(Beautiful Essay)美文+录音20篇
来源：英语周报
发布时间：2009-09-02 18:21:00
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内容提要：Is it worth it?Put first things firstThe power of encouragement
Columbus’s egg
（第7期）
One day Columbus was at a dinner which a Spanish gentleman had given in his honor, and several persons were present who were jealous of Columbus’s success. They were proud, conceited fellows, and very soon they began to try to make Columbus uncomfortable.
“You have discovered strange lands beyond the seas,” they said, “but what of that? We do not see why there should be so much said about it. Anybody can sail across the ocean, and anybody can coast along the islands on the other side, just as you have done. It is the simplest thing in the world.”
Columbus made no answer. But after a while he took an egg from a dish and said to the company, “Who among you, gentlemen, can make this egg stand on end?”
One by one those at the table tried the experiment. When the egg had gone entirely around and none had succeeded, all said that it could not be done.
Then Columbus took the egg and struck its small end gently upon the table so as to break the shell a little. After that there was no trouble in making it stand upright.
“Gentlemen,” said he, “what is easier than to do this which you said was impossible? It is the simplest thing in the world. Anybody can do it, after he has been shown how!”