Success
1) A young man of humble origins came to New York from the Midwest to seek his fortune. He dreamed, in the American way, of becoming a millionaire. He tried his luck on Wall Street. He was diligent and shrewd and, when he had to be, devious. He put together the deal and he did some things with an electronics acquisition that wouldn’t bear explaining. He succeeded even beyond his dream: he made twelve million dollars.
2) At first the young man assumed that everything was working out splendidly. “Isn’t it grand?” he said to his wife, once it was apparent that he had made twelve million dollars. His wife told him that it wasn’t grand, and he was a nobody.
3) “But that’s impossible,” the young man said. “I’m a rich person. We live in an era that celebrates rich people. Rich people are shown in the newspapers in the company of movie stars and famous novelists and distinguished dress designers. The names of the richest corporate raiders are known to every schoolboy. There are rich real estate sharks whose faces appear on the covers of glossy magazines.” But his wife said that his face would not, because he was a nobody. When he stressed the fact that he had twelve million dollars, his wife retorted that a lot of people did, but they were still nobodies.
4) “I could buy our way onto the committees of important charity balls,” the young man said, “then we’d be mentioned in the columns.” “Don’t kid yourself,” his wife said. “The important committees are already filled up with people who are really rich. People like us would end up working on something like a dinner-dance to benefit the American Psoriasis (牛皮癣) Foundation.” The young man mentioned that he owned a co-op apartment on Fifth Avenue that was worth two million dollars. His wife argued that, to a certain extent, two million-dollar co-ops were a dime a dozen. Then the young man boasted of owning a stretch limousine and said it was twenty-one and a half feet long. His wife brushed the idea aside, saying that nobody famous had ever ridden in something like that ,and neither Henry Kissinger nor Calvin Klein had ever heard of him, so he was still a nobody.
5) The young man was silent for a while. “Are you disappointed in me?” he finally said to his wife. “Of course I’m disappointed in you,” she said. “When you asked me to marry you , you said you would surely amount to something. How was I to know that you’d turn out to be a nobody?”
6) For a moment the young man looked defeated. Then he squared his shoulders and cleared his throat. “I’ll make them pay attention, ” he said. “I’ll buy a professional football team and argue a lot with the coach in public. Celebrities will join me to watch big games from the owner’s box.” The wife ridiculed him, saying that nobody could buy a professional football team for twelve million dollars, because professional football teams cost big bucks.
7) “Then I’ll buy a magazine and appoint myself chief columnist,” the young man said. “A tiny but exceedingly flattering picture of me will run next to my column every week. The owners of professional football teams will invite me to watch big games from the owner’s box.” The wife believed that he might be able to buy one of those weekly-shoppers throwaways for twelve million dollars, but not a real magazine. One couldn’t buy a real magazine for chicken feed.
8) The young man was very much hurt and asked his wife whether twelve million dollars were chicken feed. But his wife insisted, “it’s not big bucks.”
9) “But that’s not fair,” the young man said. “I’m a young man of humble origins who made twelve million dollars. I succeeded even beyond my dream. ” “Some of those things you did with the electronics acquisition probably weren’t fair either,” his wife said. “Fair isn’t being measured these days. What they measure is money.” Then the young man said, if that was the case, he would get more money by going back to Wall Street and making fifty million dollars.
10) But before the young man could make fifty million dollars a man from the Securities and Exchange Commission came and arrested him for having committed insider-trading violations in the electronics acquisition.
11) The young man was taken away from his office in handcuffs. A picture on the front page of the afternoon paper showed him leaving his arraignment trying to hide his face behind an $850 Italian overcoat. A long article in the morning paper used him as an example of a new breed of Wall Street traders who were the victims of their own greed, probably because of their humble origins. His friends and associates avoided him.
12) Only his wife stuck by him. She tried to see the bright side. “For someone with only twelve million dollars,” she said to the young man, “you’re getting to be pretty well known.”
Answer the following essay question in English within 80 – 100 words.What brought about the downfall of the young man? Prove yours points.
【正确答案】：
     THIS MAN IS DOOMED TO FAIL IN THE END.
     FIRST OF ALL, HE DID SOMETHING ILLEGAL IN THE STOCK EXCHANGE. HE COMMITTED INSIDER-TRADING VIOLATIONS IN THE ELECTRONICS ACQUISITION. SECOND, HE IS A VERY GREEDY PERSON. AFTER OWNING 12 MILLION YUAN, HE WANTS LUXURY CARS, LUXURY HOMES, A SOCCER TEAM AND EVEN A MAGAZINE. HE WANTS TO BUY EVERYTHING THAT CAN MAKE HIM FAMOUS. GREEDY PEOPLE ARE DOOMED TO A BAD FATE. FINALLY, THE FALL OF HIS CAREER CANNOT BE SEPARATED FROM THE INFLUENCE OF HIS WIFE. HIS WIFE IS ALSO AN UNSATISFIED PERSON AND HAS BEEN GUIDING HIM IN A BAD DIRECTION. UNTIL HE WAS FINALLY ARRESTED, HIS WIFE STILL THOUGHT THEY WERE FAMOUS JUST BECAUSE OF THE 12 MILLION. FACTS HAVE PROVED THAT THE INFLUENCE OF OTHERS WILL ALSO AFFECT ONE'S FUTURE IMPERCEPTIBLY.
【题目解析】：这个人注定要失败。 首先，他在证券交易所做了违法的事情。他在收购电子产品的过程中违反了内幕交易规定。其次，他是一个非常贪婪的人。在拥有1200万元人民币后，他想要的是豪华轿车、豪宅、足球队，甚至是一本杂志。他想买任何能让他出名的东西。贪婪的人注定要倒霉。最后，他事业的失败离不开他妻子的影响。他的妻子也是一个不满足的人，一直在引导他往坏的方向走。直到他最终被捕，他的妻子仍然认为他们只是因为1200万而出名。事实证明，别人的影响也会潜移默化地影响一个人的未来。