Unit 2

Text B Making the choice to be truly beautiful

选择拥有真正的美丽

1 Extreme makeovers are all the rage these days, with too many people addicted to Botox injection parties and reality shows. Plastic surgery is on the rise. Many people are trying to match the extraordinary measures actors and actresses go through to look perfect on the screen. Yet, the shortcuts to create biomedical happiness by having surgery, taking supplements or dieting don't usually fulfill their promise. Besides, beautiful people are not automatically happy people.

当今，过度追求相貌修整的风气无比盛行，太多的人沉迷于肉毒杆菌注射的宣讲会和真人秀，整容手术也日趋流行。许多人的做法堪比男女演员为了使自己在屏幕上看起来完美无瑕而采取的手段。为了获得生物医学标准下的幸福感，人们会走做整容手术、吃营养品、节食这样的捷径，但这些捷径并不总能实现它们所承诺的效果。而且，外表漂亮的人并不一定就幸福。

2 Attaining the highest degree of your beauty is not about looking good during social interaction, or physiological perfection, and you can't get there via technology. It's a growth process, a transformation of self through awareness and learning. It's about meaning, and being real. It's an emotional and spiritual walk, and it requires faith fueled with liberal doses of loving kindness.

最大限度地实现你自己的美并不是指要让自己在社交时漂亮或在生理上完美，况且这些也不是通过技术就能实现的。美是一个成长的过程，是一种通过意识和学习而达到的自我改造。美在于生活的意义，在于真实。它是一个情感和精神的旅程，需要人有信念才能获得，而且这种信念的动力来自慷慨和充满爱心的善良。

3 Every day, I have the delight and privilege of loving Richard, my husband, a real, human, emotionally accessible man. We're about the same age, and our looks have corroded a bit over time. After almost 20 years, though, we have grown together in ways that go far deeper than the surface of our skin. Our life is lovely even if it doesn't match the criterion of love in movie fantasies. We laugh together, we share the struggles of daily life together, and the thought that he might die before I do fills me with dread. All the muscle-bound male models in the world couldn't replace my very own, sensual, outgoing friend. It took me 37 years to find him, and I'm not about to replace him with the so-called \

能有幸每天爱着理查德，我感到很高兴。他是我丈夫，一个真实的、有人情味的、情感上可以靠近的人。我们年龄相仿，相貌已在岁月中有所消退。但近二十年来，我们共同成长，远超肌肤之表。尽管我们的生活不如虚幻的电影故事中描述的爱情生活那样，它却很美好。我们一起欢笑，一起分担日常生活的磕磕绊绊。如果想到他有可能先于我离世，我会充满恐惧。世界上任何一位肌肉发达的男模都不能取代我自己的这位性感、外向的伴侣。我花了37年时间才找到他，我决不会因为所谓的“审美标准上的完美”而另寻他人。

4 I work as a psychotherapist, and clients come to my office every day scarred with emotional pain because their lives aren't \as they see it on the big screen. It helps when I preface our sessions with the mention that tens of thousands of dollars go into every second of media they see, that stars have dozens of people devoted exclusively to making them look good (even when they're naked), that the effort of maintaining their images is an exhausting, full-time job. The \people in the media are under enormous pressure to maintain their looks, and for some reason, my clients don't realize that they're exempt from that predominant pressure.

我是一名心理理疗师。每天我都要接待许多客户，他们都是因为生活不够“完美”而倍受情感痛苦。由于无法获得大屏幕上所看到的那种生活，他们感到力不从心、绝望无助，并因嫉妒而陷于沮丧。给他们提供治疗时，如果在治疗开始前，我告诉他们，他们在媒体上所看到的每秒钟的图像都耗资数万，每个明星都有几十个人专门为其打理形象，使其外表悦目（甚至是裸体时也是如此），而且明星们保持形象是一件既费力又费时的事，这会对他们的治疗有所帮助。媒体上的俊男俏女们承受着保持形象的巨大压力，而我的客户却因某种原因，没有意识到他们有幸免受了这种强大的压力。

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5 I underscore that all the face creams, physical workouts, dietary fads, Prozac capsules and meditation regiments in the world aren't going to make their lives, their bodies, or their mental state much better. In fact, they often hamper happiness by distracting from the things that lead to real inner beauty. Life is not about maintaining some young and stylish outward costume to hide behind. It's about growing and deepening your soul.

我要强调的是，世界上所有的面霜、健身锻炼、饮食风尚、抗抑郁症的百忧解胶囊，乃至许多人在一起打坐冥思等等，都不能改善一个人的生活、身体或精神状况。事实上，这些方法还常常阻碍人们获得幸福，因为它们会使人分心，不去关注那些能带来真正内在美的事物。生活的意义不在于通过维持某种年轻时髦的外表来掩盖自己，而在于精神的成长和升华。

6 The only way I know to develop my soul is through feelings. Witnessing natural phenomena — the star-lit galaxy, a centuries-old redwood, the symphony of birds' songs in spring — stretches it, making me feel humble and majestic, all at the same time. Human relationships bruise, collide and comfort, teaching me maturity and passion. Love urges my soul to blossom and glow, affection elicits feelings of eternity, and so I learn to accept others as they are.

我所知道的唯一的精神升华的途径就是通过情感。亲眼目睹各种自然现象——星光闪烁的银河，几百年树龄的红杉木，春天里鸟儿的叫声汇成的交响乐——这些都使我的精神得以延伸，让我觉得自己既卑微又伟大。人际关系中的摩擦、冲突和安慰使我变得成熟并充满激情。爱情促使我的精神成长并焕发光彩，亲情激发了我对永恒的感受，因此我学会了接受他人的真实本色。

7 The humans in my life are not the barren, self-absorbed \imperfect people. Together, we work hard stumbling through life, trying to be our best selves, knitting together families and friendships, and striving to illuminate the world with our personal ethics and aspirations.

我生活中的人都不是屏幕上那种思想平庸、迷恋自我的“美貌人士”。我们只是平凡的、实实在在的、有缺点的人。我们一起勤奋努力，患难与共，尽力完善自我，和家人及朋友紧密相处，努力用我们的个人道德和志向去照亮世界。

8 We come from numerous backgrounds and we don't always approve of each other's decisions, but we care for each other the best we can. We struggle to be less self-indulgent, more compassionate and understanding. We try to resist the lure of novelty fads, the manipulations of advertising. We survive through social phenomena that we don't agree with, through interwoven natural and unnatural disasters that take our loved ones and possessions, through fads and fancies that are often unhealthy. From each event, we learn, we stretch, we sometimes fracture, we process the emotional outcome, and we move on. These life events are the soul's workout, and though we may groan and complain, we can feel the growth eventually.

我们来自各种不同的背景，而且有时意见相左，但是我们尽力互相关心。我们努力消除自己的任性，努力使自己更具同情心、更宽容。我们努力抗拒新奇事物的潮流的诱惑及广告的操纵。我们会经历自己并不赞同的社会现象，经历那些夺走我们所挚爱的人和财物的错综交织的自然及人为灾难， 经历不良的时尚和幻想。但从每一例这样的事件中，我们都不断地学习、成长。我们有时也会发生分歧，也要处理分歧对感情所带来的影响，然后继续前行。这些人生经历是对我们心灵的历练。虽然我们会抱怨、发牢骚，我们终会感受到自己的成长。

9 The secret is that this growth is visible to others, and the effort registers on one's entire being. It becomes an authentic element that makes the spirit glow radiantly like that of a saint. Have you ever seen an elderly person like that, one whose wisdom shows in his eyes, and whose love is evident as he gently enquires about your health, or offers a brief sentiment that calms and affirms? The spirit that shines from within this person is true beauty, and it can't be bought in a jar.

这其中的秘密就在于这种成长是他人可见的，而且这种努力在一个人的全身上下都能得到展现。它成了一种真实的存在，使一个人的精神像圣人那样光彩四溢。你是否见过这样一位老者，他眼睛里透射着智慧，当他温柔地询问你的健康，或以简短的抚慰让你感到平静和放心时，他对你的关爱是那样显露无遗？这样的老者内心所散发出的精神才是真正的美，这种美不是瓶瓶罐罐的化妆品所能买得到的。

10 The miracle is that each of us has the total capacity to achieve this perspective, this fullest embodiment of the highest expression of soul, even as our mortal bodies wear out and degenerate.

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神奇的是，尽管我们的肉体会老去并且衰退，我们每个人都完全有能力达到这个境界，即最大程度地展现最崇高的精神内涵。

11 In other words, true beauty is not about looks. It's about choices. As we move through life and grow through each of its checkpoints, we should seek out and build the kinds of experiences that reveal and purify our divine inner beauty. We must look at our own lives and decisions from a more valuable perspective than the media's shallow eye.

换句话说，真正的美丽无关外貌，而在于选择。在人生的旅途中，每当我们经过一个节点，都应该寻找那些能够展示和净化我们神圣的内在美的人生体验，并且将它们积累下来。我们必须从一个更有价值的角度而非以媒体肤浅的眼光来看待自己的人生和决定。

12 The decisions we make today affect the rest of our lives. We ourselves are ultimately the only people to whom we are accountable and for whom we are responsible. Each new decision we make can be a new resolution to build the beautiful future we long to have.

我们今天所作的决定会影响我们的余生。归根到底，我们自己才是唯一要对自己负责的人。我们所做的每一个新决定都可能表明了一个新决心，一个创造我们所渴望拥有的美好未来的决心。

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Unit 3

Text A Fred Smith and FedEx: The vision that changed the world

弗雷德?史密斯与联邦快递：一个改变了世界的创想

1 Every night several hundred planes bearing a purple, white, and orange design touch down at Memphis Airport, in Tennessee. What precedes this landing are package pick-ups from locations all over the United States earlier in the day. Crews unload the planes' cargo of more than half a million parcels and letters. The rectangular packages and envelopes are rapidly reshuffled and sorted according to address, then loaded onto other aircraft, and flown to their destinations to be dispersed by hand — many within 24 hours of leaving their senders. This is the culmination of a dream of Frederick W. Smith, the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of the FedEx Corp. — known originally as Federal Express — the largest and most successful overnight delivery service in the world. Conceived when he was in college and now in its 28th year of operation, Smith's exquisite brainchild has become the standard for door-to-door package delivery.

每天夜晚，在田纳西州的孟菲斯机场，都有几百架带着白、紫、桔色图案的飞机降落。而在每天此前的早些时候，这些飞机都在美国各地收集包裹。工作人员从飞机上卸下的包裹及信件数量超过五十万之巨。长方形的包裹和信封又在这里依据收件地址被迅速整理分拣，然后装载上其他飞机，飞往各自的目的地，在那儿再由人工投递——到这时很多邮件离开寄件人之手还不到24小时。这是弗雷德里克·W.史密斯的终极梦想，他就是联邦快递集团（最初为联邦快递）这一全球最大、最成功的隔夜送达服务企业的创始人、总裁、首席执行官及董事会主席。如今，史密斯这一源于大学时代的妙想已在现实中经营到了第28个年头，并已成为包裹快递入户行业的标杆。

2 Recognized as an outstanding entrepreneur with an agreeable and winning personality, Smith is held in high regard by his competitors as well as his employees and stockholders. Fred Smith was just 27 when he founded FedEx. Now, so many years later, he's still the \of the ship\He attributes the success of the company simply to leadership, something he deduced from his years in the military, and from his family.

史密斯被公认为是一位和蔼可亲、性格迷人的杰出企业家。无论是他的竞争者、员工，还是他公司股票的持有人，都对他十分敬重。弗雷德·史密斯创建“联邦快递”时只有27岁。现在多年过去了，他仍然坐在“掌门人”的位置上。他将公司的成功简单地归因于领导力，而这一推论则来自于他的军旅生涯及其家庭的影响。

3 Frederick Wallace Smith was born into a wealthy family clan on August 11, 1944 in Mississippi. His father died when he was just four years old. As a juvenile, Smith was an invalid, suffering from a disease that left him unable to walk normally. He was picked on by bullies, and he learned to defend himself by swinging at them with his alloy walking stick. Cured of the disease by the age of l0, he became a star athlete in high school, playing football, basketball, and baseball.

弗雷德里克·华莱士·史密斯1944年8月11日出生于密西西比州一个富裕的家族。他四岁时父亲就离世了。史密斯年少时被视为病残者，因为他得了一种病，使他无法正常行走。为此他常遭受坏孩子的侮辱捉弄，他学会了挥舞合金拐杖来保护自己。十岁时他的病治好了，到了高中他则成了学校里的体育明星，足球、篮球、棒球样样能行。

4 Smith's passion was flying. At 15, he was operating a crop-duster over the skyline of the Mississippi Delta, a terrain so flat that there was little need for radar navigation. As a student at Yale University, he helped revive the Yale flying club; its alumni had populated naval aviation history, including the famous \Smith administrated the club's business end and ran a small charter operation in New Haven.

史密斯对飞行充满了激情。15岁时，他就曾驾驶一架作物喷粉飞机在密西西比三角洲的天际翱翔，三角洲的地形平坦开阔，甚至都不需要雷达导航。在耶鲁大学上学时，他参与重建了耶鲁飞行俱乐部，在美国海军航空史的每个时期都有这一俱乐部出来的校友的身影，包括一战时期著名的“百万富翁飞行队”。史密斯负责管理俱乐部的事务，同时还在纽黑文经营一项小规模的租赁业务。

5 With his study time disrupted by flying, his academic performance suffered, but Smith never stopped looking for his own \idea\He thought he had found it when he wrote a term paper for an economics class. He drafted a prototype for a transportation company that would guarantee overnight delivery of small, time-sensitive goods, such as

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replacement parts and medical supplies, to major US regions. The professor wasn't impressed and told Smith he couldn't quantify the idea and clearly it wasn't feasible.

由于飞行打乱了学习时间，他的学业受到了影响，但史密斯从未停止寻找自己的“伟大想法”。在撰写一门经济学课程的学期论文时，他认为自己已经找到了它。他设计了一份运输企业的经营草案，该运输企业可以确保连夜递送小型或时间紧迫的货品到达美国的主要地区，如替换零件、医药用品等等。教授对这篇论文未予重视，他告诉史密斯说，他无法量化他的想法，并说这一想法明显不切合实际。

6 However, Smith was certain he was onto something, even though several more years elapsed before he could turn his idea into reality. In the interim, he graduated from Yale in 1966, just as America's involvement in the Vietnam War was deepening. Since he was a patriot and had attended officers' training classes, he joined the Marines.

然而，史密斯确信自己已经发现了些什么，尽管又过了好几年他才得以把自己的想法付诸实施。在此期间，他于1966年从耶鲁大学毕业，那时正值美国在越战中越陷越深，而他是个充满爱国热情的人，又参加过士官训练课程，所以他加入了美国海军陆战队。

7 Smith completed two tours in Vietnam, eventually flying more than 200 missions. \the military, leadership means getting a group of people to subordinate their individual desires and ambitions for the achievement of organizational goals,\measurable effects on a company's bottom line.\

史密斯在越南战场上服役两期，完成了两百多次飞行任务。“在军队中，领导力意味着能使团队中所有成员将个人的期望与抱负置于从属地位，而以实现集体目标为重，”史密斯说道，这其中融合了他军旅生涯和经营管理的经验。“而优秀的领导力对控制一个公司的盈亏底线来说具有相当重要的作用。”

8 Home from Vietnam, Smith became fascinated by the notion that if you connected all the points of a network through an intermediary hub, the streamlined efficiency could be enormous compared to other disjointed, decentralized businesses, whether the system involved moving packages and letters or people and planes. He decided to take a stab at starting his own business. With an investment from his father's company, as well as a chunk of his own inheritance, Smith bought his first delivery planes and in 1971 formed the Federal Express.

从越南战场回国后，史密斯开始执着于这样一个理念，即如果能将某个运输网络的各个节点通过一个中介枢纽相互连接，其效率较之其他各环节相互之间无联系的分散经营的模式来说要高出许多，不论这一系统所涉及的是运送包裹和信件还是人员和飞机。他决定放手一搏，创建自己的企业。史密斯用父亲公司的投资和他自己继承财产的一部分购买了第一架快递飞机，并于1971年创建了联邦快递。

9 The early days were underscored by extreme frugality and financial losses. It was not uncommon for FedEx drivers to pay for gasoline for their vans out of their own pockets. But despite such problems, Smith showed concern for the welfare of his employees. Just as he recalled, even when they didn't have the money, even when there weren't couches in the office and electric typewriters, they still set the precedent to ensure a good medical and dental plan for their people.

最初的日子伴随着极度的拮据乃至财务损失。联邦快递公司的司机自己掏腰包为货车付汽油费的情况屡见不鲜。但是，尽管面对这样的问题，史密斯仍然为公司雇员的福利着想。正如他所回忆的那样，即使在他们公司没有钱、办公室没有沙发和打字机的情况下，他们仍然开辟先例，保证员工享受很好的医疗和牙齿保健福利。

10 Along the way, FedEx pioneered centralization and the \by almost all major airlines. The phrase FedEx it has become a fixture in our language as much as Xerox or Google.

一路走来，联邦快递率先践行了集中调控和\轴辐式\空中交通系统。自它以后，该系统被几乎所有大航空公司所采纳。而“联邦快递一下”也成为了像“复印一下”或“谷歌一下”这样的固定说法，成为了我们的词汇。

11 Smith says success in business boils down to three things. First, you need to have appealing product or service and a compelling strategy. Then you need to have an efficient management system. Assuming you have those things, leading a team is the single most important issue in running an organization today.

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