山西省永济市涑北中学高三英语总复习：美文欣赏（2）（Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff）

　　The closest friend I ever have is Jack Benny. He is gentle, kind, beautiful ...I love him. But Jack is one of those people whom little things bother. Big things never faze him. One day he was having lunch at our club, and that very day he had just signed a $3 million contract. I knew about it, so I walked over to congratulate him. But he looked very depressed.

　　I said, "Jack, is anything wrong?" "Yeah, my coffee isn't hot," he answered. "Is that why you're upset?" "How can they serve lukewarm coffee?" he exclaimed. "Jack, you just signed a $3 million contract." He glared at me and said, "That doesn't make the coffee any hotter!”

　　That was Tuesday. On Thursday the television ratings came out, and Jack's show had dropped six points．Now you all know what the ratings mean in our business．If you drop one point, you would want to kill yourself. There was Jack having lunch again. I was afraid to go over, but I figured I was his friend so I should console him. I went up to him, but instead of being dejected，he had a big smile on his face ... You're right, his coffee was hot.

　　faze v.打扰，折磨

　　lukewarm a.温暖适度的

　　television ratings 收视率

　　figure v.得出结论，相信

　　console v.安慰

　　dejected a.沮丧的，灰心的

　　Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.

　　勇敢并非没有恐惧，而是克服恐惧，战胜恐惧。