晨读英语美文100篇 Passage 27. The Road to Success

[00:01.64]Passage 27. The Road to Success

[00:05.69]It is well that young men should begin at the beginning

[00:11.38]and occupy the most subordinate positions.

[00:14.33]Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility

[00:19.36]thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career.

[00:23.41]They were introduced to the broom,

[00:26.04]and spent the first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office.

[00:31.07]I notice we have janitors and janitresses now in offices,

[00:36.00]and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of a business education.

[00:41.90]But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning,

[00:47.15]the boy who has the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom.

[00:54.48]It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary.

[00:59.84]I was one of those sweepers myself.

[01:03.02]Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started,

[01:08.38]my advice to you is “aim high.”

[01:11.66]I would not give a fig for the young man who does not already see himself the partner

[01:17.14]or the head of an important firm.

[01:20.20]Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk,

[01:24.79]or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive.

[01:30.70]Say to yourself,“My place is at the top.”

[01:34.85]Be king in your dreams.

[01:37.15]And here is the prime condition of success,the great secret:

[01:42.30]concentrate your energy,thought, and capital exclusively upon the business

[01:48.09]in which you are engaged.

[01:50.06]Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it,

[01:56.41]adopt every improvement,have the best machinery, and know the most about it.

[02:02.21]The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital,

[02:07.13]which means that they have scattered their brains also.

[02:10.74]They have investments in this, or that, or the other,here, there, and everywhere.

[02:16.54]“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” is all wrong.

[02:20.81]I tell you “put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.”

[02:26.72]It is easy to watch and carry the one basket.

[02:30.32]He who carries three baskets must put one on his head,

[02:34.16]which is apt to tumble and trip him up.

[02:37.33]One fault of the American businessmen is lack of concentration.