In 1982, Steven Callahan was crossing the Atlantic alone in his sailboat when it struck something and sank. He got into a life boat, but his supplies were
. His chances of surviving were small.
when three fishermen found him 76 days later, he was alive —much
than he was when he started, but alive.
His
of how he survived is fascinating. His cleverness —how he
to catch fish, how he evaporated (蒸发) sea water to
fresh water—is very interesting.
But the thing that
my eye was how he managed to keep himself going when all hope seemed lost, and there seemed no
in continuing the struggle. He was starved and
worn-out. Giving up would have seemed the only possible choice.
When people
these kinds of circumstances, they do something with their minds that gives them the courage to keep going. Many people in
desperate circumstances
in or go mad. Something the survivors do with their thoughts helps them find the courage to carry on
difficulties.
“I tell myself I can
it,” wrote Callahan in his book. “Compared to what others have been through, I’m fortunate. I tell myself these things over and over,
up courage…”
I wrote that down after I read it. It
me as something important. And I’ve told myself the same thing when my own goals seemed
off or when my problems seemed too terrible. And every time I’ve said it, I have always come back to my
.
The truth is, our circumstances are only bad
to something better. But others have been through the much worse, that is, in comparison with what others have been through, you’re fortunate. Tell this to yourself over and over again, and it will help you
through the rough situations with a little more courage.
| 小题1: | | A．full | B．rich | C．few | D．enough |
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| 小题3: | | A．thinner | B．stronger | C．worse | D．healthier |
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| 小题4: | | A．attitude | B．assumption | C．instruction | D．account |
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| 小题5: | | A．assisted | B．tended | C．managed | D．intended |
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| 小题6: | | A．make | B．absorb | C．select | D．replace |
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| 小题7: | | A．attacked | B．caught | C．froze | D．cheated |
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| 小题8: | | A．operation | B．taste | C．message | D．point |
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| 小题9: | | A．firmly | B．completely | C．hardly | D．generally |
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| 小题10: | | A．deal | B．defend | C．survive | D．observe |
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| 小题11: | | A．similarly | B．differently | C．gradually | D．commonly |
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| 小题12: | | A．pull | B．take | C．break | D．give |
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| 小题13: | | A．for the lack of | B．in the face of | C．in exchange for | D．as a result of |
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| 小题14: | | A．handle | B．carry | C．follow | D．inspect |
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| 小题15: | | A．rolling | B．using | C．building | D．making |
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| 小题16: | | A．defeated | B．recommended | C．introduced | D．struck |
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| 小题18: | | A．feelings | B．senses | C．ideas | D．influences |
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| 小题19: | | A．related | B．measured | C．contributed | D．compared |
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