Read the article quickly and answer the following questions.
1. What are the author’s feelings before he has a religion?
2. What effects do you think a religion has on people?
One day about fifteen years ago I suddenly came face to face with myself and realized there was something quite empty about my life. My friends and associates perhaps didn’t see it. By the generally accepted standards, I was“successful”. I was head of a prosperous manufacturing concern and I led what is usually referred to as an“active”life, both socially and in business. But it didn’t seem to me to be adding up to anything. I was going around in circles. I worked hard, played hard, and pretty soon I discovered I was hitting the highballs harder than I needed. I wasn’t a candidate for Alcoholics Anonymous, but to be honest with myself I had to admit I was drinking more than was good for me. It may have been out of sheer boredom.
I began to wonder what to do. It occurred to me that I might have gotten myself too tightly wrapped up in my job, to the sacrifice of the basic but nonmaterialistic values of life. It struck me abruptly that I was being quite selfish, that my major interest in people was in what they meant to me, what they represented as business contacts or employees, not what I might mean to them. I remembered that as my mother sent me to Sunday school as a boy, and encouraged me to sing in the church choi, she used to tell me that the value of what she called a good Christian background was in having something to tie to. I put in a little thought recalling the Golden Rule and some of the other first principles of Christianity. I began to get interested in YMCA work.
It happened that just at this time we were having some bitter fights with the union at our plant. Then one day it occurred to me: What really is their point of view, and why? I began to see a basis
for their suspicions, their often chip-on-shoulder point of view, and I determined to do something about it.
We endeavored to apply―literally apply―Christian principles to our dealings with employees, to practice, for example, something of the Golden Rule. The men’s response, once they were convinced we were sincere, was remarkable. The effort has paid for its pains, and I don’t mean in dollars. I mean in dividends of human dignity, of a man’s pride in his job and in the company, knowing that he is no longer just a cog but a live personal part of it and that it doesn’t matter whether he belongs to a certain church or whether the pigmentation of his skin is skin is light or dark.
But I can speak with most authority on how this change of attitude affected me and my personal outlook on life. Perhaps, again, many of my friends did not notice the difference.
But I noticed it. That feeling of emptiness, into which I was pouring cocktails out of boredom, was filling up instead with a purpose: to live a full life with an awareness and an appreciation of other people. I do not pretend for a second that I have suddenly become a paragon. My faults are still legion and I know them.
But it seems to me better to have a little religion and practice it than think piously and do nothing about it. I feel better adjusted, more mature than I ever have in my life before. I have no fear. I say this not boastfully but in all humility. The actual application of Christian principles has changed my life.
大約15年前的一天，我在麵對自己時，突然覺得自己的生活很空虛。也許這是朋友和同事所無法理解的。按照公認的標準來看，我是一位“成功者”。我領導著一個生意不錯的製造公司，是社交界及商界中的“活躍分子”。然而，對我而言，這些並沒有太大的意義。我始終都在圈內轉來轉去。我努力工作，盡情享樂，但很快就發現自己飲酒過度。雖然我並不準備加入嗜酒者互誡協會，但說真的，我不得不承認自己喝了太多的酒。也許，這是因為我的生活實在太無聊了。
於是，我開始想著去做點什麽。突然，我想到或許是由於自己將過多的精力投入工作，卻付出了失去最基本精神生活價值的代價。我頓時明白，自己一向都很自私，我隻對別人對我意味著什麽，作為我的生意夥伴或員工會為我帶來什麽價值感興趣，而不在意我對他們而言意義何在。記得孩提時，母親常告訴我，一位虔誠信徒的人生價值在於他擁有精神的寄托。當時，她還送我去主日學校學習，並鼓勵我參加教堂唱詩班。我努力在腦海中回想著《聖經》中的金箴和基督教義中一些最重要的信條。於是，我開始對基督教青年會的工作感興趣了。湊巧的是，那時我們與工廠工會之間發生了一些尖銳的摩擦。後來的一天，我突然想到：他們真正的觀點是什麽，為什麽會這樣？我開始明白他們為何會對我們產生懷疑，並常持敵對態度，於是我決定采取相應的行動。
在處理與員工間的問題時，我們試圖將基督教的信條應用甚至照搬到其中，比如說，將金箴中的某些忠告付諸於行動。當人們相信我們的誠意，自然就會作出良好的回應。這種做法痛苦卻有所回報。我所說的回報並非金錢，而是人的尊嚴，是使一個人為他的工作與公司而驕傲。他明白，自己不再是一個微不足道的小齒輪，而是公司中生動鮮活的一分子，公司不會在乎他屬於哪個教會，或是膚色深淺。
然而，我可以肯定地說，我和我的人生觀正是因這種態度而發生了轉變。也許，對於我的變化，多數朋友並沒有發現。
但是，我自己注意到了。曾經用酗酒來排遣的空虛感，如今已不複存在，取而代之的是明確
的目標：充實地生活，關注並尊重他人的存在。我並不裝做自己立刻成為一個典範，我明白自己依然缺點重重。
但是，在我看來，與其不予行動地虔誠思考，不如擁有一點宗教信仰並將其付諸實踐。我感覺，相比以前，自己得到了更好的調整，也更為成熟了。我無所畏懼。我之所以這麽說，並非吹噓，而是滿懷謙卑。我的生活也因將基督教信條付諸於實踐而發生了改變。
Ace in the Hole
Keywords and expressions
1. endeavor
作動詞：嚐試，試圖
作名詞：努力，盡力
近義詞：apply oneself，struggle，try one’s best
例：1. We should all endeavor to be more considerate of others.
我們都應該努力多為別人著想。
2. Thus, students should endeavor to identify only the main points
and ideas being presented and to write them down in outline form.
因此，學生應該努力分辨講課的要點和講師提出的意見並以概要的方式寫出來。
3. Marry is earnest in his endeavors.
瑪麗熱心努力。
Chunks in Practice
Translate the following sentences into English or Chinese.
1.在我看來，與其不予行動地虔誠思考，不如擁有一點宗教信仰並將其付諸實踐。
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2. It occurred to me that I might have gotten myself too tightly wrapped up in my job, to the sacrifice of the basic but nonmaterialistic values of life.
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Now a Try
In your opinion, how to refill an empty life?
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