Give us 15 Minutes A Day
Your boss has a bigger vocabulary than you have.
That's one good reason why he's your boss.
This discovery has been made in the word laboratories of the world. Not by theoretical English professors, but by practical, hard-headed scholars who have been searching for the secrets of success.
After a host of experiments and years of testing they have found out:
That if your vocabulary is limited your chances of success are limited.
That one of the easiest and quickest ways to get ahead is by consciously building up your knowledge of words.
That the vocabularyl of the average person almost stops growing by the middle twenties.
And that from then on it is necessary to have an intelligent plan if progress is to be made. No haphazard hit-or-miss methods will do.
It has long since been satisfactorily established that a high executive does not have a large vocabulary merely because of the opportunities of his position. That would be putting the cart before the horse. Quite the reverse is true. His skill in words was a tremendous help in getting him his job.
Dr.Johnson O';Connor of thee Human Engineering Laboratory of Boston and of the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, gave a vocabulary test to 100 young men who were studying to be industrial executives.
Five years later those who had passed in the upper ten percent all., without exception, had executive positions, while not a single young man of the lower twenty-five per cent had become an executive.
You see, there are certain factors in success that can be measured as scientifically as the contents of a test-tube, and it has been discovered that the most common characteristic of outstanding success is "an extensive knowledge of the exact meaning of English words".
The extent of your vocabulary indicates the degree of your intelligence. Your brain power will increase as you learn to know more words. Here's the proof.
Two classes in a high school were selected for an experiment. Their ages and their environment were the same. Each class represented an identical cross-section of the community. One, the control class, took the normal courses. The other class was given special vocabulary training. At the end of the period the marks of the latter class surpassed those of the control group, not only in English, but in every subject, including mathematics and the sciences.
Similarly it has been found by Professor Lewis M.Terman, of Stanford University, that a vocabulary test is as accurate a measure of intelligence as any three units of the standard and accepted Stanford-Binet I.Q.tests.
The study of words is not merely something that has to do with literature. Words are your tools of thought. You can't even think at all without them. Try it. If you are planning to go down town this afternoon you will find that you are saying to yourself:"I think I will go down town this afternoon." You can't make such a simple decision as this without using words.
Without words you could make no decisions and from no judgments whatsoever. A pianist may have the most beautiful tunes in his head, but if he had only five keys on his piano he would never get more than a fraction of these tunes out.
Your words are your keys for your thoughts. And the more words you have at your command the deeper, clearer and more accurate will be your thinking.
A command of English will not only improve the. processes of your mind. It will give you assurance; build your self-confidence; lend color to your personality; increase your popularity. Your words are your personality. Your vocabulary is you.
Your words are all that we, your friends, have to know and judge you by. You have no other medium for telling us your thoughts-for convincing us, persuading us, giving us orders.
Words are explosive. Phrases are packed with TNT.A simple word can destroy a friendship, land a large order. The proper phrases in the mouths of clerks have quadrupled the proper phrases inthe mouths of clerks have quadrupled the sales of a department store. The wrong words used by a campaign orator have lost an election. For instance, on one occasion the four unfortunate words, "Rum, Romanism and a Rebellion" used in a Republican campaign speech threw the Catholic vote and the presidential victory to Grover Cleveland. Ears are won by words. Soldiers fight for a phrase."Make the world safe for Democracy." "All out for England." "V for Victory." The " Remember the Maine" of Spanish war days has now been changed to "Remember Pearl Harbor."
Words have changed the direction of history. Words van also change the direction of your life. They have often raised a man from mediocrity to success.
If you consciously increase your vocabulary you will unconsciously raise yourself to a more important station in life, and the new and higher position you have won will, in turn, give you a better opportunity for further enriching your vocabulary. It is a beautiful and successful cycle.
It is because of this intimate connection between words and life itself that we have organized this small volume in a new way. We have not given you mere lists of unrelated words to learn. We have grouped the words around various departments of your life.
This book is planned to enlist your active cooperation. The authors wish you to read it with a pencil in your hand, for you will often be asked to make certain notations,to write answers to particular questions. The more you use your pencil, the more deeply you will become involved, and the deeper your involvement the more this book will help you. We shall occasionally ask you to use your voice as your pencil-to say things out loud. You see, we really want you to keep up a running conversation with us.
It's fun. And it's so easy. And we've made it like a game. We have filled these pages with a collection of devices that we hope will be stimulating. Here are things to challenge you and your friends. Try these tests on your acquaintances. They will enjoy them and it may encourage them to wider explorations in this exciting field of speech. There are entertaining verbal calisthenics here, colorful facts about language, and many excursions among the words that keep our speech the rich, flexible, lively means of communication that it is.
Come to this book every day. Put the volume by your bedside, if you like. A short time spent on these pages before you turn the lights out each night is better than an irregular hour now and then. If you can find the time to learn only two or three words a day-we will still promise you that at the end of thirty days you will have found a new interest. Give us fifteen minutes a day, and we will guarantee, at the end of a month, when you have turned over the last page of this book, that your words and your reading and your conversation and your life will all have a new and deeper meaning for you.
For words can make you great!
[参考译文]
每天只需15分钟
这是他为什么会成为你老板的一个重要原因。
这一发现是在世界各地的语言实验室里得来的。它不是那些池有理论的英语教授信口胡诌的，而是那些一直以来就在探讨着成功斩秘诀、精明而又计求实际的学者们发现的。
在经历了大量的试验和多年的验证之后，他们发现：
如果你的词汇量不大，你成功的机会也就不多。
最简洁而又最迅速的改进方法之一就是有意识地扩大你的词汇知识。
普通人的词汇量到了二十五六岁左右就几乎停止增长了。
从那以后要想继续啬词汇量就必须有一个精心设计的计划。随意安排的、漫无目的计划是不起作用的。
长期以来人们就有呈个想当然的看法：高级行政管理人员不会有很大的词汇量，因为处不那个位置上，他有的是机会。这未免有点本末倒置了。实际情况恰恰相反。他的言语技巧对他获得那个职位有着巨大的帮助。
约翰逊·欧·康纳博士为波士顿的人才管理实验室和新泽西州霍博肯市的史蒂文斯理工学院工作，他曾对100名学工业行政管理的年青人做过一次词汇测试。
五年以后那些在考试中名列前十位的人全部地、无一例外地跨上了管理岗位，而考试中位列后二十五名的人中没有一个能当上受理人员。
你瞧，有一些成功的因素是要以像试管里的物质那样被精确测量的，而人们发现，获得杰出成贵州省的一个最普遍的要素就是“大量而准确地掌握英语词汇”。
你对词汇的把握程度反映了你的智力水平，当你通过学习掌握了更多的词汇析时候，偿大脑的思维能力也会啬。以下事例就可以证明这一点。
一所高中的两个班被挑选徕做了一个试验。年龄相仿，所处的环境相同。每个班都代表着整个社会的一个完全相当的横截面。其中一个班被作为参照班，只上普通班应上的课程。另一个班则附加特别的词汇训练。到试验期结束的时候，后一个班的成绩，不音是英语成绩，而是每一科的成绩，包括数学和自然学科成绩全都超过了参照班的成绩。
无独有偶，斯坦福大学的路易斯·M·特曼教授也发现，词汇测试与三套普遍被人接受的斯坦福·宾尼特标准智商测试题中的任何一套一样，可以准确地测定智力。
词汇学习并非只是某种与文学有关的事情。词汇是思维的工具。滑有了词汇你甚至根本无法思维。你可以试一试。如果你打算今天下午进城，你会发现你在对自己说：“我候今天下午我要进趟城。”不借助词的话，你就连这样一个简单的决定也作不了。
没有了词汇佻什么决定也作不了，什么判断也作不成。一位钢琴家的脑袋中可能想到了一首美妙的曲子，但是如果他的钢琴上只有五个音键的话，他永远也只能演奏出这首曲子的一些破碎的片段。
你的文科是你思维的关键。你所掌握的词汇越多，你的思想就越深邃、越清晰、越准确。
掌握英语不仅可以改进偿的思维方式，它还给你信心，令你自信，带给你鲜明的个性，使你更受欢迎。你的用词反映了你的个性。所谓词如其人。
作为你的朋友，我们大家都是从你的言辞中来了解你和评价你的。除此以外，你无法用别的什么交际手段来告诉我们你的想法——无法使我们信服，无法劝服我们，无法给我们下命令。
单词是具有破坏性的。词组中则充斥着火药。一个简简单单的词可以摧垮一份友谊，可以使 一大批订货泡汤。售货员言辞得体的话可以使商场的销售额翻两番。况选演说者用词失当则会使他竞选失利。例如，在一次共和党的竞选学说中，因演讲者不慎将“离厅古怪，罗马一塌胡涂主教和叛乱”等词 连在了一起，结果罗马天主教徒都投了格洛弗·克利夫兰的标，让他赢得了总统竞选的胜利。战争也要靠言语来获胜。战士们往往为一句中号而战。“为保卫世界民主而战。”“一切为了英格兰。”“必胜。”西班牙内时代的口号是“牢记缅因河”，如今已换成“牢记珍珠港”了。
词汇曾改变过历史的方向。词汇也能改变你生活的方向。它们常常使一个平凡之辈迈向成功。
如果你在有意识地增加着你的词汇量，你将在不知不觉中爬到一个更显要的位置上，得到这个新的，更高的位置以后，反过来，你又会有更好的机会进一步丰富你的词汇量。这是一个诱人的、带给人成功的循环过程。
正因为词和生活本身有着如此密切的关系，所以我们采用了一种新的方式来编排这本小书。我们不会让你学记由一组组毫无联系的词汇组成的词汇表。我们将词汇按照生活的各个方面组合了起来。
这本书的编排设计是建立在你会积极合作的假想基础上的。作者们希望你在读这本书的时候手里要拿上一支铅笔，因为我们要求你经常做点笔记，或是将一些具体问题的答案写下来。你动笔的时候越多，你就会看得越投入，而你越投入这本书对你就越有帮助。除了动笔之外，我们还会不时地让你动动嘴——要求你把一些东西大声地说出来。你知道，我们的确希望你能不断地与我们对话。
这很有趣。也很容易做到。而且我们还把它弄得像做游戏。我们在书里集中了各种测试手段，希望它们能够富于刺激性。这是对你和你的朋友们的挑战。用这些试题去考考你的熟人吧。他们会从中得到乐趣并受到鼓舞，从而进一步深入地探索这一令人激动的言语领域。书中编排有游戏型的动词健美操，介绍了形形色色的语言客观存在，还谈到了词语间的游离现象，正是它们丰富了我们的言语，使之富于变化，并形成了现在这样一个富有生气的交际工具。
每天都读一读这本书。如果你喜欢的话，就把这本书带在身边。每天晚上关灯之前花一点时间读上几页书要比时不时不定期地花上个把小时来读要好。即使你每天只腾得出时间学两到三个单词——我们仍可向你保证,30天以后你将会得到新的兴趣。如果你每天花上15分钟的话，我们就可以保证，一个月之后，当你翻过了这本书的最后一页时。你的词汇，你的阅读能力，你的谈话技巧，乃至你的生活都将会达到一个更新和更高的程度。
因为词将使你卓越不凡！
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