Mark Twain

又談到勇氣了。的確，聽到勇氣這個詞，大家會不由得振奮起來。但勇氣是個相對的概念，人有的時候面對死亡會大無畏，而在另一些情況下，比如說看到一只老鼠，會嚇得面色蒼白，渾身發(fā)抖。那么能說這個人沒有勇氣嗎？本文作者馬克．吐溫先生在他的演講中以極其幽默的口吻為我們闡釋了這一點。讓我們隨他去體會"勇氣"的內(nèi)涵吧！

In the matter of courage we all have our limits. There never was a hero who did not have his bounds. I suppose it may be said of Nelson and all the others whose courage has been advertised that there came times in their lives when their bravery knew it had come to its limit.

I have found mine a good many times. Sometimes this was expected -- often it was unexpected. I know a man who is not afraid to sleep with a rattle-snake, but you could not get him to sleep with a safety-razor.

* Bounds："界限"、"范圍"、"止境"等意思，There is no bounds to his foolishness（他的愚蠢無止境）。Out of bounds to表示"禁止入內(nèi)"。看來，英雄們的勇氣也是有止境的。

* Rattle-snake：在美語里也寫作rattler，是"響尾蛇"的意思。Rattle-snake原產(chǎn)于美洲，因發(fā)怒時尾部會有響聲而得名。

* Safety-razor："安全剃刀"、"保險剃刀"。這個人敢睡在響尾蛇旁邊，卻不敢睡在剃須刀旁邊，可見，"勇氣"是個很奇怪的東西，它沒有絕對的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。 　　

I never had the courage to talk across a long, narrow room. I should be at the end of the room facing all the audience. If I attempt to talk across a room I find myself turning this way and that, and thus at alternate periods I have part of the audience behind me. You ought never to have any part of the audience behind you; you never can tell what they are going to do.

I'll sit down.

* Alternate："輪流的"、"交替的"等意思，由此，大家肯定可以猜出alternating current表示"交流電"。由alternate這個詞我們可以想象作者站在聽眾中間，擔(dān)心背后的人會做什么的不安的樣子。