《新编大学英语》综合教程（第三版第二册）B2U3_Self-market_Reading Material_B2U3课文背景材料

Unit 3 Born to Win Useful Information It would be convenient if a "good birth"meant that a person was bomn to win without any effort. In fact,rather than being bom to win,most successful people have been educated or trained to win. Winningrequires adequate skills,opportunity to use these skills productively,and most of all,an attitude whichguarantees that the winning individual will work hard and stay with a task until it is completed.Thereare countless examples:Abraham Lincoln,Thomas Edison,Mahatma Ghandi. Winston Churchill,etc.For each of these winners it is clear that good habits and a good attitude are at least as important as goodinherited skills.The fact is that a good set of inherited skills is as likely to occur in a person bom intopoverty as it is in a person born into wealth.Comfort has often been the curse of the wealthy,and there islittle support for the idea that a life of ease will lead to a life as a winner. In nearly every field of work or profession there are winners who have come from humble beginnings.In the United States,this was so evident to many people that there have been many books written in praise of the indiv idual who struggles early in life to become a winner or a person widely known as successful.In the early part of the last century,one of the favorite series of books for young people was written by the author,Horatio Alger.The titles of the books tell you the theme of most of them:Risen from the Ranks,Facing the World,The Young Explorer,etc.In each of these books the hero comes from a humble beginning,but through hard work,serious study,attention to the rules,and good virtue,he becomes a winner in life.Indeed,these books became the introduction for many young Americans to the concept that"When the going gets tough,the tough gets going." In addition,there are many stories of athletes,artists,musicians and actors,etc.who have overcome great handicaps to become winners in their fields.You may have heard of Michael Jordon and Pete Marovich(Basketball),Joe DiMaggio,Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle (Baseball),Wilma Rudolph and Paavo Nurmi(Track).Beethoven and Mozart (Music).Rembrandt and Picasso (Art).All ofthese people were winners in their own way,and all are respected for their contributions to society. The next time when you see a person who is a winner in life,remember that it is not that they were"born to win".The usual case is that they had formed good habits of leaming and living,and they had an attitude which caused them to succeed and never to consider defeat or loss as an acceptable outcome

1 Unit 3 Born to Win Useful Information It would be convenient if a “good birth” meant that a person was born to win without any effort. In fact,rather than being born to win, most successful people have been educated or trained to win. Winningrequires adequate skills, opportunity to use these skills productively, and most of all, an attitude whichguarantees that the winning individual will work hard and stay with a task until it is completed. Thereare countless examples: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Ediso n, Mahatma Ghandi, Winston Churchill, etc. For each of these winners it is clear that good habits and a good attitude are at least as important as goodinherited skills. The fact is that a good set of inherited skills is as likely to occur in a person born intopoverty as it is in a person born into wealth. Comfort has often been the curse of the wealthy, and there islittle support for the idea that a life of ease will lead to a life as a winner. In nearly every field of work or profession there are winners who have come from humble beginnings. In the United States, this was so evident to many people that there have been many books written in praise of the individual who struggles early in life to become a winner or a person widely known as successful. In the early part of the last century, one of the favorite series of books for young people was written by the author, Horatio Alger. The titles of the books tell you the theme of most of them: Risen from the Ranks, Facing the World, The Young Explorer, etc. In e ach of these books the hero comes from a humble beginning, but through hard work, serious study, attention to the rules, and good virtue, he becomes a winner in life. Indeed, these books became the introduction for many young Americans to the concept that “When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” In addition, there are many stories of athletes, artists, musicians and actors, etc. who have overcome great handicaps to become winners in their fields. You may have heard of Michael Jordon and Pete Marovich (Basketball), Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle (Baseball), Wilma Rudolph and Paavo Nurmi (Track), Beethoven and Mozart (Music), Rembrandt and Picasso (Art). All of these people were winners in their own way, and all are respected for their contributions to society. The next time when you see a person who is a winner in life, remember that it is not that they were “born to win”. The usual case is that they had formed good habits of learning and living, and they had an attitude which caused them to succeed and never to consider defeat or loss as an acceptable outcome