浮华背后篇13：Commitment专心致志

I will never forget what my old headmaster told me. Normally when you are only 15 years of age you do not remember most of the things that are preached by your teachers. But, this particular story is one such lesson that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I get reminded of this story.
老校长讲的那个故事，给人很多教诲，永远让我难以忘记。通常人年仅15岁的时候，很难记住老师讲授的大部分内容。但是这个特别故事却是我永远都不会忘记的。每当我对人生漫不经心时，我就会想起这个故事。采集者退散

It was a normal Monday morning at an assembly, and he was addressing the students on important things in life and about committing ourselves to what is important to us. This is how the story went: An old man lived in a certain part of London , and he would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get the train right to Central London , and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do this every single day of his life.
在一个普通的周一晨会上，校长向我们讲授生活中重要的东西和要致力于这些对我们来说重要的东西。故事是这样的：伦敦某地住着一位老人。他每天早晨睡醒后都会去地铁站，乘坐地铁到中央伦敦，然后坐在马路的拐角处乞讨。他一生的每一天都是这样做的。

He sat at the same street corner and begged for almost 20 years. His house was filthy¹, and a stench came out of the house and it smelled horribly. The neighbors could not stand the smell anymore, so they summoned the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected over the years. The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a millionaire. They waited outside his house in anticipation² to share the good news with him.
他坐在同一个马路拐角处，乞讨了将近 20 年了。他的房子脏乱不堪，一股恶臭味从房子里传来，异常难闻，让人憎恶。邻居们再也忍受不了这种味道，于是他们请来警察清理此地。警察撞开房门，把这房子清扫干净了。但是他们发现房子到处都是小钱袋，这些钱是他这些年乞讨来的。警察数了数这些钱，很快他们意识到这位老人是个百万富翁。他们在房子外耐心等待这个老人，期望和他一起分享这个好消息。

When he arrived home that evening, he was met by one of the officers who told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire. He said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, got into the train, and sat at the street corner and continued to beg.
那天晚上，老人终于回来了，他和其中一个警察碰面，警察告诉他：“你没有必要再乞讨了，你现在已是个富有的人了，你是个百万富翁。”老人什么也没有说，他走进自己的房子，将门锁上。第二天早晨，他还是像往常一样醒来，去地铁站，搭乘地铁，坐在马路拐角处，继续乞讨。

Obviously, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing, commitment. We should remain true to our course, although it may mean committing ourselves to things that people around us would normally disapprove³. Just keep it in mind that Commitment attracts wealth.
很显然，这位老人没有什么伟大的计划，没有梦想，甚至没有任何对他生活重要的东西。我们从这一故事中也学不到什么，我们惟一能学到的是要专心于自己喜欢做的事情，要对之忠心耿耿。我们应该忠实于自己的生活之路，尽管那将意味着我们所专心致志的东西常常是周围人所反对的东西。一定别忘了，专心致志带来财富。
 

1 filthy   

adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的

参考例句：

• The whole river has been fouled up with filthy waste from factories.整条河都被工厂的污秽废物污染了。
• You really should throw out that filthy old sofa and get a new one.你真的应该扔掉那张肮脏的旧沙发，然后再去买张新的。

2 anticipation   

n.预期，预料，期望

参考例句：

• We waited at the station in anticipation of her arrival.我们在车站等着，期待她的到来。
• The animals grew restless as if in anticipation of an earthquake.各种动物都变得焦躁不安，像是感到了地震即将发生。

3 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。