英文故事 | 被束缚的象如同被束缚的你

「微信」搜索关注［followmeapp］，查看更多有趣实用的中英双语节目。 －－－ 英语学习笔记： creature /ˈkriːtʃə/ n. 生物；动物 rope /rəʊp/ n. 绳子 chain /tʃeɪn/ n. 链；束缚 cage /keɪdʒ/ n. 笼子 bond /bɒnd/ n. 束缚；纽带 trainer /ˈtreɪnə/ n. 训练员 conditioned /kənˈdɪʃənd/ adj. 条件反应的 amazed [ə&`&meizd] adj. 惊奇的，吃惊的 原文对照： The Elephant Rope As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. 当一个男人经过一个象群的时候，他突然停下来了，疑惑的发现这样一件事，这些大个头们被一条拴住它们前腿的细绳子缠住了。没有链条，也没有笼子。很明显，这些大象任何时候都可以都可以打破束缚，出于某些原因，它们没有这么做。 He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.” 他看到附近有个驯兽师，于是问他，为什么这些动物只是站在这里，不尝试跑掉呢？驯兽师说道：当大象们很小的时候，我们用同样大小的绳子拴住它们，那个时候，这个绳子是足够拴住它们的。随着它们的长大，它们局限地认为，没有办法逃走。它们相信这根绳子依然能够拴住它们，所以它们从未尝试逃往自由。 The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were. Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before? 这个男人很吃惊。这些动物随时可以摆脱束缚获得自由，但是因为它们认为自己不能，所以被困在原地。 如同这些大象一样，我们有多少人，在人生中被拴在某个信仰上，认为我们没有办法做一些事情，仅仅因为我们曾失败过一次。 Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life. 失败是学习的一部分，我们应该永远都不放弃生命中的奋斗。