英語聽力頻道為大家整理的英語聽力練習(xí)材料：你知道自己的特殊才能嗎，供大家參考:)
你知道自己的特殊才能嗎?
Anne Heywood安妮.海伍德
What I am about to say may appear to be plugging my own business, but it’s what I know best—and I believe it deeply and sincerely.
也許我要說的這些話看起來像是為自己的生意做宣傳，然而這卻是我最了解的東西……我對(duì)它的信仰真誠而深切。
I believe that every human being has a talent—something that he can do better than anyone else.
我相信，每個(gè)人都是天才——相比別人而言，有些事他可能做得更好。
And I believe that the distinction between so-called “creative” talents and ordinary run-of-the-mill talents is an unnecessary and a man-made distinction.
我相信，所謂“創(chuàng)造性”才能與普通才能間的差距不過是一種人為的不必要的區(qū)別。
I have known exterminators and typists, waitresses and machinists whose creative joy and self-fulfillment in their work could not be surpassed by Shakespeare’s or Einstein’s.
我認(rèn)識(shí)的一些殺蟲員、打字員、女侍者和機(jī)械工，他們?cè)诠ぷ髦兴鶆?chuàng)造的快樂與實(shí)現(xiàn)的自我價(jià)值，也許是莎士比亞或愛因斯坦也無法超越的。
When I was in my teens, I read a quotation from Thomas Carlyle: “Blessed is he who has found his work. Let him ask no other blessedness.”
我在年少時(shí)曾讀過托馬斯.卡萊爾的一句話：“一個(gè)人若是找到適合自己的工作，他便是幸福的，請(qǐng)讓他別再祈求其他的幸福了?！?BR> At the time I thought that was a pretty grim remark, but I know now that Mr. Carlyle was right.
當(dāng)時(shí)，我覺得這句話過于殘酷沉悶，而如今才知道卡萊爾先生是正確的。
When you find the thing that you can do better than anything else in the world, then all the wonderful byproducts fall in line: financial security, happy personal relationships, peace of mind.
當(dāng)你找到世上你能做得的事情時(shí)，穩(wěn)定的收入、快樂的人際關(guān)系以及平靜的心情等所有奇妙的“副產(chǎn)品”都會(huì)接踵而來。
I believe that until you find it, your search for the byproducts will be in vain.
我相信，除非你找到它，否則你對(duì)一切“副產(chǎn)品”的追求也不過是徒勞而已。
I also believe that in the process of searching, no experience is ever wasted, unless we allow ourselves to run out of hope.
我也相信，除非我們?cè)试S自己放棄希望，否則任何經(jīng)歷都會(huì)在找尋的過程中發(fā)揮作用。
In my own case, I had 34 different jobs before I found the right one. Many of those jobs were heartbreakingly difficult.
就我而言，在找到合適的工作前，我曾嘗試過34種不同的工作。其中有很多工作的艱難程度簡(jiǎn)直令人難耐。
A few of them involved working with unscrupulous and horribly unpleasant people.
在有些工作中，還會(huì)與一些不道德且令人討厭的人相處。
Yet, in looking back, I can see that the most unpleasant of those jobs, in many cases, gave me the biggest dividends—the most valuable preparation for my proper life work.
但是，回過頭來才領(lǐng)悟到，在很多情況下，我從那些最令人頭疼的工作中得到了最豐厚的報(bào)酬，它們成為我正確事業(yè)生涯的最有價(jià)值的準(zhǔn)備。
And I have seen this happen in the destinies of hundreds of people. Periods which they thought were hopeless, dark, and of no possible practical value have turned out to be the most priceless experience they ever had.
在成百上千人的命運(yùn)中，我也看到了這一點(diǎn)。他們擁有的最寶貴的經(jīng)歷，正是那些曾經(jīng)被認(rèn)為絕望、黑暗、不可能有實(shí)用價(jià)值的時(shí)期。
I know a girl who is a famous package designer for American industry. She was just given a promotion for which she competed with six well-qualified designers.
我的一位朋友現(xiàn)在是美國(guó)工業(yè)包裝設(shè)計(jì)師。最近，在與6位高水平設(shè)計(jì)師的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中，她脫穎而出，得到了提升。
Her past, like all of ours, had its good times and its bad times. One of the worst of the bad times was a period when she lost her husband and was left with two small children to support.
像我們所有人一樣，她的過去也有巔峰與低谷。她失去了丈夫，還得撫養(yǎng)兩個(gè)孩子，那是她最艱難痛苦的時(shí)期。
She took a clerking job in a grocery store because her apartment was on the floor above it and between customers she could run up and keep an eye on the babies.
她在自家樓下找了一份雜貨店?duì)I業(yè)員的工作，這樣一來，在沒有顧客時(shí)她就可以抽空跑上樓看看孩子。
It was a two-year period of great despair, during which she was constantly on the verge of suicide. Yet the other day when she told me of her promotion to the top package design job, she exclaimed in astonishment, “And do you know that the single factor which swung it in my favor was that I alone had over-the-counter experience with the customers who buy our packaged foods!”
那是她最絕望的兩年，期間她幾度想要自殺。但是，在她告訴我她被提升為首席包裝設(shè)計(jì)師的那天，她驚嘆道：“你知道嗎？只有我與購買我們包裝食品的顧客有過直接的接觸，而這正是我獲得這份工作的原因。”
When people talk about the sweet uses of adversity, I think they unduly stress a grim and kind of hopeless resignation, a conviction that, like unpleasant medicine, it’s somehow “good for us.” But I think it’s much more than that.
我認(rèn)為，人們?cè)谡務(wù)撃婢车囊嫣帟r(shí)，過度強(qiáng)調(diào)了一種冷酷與絕望的順從，一種良藥苦口般的信仰——逆境或多或少都有益于我們。然而，我覺得它的益處遠(yuǎn)不止此。
I know that the unhappy periods of our lives offer us concrete and useful plus-values, chief among them a heightened understanding and compassion for others.
我知道，生活中的不幸會(huì)帶給我們具體而有用的附加值，其中最主要的就是對(duì)人們更深切的理解與同情。
We may not see it at the time, we may consider the experience entirely wasted, but, as Emerson says, “The years teach much which the days never know.”
也許，我們當(dāng)時(shí)并未意識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)，也許會(huì)認(rèn)為這些經(jīng)歷毫無價(jià)值，但是，正如愛默生所言：“年復(fù)一年所積累的學(xué)問，是每日每天所無法了解的。”
你知道自己的特殊才能嗎?
Anne Heywood安妮.海伍德
What I am about to say may appear to be plugging my own business, but it’s what I know best—and I believe it deeply and sincerely.
也許我要說的這些話看起來像是為自己的生意做宣傳，然而這卻是我最了解的東西……我對(duì)它的信仰真誠而深切。
I believe that every human being has a talent—something that he can do better than anyone else.
我相信，每個(gè)人都是天才——相比別人而言，有些事他可能做得更好。
And I believe that the distinction between so-called “creative” talents and ordinary run-of-the-mill talents is an unnecessary and a man-made distinction.
我相信，所謂“創(chuàng)造性”才能與普通才能間的差距不過是一種人為的不必要的區(qū)別。
I have known exterminators and typists, waitresses and machinists whose creative joy and self-fulfillment in their work could not be surpassed by Shakespeare’s or Einstein’s.
我認(rèn)識(shí)的一些殺蟲員、打字員、女侍者和機(jī)械工，他們?cè)诠ぷ髦兴鶆?chuàng)造的快樂與實(shí)現(xiàn)的自我價(jià)值，也許是莎士比亞或愛因斯坦也無法超越的。
When I was in my teens, I read a quotation from Thomas Carlyle: “Blessed is he who has found his work. Let him ask no other blessedness.”
我在年少時(shí)曾讀過托馬斯.卡萊爾的一句話：“一個(gè)人若是找到適合自己的工作，他便是幸福的，請(qǐng)讓他別再祈求其他的幸福了?！?BR> At the time I thought that was a pretty grim remark, but I know now that Mr. Carlyle was right.
當(dāng)時(shí)，我覺得這句話過于殘酷沉悶，而如今才知道卡萊爾先生是正確的。
When you find the thing that you can do better than anything else in the world, then all the wonderful byproducts fall in line: financial security, happy personal relationships, peace of mind.
當(dāng)你找到世上你能做得的事情時(shí)，穩(wěn)定的收入、快樂的人際關(guān)系以及平靜的心情等所有奇妙的“副產(chǎn)品”都會(huì)接踵而來。
I believe that until you find it, your search for the byproducts will be in vain.
我相信，除非你找到它，否則你對(duì)一切“副產(chǎn)品”的追求也不過是徒勞而已。
I also believe that in the process of searching, no experience is ever wasted, unless we allow ourselves to run out of hope.
我也相信，除非我們?cè)试S自己放棄希望，否則任何經(jīng)歷都會(huì)在找尋的過程中發(fā)揮作用。
In my own case, I had 34 different jobs before I found the right one. Many of those jobs were heartbreakingly difficult.
就我而言，在找到合適的工作前，我曾嘗試過34種不同的工作。其中有很多工作的艱難程度簡(jiǎn)直令人難耐。
A few of them involved working with unscrupulous and horribly unpleasant people.
在有些工作中，還會(huì)與一些不道德且令人討厭的人相處。
Yet, in looking back, I can see that the most unpleasant of those jobs, in many cases, gave me the biggest dividends—the most valuable preparation for my proper life work.
但是，回過頭來才領(lǐng)悟到，在很多情況下，我從那些最令人頭疼的工作中得到了最豐厚的報(bào)酬，它們成為我正確事業(yè)生涯的最有價(jià)值的準(zhǔn)備。
And I have seen this happen in the destinies of hundreds of people. Periods which they thought were hopeless, dark, and of no possible practical value have turned out to be the most priceless experience they ever had.
在成百上千人的命運(yùn)中，我也看到了這一點(diǎn)。他們擁有的最寶貴的經(jīng)歷，正是那些曾經(jīng)被認(rèn)為絕望、黑暗、不可能有實(shí)用價(jià)值的時(shí)期。
I know a girl who is a famous package designer for American industry. She was just given a promotion for which she competed with six well-qualified designers.
我的一位朋友現(xiàn)在是美國(guó)工業(yè)包裝設(shè)計(jì)師。最近，在與6位高水平設(shè)計(jì)師的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中，她脫穎而出，得到了提升。
Her past, like all of ours, had its good times and its bad times. One of the worst of the bad times was a period when she lost her husband and was left with two small children to support.
像我們所有人一樣，她的過去也有巔峰與低谷。她失去了丈夫，還得撫養(yǎng)兩個(gè)孩子，那是她最艱難痛苦的時(shí)期。
She took a clerking job in a grocery store because her apartment was on the floor above it and between customers she could run up and keep an eye on the babies.
她在自家樓下找了一份雜貨店?duì)I業(yè)員的工作，這樣一來，在沒有顧客時(shí)她就可以抽空跑上樓看看孩子。
It was a two-year period of great despair, during which she was constantly on the verge of suicide. Yet the other day when she told me of her promotion to the top package design job, she exclaimed in astonishment, “And do you know that the single factor which swung it in my favor was that I alone had over-the-counter experience with the customers who buy our packaged foods!”
那是她最絕望的兩年，期間她幾度想要自殺。但是，在她告訴我她被提升為首席包裝設(shè)計(jì)師的那天，她驚嘆道：“你知道嗎？只有我與購買我們包裝食品的顧客有過直接的接觸，而這正是我獲得這份工作的原因。”
When people talk about the sweet uses of adversity, I think they unduly stress a grim and kind of hopeless resignation, a conviction that, like unpleasant medicine, it’s somehow “good for us.” But I think it’s much more than that.
我認(rèn)為，人們?cè)谡務(wù)撃婢车囊嫣帟r(shí)，過度強(qiáng)調(diào)了一種冷酷與絕望的順從，一種良藥苦口般的信仰——逆境或多或少都有益于我們。然而，我覺得它的益處遠(yuǎn)不止此。
I know that the unhappy periods of our lives offer us concrete and useful plus-values, chief among them a heightened understanding and compassion for others.
我知道，生活中的不幸會(huì)帶給我們具體而有用的附加值，其中最主要的就是對(duì)人們更深切的理解與同情。
We may not see it at the time, we may consider the experience entirely wasted, but, as Emerson says, “The years teach much which the days never know.”
也許，我們當(dāng)時(shí)并未意識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)，也許會(huì)認(rèn)為這些經(jīng)歷毫無價(jià)值，但是，正如愛默生所言：“年復(fù)一年所積累的學(xué)問，是每日每天所無法了解的。”