別讓目標離開你的視線

Keep your goal in sight

When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours.

She was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast.

On the morning of July 4th, 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense that she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid grip of the sea, she struggled on hour after hour, while millions watched on national television.

Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much farther, but all she could see was fog. They urged her not to give up. She never had…until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out.

After warming her chilled body several hours later, she told a reporter, “I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it.” It was not fatigue or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Channel, eclipsing the men’s record by two hours!

【助讀詞匯】

◇cruise v. 巡游，巡航

◇frigid  adj. 很冷的，長期嚴寒的

◇thaw v. 變暖和，解凍

◇fatigue n. 疲乏，疲勞 v.（使）疲勞

◇intact adj. 尚未被人碰過的，完整的

◇eclipse v. 使……黯然失色，給……投下陰影

【參考譯文】

別讓目標離開你的視線

當她抬起頭往前看時，佛羅倫斯·查威維克看到的只是一堵嚴實的霧墻。她的身體沒了知覺。她已經游了將近16個小時。

她是第一個來回游過英吉利海峽的女人。當時她34歲，她的目標是成為第一個從卡達琳納島游到加利福尼亞海岸的女人。1952年6月4號的早晨，大海就像裝滿冰塊的浴缸，迷霧蒙蒙，她幾乎看不見引導她的船。鯊魚圍著形單影只的她轉，只有來福槍的子彈能把它們驅走。一個小時接著一個小時過去了，她與大海強勁的手腕搏斗著，同時全國成千上萬的觀眾正在電視機前收看。

在佛羅倫斯旁邊的一艘船上，她的母親和教練在鼓勵著他。他們告訴她，目標不遠了，但是她看到的只有霧。他們鼓勵她不要放棄。她一直沒有放棄，但直到僅剩半公里的時候，她放棄了，她要求上船。

她凍僵的身體暖和幾個小時后，她對一個記者說：“我不是在為自己找借口，但是如果我當時能看到陸地，我可能游得到目的地了。”打敗她的不是疲勞和冰冷的海水，而是迷霧。她看不到她的目的地。

兩個月后，她又試了一次。這一次，盡管還是有大霧，她仍信念堅定地游著，目標清清楚楚地在她腦海里。她知道陸地一定在那重重大霧后面的某個地方，這一次她成功了。佛羅倫斯·查威維克成了第一個穿越海峽的女人，比男性記錄快了兩個小時。

【人生啟迪】

法國思想家孟德斯鳩說過：“知道多久才能成功常常決定成功與否。”要成功，首先我們要明確目標，第二要估算出達到目標需要花去的時間。把這兩項銘記于心，我們才能保持士氣，力破重重關卡，抵達成功的彼岸。