胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯第225期:The atypical tycoon 不合定型的巨頭

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2018年07月31日

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胡敏讀故事記托福詞匯第225期:The atypical tycoon 不合定型的巨頭

Tom Downing did not typify the definition of tycoon. He wasn't typically arrogant. In fact, he had an uncanny sense of commonness to him. Most of the rich are tyrannical people, but Tom was the ultimate common man's man. If it weren't common knowledge that Tom was born rich, everyone would have thought him a tyro at it. Tom could, of course, be tough when he needed to be. He owned a successful business, and one doesn't get anywhere in business without making stern ultimatums. And despite his "Aw, shucks!" demeanor, he had a degree in ultrasonic engineering. Though he never talked much publicly about it, he kept up a healthy interest in ultrasonics for his entire life. He was so unassuming about his scientific interests that it is a little know fact that he regularly published articles in Scientific American, one on the topic of ultraviolet light for which he won a minor prize.

湯姆·唐寧沒有巨頭的典型特點(diǎn)。他并不特別傲慢自大。實(shí)際上，他自己有種超乎尋常的平民感。大多數(shù)的富豪都霸氣十足，但湯姆再普通不過。要不是眾所周知湯姆出身富貴，大家都會(huì)以為他是個(gè)新手。當(dāng)然，在必要的時(shí)候，湯姆也會(huì)變得粗暴。他生意成功，一個(gè)人如果發(fā)不出嚴(yán)格苛刻的最后通牒，在生意上是不會(huì)有所作為的。他舉止粗俗，但他擁有超聲工程學(xué)的學(xué)位。盡管他很少在眾人面前談起，但是他一輩子對超聲學(xué)都興趣不減。他對自己在科學(xué)上的興趣從不招搖，乃至很少有人知道他經(jīng)常在《美國科學(xué)》上發(fā)表文章，其中有一篇關(guān)于紫外線課題的文章獲得小獎(jiǎng)。

All of Tom's houses were really just unadorned tenements. Facts such as this often lead to unanimous conclusions that he was no big spender. Despite the unanimity of this opinion, he possessed some unbecoming spending habits. His two nephews were often in trouble with the law, but in order to keep their official records unblemished, Tom would pay the police to expunge the material. Even when this fact was uncovered, the public remained undaunted. Who could blame him, they asked. How could he possibly be unbiased when it came to his own family's reputation? However, the unconventional and somewhat unconscious admiration for him was not unbridled. When he tried to start a strong third party in American politics, uncharted territory at the time, an unbridgeable gap appeared between him and the common folk. He left politics altogether and afterward was never thought of in a negative light again. We will all miss him.

湯姆的所有住宅都是不加裝飾的經(jīng)濟(jì)公寓。人們因此一致認(rèn)定他不事鋪張。盡管人們的意見毫無二致，不過他也有些有失體面的花錢習(xí)慣。他的兩個(gè)侄子經(jīng)常觸犯法律，但為了讓他們的官方記錄保持清白，湯姆賄賂警方，把材料一筆勾銷。即使當(dāng)事情公之于眾以后，大家對他仍然一如既往無所顧忌。他們問道，誰能怪他呢？當(dāng)涉及自己家庭名聲的時(shí)候，他怎么能夠做到公正呢？不過，人們對他這種有悖習(xí)俗的、有些無意識的傾慕也有所收斂。當(dāng)他試圖在美國政壇建立強(qiáng)大的第三大黨的時(shí)候——這在當(dāng)時(shí)是個(gè)未經(jīng)論證的領(lǐng)域，他和普通民眾之間出現(xiàn)了一道不可逾越的鴻溝。他完全退出政壇，后來從沒有人說他的壞處。我們大家都想念他。