小故事

A Pair of Socks
一双袜子
One fine afternoon I was walking along Fifth Avenue, when I remembered that it was necessary to buy a pair of socks. Why I wished to buy only one pair is unimportant. I turned into the first sock shop that caught my eye, and a boy clerk who could not have been more than seventeen years old came forward. "What can I do for you, sir?" "I wish to buy a pair of socks." His eyes glowed. There was a note of passion in his voice. "Did you know that you had come into the finest place in the world to buy socks?" I had not been aware of that, as my entrance had been accidental. "Come with me," said the boy, ecstatically. I followed him to the rear of the shop, and he began to haul down from the shelves box after box, displaying their contents for my delectation.
一个明朗的下午，我走在第五大街上，忽然想起得买双短袜。至于为什么我只买一双，那是无关紧要的。我看到第一家袜子店，便走了进去，一个年纪不到17岁的少年店员向我迎来。“您要什么，先生？”“我想买双短袜。”他的眼睛闪出光芒，话语里含着激情。“您是否知道您来到的是世上最好的袜店？”这我倒没有意识到，因为我是偶然走进来这家商店的。“请跟我来，”那少年欣喜若狂地说。我随他来到店堂后部，少年从货架上拖下一个又一个盒子，把里面的袜子展示在我面前，让我赏鉴。
"Hold on, lad, I am going to buy only one pair!" "I know that," said he, "but I want you to see how marvelously beautiful these are. Aren't they wonderful?" There was on his face an expression of solemn and holy rapture, as if he were revealing to me the mysteries of his religion. I became far more interested in him than in the socks. I looked at him in amazement. "My friend," said I, "if you can keep this up, if this is not merely the enthusiasm that comes from novelty, from having a new job, if you can keep up this zeal and excitement day after day, in ten years you will own every sock in the United States." (To be continued)
“等等，小伙子，我只要买一双！”“这我知道，”他说。“不过，我想让您看看这些袜子有多漂亮，真是好看极了！”他脸上洋溢着庄严和神圣的狂喜，像是在向我启示他所信奉的宗教的玄理。我对他的兴趣远远超过了对袜子的兴趣。我诧异地望着他。“我的朋友，”我说，“如果你能一直这样热情，如果这热情不只是因为你感到新奇，或因为得到了一个新的工作——如果你能天天如此，把这种热忱和激情保持下去，不消十年，你会成为全美国的短袜大王。”（待续）

重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. catch one's eye
闯入眼帘；突然引起…的注意；
eg. As she turned back, a movement across the lawn caught her eye.
她转过身，瞥见有个东西从草地上穿了过去。
eg. The moment you enter the forest, one miraculous view after another will catch your eye.
走进石林，雄伟壮丽的景象，会让你目不暇接。
2. be aware of
注意到的；察觉到的；意识到的；
eg. He is not aware of his danger.
他没有意识到自己有危险。
eg. I was aware of a certain constraint on their part when they were in my presence.
我觉察到我在时他们有些拘束。
3. hold on
稍等；等一下；
eg. Hold on, please, I'll check my schedule.
等等，我查一下我的行程表。
eg. But -- hold on -- it's not necessarily as bad as you think.
但是，等等，你完全没必要把它想得那么糟糕。
4. keep up
继续做（或提供）；
eg. I was so hungry all the time that I could not keep the diet up for longer than a month.
我无时无刻都觉得饿，节食坚持不到一个月就放弃了。
eg. They risk losing their homes because they can no longer keep up the repayments.
因为无力继续偿还借款，他们面临无家可归的危险。
5. day after day
日复一日；一天又一天；
eg. The newspaper job had me doing the same thing day after day.
这份报社的工作让我日复一日地做着同样的事。
eg. Day after day, the scientists worked hard in the laboratory.
那些科学家们日复一日在实验室中努力工作着。