评论
打印
Are we too quick to blame and slow to praise? It seems we are.
我们是不是指责别人太快而表扬别人太慢呢？看来是的。
Profits of Praise
赞扬的好处
by Janet Graham
珍妮特·格雷厄姆
It was the end of my exhausting first day as waitress in a busy New York restaurant.
我在纽约一家生意繁忙的餐馆做女侍的第一天，令人精疲力竭的第一天，就要结束了。
My cap had gone awry, my apron was stained, my feet ached.
我的帽子歪了，围裙上污迹斑斑，两脚疼痛。
The loaded trays I carried felt heavier and heavier.
我感到手中盛着食物的托盘越来越重。
Weary and discouraged, I didn't seem able to do anything right.
我又疲倦又沮丧，仿佛什么事情都没法干好。
As I made out a complicated check for a family with several children who had changed their ice-cream order a dozen times, I was ready to quit.
当我为有好几个孩子的一家人开好一份复杂的账单时——因为这些孩子在要冰淇淋时换来换去有十几次之多——我便准备辞职不干了。
Then the father smiled at me as he handed me my tip. "Well done," he said. "You've looked after us really well."
这时候，那位做父亲的一边把小费交给我，一边对我微微一笑，“干得很好他说。“你对我们照顾得真是太好了。”
Suddenly my tiredness vanished.
听了这话，我的倦意顿时消失了。
I smiled back, and later, when the man-ager asked me how I'd liked my first day, I said, "Fine!" Those few words of praise had changed everything.
我对他也报以微笑；后来，经理问我对第一天感觉怎样时，我说：“好极了!”那两句赞扬的话改变了一切。
Praise is like sunlight to the human spirit; we cannot flower and grow without it.
对于人的精神来说，赞扬就像阳光一样；没有它我们便不能开花生长。
And yet, while most of us are only too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism, we are somehow reluctant to give our fellows the warm sunshine of praise.
然而我们大多数人动不动就对别人刮起批评的寒风，不知为什么却不愿意把表扬的温暖阳光给予我们的同伴。
Why — when one word can bring such pleasure? A friend of mine who travels widely always tries to learn a little of the language of any place she visits.
只要一句话就能带来这样的欢乐，我们为什么却不愿意这样做呢？我有一个到处旅行的朋友总是努力学一点她要去访问的国家的语言。
She's not much of a linguist, but she does know how to say one word— "beautiful" — in several languages.
她并不是什么了不起的语言学家，但她的确知道怎样用几种语言说一个词——“美极了。”
She can use it to a mother holding her baby, or to a lonely salesman fishing out pictures of his family.
她可以对一个怀抱婴儿的母亲或者对一个从身上掏出全家照的寂寞的推销员用上这个词。
The ability has earned her friends all over the world.
这种能力为她在全世界赢得了朋友。[by:可可英语～m.moreplr.com]
