The lack of opportunity is ever the excuse of a weak, vacillating mind. Opportunities! Every life is full of them.
缺乏机遇总是意志薄弱、优柔寡断者的借口。机遇!每个人的生命中都充满着机遇!
Every lesson in school or college is an opportunity. Every examination is a chance in life. Every business transaction is an opportunity-an opportunity to be polite, an opportunity to be manly, an opportunity to be honest, an opportunity to make friends.Every proof of confidence in you is a great opportunity. Every responsibility thrust upon your strength and your honor is priceless. Existence is the privilege of effort, and when that privilege is met like a man, opportunities to succeed along the line of your aptitude will come faster than you can use them.
学校或大学的每一堂课都是一次机遇。每一场考试都是人生的一次契机。每一次商业交易都是一次机会—一次礼貌待人的机会，一次果敢行事的机会，一次诚实守信的机会，一次广交朋友的机会。每一份他人对你的信任就是一个莫大的机会。每一份强加在你才干和荣誉之上的责任都是无价的。生存是奋斗的特权，当你如勇者般通过努力邂逅的那份生存特权时，成功的机遇将随着你的能力接踵而至，甚至会让你应接不暇。
Young men and women, why do you stand here all the day idle? Was the land all occupied before you were born? Has the earth ceased to yield its increase?Are the seats all taken? The positions all filled? The chances all gone? Are the resources of your country fully developed? Are the secrets of nature all mastered?Is there no way in which you can
utilize these passing moments to improve yourself or benefit another? Don't wait for your opportunity. Make it, make it as Napoleon made his in a hundred "impossible" situations.Make it, as all leaders of men, in war and in peace, have made their chances of success.Make it, as every man must, who would accomplish anything worth the effort. Golden opportunities are nothing to laziness, but industry makes the commonest chances golden.
年轻的小伙子和姑娘们啊，为什么整日滞足不前，虚度光阴?难道在你们出生之前，每一寸土地都已为他人所占?难道地球已不再繁衍生息?难道所有座位都已占满?难道所有职位都有人填补?难道所有机会都一去不返?难道你们国家的资源都已开发殆尽?难道大自然的奥秘都已完全通晓?难道你们无法抓住转瞬即逝的时机来提高自我、造福他人?切莫等待机遇。创造机遇，正如拿破仑在无数次“绝”境中创造机遇那样。创造机遇，正如战争及和平年代所有领袖创造成功机遇那样。创造机遇，任何付出努力都想有所收获的人都必领这么做。对懒汉来说，即使天赐
良机，也会化为乌有，而勤奋却能让最微小的机遇变得灿烂辉煌!
课堂笔记：
1.排比(parallelism)是由三个或三个以上结构相同或相似、内容相关的短语或句子排列在一起，用来加强语势强调内容，加重感情的修辞方式。此部分四个不定式分别用作名词“opportunity”的定语，构成一个排比结构.
2.排比句式是本文的一大亮，第二段和第三段中均运用了大量排比句，读起来铿锵有力，韵律无穷.值捍我们慢慢品味。
3.这是由关系代词“which”引导的定语从句，修饰先行词“way”.英语常用搭配“in this /that way”表示“以这种/那种方式”。
4.拿破仑·波拿巴(Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821).人称奇迹创造者，是法国近代著名军事家、政治家，法兰西第一帝国皇帝。他一生指挥过十多次重大战役，曾经征服和占领过西欧和中欧的广大领土，经历过数次政治变革，身陷险境，但都勇往直前，不向困难低头。