英语智慧背囊 10-行胜于言

[00:01.61]Louder than Anything You Can Say行胜于言
[00:06.26]I teach economics at UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) three times per week.
[00:13.14] Last Monday, at the beginning of class,
[00:15.38] I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been.
[00:18.76] One young man said that his weekend had not been so good.
[00:22.91] The young man then proceeded to ask me
[00:25.62]why I always seemed to be so cheerful.
[00:28.72]His question reminded me of something I’d read somewhere before:
[00:32.44]“Every morning when you get up,
[00:34.54] you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day,” I said.
[00:39.39] “I choose to be cheerful.”
[00:41.25]“Let me give you an example,” I continued.
[00:44.64]“In addition to teaching here at UNLV,
[00:47.70]I also teach out at the community college in Henderson,
[00:51.21]17 miles down the freeway from where I live.
[00:54.33] One day I drove those 17 miles to Henderson.
[00:57.87]I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive.
[01:01.70] I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college.
[01:06.41] But just then my car died.
[01:09.03] So I put my flashers on, grabbed my books,
[01:12.54]and marched down the road to the college.”
[01:15.70]“As soon as I got there I called AAA
[01:18.54]and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class.
[01:22.88]The secretary in the Provost’s office asked me what has happened.
[01:26.61]‘This is my lucky day,’ I replied, smiling.”
[01:30.31]“‘Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?’
[01:33.81] She was puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’”
[01:36.88]“I live 17 miles from here.” I replied.
[01:40.23]“My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway.
[01:43.79]It didn’t.
[01:45.00]Instead, it broke down in the perfect place:
[01:47.82]off the freeway, within walking distance of here.
[01:50.88]I’m still able to teach my class,
[01:53.39] and I’ve been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class.
[01:57.55]If my car was meant to break down today,
[02:00.40]it couldn’t have been arranged in a more convenient fashion.”
[02:04.23]“The secretary’s eyes opened wide, and then she smiled.
[02:08.00]I smiled back and headed for class.” So ended my story.
[02:12.75]I scanned the sixty faces in my economics class at UNLV.
[02:17.89] Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep.
[02:21.82] Somehow, my story had touched them.
[02:24.67] Or maybe it wasn’t the story at all.
[02:27.26]In fact, it had all started with a student’s observation that I was cheerful.
[02:32.33]An Indian wise man once said,
[02:35.17]“Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say.”
[02:39.76] I suppose it must be so.