聽名人說英語

 

很多英文金句的書, 都只是英文說一遍,中文解說一遍, 或說一下文法. 這本書不同, 作者很有心.

 

內容分類多, 有人生, 宗教, 演講, 政治, 戰爭, 悼詞... 看起來就不易沉悶.

 

除了譯文, 金句的個別深詞解釋之外, 還有該金句的背景年份, 為何有此金句. 這就很容易理解及記憶.  

 

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Three things ruin a man: power, money and women. ~ President Truman's motto

Power tends to corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. - Historian Lord Acton

Brains are no substitute for judgment. ~ Dean Acheson

 

No corner an opponent, and always assist him to save his face. ~ President Kennedy

不要將對手迫入絕境, 要給他保全面子.

 

Competition brings out the best in products and worst in man. ~ David Sarnoff

The best there ever was. The best there ever will be. ~ Words in Michael Jordan's statue inside Union Centre

 

God created man with a penis and a brain and gave him only enough blood to run one at a time. ~ Historian Stephen Ambrose teased President Clinton.

Voting is like peeing in the swimming pool; one does not make any difference, but thousands will make a pee pool. ~ Author unknown.

 

When people feel uncertain, they'd rather have someone who is strong and wrong than somebody who is weak and right. ~ Bill Clinton on the 2000-year midterm-election results.

老百姓覺得不確定時, 他們會選擇強勢但政策錯誤的人,不是弱勢而政策正確的人.

(這個等於, 相信大聲的人以為他有理)

 

If it had been any better, I wouldn't have got it, and if it had been any worse, I couldn't have swallowed it. ~ Secretary of State Dean Acheson

我們不可能談出更好的結果, 也不可能接受更糟的決定.  

Let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort. No one can foresee precisely what course it will take or what costs of causalities will be incurred. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing. ~ President Kennedy  

無疑這是個困難的行動, 沒人能知它的過程如何, 背負死傷的代價.

Life is either a great adventure or it is nothing at all. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature. ~ Helen Keller

(大自然沒有安全感, 也沒有公義, 適者生存.)    

I cannot accept any concept of God based on the fear of life or fear of death or blind faith. ~ Einstein 

My fellow Americans, as we stand at the edge of the 21st Century, let us begin anew with energy and hope, with faith and discipline, and let us work until our work is done. ~ President Clinton  

Raising children today is like competing in a triathlon with no finish line in sight. ~ Newsweek