胡敏读故事记托福词汇第225期:The atypical tycoon 不合定型的巨头

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2018年07月31日

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胡敏读故事记托福词汇第225期:The atypical tycoon 不合定型的巨头

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.

汤姆·唐宁没有巨头的典型特点。他并不特别傲慢自大。实际上，他自己有种超乎寻常的平民感。大多数的富豪都霸气十足，但汤姆再普通不过。要不是众所周知汤姆出身富贵，大家都会以为他是个新手。当然，在必要的时候，汤姆也会变得粗暴。他生意成功，一个人如果发不出严格苛刻的最后通牒，在生意上是不会有所作为的。他举止粗俗，但他拥有超声工程学的学位。尽管他很少在众人面前谈起，但是他一辈子对超声学都兴趣不减。他对自己在科学上的兴趣从不招摇，乃至很少有人知道他经常在《美国科学》上发表文章，其中有一篇关于紫外线课题的文章获得小奖。

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.

汤姆的所有住宅都是不加装饰的经济公寓。人们因此一致认定他不事铺张。尽管人们的意见毫无二致，不过他也有些有失体面的花钱习惯。他的两个侄子经常触犯法律，但为了让他们的官方记录保持清白，汤姆贿赂警方，把材料一笔勾销。即使当事情公之于众以后，大家对他仍然一如既往无所顾忌。他们问道，谁能怪他呢？当涉及自己家庭名声的时候，他怎么能够做到公正呢？不过，人们对他这种有悖习俗的、有些无意识的倾慕也有所收敛。当他试图在美国政坛建立强大的第三大党的时候——这在当时是个未经论证的领域，他和普通民众之间出现了一道不可逾越的鸿沟。他完全退出政坛，后来从没有人说他的坏处。我们大家都想念他。