His assistants tried to keep foreign publications away from him, but he was plucky2 in his own harsh way. He insisted on seeing them. Always the same thing happened. His face would grow grim, the seam-worn forehead would corrugate3, the muscles of his jaw4 throb5 nervously6. His gray eyes would flash—and the fist come down heavily on the mahogany desk.
When a man is nearly sixty and of a full-blooded physique, it is not well for him to have these frequent pulsations of rage. But he had always found it hard to control his temper. He sometimes remembered what a schoolmaster had said to him at Cassel, forty-five years before: "He who loses his temper will lose everything."
But he must be granted great provocation7. He had always had difficulties to contend with. His father was an invalid8, and he himself was puny9 in childhood; infantile paralysis10 withered11 his left arm when he was an infant; but in spite of these handicaps he had made himself a vigorous swimmer, rider, and yachtsman; he could shoot better with one arm than most sportsmen with two. After leaving the university he served in the army, but at his father's death the management of the vast family business came into his hands. He was then twenty-eight.
No one can question the energy with which he set himself to carry on the affairs of the firm. Generous, impetuous, indiscreet, stubborn, pugnacious12, his blend of qualities held many of the elements of a successful man of business. His first act was to dismiss the confidential13 and honoured assistant who had guided both his father and grandfather in the difficult years of the firm's growth. But the new executive was determined14 to run the business his own way. Disregarding criticism, ridicule15, or flattery, he declared it his mission to spread the influence of the business to the ends of the earth. "We must have our place in the sun," he said; and announced himself as the divine instrument through whom this would be accomplished16. He made it perfectly17 plain that no man's opposition18 would balk19 him in the management of the firm's affairs. One of his most famous remarks was: "Considering myself as the instrument of the Lord, without heeding21 the views and opinions of the day, I go my way." The board of directors censured22 him for this, but he paid little heed20.
The growth of the business was enormous; nothing like it had been seen in the world's history. Branch offices were opened all over the globe. Vessels23 bearing the insignia of the company were seen on every ocean. He himself with his accustomed energy travelled everywhere to advance the interests of trade. In England, Russia, Denmark, Italy, Austria, Turkey, the Holy Land, he made personal visits to the firm's best customers. He sent his brother to America to spread the goodwill25 of the business; and other members of the firm to France, Holland, China, and Japan. Telegram after telegram kept the world's cables busy as he distributed congratulations, condolences, messages of one kind and another to foreign merchants. His publicity26 department never rested. He employed famous scientists and inventors to improve the products of his factories. He reared six sons to carry on the business after him.
This is no place to record minutely the million activities of thirty years that made his business one of the greatest on earth. It is all written down in history. Suffice it to say that those years did not go by without sorrows. He was afflicted27 with an incurable28 disease. His temperament29, like high tension steel, was of a brittle30 quality; it had the tendency to snap under great strains, living always at fever pitch, sparing himself no fatigue31 of body or soul, the whirring dynamo of energy in him often showed signs of overstress.
It is hard to conceive what he must have gone through in those last months. You must remember the extraordinary conditions in his line of business caused by the events of recent years. He had lived to see his old friends, merchants with whom he had dealt for decades, some of them the foreign representatives of his own firm, out of a job and hunted from their homes by creditors32. He had lived to realize that the commodity he and his family had been manufacturing for generations was out of date, a thing no longer needed or wanted by the modern world. The strain which his mind was enduring is shown by the febrile and unbalanced tone of one of his letters, sent to a member of his own family who ran one of the company's branch offices but was forced to resign by bankruptcy33:
"I have heard with wrath34 of the infamous35 outrage36 committed by our common enemies upon you and upon your business. I assure you that your deprivation37 can be only temporary. The mailed fist, with further aid from Almighty38 God, will restore you to your office, of which no man by right can rob you. The company will wreak40 vengeance41 on those who have dared so insolently42 to lay their criminal hands on you. We hope to welcome you at the earliest opportunity."
The failure of his business was the great drama of the century; and it is worth while to remember what it was that killed it—and him. While the struggle was still on there were many arguments as to what would bring matters to an end; some cunning invention, some new patent that would outwit the methods of his firm. But after all it was nothing more startling than the printing press and the moral of the whole matter may be put in those fine old words, "But above all things, truth beareth away the victory." Little by little, the immense power of the printed word became too strong for him. Rave24 and fume43 as he might, and hammer the mahogany desk, the rolling thunders of a world massed against him cracked even his stiff will. Little by little the plain truth sifted44 into the minds and hearts of the thousands working in his huge organization. In Russia, in Greece, in Spain, in Austria, in China, in Mexico, he saw men bursting the shells of age and custom that had cramped45 them. One by one his competitors adopted the new ideas, or had them forced upon them; profit-sharing, workmen's insurance, the right of free communities to live their own lives.
Deep in his heart he must have known he was doomed46 to fail, but that perverse47 demon48 of strong-headed pugnacity49 was trenched deep within him. He was always a fighter, but his face, though angry, obstinate50, proud, was still not an evil face. He broke down while there was still some of the business to save and some of the goodwill intact.
It was the printing press that decided51 it: the greatest engine in the world, to which submarines and howitzers and airplanes are but wasteful52 toys. For when the printing presses are united the planet may buck53 and yaw, but she comes into line at last. A million inky cylinders54, roaring in chorus, were telling him the truth. When his assistants found him, on his desk lay a half-ripped magazine where he had tried to tear up a mocking cartoon.
I think that as he sat at his table in those last days, staring with embittered55 eyes at the savage56 words and pictures that came to him from over the seven seas, he must have had some vision of the shadowy might of the press, of the vast irresistible57 urge of public opinion, that hung like dark wings above his head. For little by little the printed word incarnates58 itself in power, and in ways undreamed of makes itself felt. Little by little the wills of common men, coalescing59, running together like beads60 of mercury on a plate, quivering into rhythm and concord61, become a mighty39 force that may be ever so impalpable, but grinds empires to powder. Mankind suffers hideous62 wrongs and cruel setbacks, but when once the collective purpose of humanity is summoned to a righteous end, it moves onward63 like the tide up a harbour.
The struggle was long and bitter. His superb organization, with such colossal64 resources for human good, lavished65 in the fight every energy known to man. For a time it seemed as though he would pull through. His managers had foreseen every phase of this unprecedented66 competition, and his warehouses67 were stocked. But slowly the forces of his opponents began to focus themselves.
Then even his own employees suspected the truth. His agents, solicitors68, and salesmen, scattered69 all over the globe, realized that one company cannot twist the destiny of mankind. He felt the huge fabric70 of his power quiver and creak. The business is now in the hands of the executors, pending71 a reorganization.
点击收听单词发音
1 detrimental | |
adj.损害的,造成伤害的 | |
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2 plucky | |
adj.勇敢的 | |
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3 corrugate | |
v.起波浪形,起皱纹;n.皱;车辙;畦;沟 | |
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4 jaw | |
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训 | |
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5 throb | |
v.震颤,颤动;(急速强烈地)跳动,搏动 | |
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6 nervously | |
adv.神情激动地,不安地 | |
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7 provocation | |
n.激怒,刺激,挑拨,挑衅的事物,激怒的原因 | |
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8 invalid | |
n.病人,伤残人;adj.有病的,伤残的;无效的 | |
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9 puny | |
adj.微不足道的,弱小的 | |
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10 paralysis | |
n.麻痹(症);瘫痪(症) | |
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11 withered | |
adj. 枯萎的,干瘪的,(人身体的部分器官)因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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12 pugnacious | |
adj.好斗的 | |
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13 confidential | |
adj.秘(机)密的,表示信任的,担任机密工作的 | |
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14 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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15 ridicule | |
v.讥讽,挖苦;n.嘲弄 | |
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16 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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17 perfectly | |
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地 | |
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18 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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19 balk | |
n.大方木料;v.妨碍;不愿前进或从事某事 | |
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20 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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21 heeding | |
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的现在分词 ) | |
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22 censured | |
v.指责,非难,谴责( censure的过去式 ) | |
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23 vessels | |
n.血管( vessel的名词复数 );船;容器;(具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的)人 | |
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24 rave | |
vi.胡言乱语;热衷谈论;n.热情赞扬 | |
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25 goodwill | |
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉 | |
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26 publicity | |
n.众所周知,闻名;宣传,广告 | |
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27 afflicted | |
使受痛苦,折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28 incurable | |
adj.不能医治的,不能矫正的,无救的;n.不治的病人,无救的人 | |
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29 temperament | |
n.气质,性格,性情 | |
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30 brittle | |
adj.易碎的;脆弱的;冷淡的;(声音)尖利的 | |
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31 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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32 creditors | |
n.债权人,债主( creditor的名词复数 ) | |
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33 bankruptcy | |
n.破产;无偿付能力 | |
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34 wrath | |
n.愤怒,愤慨,暴怒 | |
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35 infamous | |
adj.声名狼藉的,臭名昭著的,邪恶的 | |
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36 outrage | |
n.暴行,侮辱,愤怒;vt.凌辱,激怒 | |
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37 deprivation | |
n.匮乏;丧失;夺去,贫困 | |
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38 almighty | |
adj.全能的,万能的;很大的,很强的 | |
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39 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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40 wreak | |
v.发泄;报复 | |
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41 vengeance | |
n.报复,报仇,复仇 | |
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42 insolently | |
adv.自豪地,自傲地 | |
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43 fume | |
n.(usu pl.)(浓烈或难闻的)烟,气,汽 | |
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44 sifted | |
v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 );筛滤;细查;详审 | |
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45 cramped | |
a.狭窄的 | |
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46 doomed | |
命定的 | |
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47 perverse | |
adj.刚愎的;坚持错误的,行为反常的 | |
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48 demon | |
n.魔鬼,恶魔 | |
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49 pugnacity | |
n.好斗,好战 | |
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50 obstinate | |
adj.顽固的,倔强的,不易屈服的,较难治愈的 | |
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51 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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52 wasteful | |
adj.(造成)浪费的,挥霍的 | |
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53 buck | |
n.雄鹿,雄兔;v.马离地跳跃 | |
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54 cylinders | |
n.圆筒( cylinder的名词复数 );圆柱;汽缸;(尤指用作容器的)圆筒状物 | |
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55 embittered | |
v.使怨恨,激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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57 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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58 incarnates | |
v.赋予(思想、精神等)以人的形体( incarnate的第三人称单数 );使人格化;体现;使具体化 | |
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59 coalescing | |
v.联合,合并( coalesce的现在分词 ) | |
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60 beads | |
n.(空心)小珠子( bead的名词复数 );水珠;珠子项链 | |
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61 concord | |
n.和谐;协调 | |
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62 hideous | |
adj.丑陋的,可憎的,可怕的,恐怖的 | |
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63 onward | |
adj.向前的,前进的;adv.向前,前进,在先 | |
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64 colossal | |
adj.异常的,庞大的 | |
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65 lavished | |
v.过分给予,滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66 unprecedented | |
adj.无前例的,新奇的 | |
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67 warehouses | |
仓库,货栈( warehouse的名词复数 ) | |
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68 solicitors | |
初级律师( solicitor的名词复数 ) | |
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69 scattered | |
adj.分散的,稀疏的;散步的;疏疏落落的 | |
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70 fabric | |
n.织物,织品,布;构造,结构,组织 | |
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71 pending | |
prep.直到,等待…期间;adj.待定的;迫近的 | |
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