different kind, whether as a writer or a general, whether in the field of politics or in the field of exploration and adventure, he shows he deserves his good fortune.
But if he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a period, not of preparation, but of mere enjoyment, even though perhaps not of vicious enjoyment, he shows that he is simply a cumberer on the earth’s surface; and he surely unfits himself to hold his own place with his fellows, if the need to do so should again arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.
As it is with the individual, so it is with the nation. It is a base untruth to say that happy is the nation that has no history. Thrice happy is the nation that has a glorious history. Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.
參考譯文
一種怠惰安逸的生活，一種僅僅是由於缺少追尋偉大事物的願望或能力而導致的悠閑，這對國家與個人都是沒有價值的。
我們不欣賞那種怯懦安逸的人。我們欽佩那種表現出奮力向上的人，那種永不冤枉鄰人，能隨時幫助朋友，但是也具有那些剛健的性質，足以在實際生活的嚴酷鬥爭中獲取勝利的人。失敗是艱難的，但是從不曾努力去爭取成功，卻更為糟糕。在人的一生中，任何的收獲都要通過努力去得到。目前不用作任何的努力，隻是意味著在過去有過努力的積蓄。一個人不必工作，除非他或他的祖先曾經努力工作過，並取得了豐厚的收獲。如果他能把換取到的此類的自由加以正確地運用，仍然做些實際的工作，盡管那些工作是屬於另一類的，不論是作一名作家還是將軍，不論是在政界還是在探險和冒險方麵做些事情，都表明他沒有辜負自己的好運。
但是，如果他將這段不需從事實際工作的自由時期，不用於準備，而僅僅是用於享樂，盡管他所從事的或許並非邪惡的享樂，那就表明了他隻是地球表麵上的一個贅疣，而且他肯定無法在同僚之中維持自己的地位，如果那種需要再度出現的話。安逸的生活終究不是一種令人很滿意的生活，而且，最主要的是，過那種生活的人最終肯定沒有能力擔當起世上之重任。
於個人如此，對國家也是這樣。有人說一個沒有曆史的國家是得天獨厚的，這是卑鄙的謊言。一種得天獨厚的優越感來源於一個國家具有光榮的曆史。冒險去從事偉大的事業，贏得光榮的勝利，即使其中摻雜著失敗，那也遠勝於與那些既沒有享受多大快樂也沒有遭受多大痛苦的平庸之輩為伍，因為他們生活在一個既享受不到勝利也遭遇不到失敗的灰暗境界裏。
心靈小語
人生就是浩瀚的宇宙，讓你總是有那麽多的期待，那麽多的捉摸不透；人生就是逆流而上的孤舟，你停下就會倒退，前進就要付出很大的辛勞；人生就是一顆沒有熟透的果子，酸中帶著甜，甜中又透著那個酸，還有那麽一些澀澀的味道。
Seize Your Time
According to the article, match each of the following words with its synonym.
(1) slothfula. spiteful
(2) embodyb. lazy
(3) arightc. express
(4) viciousd. rightly
Practicing for Better Learning
Do the following statements agree with the information in the reading text?
Write
TRUEif the statement agrees with the information
FALSEif the statement contradicts the information
______ (1) It is unnecessary for the person of a peace to make every effort on work.______ (2) To try is always better than to wait.
Now a Try
Translate the following sentences into English.
1.人們傾向於欣賞奮力向上的人，而不是怯懦安逸的人。
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2.在人的一生中，任何收獲都要通過努力去得到。
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3.雖然他具有得天獨厚的條件，可最後還是失敗了。