Unit Seven: The Virtues of Ambition
Joph Epstein
T ext
争辩近义词1. 1.Ambition is one of tho Rorschach words: define it and you instantly reveal a great
deal about yourlf. Even that most neutral of works, Webster's, in its venth New
Collegiate Edition, gives itlf away, defining ambition first and foremost as " an ardent
desire for rank, fame, or power." Ardent immediately assumes a heat incommensurate with good n and stability, and rank, fame, and power have come under fairly heavy attack for at least a century. One can, after all, be ambitious for the public good, for the alleviation of suffering, for the enlightenment of mankind, though there are some who say that the are precily the ambitious people most to be distrusted.
2. Surely ambition is behind dreams of glory, of wealth, of love, of distinction, of
accomplishment, of pleasure, of goodness. What life does with our dreams and
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expectations cannot, of cour, be predicted. Some dreams, begun in lflessness, end in rancor; other dreams, begun in lfishness, end in large-heartedness. The unpredictability of the outcome of dreams is no reason to cea dreaming.
3. To be sure, ambition, the sheer thing unalloyed by some larger purpo than merely
clambering up, is never a pretty prospect to ponder. As drunks have done to alcohol, the single-minded have done to ambition--given it a bad name. Like a taste for alcohol, too, ambition does not always allow for easy satiation. Some people cannot handle it; it has brought grief to others, and not merely the ambitious alone. Still, none of this ems a
sufficient cau for driving ambition under the counter.
4. What is the worst that can be said---that has been said--about ambition? Here is a (surely)
partial list: To begin with, it, ambition, is often antisocial, and indeed is now outmoded,
belonging to an age when individualism was more valued and uful than it is today. The person strongly imbued with ambition ignores the collectivity; socially detached, he is on his own and out for his own. Individuality and ambition are firmly linked. The ambitious individual, far from identifying him
lf and his fortunes with the group, wishes to ri above it. The ambitious man or woman es the world as a battle; rivalrousness is his or her principal emotion: the world has limited prizes to offer, and he or she is determined to get his or hers. Ambition is, moreover, jesuitical; it can argue tho possd by it into
believing that what they want for themlves is good for everyone --that the satisfaction of their own desires is best for the commonweal. The truly ambitious believe that it is a
dog-eat-dog world, and they are distinguished by wanting to be the dogs that do the eating.
5. From here it is but a short hop to believe that tho who have achieved the common goals
of ambition--money, fame, power--have achieved them through corruption of a greater or
lesr degree, mostly a greater. Thus all politicians in high places, thought to be ambitious, are understood to be, ipso facto, without moral scruples. How could they have such
入出scruples--a weighty burden in a high climb--and still have rin as they have?
6. If ambition is to be well regarded, the rewards of ambition--wealth, distinction, control over
one's destiny--must be considered worthy of the sacrifices made on ambition's behalf. If the tradition of ambition is to have vitality, it must be widely shared; and it especially must be esteemed by people who are themlves admired, the educated not least among them.
The educated not least becau, nowadays more than ever before, it is they who have
usurped the platforms of public discussion and wield the power of the spoken and written word in newspapers, in magazines, on television. In an odd way, it is the educated who have claimed to have given up on ambition as an ideal. What is odd is that they have perhaps most benefited from ambition--if not always their own then that of their parents and
grandparents. There is a heavy note of hypocrisy in this; a ca of closing the barn door after the hors have escaped--with the educated themlves astride them.
7. Certainly people do not em less interested in success and its accoutrements now than
formerly. Summer homes, European travel, BMWs--the locations place names and name brands may change, but such items do not em less in demand today than a decade or two years ago. What has happened is that people cannot own up to their dreams, as easily and openly as once they
could, lest they be thought pushing, acquisitive, vulgar. Instead we are treated to fine pharisaical spectacles, which now more than ever em in ample supply: The revolutionary lawyer quartered in the $250,000 Manhattan luxurious
apartment; the critic of American materialism with a Southampton summer home; the
publisher of radical books who takes his meals in three-star restaurants; the journalist
advocating participatory democracy in all phas of life, who own children are enrolled in private schools. For such people and many more perhaps not so egregious, the proper formulation is, "Succeed at all costs but refrain from appearing ambitious."
8. The attacks on ambition are many and come from various angles; its public defenders are
few and unimpressive, where they are not extremely unattractive. As a result, the
support for ambition as a healthy impul, a quality to be admired and inculcated in the young, is probably lower than it has ever been in the United States. This does not mean that ambition is at an end, that people no longer feel its stirrings and prompting, but only that, no longer openly honored, it is less often openly profesd. Conquences follow from this, of cour, some of which are that am
bition is driven underground, or made sly, or perver. It can also be forced into vulgarity, as witness the blatant pratings of its contemporary promoters. Such, then, is the way things stand: on the left angry critics, on the right obtu supporters, and in the middle, as usual, the majority of earnest people trying to get on in life.
9. Many people are naturally distrustful of ambition, feeling that it reprents something
intractable in human nature. Thus John Dean entitled his book about his involvement in the Watergate affair during the Nixon administration blind Ambition as if ambition were to blame for his ignoble actions, and not the constellation of qualities that make up his rather
shabby character. Ambition, it must once again be underscored, is morally a two-sided street. Place next to John Dean Andrew Carnegie, who, among other philanthropic acts, bought the library of Lord Acton, at a time when Acton was in financial distress, and assigned its custodianship to Acton, who never was told who his benefactor was. Need
much more be said on the subject than that, important though ambition is, there are some things that one must not sacrifice to it?
10. But going at things the other way, sacrificing ambition so as to guard against its potential
excess, is to go at things wrongly. To discourage ambition is to discourage dreams of
grandeur and greatness. All men and women are born, live, suffer, and die; what
distinguishes us one from another is our dreams, whether they be dreams about worldly or unworldly things, and what we do to make them come about.
11. It may em an exaggeration to say that ambition is the linchpin of society, holding many of
its disparate elements together, but it is not an exaggeration by much. Remove ambition and the esntial elements of society em to fly apart. Ambition, as oppod to mere fantasizing about desires, implies work and discipline to achieve goals, personal and social, of a kind society cannot survive without. Ambition is intimately connected with family, for men and women not only work partly for their families; husbands and wives are often
ambitious for each other, but harbor some of their most ardent ambitions for their children.
Yet to have a family nowadays--with birth control readily available, and inflation a good economic argument against having children--is nearly an expression of ambition in itlf.
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Finally, though ambition was once the domain chiefly of monarchs and aristocrats, it has, in more recent times, increasingly become the domain of the middle class. Ambition and futurity--a n of building for tomorrow--are inextricable. Working, saving,
planning--the, the daily aspects of ambition--have always been the distinguishing marks of a rising middle class. The attack against ambition is not incidentally an attack on the middle class and what it stands for. Like it or not, the middle class has done much of
society's work in America; and it, the middle class, has from the beginning run on
ambition.
12. It is not difficult to imagine a world shorn of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world:
without demands, without abrasions, without disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Such work as they did would not be for themlves but for the collectivity.
Competition would never enter in. Conflict would be eliminated, tension become a thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. Art would no longer be troubling, but purely celebratory in its functions. The family would become superfluous as a social unit with all its former power for bringi
ng about neurosis drained away. Longevity would be incread, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke caud by tumultuous
endeavor. Anxiety would be extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long
departed from the human heart.
13. Ah, how unrelievedly boring life would be!
Explanation of the Text
1. 1.define it and you instantly reveal a great deal about yourlf: the way you personally
define ambition will tell a lot about you, your dreams, your desire, your values, your
philosophy, etc. reveal v.: make known something that was previously cret or
He revealed that he had been in prison twice before. His biography revealed that she was not as rich as everyone thought. The letters revealed him as an honest man.
2.give itlf away: reveal itlf give onelf/someone away: reveal onelf/someone; show one's real
lf The swindler gave himlf away when he was asked to establish his identity. She really likes him and thinks no one knows, but the look on her face when I mentioned his name gave her away.
3.assumes a heat incommensurate with good n and stability: takes on a desire disproportionate to good n and stability be commensurate with/to: match something in size, quality, or length of time; suitable 相称的，相当的e.g. The salary will be commensurate with age, experience and position. He was given a job commensurate with his abilities. be commensurable to/with: can be measured by the same standard as 相应的，匀称的e.g. Their achievements are not commensurable to their hard work.
4.be ambitious for the public good, for the alleviation of suffering, for the enlightenment of mankind: strive to be successful, rich, powerful, etc., in order to help the public, to ea human suffering, to enlighten mankind
5.Surely ambition is behind dreams of glory: Ambition makes possible dreams of glory. Pay attention to the meaning of "behind" in the following ntences: e.g.: I knew that behind
(=hidden by) her smile was sadness. Marie Curie was the woman behind (=responsible for) enormou
s changes in the science of chemistry. He wondered what was behind (=the true reason for) his neighbor's sudden friendliness. We're all behind (= in support of you in this decision.
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6.distinction n.: 1)classification of two or more; a clear difference between two similar things 区分，区别 e.g. Do other countries have the same distinction between amateur and professional? Look at them cloly when they occur parately and the distinction between them is then clear.
2) quality of excellence; honor, mark of respect 非凡，卓越e.g. He is a man of distinction in his own country. I had the great distinction of being invited to speak at the conference.
7.What life does with our dreams and expectations: What will actually happen to our dreams and expectations during our lives. do with: get on with somebody; have a connection with something. e.g.: Truth to tell, I don't know how to do with him. The program has to do with mental illness. do without: get along without 没有...也行 e.g. As Old Li isn't here, we shall have to do without him.种蒜苗
8.The unpredictability of the outcome of dreams is no reason to cea dreaming: Although the outcome of dreams cannot be predicted, one shouldn't stop dreaming.
9.the sheer thing: The word sheer is ud for emphasis, and the sheer thing means the simple,
pure thing. e.g. The suggestion is sheer nonn. The engine's sheer size would make it difficult to transport.
10.some larger purpo than merely clambering up: a reason to do more than merely climb up
socially or materially
11.prospect n.: likelihood; something one There was little prospect of significant
military aid. Success or failure here would be crucial to his future prospects. She rejoiced at the prospect of the China trip.
猪蹄炖花生12.As drunks have done to alcohol, the single-minded have done to ambition -given it a bad
name: Just as people who have had too much alcohol have given alcohol a bad name, so people who have had only one aim, to get what they themlves want, have given ambition
a bad name.
13.Like a taste for alcohol, too, ambition does not always allow for easy satiation: As with
people who enjoy the taste of alcohol, it is very difficult for ambitious people to become satisfied, they usually want to obtain more and more. Taste here means preference. satiate v.: (usu. passive) completely satisfy (onelf or one's needs) e.g. He drank greedily until his thirst was satiated. The company can hardly produce enough of the toys to satiate public demand.
14.driving ambition under the counter: forcing ambition to become cret and hidden
under the counter: cretly; handle business under the counter; The banned book was sold under the counter. At least one of my own novels has to be sold under the counter as though it were whisky.(...好像私下里卖whisky 似的)
15.The ambitious individual, far from identifying himlf and his fortunes with the group,
wishes to ri above it: An ambitious person does not want to be part of a group, but he wishes to progress and outdistance it. Far from: not at The newspaper accounts are far from (being) true. He was far from the attainment of his object. It isn't far from the truth. Far from eye, far from heart. 眼不见，心不想。with: equate with;
associate onelf with 等同，联系e. g. If I protested he would at once identify me with his father. It is a mistake to identify art with life. She has always been identified with the
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radical left. I didn't enjoy the movie becau I couldn't identify with any of the characters. (I didn't enjoy the movie becau I felt unable to share or understand the situation or feelings of any of the characters.)
16.argue tho possd by it into believing: persuade tho who are controlled by ambition to
into: persuade to do : They argued him into adoption of the plan. You want to argue me into agreeing your proposal? posss vt.: I'm
absolutely dreading making the after-dinner speech - I don't know what possd me to agree to it. possd (by) a.: obsd (with) e.g. She is possd by her drive to get into the best college. If you behave like someone possd, you behave in a wild and
