t shining,

"r" means right, and right she'll always be,

put them all together, they spell "mother",

a word that means the world to me.

--howard johnson

“母亲”的含义

“m”代表她所给予我的无数，

“o”的意思是她在日渐老去，

“t”是她为抚育我洒下的泪，

“h”指她有像黄金一样的心灵，

“e”就是她的眼睛，里面洋溢着爱的光芒，

“r”的意思是正确，因为她永远都是对的。

将以上字母串在一起就是“母亲（mother）”，

这个词说出了我整个的世界。

--霍华德·约翰逊

★★《2003年05月号-第40期-disc02-03》★★

a lesson for living

"everything happens for the best," my mother said whenever i faced disappointment. "if you 1)carry on, one day something good will happen. and you'll realize that it wouldn't have happened if not for that 2)previous disappointment."

mother was right, as i discovered after graduating from college in 1932. i had decided to try for a job in radio, then work my way up to sports 3)announcer. i 4)hitchhiked to chicago and knocked on the door of every station - and got 5)turned down every time.

in one studio, a kind lady told me that big stations couldn't risk hiring an 6)inexperienced person. "go out in the sticks and find a small station that'll give you a chance," she said.

i 7)thumbed home to dixon, illinois. while there was no radio-announcing jobs in dixon, my father said montgomery ward had opened a store and wanted a local 8)athlete to manage its sports department. since dixon was where i had played high school football, i applied. the job sounded just right for me. but i wasn't hired.

my disappointment must have shown. "everything happens for the best," mom reminded me. dad offered me the car to job hunt. i tried woc radio in davenport, iowa. the program director, a wonderful scotsman named peter macarthur, told me they had already hired an announcer.

as i left his office, my frustration boiled over. i asked aloud, "how can a fellow get to be a sports announcer if he can't get a job in a radio station?"

i was waiting for the elevator when i heard macarthur calling, "what was that you said about sports? do you know anything about football?" then he stood me before a microphone and asked me to broadcast an 9)imaginary game.

on my way home, as i have many times since, i thought of my mother's words: "if you carry on, one day something good will happen. something wouldn't have happened if not for that previous disappointment."

i often wonder what direction my life might have taken if i'd gotten the job at montgomery ward.

生活的一课

每当我遇到挫折时，母亲就会说：“一切都会好的。如果你坚持下去，总有一天会有好事发生。你会认识到，如果没有以前的挫折就不会有现在的一切。”

母亲是对的，发现这个时是在1932年，我刚从大学毕业。我已决定试着在电台找个事儿做，然后争取做体育节目的播音员。我搭便车到了芝加哥，挨家电台地敲门推销自己--但每次都被拒绝了。

在一个播音室里，一位好心的女士告诉我，大的广播电台是不会冒险雇佣没经验的新手的。“去乡下找一家给你机会的小电台吧，”她说。

我搭车来到我的家乡，那是伊利诺斯州的迪克森。在迪克森当时还没有电台播音员这样的工作，父亲说，蒙哥马利·沃德开了一家新商店，想雇请一个本地的运动员管理店里的体育部。我中学时曾在迪克森打过橄榄球，出于这个原因我去申请了这份工作。工作听起来挺适合我的，但是我没被聘用。

我的沮丧心情一定表现出来了。“一切总会好的，”母亲提醒我说。爸爸给我买了一辆汽车找工作用。我试到爱荷华州达文波特的woc电台去求职。那里的电台节目负责人是一个很棒的苏格兰人，名叫彼得·麦克阿瑟，他告诉我他们已经雇到播音员了。

离开他办公室时，我愤怒极了。我大声地说：“一个连在电台都找不到工作的家伙又怎么能成为体育节目的播音员呢？”

等电梯时，我听见麦克阿瑟喊道：“你说什么体育？你了解橄榄球吗？”接着他让我站到麦克风前，请我解说一场想象中的比赛。

在回家的路上--以后也有很多次地，我思考着母亲的那句话：“如果你坚持下去，总有一天会有好事发生。如果没有以前的挫折，就不会有现在的一切。”

我常想，如果我当年得到了蒙哥马利·沃德的那份工作，我的人生之路又会怎样走呢？

注释：

1) carry on 坚持

2) previous a. 以前的

3) announcer n. 广播员

4) hitchhike v. 搭便车

5) turn down 拒绝

6) inexperienced a. 无经验的

7) thumb v. 作搭车姿势

8) athlete n. 运动员

9) imaginary a. 想像的

★★《2003年05月号-第40期-disc02-04》★★

a great friendship

-- thomas jefferson and james madison

thomas jefferson and james madison met in 1776. could it have been any other year? they worked together starting then to 1)further the american revolution and later to shape the new 2)scheme of government. from that work sprang a friendship perhaps 3)incomparable in 4)intimacy and the trustfulness of 5)collaboration and 6)indurations. it lasted 50 years. it included pleasure and 7)utility but over and above them, there were shared purpose, a common end and an enduring goodness on both sides. four and a half months before he died, when he was 8)ailing, debt-ridden, and worried about his 9)impoverished family, jefferson wrote to his longtime friend. his words and madison's reply remind us that friends are friends until death. they also remind us that sometimes a friendship has a bearing on things larger than the friendship itself, for has there ever been a friendship of greater public 10)consequence than this one?

"the friendship which has 11)subsisted between us now half a century, the harmony of our political 12)principles and pursuits have been sources of constant happiness to me through that long period. it's also been a great 13)solace to me to believe that you're 14)engaged in 15)vindicating to 16)posterity the course that we've pursued for preserving to them, in all their purity, their blessings of self-government, which we had assisted in acquiring for them. if ever the earth has beheld a system of administration 17)conducted with a single and 18)steadfast eye to the general interest and happiness of those committed to it, on