Find Sucess Your Own Way

刘本龙

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. 機械学 ② Harley motorcycle 哈雷摩托 ③ truck n. 柴油汽车

【难句解析】

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

释义：我是一个相当聪明的人，花了近10年的时间学习机械学，但是我没有受过正规的教育。

点拨：who引导定语从句，修饰先行词person。spend的主语必须是人，常用于以下结构：spend time / money on sth. 在……上花费时间/金钱;spend time / money （in） doing sth. 花费（时间/金钱）做某事。例如：

I spent two hours on this maths problem. 这道数学题花了我两个小时。

They spent two years （in） building this bridge. 造这座桥花了他们两年时间。

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

释义：然而，在过去的这一年，我到了一个我觉得我将很可能过上更好生活的地方。

点拨：在此句中，where I feel I will probably live a better life是宾语从句，作get to的宾语。在宾语从句中，where作状语。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处，犹犹豫豫向四周打量。

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

释义：我的工作给他们留下了深刻的印象，他们把我的情况告诉了他们的许多朋友。

点拨：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. 他的诚实给我留下了深刻印象

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

释义：我看了后，我说我能修好它。

点拨：taking a look at it和其逻辑主语I是主谓关系，所以用现在分词作状语。现在分词可以直接跟在某些连词后面，构成“连词+现在分词”结构作状语，其含义相当于该连词引起的状语从句。常见的可以直接跟现在分词连用的连词有：before， after， when， while， though， unless， if， once等。例如：

When sleeping， I never hear anything. 睡觉时我什么都听不到。

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 ____ ____ ____  （对……印象深刻） your language abilities.

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

4. ____ ____ （当做……时） the work， we should be careful.

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

6. You can ____ ____  （取得进步） only if you are modest.