Treasure What You Have

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John, a famous musician, took his priceless violin and played it in the crowded subway station. The music from the violin was beautiful. However, during the one-hour play, only six or seven people were truly listening to it. John only got 52 U.S. dollars for his work that day.

However, on normal days, when John is about to hold a concert, one ticket can be sold at more than 100 dollars and it is very hard to buy a ticket even at such a high price. Therefore, later, many passers-by in the station that day felt deeply regretful for not recognizing the famous musician and missing such a valuable but cheap performance.

Here’s another story. I have a very busy friend who had totally changed after knowing that his wife came down with serious illness. He cooked by himself for the family and took a walk with his wife every day. But his wife still did not manage to conquer the illness and passed away after three months. After that, he often sighed that due to his past busy life, he had missed a lot of beautiful time with his wife. But now, it is impossible to make up for it.

From the stories above, we could know that it is no use crying over spilt(泼洒掉的)milk. We have missed a lot of precious things in our life without knowing to value them.

Actually, I also missed something precious before. The reason why we would have missed those precious things is less than simple: we had thought that we could still own them tomorrow.

However, tomorrow is actually by no means reliable. In many people’s lives, they have only done two things: waiting and regretting. The result is that they were always too late to value what they had before they lost it. We would often wish to do something when we grow up, or when we have money or when we become old, etc. However, when we reach the condition we have expected, we could no longer do realize our wish anymore, because we have lost it by then.

【理解试题】

1. Why didn’t the passers-by in the station listen to John’s play that day？

A. Because they were hurried to go to work or come back home.

B. Because they were not fond of music, especially the music from the violin.

C. Because they didn’t hear the music in the crowded subway station.

D. Because they wanted to waste no time listening to a non-famous person’s play.

2. The underlined word “conquer” in Paragraph 3 most probably means .

A. find out B. get the better of

C. suffer from D. take care of

3. What can we infer from the passage？

A. The writer of this passage once didn’t treasure something he owned.

B. The writer of this passage was in the subway station by chance that day.

C. The writer of this passage asked us to value milk and never spill it.

D. The writer of this passage told us to do anything as soon as we want to.

4. Which of the following proverbs（谚语） can best summarize the main idea of Paragraph 6？

A. Time tries friends and fire tries gold.

B. Time tries all things.

C. Time is the father of truth.

D. Take time while time is, for time will be away.

5. what’s the best title for this passage？

A. Treasure Now No Longer Missed. B. Never Cry over Spilt Milk.

C. Look for What you Do Not have. D. Never Do Two Things.

【答案分析】

1. D。根据第二段最后一个句子可知，那天由于路过地铁站的人没有认出拉琴的是著名的音乐家，故匆匆而去。换句话说，他们不愿意浪费时间听一个不知名的人演奏。

2. B。根据其后passed away的信息，作者朋友的妻子最终没能战胜病魔死了。conquer是“战胜”的意思，与get the better of同义。

3. A。根据第5段第一个句子Actually, I also missed something precious before推断，该文作者也曾未珍惜过自己所拥有的一些东西。

4. D。第6段最后一个句子起到概括该段中心思想的作用。该句子的意思是“但是，等我们到了我们所期待的状况时，我们已经不能实现自己的希望了，因为机会已经错过。”故用“机不可失，时不再来”这句谚语来概括该段的中心思想。另外三个谚语的意思依次是：时间考验朋友，烈火考验黄金；时间考验一切；时间是真理之父。

5. A。该文主要说明了两层意思：珍惜现在所拥有的东西和后悔是无济于事的。故用“珍惜现在，不再错过”作为该文的最佳标题最为恰当。

【词汇讲解】

1. recognize v. 认出；识别

例如：He looked at the envelope and recognized Jenny’s handwriting immediately. 他看了看信封，马上认出是珍妮的笔迹。

I recognized Peter although I hadn’t seen him for 10 years. 虽然我有10年没看到彼得了，但我认出了他。

注意：recognize指所辨认的人或物多是以前所熟悉的。know则表示“认识；熟悉”。

例如：I know him very well. 我对他非常熟悉。

2. come down with 染上病；随之而降

例如：We come down with illnesses more easily when under stress. 在有压力的情况下，我们更容易生病。

That price would come down with mass production. 此价格只能在大量生产的时候会有所降低。

3. manage v. 设法；管理；经营

例如：I manage a team of six engineers. 我管理六个工程师的小组。

Can you imagine a woman with serious illness manage a website by herself？你能想象一个病魔缠身的妇女独自经营一个网站吗？

How on earth did you manage to escape? 你究竟怎样设法逃脱的呢？

注意：manage to do与try to do均可以表示“设法做……”。但manage to do含有“成功；办成”的意思，强调结果。而try to do强调“试图做某事”的过程，并不牵涉成功与否的结果。

例如：They tried to prevent the plane from landing on the runway. 他们企图阻止这架飞机在跑道上降落。

4. pass away 去世；死

pass away是die的委婉语。

例如：I’m sorry to hear that your father passed away. 很遗憾听到你父亲去世了。

5. due to prep. 因为，由于

例如：The accident was due to careless driving. 那次意外事故起因于驾驶疏忽。

He succeeded due to his own diligence and cleverness. 由于他的勤奋和聪明，他获得了成功。

注意：be due to do表示“将要做……”。

例如：Rose is due to start school in January. 罗丝一月份就要开始上学了。

6. make up for 弥补；补偿

例如：You should make up for lost time. 你应说把失去的时间弥补回来。

It’s time for us to make up for our mistakes. 是弥补我们的过失的时候了。

7. by no means 决不

例如：It’s by no means easy to solve this problem. 解决这个问题绝不是很容易。

This fight is by no means the end of our friendship. 这次争吵绝不会是我们友谊的结束。

注意：by no means为否定性词语，放置在句首时，句子要部分倒装。

例如：By no means is this fight the end of our friendship.

【长句分析】

However, when we reach the condition we have expected, we could no longer do realize our wish anymore, because we have lost it by then. 但是，等我们到了我们所期待的状况时，我们已经不能实现自己的希望了，因为机会已经错过。

该句子中的when we reach the condition we have expected是时间状语从句。这个从句中的we have expected是condition的定语从句。we could no longer do realize our wish anymore为主句。because we have lost it by then则为原因状语从句。

【语法点拨】

1. Therefore, later, many passers-by in the station that day felt deeply regretful for not recognizing the famous musician and missing such a valuable but cheap performance. 后来，不少当时就在地铁站的人非常后悔错过了一场这么有价值却便宜的音乐表演。

feel deeply regretful for表示“对……感到非常遗憾（后悔）”。for为介词，其后接了两个动名词做其宾语：recognizing...和missing。not recognizing则是动名词的否定形式。

2. However, when we reach the condition we have expected, we could no longer do realize our wish anymore, because we have lost it by then. 但是，等我们到了我们所期待的状况时，我们已经不能实现自己的希望了，因为机会已经错过。

we could no longer do realize...中的do是助动词，加强谓语动词realize的语气。do可以放在一般现在时或一般过去时肯定陈述句的谓语动词之前加强谓语动词的语气。也可以放在肯定形式的祈使句前加强谓语动词的语气。

例如： He did finish his homework before I got to his home. 当我到他家时，他的确做完了作业。

Do be quiet！安静！