英语阅读TheRootsofMyAmbition我自强之源.docVIP

美联英语提供：英语阅读：The Roots of My Ambition我的自强之源 两分钟做个小测试，看看你的英语水平 /test/kuaisu.aspx?tid=16-73675-0 The Roots of My Ambition我的自强之源 My mother, dead now to this world but still roaming free in my mind, wakes me some mornings before daybreak. If theres one thing I cant stand, its a quitter. 我的母亲现在已经离开人世，但仍会时时在我的脑海中浮现，很多次在黎明时把我从梦中唤醒。“如果有什么让我无法容忍的事，那就是轻易退缩的人。” I have heard her say that all my life. Now, lying in bed, coming awake in the dark, I feel the fury of her energy fighting the good-for-nothing idler within me who wants to go back to sleep instead of tackling the brave new day. 她的话一生都萦绕在我的耳际。此刻，我躺在床上，在黑暗中慢慢醒来，想重回梦乡而不愿紧紧抓住美好而崭新的一天，我感觉到了她愤怒的气息与我体内那个没用的懒汉奋力抗争。 Silently I protest: I am not a child anymore. I have made something of myself. I am entitled to sleep late. 我默默地抗议：我不再是个孩子了，我自己已经取得了成功，我有资格睡会儿懒觉。 Russell, youve got no more gumption than a bump on a log. “拉塞尔，你一点进取心也没有，和一个二流子没什么区别。” She has hounded me with these battle cries since I was a boy in short pants. 当我还是个未成熟的小男孩时，她就开始用这些话激励我。 Make something of yourself. “你要取得成功。” Dont be a quitter! “不要遇到困难就退缩！” Have a little ambition, buddy. “小伙子，要有雄心壮志！” The civilized man of the world within me scoffs at materialism and strivers after success. He has read the philosophers and social critics. He thinks it is vulgar and unworthy to spend ones life pursuing money, power, fame, and--Sometimes you act like youre not worth the powder and shot it would take to blow you up with. 我内心世界中那个“文明人”嘲笑追求物质享受且孜孜不倦追求成功的人。“他”读过哲学家和社会评论家的书，认为把一生花费在追求财富、权力和名声上是庸俗而且没有价值的。这时我听到——“有时你的表现让人觉得都不值得拿弹药将你炸掉。” Life had been hard for my mother ever since her father died, leaving nothing but debts. The family house was lost, the children scattere.d My mothers mother, fatally ill with tubercular infection, fell into a suicidal depression and was institutionalized. My mother, who had just started college, had to quit and look for work. 自从姥爷去世后，母亲的生活就一直很艰难。姥爷除了留下一堆债务之外，什么也没有留下。失去了住宅，儿女四散。姥姥染上了致命的结核病，心情抑郁，一心想自杀，被送进了精神病院。那时母亲才刚刚进入大学，却不得不辍学找工作。 Then, after five