课外练习答案(学生版)2011.docVIP

(Passage 1) 生活中什么最重要？爱情？健康？金钱？要我说，是智慧。 1974年，美国政府为清理给自由女神像翻新扔下的废料，向社会广泛招标。但好几个月过去了，没有人应标。正在法国旅行的一个犹太商人听说后，立即飞往纽约。他看过自由女神下堆积如山的铜块、螺丝和木料后，未提任何条件，立即就签了字。 纽约许多运输公司对他的这一愚蠢举动暗自发笑。因为在纽约州，垃圾处理有严格规定，弄不好还会受到环保组织的起诉。就在一些人要看这个商人笑话时，他开始组织工人对废料进行分类。他让人把废铜熔化，铸成小自由女神像；把水泥块和木头加工成底座；把废铅、废铝做成纽约广场的钥匙④。最后，他甚至把从自由女神身上扫下的灰包装起来，出售给花店。不到3个月的时间，他让这堆废料变成了350万现金，每磅铜的价格整整翻了1万倍。 当别人惊叹他的成功时，他说了一句话：“感谢智慧给了我机会和财富。” 有些人并不比任何人聪明，但他们更懂得怎样去铸造一枚无价的金币--智慧。智慧是永恒的财富，它引导人通向成功，而且永不会贫穷。 What is the most important thing in life? Love? Health? Money? In my opinion, it is wisdom. In 1974, the American Government invited a public bidding for cleaning up the waste materials from the renovation of the Statue of Liberty. Several months passed, but nobody responded to the bidding. A Jewish businessman who was then touring in France heard of this, and he flew to New York right away. After seeing piles and piles of discarded copper, screws and wood at the foot of the statue, he signed the agreement at once without raising any preconditions. Many people from transport companies in New York laughed secretly at him for his stupid decision. There are strict regulations concerning the disposal of refuse in the State of New York. If it is not properly handled, you are liable to be sued by environmental protection organizations. While some people were waiting to have a good laugh at this businessman, he started arranging for workers to sort out the waste. He had them melt the waste copper and cast it into miniature souvenir Statues of Liberty mounted on pedestals cut out of the cement blocks and wood. Waste lead and aluminum were also made into souvenir keys to New York City. At last, he even bagged the dirt brushed off the statue and sold it to florists. In less than 3 months, he earned US $3.5 million from the heaps of waste materials. Each pound of copper increased its value by 10,000 times. When others hailed his success with admiration, he only said: “I’m grateful to wisdom for giving me the opportunity and wealth.” S