大学体验英语2第六单元PA原文及翻译.doc

Unit6 Never Give UpThey told him to quit, that he wasnt good enough, but figure skater Paul Wylie refused to listen. 人们劝他引退，说他天分不够，但是花样滑冰选手保罗怀利拒绝放弃。 When he stepped off the plane in Washington, D.C., following the 1992 Winter Games, and everyone in the terminal started clapping, Paul Wylie almost stopped in his tracks. 1992年冬奥会闭幕后，保罗怀利抵达华盛顿。走下飞机时，欢迎的人群开始鼓掌。他差点停下了脚步。 Whos behind me? He wondered. Despite the silver medal in his pocket, he couldnt believe that the applause was for him. 谁在后面呀？他心里嘀咕。虽说有银牌在囊中，他怎么也不敢相信这掌声是献给他的。 From that moment on, Paul recognized that his life would never be the same. 从那一刻起，保罗意识到自己的生活从此永远地改变了。 The silver medal he earned in Albertville, France, ushered the 27-year-old figure skater into a new existence. 这位27岁的花样滑冰运动员在法国的阿尔贝维尔获得了银牌，从此走向全新的生活。 He was no longer a nobody who choked at big events, like the 1988 Calgary Olympics, where he finished an unimpressive 10th. No longer the recipient of advice from judges who, after Pauls performance in the 91 World Championships, suggested that he quit: Make room for the younger skaters. 1988年的卡尔加里冬奥会上，他表现平平，只得了第10名，可如今他再也不是在大型赛事中举止失措的无名小卒了；1991年的世界锦标赛上，保罗比赛完后，裁判建议他退出冰坛，“给年轻选手让位”，如今再也听不到这样的建议了。 No longer the target of loaded questions from reporters covering the 91 Olympic Trials What are you doing here?. 跟踪报道1991年冬奥会选拔赛的记者们曾问他“你来这儿干什么？”，如今再也不会有这种别有用心的提问了。 No longer the skater incapable of finishing ahead of U.S. National Champion Todd Eldredge or three-time defending World Champion Kurt Browning of Canada. 他再也不是美国冠军托德埃尔德雷奇的手下败将，再也不会被三度问鼎世界冠军宝座的加拿大运动员库尔特布朗宁甩在身后。 Now Paul Wylie was an Olympic hero. 现在保罗怀利成了奥运英雄。 He was an athlete who kept going when doubters suggested he quit. 虽然有些人对他没有信心，建议他放弃，可他仍然勇往直前。 He was a recent Harvard University graduate who had frequently fantasized about life without grueling hours on the ice, but who persevered anyway. 虽然这个刚出校门的哈佛毕业生经常幻想，离开严酷的冰上训练生活会是怎样，但依然苦苦坚持着； He was a young man who had discovered and demonstrated that goals can be reached no matter how many obstacles and botched attempts lie in the way. 这个年轻人发现：不管途中有多少障碍，要经历多少次失败，目标终能实现，而且他证明了这一点。 A reporter who interviewed me at the Closing Ceremonies told me, You came here an unknown and now you go home a hero, Paul says. I thought that was interesting, because I was in France and unaware of how my journey was unfolding on U.S. television. It wasnt until I stepped off the plane that I realized people considered me a hero. They were changed by my story. They were changed by the fact that I was able to persevere and win the silver medal even though almost everyone had counted me out. 保罗说：“闭幕式上我接受采访，有个记者对我说，你来时不为人知，归时却名扬四海。我觉得这话很有意思，因为我当时在法国，根本不知道美国电视是怎么报道这次法国之旅的。走下飞机，我才意识到人们把我当成了英雄。他们对我的看法改变了，因为我们获胜了。他们的看法改变了，因为我坚持不懈并且得了银牌，虽然没什么人看好我。” At times, Paul had almost counted himself out. 有时，保罗也几乎不看好自己了。 Two months before the 92 Olympics, USA Today did a survey of different athletes and asked, How often do you contemplate retirement? The choices were: yearly, monthly or weekly. “92年冬奥会两个月前，今日美国对运动员们进行了一次调查，问道，你经常考虑退役吗？选项有：每年、每月、每周。” I wrote, daily, because it was hard to keep going. But I just decided, Im going to persevere and hang in there, because I have a shot. “我写的是每天，因为要坚持下去实在是太难了。但我还是下定决心要坚持下去，决不放弃，我要全力拼搏。” Things definitely changed in 1992 in Albertville. 1992年在阿尔贝维尔，事情完全改观了。 To have my story be one that brought tears to peoples eyes, because of the way it turned around - that changed my life as well, Paul says. I looked at my skating career and saw it rewritten and beautiful, as opposed to a big disappointment and many years struggling toward some goal but not reaching it. 保罗说：“我的经历使人们热泪盈眶，因为结果出人意料。这同时也改变了我的生活，我看着自己的冰上生涯从此被改写，变得精彩纷呈。其实也可能会是另一种结局：多年的努力化为乌有，结果令人大失所望。” With medal in hand, Paul was suddenly ushered into a world of lucrative endorsements and figure-skating world tours, of exclusive events and autograph seekers. 手中拿着奖牌，保罗突然进入到一个全新的世界：财源不断的签约、花样滑冰巡回赛、独家采访、追星族要求签名。 Everything you might expect of a celebrity hero, but none of what Paul himself believes merits the honor of that title. 总之，凡是一个声名雀起的英雄能得到的一切他都得到了，但保罗认为这一头衔值得称道的东西远不在此。 What makes a true hero is selfless service, he says. Or someone whose life and actions inspire you to be better and to be a bigger person. I dont think that what I did was selfless service. But God used the story of my life to inspire others. 保罗说：“无私的奉献能造就真正的英雄；用自己的经历和行为激励别人上进，变得更高尚，也算是一种英雄。我认为我没有无私地奉献，但上帝用我的生活经历去激励了别的人。” Heroism, Paul has observed, requires daily maintenance. 保罗还说，英雄是需要日日维护的。 Just as a skater achieves perfection by practicing small parts of his larger routine day after day, a hero must look for ways to serve on a regular basis - not just in a crisis or more visible situation. 要达到完美的地步，滑冰选手需苦练每个细小的动作，日复一日不能懈怠，英雄也一样，应该日日奉献，而不只是在危机关头或者在众人瞩目之时才有所作为。 As an Olympic medal loses its luster after years of storage, a hero will lose his credibility if he stops looking to the needs of others. 收藏多年之后，奥运奖牌会退去它最初的光泽；若是不再关注别人的需要，英雄也会失去其知名度。 When Paul joins the thousands of others watchi