英语教程课文原文.doc

Unit OneTEXT ITwo Words to Avoid, Two to RememberArthur Gordon1 Nothing in life is more exciting and rewarding than the sudden flash of insightthat leaves you a changed person – not only changed, but changed for the better.Such momentsare rare, certainly, but they come to all of us. Sometimesfrom a book,a sermon, a line of poetry. Sometimes from a friend ….2 That wintry afternoon in Manhattan, waiting in the little French restaurant, I was feeling frustrated and depressed. Because of several miscalculations on my part, a project of considerable importance in my life had fallen through. Even the prospect of seeing a dear friend (the Old Man, as I privately and affectionately thought of him) failed to cheer me as it usually did. I sat there frowning at the checkered tablecloth, chewing the bitter cud of hindsight.3 He cameacross the street, finally, muffled in his ancient overcoat, shapelessfelt hat pulled down over his bald head, looking more like an energetic gnome than an eminent psychiatrist. His offices were nearby; I knew he had just left his lastpatient of the day. Hewas close to 80, but he still carried a full case load, stillacted as director of a large foundation, still loved to escape to the golf coursewhenever he could.4 By the time he cameover and sat beside me, the waiter had brought his invariable bottle of ale. I had not seen him for several months, but he seemedas indestructibleas ever. “Well, young man, ” he said without preliminary, “what’s troublingyou?”5 I had long since ceased to be surprised at his perceptiveness. So I proceeded to tell him, at some length, just what was bothering me. With a kind of melancholy pride, I tried to be very honest. I blamed no one else for my disappointment, only myself. I analyzed the whole thing, all the bad judgments, the false moves. I went on for perhaps 15 minutes, while the Old Man sipped his ale in silence.6When I finished, he put down his glass.to my office. ”7 “Your office? Did you forget something?“Come on,” he said.”8 “No,” he said mildly. “I want your reaction to something. That9A chill rain was beginning to fall outside, but his office“Let ’s go back’s all. ” was warm andcomfortable and familiar: book-lined walls, long leather couch, signed photographof Sigmund Freud, tape recorder by the window. His secretary had gone home. Wewere alone.10The Old Mantook a tape from a flat cardboard box and fitted it onto the machine.“On this tape, ” he said, “are three short recordings made by three persons whocame to me for help. They are not identified, of course. I want you to listen tothe recordings and see if you can pick out the two-word phrase that is the commondenominator in all three cases. ” He smiled. “Don’t look so puzzled. I have myreasons. ”11What the owners of the voices on the tape had in common, it seemed to me, wasunhappiness. The man who spoke first evidently had suffered some kind of business loss or failure; he berated himself for not having worked harder, for not having looked ahead. The woman who spoke next had never married because of a sense ofobligation to her widowed mother; she recalled bitterly all the marital chances shehad let go by. Thethird voice belonged to a mother whose teen-age son was in trouble with the police; she blamed herself endlessly.12The Old Manswitched off the machine and leaned back in his chair. “Six timesin those recordings a phrase is used that ’s full of subtle poison. Did you spotit? No? Well, perhaps that ’s because you used it three times yourself down in therestaurant a little tossed it over to me. in any language. ”while ago. ” He picked up the box that had held the tape and “There they are, right on the label. The two saddest words13 I looked down. Printed neatly in red ink were the words: If only .14 “You’d be amazed, ” said the Old Man, “if you knew how many thousands oftimes I ’ve sat in this chair and listened to woeful sentences beginning with thosetwo words. ‘If only, ’ they say to me, ‘I had done it differently r not doneit at all. If only I hadn’t lost mytemper, said the cruel thing, madethat dishonest move, told that foolish lie. If only I had been wiser, or more unselfish, or moreself- controlled. ’ They go on and on until I stop them. Sometimes I makethem listento the recordings you just heard. ‘If only, ’ I say to them, ‘you’d stop sayingif only , we might begi。