40. Do we need 'Never, never give up'?

Near the end of the Second World War, Churchill delivered his most famous and the shortest speech: Never, Never Give Up. The British and people in many other countries were tremendously encouraged, and finally went through the hardest period in human history.

"Never give up" represents a strong and positive life attitude. Some people are ready to quit when they feel they cannot endure the difficulties of some work or they think they cannot find a way to finish the required task. Such people usually become upset and disappointed and lose their self-confidence, although they virtually can do every thing well simply by trying once more. In cases such as acquiring second language, most people failed simply because they had given up. Acquiring second language might be the easiest task among diverse academic curriculums, because one can be successful only by plain repetition, though it is painstaking and time-consuming.

Never give up. Such strong belief often gives us the second chance. The fact that we failed somewhere does not mean we are going to fail everywhere, and especially it does not necessarily mean that we are deprived of opportunities to win there. There probably is a second chance. Many successful people did fail before. Yu Minhong, the founder of New Oriental School, was able to study in Peking University only after three attempts. He wasn't reckoned as successful after graduation, among many signs is the fact that almost all his classmates went abroad while he was each and every time refused by officials in visa-granting office for unexplained reasons. Yet he never gave up, which makes his later success inevitable.

Psychology teaches us that we do get what we want, if we know exactly what we want and want the right thing. First of all, we must make sure that our clearly defined goals are achievable, and that our carefully designed means are practicable. A superficial claim like I wanna be a millionaire brings nothing. And an unrealistic goal like inventing a perpetual motion machine is absolutely meaningless. But if we want to acquire a second language, it is both realistic and meaningful. By careful planning, and relevant persistence we have no reason to fail. And numerous examples tell us that even if the methods are problematic, many still finally attain great achievements. Therefore, in most cases, the belief"Never, never give up" is really something that we should always bear in mind.

译文

40. 我们是否需要“永不，永不放弃”？

接近二战结束时，丘吉尔发表了他最著名也是最简短的演讲：永不，永不放弃。英国和很多其他国家的人民受到了巨大的鼓舞，并最后度过了人类历史上最艰难的时期。

永不放弃，代表了坚强和积极的生活态度。有些人觉得自己无法忍受某些工作中的困难或认为自己找不到完成任务的方法时很快就退却了。这种人通常会变得沮丧和失望并失去自信心，尽管实际上他们只需再试一次就可以做好每一件事。在学习第二语言的例子中，大多数人失败仅仅是因为放弃了。学习第二语言在各种学术课程中可以算是最简单的任务了，因为尽管很痛苦并且很费时间，可是你只需简单重复就可以学成。

永不放弃。如此强烈的信念常会给我们第二次机会。我们在某处失败的事实并不意味着我们在所有的地方都会失败，尤其它并不一定意味着我们被剥夺了在那里获取胜利的机会，那里还有第二次机会。很多成功的人确实以前都失败过。俞敏洪，新东方学校的创始人，经过了3次尝试才能就读于北京大学。他毕业后并不被认为是成功的，因为几乎他的全部同学都出国了，而他却被签证处的官员以莫名其妙的原因一次又一次地拒绝了。然而他永不放弃，这使他日后的成功成为了必然。

心理学告诉我们如果我们确切地知道想要什么且要的是正确的东西，那我们就会得到它。首先我们必须确定我们清楚认定的目标是可以达到的，而且我们仔细设计的方法是切实可行的。像“我想当个百万富翁”这样肤浅的宣言将什么也得不到。而像“发明永动机”这样不切实际的目标则毫无意义。但是假如我们想学习第二门语言，那它是既实际又有意义的。经过精心计划和相应的坚持，我们没有理由失败。无数的例子告诉我们，即使方法有问题很多人最后仍旧取得了巨大成就。因此，在很多情况下，我们应该永远铭记在脑中“永不，永不放弃”的信念。

Word List

• tremendously ［triˈmendəsli］adv. 可怕地，非常地
• reckon ［ˈrekən］ vt. 估计，猜想
• abroad ［əˈbrɔ:d］ adv. 往国外
• endure ［enˈdjuə］ v. 耐久，忍耐
• unexplained ［ˌʌnikˈspleind］adj. 使人莫名其妙的
• acquire ［əˈkwaiə］ vt. 获得，学到
• curriculum ［kəˈrikjələm］ n. 课程
• practicable ［ˈpræktikəbəl］ adj. 行得通的
• consume ［kənˈsu:m］ vt. 消费，花费
• persistence ［pəˈsistəns］ n. 坚持，持续
• deprive ［diˈpraiv］ v. 剥夺