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Unit Seven
On Ambition
If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition--wealth, distinction, control over one's destiny--must be deemed worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition's behalf. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared: and it especially must be highly regarded by people who are themselves admired, the educated not least among them. In an odd way, however, it is the educated who have claimed to have given up on ambition as an ideal. What is odd is that they have perhaps most benefited from ambition--if not always their own than that of their parents and grandparents. There is a heavy note of hypocrisy in this , a case of closing the barn door after the horses have escaped--with the educated themselves riding on them. Certainly people do not seem less interested in success and its signs not than formerly. Summer homes, European travel, BMWs-- the locations, place manes and name brands may change, but such items do not seem less in demand today than a decade or two years ago. What has happened is that people cannot confess fully to their dreams, as easily nad openly as once they could, lest they be thought pushing, acquisitive and vulgar. Instead, we are treated to fine hypocritical spectacles, which now more than ever seem in ample supply: the critic of American materialism with a Southampton summer home; the publisher of radical books who takes his meals in three-star restaurants; the journalist advocating participatory democracy in all phases of life, whose own children are enrolled in private schools. For such people and many more perhaps not so exceptional, the proper formulation is, "Succeed at all costs but avoid appearing ambitious."
The attasks in ambition are many and come from varions angles; its public defenders are few and unimpressive, where they are not extremely unattractive. As a result, the support for ambition as a healthy impulse, a quality to be admired and fixed in the mind of the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States. This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and promptings, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less openly professed. Consequences follow from this, of course, some of which are that ambition is driven underground, or made sly. Such, then, is the way things stand: on the left angry critics, on the right stupid supporters, and in the middle, as usual, the majority of earnest people trying to get on in life.
destiny n. 1.命运 2.定数,天命
destined a. 1.命中注定,预定的 2.以...为目的地的
deem vt. 认为,视为
hypocrisy n. 伪善,虚伪
location n. 1.位置,场所 2.外景拍摄地
locality n. 地区,地点
situated a. 位于...的,坐落在...的
spectacle n. 1.演出,场面 2.景象,壮观 3.[-s]眼镜
ample a. 1.足够的 2.宽敞的,面积大的
amplify vt. 1.放大,增强 2.扩大,详述
exceptional a. 1.优越的,杰出的 2.例外的,独特的
[联想词]
abnormal a. 反常的,异常的
queer a. 1.奇怪的,异常的 2.不舒服的,眩晕的
ambitious a. 1.有抱负的,雄心勃勃的 2.有野心的
[联想词]
aspiration n. 强烈的愿望,志向,抱负
enroll vi.(in,on) 入学,加入 vt.招收,吸收
[联想词]
expel (expelled;expelling) vt. 1.把..除名,把..开除 2.驱逐 3.排出
formulate vt. 1.构想出,规划 2.系统地阐述
formulation n. 1.公式化 2.系统的阐述 3.规划,构想
impulse n. 1.冲动,一时的念头 2.驱动,驱使 3.脉冲
[联想词]
propel (propelled,propelling) vt. 1.推进,推动 2.激励,驱使
curb vt. 控制,约束 n. 控制,约束
sly a. 1.狡猾的,狡诈的 2.会意的,会心的
[联想词]
shrewd a. 机灵的,敏锐的,精明的
confidential a. 1.秘密的,机密的 2.表示信任的
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| 2007-12-4 15:22:31 [点击数：695] |
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