A lady in a faded 1)gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a 2)homespun 3)threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston, and walked timidly without an appointment into the president of Harvard's outer office. The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods country folk had no business at Harvard, and probably didn' even deserve to be in Cambridge. She 4)frowned. "We want to see the president," the man said softly. "He'll be busy all day," the secretary snapped. "We'll wait," the lady replied.
For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't. And the secretary grew 5)frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president. "Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she told him. He sighed in 6)exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with nobodies, but he detested gingham and homespun suits cluttering his office.
The president, 7)stern-faced with dignity, 8)strutted toward the couple. The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard, and was very happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to 9)erect a 10)memorial to him somewhere on campus." The president wasn't touched, and she was shocked. "Madam," he said 11)gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."
"Oh, no"the lady explained quickly, "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard!"
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and 12)bewilderment. Mr. And Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name__a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.
火車到達(dá)波士頓時，一位身穿褪色條紋棉布衣服的女士和穿著手工紡織西服的丈夫下了車。并沒有事先約定，他們有些膽怯地走進(jìn)哈佛大學(xué)校長的辦公室外間。秘書一眼就可以看出這些來自于不發(fā)達(dá)的邊遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)的人跟哈佛不會有什么關(guān)系，或者甚至沒資格到劍橋來。她皺了皺眉頭?！拔覀兿胍娦ｉL，” 那位男士輕聲說?！八赡芤惶於纪γΦ模泵貢豢蜌獾卣f。“我們可以等，”那位女士回答說。
在接下來的幾個小時里，秘書沒再理睬他們，她希望這對夫婦最后會因為氣餒而離開，但他們一直沒有離開。沒辦法，秘書只能打擾一下校長?！耙苍S他們只是想見您幾分鐘，然后就會離開的，”她對校長說。他重重地嘆了口氣并點了點頭。一個像他這么重要的人物顯然不會有什么時間來見他們。但他覺得條紋棉布和手紡西服在他辦公室里礙眼，只想快點打發(fā)他們。
校長威嚴(yán)的臉上表情僵硬，面對這對夫婦時趾高氣揚。那位女士對他說：“我們有個兒子在哈佛上了一年學(xué)。他愛哈佛，在學(xué)校非?？鞓?。但大約在一年前，他死于一次事故。我們希望能在學(xué)校里的某處建點什么東西紀(jì)念他。”令她驚訝不已的是，校長并沒有一絲感動?！胺蛉?，”他粗聲粗氣地說，“我們沒法為每一個到哈佛來讀書并且死去的人都建一個紀(jì)念雕像。那樣的話，學(xué)校就會變成一個墓地?！?BR> “哦，不是的，”那位女士馬上解釋道，“我們并不是想建一個雕像，我們想捐一棟樓給哈佛?！毙ｉL翻了翻眼睛。他瞥了條紋棉布和手紡西服一眼，接著厲聲說道：“一座建筑！你們對一座建筑需要多少錢有一點點概念嗎？哈佛有超過750萬美元的建筑！！”
女士沉默了。校長很高興，他終于可以擺脫他們了。女士轉(zhuǎn)過身去低聲對她丈夫說：“那就是一座大學(xué)所需要的資金嗎？那我們?yōu)槭裁床蛔约航ㄒ蛔?？”她丈夫點了點頭。校長臉上沒了驕傲的神情，充滿了困惑。利蘭•斯坦福夫婦離去了。他們在加州的帕羅奧多市建立了一所大學(xué)，以他們的名字命名__以紀(jì)念不為哈佛關(guān)心的他們的兒子。
你可以很容易從一個人對待跟他們沒什么關(guān)系的人的態(tài)度來判斷他的品格。
For hours, the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn't. And the secretary grew 5)frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president. "Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they'll leave," she told him. He sighed in 6)exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn't have the time to spend with nobodies, but he detested gingham and homespun suits cluttering his office.
The president, 7)stern-faced with dignity, 8)strutted toward the couple. The lady told him, "We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard, and was very happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to 9)erect a 10)memorial to him somewhere on campus." The president wasn't touched, and she was shocked. "Madam," he said 11)gruffly, "we can't put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery."
"Oh, no"the lady explained quickly, "We don't want to erect a statue. We thought we would give a building to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, "A building! Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard!"
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now. The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, "Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. The president's face wilted in confusion and 12)bewilderment. Mr. And Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name__a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer cared about.
You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who can do nothing for them or to them.
火車到達(dá)波士頓時，一位身穿褪色條紋棉布衣服的女士和穿著手工紡織西服的丈夫下了車。并沒有事先約定，他們有些膽怯地走進(jìn)哈佛大學(xué)校長的辦公室外間。秘書一眼就可以看出這些來自于不發(fā)達(dá)的邊遠(yuǎn)地區(qū)的人跟哈佛不會有什么關(guān)系，或者甚至沒資格到劍橋來。她皺了皺眉頭?！拔覀兿胍娦ｉL，” 那位男士輕聲說?！八赡芤惶於纪γΦ模泵貢豢蜌獾卣f。“我們可以等，”那位女士回答說。
在接下來的幾個小時里，秘書沒再理睬他們，她希望這對夫婦最后會因為氣餒而離開，但他們一直沒有離開。沒辦法，秘書只能打擾一下校長?！耙苍S他們只是想見您幾分鐘，然后就會離開的，”她對校長說。他重重地嘆了口氣并點了點頭。一個像他這么重要的人物顯然不會有什么時間來見他們。但他覺得條紋棉布和手紡西服在他辦公室里礙眼，只想快點打發(fā)他們。
校長威嚴(yán)的臉上表情僵硬，面對這對夫婦時趾高氣揚。那位女士對他說：“我們有個兒子在哈佛上了一年學(xué)。他愛哈佛，在學(xué)校非?？鞓?。但大約在一年前，他死于一次事故。我們希望能在學(xué)校里的某處建點什么東西紀(jì)念他。”令她驚訝不已的是，校長并沒有一絲感動?！胺蛉?，”他粗聲粗氣地說，“我們沒法為每一個到哈佛來讀書并且死去的人都建一個紀(jì)念雕像。那樣的話，學(xué)校就會變成一個墓地?！?BR> “哦，不是的，”那位女士馬上解釋道，“我們并不是想建一個雕像，我們想捐一棟樓給哈佛?！毙ｉL翻了翻眼睛。他瞥了條紋棉布和手紡西服一眼，接著厲聲說道：“一座建筑！你們對一座建筑需要多少錢有一點點概念嗎？哈佛有超過750萬美元的建筑！！”
女士沉默了。校長很高興，他終于可以擺脫他們了。女士轉(zhuǎn)過身去低聲對她丈夫說：“那就是一座大學(xué)所需要的資金嗎？那我們?yōu)槭裁床蛔约航ㄒ蛔?？”她丈夫點了點頭。校長臉上沒了驕傲的神情，充滿了困惑。利蘭•斯坦福夫婦離去了。他們在加州的帕羅奧多市建立了一所大學(xué)，以他們的名字命名__以紀(jì)念不為哈佛關(guān)心的他們的兒子。
你可以很容易從一個人對待跟他們沒什么關(guān)系的人的態(tài)度來判斷他的品格。