Find Sucess Your Own Way

劉本龍

Do you think hard work always pays off？ What have you gained by working hard？

Im a fairly intelligent person who has spent nearly 10 years learning mechanics①， but I have no formal education. I have always struggled to make people trust me. However， this past year I have finally gotten to where I feel I will probably live a better life！

I started out this year having just taken another factory job with slightly higher pay than my last one. I was making $13.50 an hour at my last job and struggling to live.

They were impressed with my work and told many of their friends about me. I got a lot of new business just through word of mouth. Three months ago， my neighbor bought a used Harley motorcycle② that everyone thought had some serious damage. After taking a look at it， I said that I would be able to repair it. It turned out that I saved them $2，000 that they expected to pay to rebuild it.

In about two months I had over a dozen people coming to me for work and I was making great money. I was making thousands a month on the side on a good month. But due to the instability of the work， I still couldnt leave my day job at that point.

Then I got a job through one of my customers working on heavy equipment and diesel trucks③. I was able to impress them by solving difficult problems quickly. They offered me another job that started even higher—$17 an hour. I finally made some progress.

In one years time I went from being the lowest level employee to having employers begging me to work for them. Now I can honestly say I feel truly proud of myself and my skills.

Notes： ① mechanics n. 機械學 ② Harley motorcycle 哈雷摩托 ③ truck n. 柴油汽車

【難句解析】

1. Im a fairly intelligent person who has spent nearly 10 years learning mechanics， but I have no formal education.

釋義：我是一個相當聰明的人，花了近10年的時間學習機械學，但是我沒有受過正規(guī)的教育。

點撥：who引導定語從句，修飾先行詞person。spend的主語必須是人，常用于以下結構：spend time / money on sth. 在……上花費時間/金錢;spend time / money （in） doing sth. 花費（時間/金錢）做某事。例如：

I spent two hours on this maths problem. 這道數學題花了我兩個小時。

They spent two years （in） building this bridge. 造這座橋花了他們兩年時間。

2. However， this past year I have finally gotten to where I feel I will probably live a better life！

釋義：然而，在過去的這一年，我到了一個我覺得我將很可能過上更好生活的地方。

點撥：在此句中，where I feel I will probably live a better life是賓語從句，作get to的賓語。在賓語從句中，where作狀語。例如：

As if she was unsure of where she was， she hesitated and looked round. 她仿佛茫然不知身在何處，猶猶豫豫向四周打量。

3. They were impressed with my work and told many of their friends about me.

釋義：我的工作給他們留下了深刻的印象，他們把我的情況告訴了他們的許多朋友。

點撥：They were impressed with my work. =I impressed them with my work. 例如：

He impressed me with his honesty. =I was impressed with / at / by his honesty. 他的誠實給我留下了深刻印象

4. After taking a look at it， I said that I would be able to repair it.

釋義：我看了后，我說我能修好它。

點撥：taking a look at it和其邏輯主語I是主謂關系，所以用現(xiàn)在分詞作狀語。現(xiàn)在分詞可以直接跟在某些連詞后面，構成“連詞+現(xiàn)在分詞”結構作狀語，其含義相當于該連詞引起的狀語從句。常見的可以直接跟現(xiàn)在分詞連用的連詞有：before， after， when， while， though， unless， if， once等。例如：

When sleeping， I never hear anything. 睡覺時我什么都聽不到。

I. Choose the right answer.

1. Why did the writer struggle to gain peoples trust？

A. Because he was not intelligent enough.

B. Because he was not formally educated.

C. Because he had little working experience.

D. Because he lacked professional knowledge.

2. What happened to the writer after he offered to repair the motorcycle？

A. He caused some serious damage to it.

B. His neighbor paid him $2，000.

C. He rebuilt the motorcycle with an experts help.

D. He started getting more business afterwards.

3. Which of the following does NOT describe the writer？

A. He is fairly smart.???????????????????????????? B. He is hard-working.

C. He is skilled in mechanics. ????????????????????? D. He is unpleasantly proud.

4. What does the writers experience teach us？

A. It is unimportant to be intelligent.

B. It is necessary to have formal education.

C. Both learning and hard work are important for success.

D. The best business is done through word of mouth.

II. Fill in the blanks.

1. I dont know ____ ____ ____ ____ （他曾經住在哪里）.

2. I think people would ____ ____ ____? （對……印象深刻） your language abilities.

3. ____ ____ ____ ____ （結果） she made two small mistakes.

4. ____ ____ （當做……時） the work， we should be careful.

5. He often spends two hours ____ ____ ____ （聽） English.

6. You can ____ ____? （取得進步） only if you are modest.