Unit 3 Life Is a Gamble
1、 Most of life is a gamble. Very many of the things we bend over backwards to do involve taking some risk. In many cases, we go to great lengths to get a new job, to engage in a new activity, to go into new business or to embark on a new pursuit with no idea of the consequences of our actions. From the time when we first begin to make friends with the opposite sex, to when we start dating and going steady, till we finally take the plunge and get married, few of us realize that we are gambling all along. Not only marriage is a gamble, the bringing into existence of children is even more of a gamble. When we decide to have a child, for instance, we never know what the new child will be like. Then, the couples are just like babes in the woods, with butterflies in their stomachs, hoping that the child will be healthy. But if the baby turns out to have a defect, their hearts will sink and they then will regret about having made the decision. Apart from marriage, a journey to a new place, a drive on the road, a ride in an airplane, a business transaction, even a chance remark may result immediately or ultimately in tragedy. However, we still gamble: we gamble against destiny, we gamble against chance, we gamble against even the unknown.
人生的大部分是一场赌博。我们不遗余力所做的事情中很多都涉及某种风险。在很多的情况下，我们不遗余力地去得到一份新的工作，从事一项新的活动，讨论一项新的事物，承担一种新的活动，却不知道
我们行动的结果是什么。当我们第一次开始与异性交朋友到我们开始约会，确定恋爱关系，直到我们冒险结婚，我们中很少有人意识到我们始终在赌博。不仅仅婚姻是一场赌博，生育子女更是一场赌博。譬如说当我们决定要小孩的时候，我们永远不会知道新生儿会长的怎么样。那个时候夫妇们茫然不知所措，感到忐忑不安，希望新生儿会健康。但是如果新生儿有缺陷时，他们感到失望，后悔当初的决定。除了结婚，去新的地方旅行，在路上驾驶，乘坐飞机，签署商业合约甚至一句不经意的话也许马上或最终导致悲剧的产生。然而，我们一直在赌博，与命运，与机遇，与未知在赌博。
2、 In gambling, there are only two possibilities: winning and losing. On the bright of the coin, we win. So long as we gamble against destiny, the odds are usually in our favor, especially when we use common sense. A woman, for in-stance, who does not have the charm to win the love of a man may pride herself on the success of her career, without ever regretting about having plain-Jane look. There are great women who do not yield to men’s domination or are not willing to be at the mercy of their fate. The result is usually that they enjoy some other forms of happiness which other women find missing in their lives. To many of us, gambling is, in many cases, a non-toxic drug against boredom and apathy, and may well help preserve good temper, patience and optimism, which will do us a world of good. On the whole, the gambling instinct is a characteristic of all forms of life. Those who dare to gamble will certainly
have a better chance to win than those who blow hot and cold or get stuck in two minds. Of course, those who take no risks will have to be satisfied with nothing exciting at all. But one point that they should keep in mind is that they have no right to smite with their tongues or to foam at the mouth at those who have achieved something through gambling. As a matter of fact, few of us have the right to condemn gambling as few of us can say that they never gamble——even if it is only investing a few pence in a football sweep or a “lucky dip”.
赌博只有两种可能，成功和失败。从事物的好的一面看，我们赢了。只要我们与命运搏斗，机会总是对我们有利的，尤其是我们运用常识的时候。举个例子，一个女人没有魅力去赢得男人的爱，她可能会以其成功的事业为荣，而不会因为长相平平而后悔。有一些伟大的女性并不服从男人的统治和命运的安排。结果常常是她们享受一些其它形式的快乐，而这些快乐是其他女性在生活中发现是缺失的。对我们很多人来说，赌博在很多的情况下，是抵制乏味和冷漠的无毒的药，有助于我们保持良好的脾气和心态，具有耐心，乐观向上，而这些能给我们带来很大的好处。总之，赌博是各种生命形势特征。敢于赌博的人比出尔反尔或犹豫不决的人更能赢得机会。不冒险的人满足于平淡无奇的生活。但是有一点他们要牢记在心，那就是他们没有权利血口喷人或谩骂中伤通过赌博而成功的人。事实上我们中很少有人有权利谴责赌博，因为我们中很少有人敢说他们从不赌博，即使是花一点点钱投资在足球彩票上或是摸彩票。
3、 However, on the dark side of the coin, trouble develops when the gambling instinct becomes overdeveloped. It is very much like drinking: moderate drinking produces few harmful effects but drunkenness and alcoholism can certainly lead to trouble. If a man makes gambling an obsession——almost a form of insanity——he will not only lose his property gained through years of toil, he well also lose his dignity and conscience. Far worse is the suffering of his dependents——his parents, wife and children, who are constantly deprived of their material comforts and mental peace. We often hear of wives complaining about their husbands who splash their money about on drinking, taking drugs and that sort of thing without ever bringing the family any good.
然而，从事物坏的方面看，当赌博过度发展时麻烦就变大了。这很像喝酒：适量的喝酒不会有坏的影响，但是醉酒或酗酒会导致麻烦。如果一个人迷恋赌博到了疯狂的程度，他不仅仅会失去多年辛苦工作得来的财富，而且也会失去他的尊严和良心，更糟的是他的家属所遭受的痛苦，他的父母、妻子、孩子，他们不断的被剥夺物质享受和心灵的宁静。我们经常听到妻子们抱怨丈夫把钱挥霍在喝酒、吸毒和不给家庭带来任何好处的那类事情上。
5. Though negative, gambling is no vice if it is done with limits. That is to say, if one sticks to his limits, it is more a game of fun than the root of all evils. It exists in almost all societies, and the most we can hope for is to bring it under control. We can accomplish this by encouraging an
interest in so many other activities that gambling itself will lose its fascination as an opiate to a colorless and dreary exist-ence. It can be regarded as an occasional mildly exciting game, never to be taken seriously. As for those who are fascinated by gambling and those who are already in debt, it is really time to give it a second thought and beat a hasty retreat. And, if they drop it like a hot potato and keep a stiff upper lip, they will certainly turn the tables and start a new life. If, on the other hand, they stick to their guns and do not give it up, they are bound to bring themselves to a more disastrous stage of life, which is certainly not what gamblers are doing it for.
尽管是消极的，但在一定的范围内它是没有任何坏处的。就是说如果一个人有自制力，那么赌博与其说是万恶之源，倒不如说是一个有趣的游戏。赌博存在于所有的社会中，我们最能希望的是控制它。我们能够控制赌博，我们通过鼓励人们对如此多的其它活动感兴趣，以至于赌博不能去调节枯燥乏味的生活方式。赌博被认为是偶尔稍微有点刺激的游戏，永远别太当真了。对于那些迷恋赌博的人以及那些已负债的人，真的到了再次考虑一下并悬崖勒马的时候了。如果他们把它象烫手山芋一样扔掉，坚韧不拔，他们就能扭转局面开始全新的生活。然而，如果他们坚持已见并不放弃，他们肯定会把他们自己带到更加灾难的生活中，而这个肯定不是赌博者们赌博想到达到的目的。
Vocabulary and Structure
1、Very many of the things we bend over backwards to do involve
taking some risk.（不遗余力）
2、Joe said that the first time he was at the conference ha was just like a babe.（孩子，缺乏经验的人）
3、Sometimes, even a chance remark may result in tragedy.（不经意的） 4、The odds are usually in favor of those who are brave enough.（机会） 5、Mind you: she always smites with her tongue.（敲打）
6、Dick is not the kind of person who likes to splash his money about.（泼、洒）
7、You can rest assured that the sun is not always shining on him.（闪耀） 你可以放心他不总是那么幸运的。
8、I asked him to beat a hasty retreat but my words were like water off a duck’s back.（快速撤退）