大学英语4课文翻译

unit 1 TextA
Love and logic: The story of a fallacy
爱情与逻辑：谬误的故事
1 I had my first date with Polly after I made the trade with my roommate Rob. That year every guy on campus had a leather jacket, and Rob couldn't stand the idea of being the only football player who didn't, so he made a pact that he'd give me his girl in exchange for my jacket. He wasn't the brightest guy. Polly wasn't too shrewd, either.
在我和室友罗伯的交易成功之后，我和波莉有了第一次约会。

那一年校园里每个人都有件皮夹克，而罗伯是校足球队员中唯一一个没有皮夹克的，他一想到这个就受不了，于是他和我达成了一项协议，用他的女友换取我的夹克。

他可不那么聪明，而他的女友波莉也不太精明。

2 But she was pretty, well-off, didn't dye her hair strange colors or wear too much makeup. She had the right background to be the girlfriend of a dogged, brilliant lawyer. If I could show the elite law firms I applied to that I had a radiant, well-spoken counterpart by my side, I just might edge past the competition.
但她漂亮而且富有，也没有把头发染成奇怪的颜色或是化很浓的妆。

她拥有合适的家庭背景，足以胜任一名坚忍而睿智的律师的女友。

如果我能够让我所申请的顶尖律师事务所看到我身边伴随着一位光彩照人、谈吐优雅的另一半，我就很有可能在竞聘中以微弱优势获胜。

3 "Radiant" she was already. I could dispense her enough pearls of wisdom to make her "well-spoken".
“光彩照人”，她已经是了。

而我也能施予她足够多的“智慧之珠”，让她变得“谈吐优雅”。

4 After a banner day out, I drove until we were situated under a big old oak tree on a hill off the expressway. What I had in mind was a little eccentric. I thought the venue with a perfect view of the luminous city would lighten the mood. We stayed in the car, and I turned down the stereo and took my foot off the brake pedal. "What are we going to talk about?" she asked.
在一起外出度过了美好的一天之后，我驱车来到了高速公路旁一座小山上一棵古老的大橡树下。

我的想法有些怪异。

而这个地方能够俯瞰灯火灿烂的城区，我觉得它会使人的心情变轻松。

我们呆在车子里，我调低了音响并把脚从刹车上挪开。

“我们要谈些什么？”她问道。

5 "Logic."
“逻辑学。

”
6 "Cool," she said over her gum.
“好酷啊，”她一边嚼着口香糖一边说。

7 "The doctrine of logic," I said, "is a staple of clear thinking. Failures in logic distort the truth, and some of them are well known. First let's look at the fallacy Dicto Simpliciter."
“逻辑学的原理，”我说道，“即清晰思考的主要原则。

逻辑上出现的问题会歪曲事实，其中有些还很普遍。

我们先来看看一种叫做‘绝对判断’的逻辑谬误。

”
8 "Great," she agreed.
“好啊，”她表示同意。

9 "Dicto Simpliciter means an unqualified generalization. For example: Exercise is good. Therefore, everybody should exercise."
“‘绝对判断’是指在证据不足的情况下所作出的推断。

比方说：运动是有益的，所以每个人都应该运动。

”
10 She nodded in agreement.
她点头表示赞同。

11 I could see she was stumped. "Polly," I explained, "it's too simple a generalization. If you have, say, heart disease or extreme obesity, exercise is bad, not good. Therefore, you must say exercise is good for most people."
我看得出她没弄明白。

“波莉，”我解释说，“这个推断太过简单化了。

如果你有心脏病或者超级肥胖症什么的，运动就变得有害而不是有益。

所以你应该说，运动对大多数人来说是有益的。

”
12 "Next is Hasty Generalization. Self-explanatory, right? Listen carefully: You can't speak French. Rob can't speak French. Looks like nobody at this school can speak French."
“接下来是‘草率结论’。

这似乎不言自明，对吧？仔细听好了：你不会说法语，罗伯也不会说法语，那么这所学校里好像是没有人会说法语。

”
13 "Really?" said Polly, amazed. "Nobody?"
“是吗？”波莉吃惊地说。

“没有人吗？”
14 "This is also a fallacy," I said. "The generalization is reached too hastily. Too few instances support such a conclusion."
“这也是一种逻辑谬误，”我说，“这一结论太草率了，因为能够支持这一结论的例证太少了。

”
15 She seemed to have a good time. I could safely say my plan was underway. I took her home and set a date for another conversation.
她似乎学得很开心，而我也可以放心地说我的计划正在稳步推进中。

我把她送回家，并且定下了下一次约会交谈的日子。

16 Seated under the oak the next evening I said, "Our first fallacy tonight is called Ad Misericordiam."
第二天晚上，坐在那棵橡树下，我说：“今天晚上我们要谈的第一个逻辑谬误叫‘文不对题’。

”
17 She nodded with delight.
她高兴地点了点头。

18 "Listen closely," I said. "A man applies for a job. When the boss asks him what his
qualifications are, he says he has six children to feed."
“听好了，”我说，“有个人去申请工作，当老板问他有什么应聘资格时，他说他有六个孩子要抚养。

”
19 "Oh, this is awful, awful," she whispered in a choked voice.
“哇，这太可怕了，太可怕了,”她哽咽着轻声说道。

20 "Yes, it's awful," I agreed, "but it's no argument. The man never answered the boss's question. Instead he appealed to the boss's sympathy —Ad Misericordiam."
“对，是挺可怕的,”我表示赞同地说,“但这不是理由。

这个人根本没有回答老板的问题，而只是在博取老板的同情，这就是‘文不对题’。

”
21 She blinked, still trying hard to keep back her tears.
她眨着眼睛，仍在竭力地忍住眼泪。

22 "Next," I said carefully, "we will discuss False Analogy. An example, students should be allowed to look at their textbooks during exams, because surgeons have X-rays to guide them during surgery."
“接下来”，我小心地说，“我们来讨论‘错误类比’。

举个例子：学生考试时应该允许看课本，因为外科医生在做手术时可以看X光片。

”
23 "I like that idea," she said.
“我喜欢这个主意，”她说。

24 "Polly," I groaned, "don't derail the discussion. The inference is wrong. Doctors aren't taking a test to see how much they have learned, but students are. The situations are altogether different. You can't make an analogy between them."
“波莉，”我抱怨道，“别打岔，这一推论是错误的。

医生们不是在参加考试以检查他们学到了多少，而学生却是。

他们的情况完全不同，你不能将他们作类比。

”
25 "I still think it's a good idea," said Polly.
“我仍然认为这是一个好主意，”波莉说。

26 With five nights of diligent work, I actually made a logician out of Polly. She was an analytical thinker at last. The time had come for the conversion of our relationship from academic to romantic.
经过五个夜晚的辛勤努力，我竟然真的将波莉打造成了一个逻辑行家，她总算能够分析思考了。

现在应该是时候让我们的关系从学术向浪漫发展了。

27 "Polly," I said when next we sat under our oak, "tonight we won't discuss fallacies."
“波莉，”当我们又一次坐在那棵橡树下的时候我对她说，“今晚我们不讨论逻辑谬误了。

”
28 "Oh?" she said, a little disappointed.
“哦？”她回答说，有一点失望。

29 Favoring her with a grin, I said, "We have now spent five evenings together. We get along pretty well. We make a pretty good couple."
我赞许地对她笑了笑，说:“我们在一起已经度过了五个晚上，相互之间挺合得来，我们是蛮相配的一对。

”
30 "Hasty Generalization," said Polly brightly. "Or as a normal person might say, that's a little premature, don't you think?"
“草率结论，”波莉伶俐地说，“或者是按一般人的说法，这个结论有些不成熟，你不这样认为吗？”
31 I laughed with amusement. She'd learned her lessons well, far surpassing my expectations. "Sweetheart," I said, patting her hand in a tolerant manner, "five dates is plenty. After all, you don't have to eat a whole cake to know it's good."
我被逗得笑了起来，她功课还真学得不错，大大超过了我的预期。

“亲爱的，”我开口说，同时宽容地拍了拍她的手，“五次约会已经够多了，毕竟你不需要吃掉整个蛋糕才知道它是不是好吃。

”
32 "False Analogy," said Polly promptly. "Your premise is that dating is like eating. But you're not a cake. You're a boy."
“错误类比，”波莉立即回应。

“你的前提是约会就如同吃东西。

可你不是蛋糕，你是个男孩。

”
33 I laughed with somewhat less amusement, hiding my dread that she'd learned her lessons too well. A few more false steps would be my doom. I decided to change tactics and try flattery instead.
我又笑了笑，不过不觉得那么有趣了，同时还不能表露出我害怕她学得太好了。

再错几步我可就无法挽回了。

我决定改变策略，转而尝试奉承她的办法。

34 "Polly, I love you. Please say you'll go out with me. I'm nothing without you."
“波莉，我爱你。

请答应做我的女朋友，没有你我什么也不是。

”
35 "Ad Misericordiam," she said.
“文不对题，”她说。

36 "You certainly can discern a fallacy when you see it," I said, my hopes starting to crumble. "But don't take them so literally. I mean this is all academic. You know the things you learn in school don't have anything to do with real life."
“你还真是能在遇到逻辑谬误时一一辨别它们了，”我说，心里的希望已经开始动摇。

“不过不要对它们太死板，我是说这都是些学术的东西。

你知道，学校里学的东西和实际生活根本没有什么联系。

”
37 "Dicto Simpliciter," she said. "Besides, you really should practice what you preach."
“绝对判断，”她说道，“而且，你自己教的东西应该自己身体力行。

”
38 I leaped to my feet, my temper flaring up. "Will you or will you not go out with me?"
我一下跳了起来，怒火中烧，“你到底愿不愿意做我的女朋友？”
39 "No to your proposition," she replied.
“我不愿意，”她答道。

40 "Why?" I demanded.
“为什么？”我追问道。

41 "I'm more interested in a different petitioner —Rob and I are back together."
“我对另一位求爱者更感兴趣——罗伯和我重归于好了。

”
42 With great effort, I said calmly, "How could you give me the axe over Rob? Look at me, an ingenious student, a tremendous intellectual, a man with an assured future. Look at Rob, a muscular idiot, a guy who'll never know where his next meal is coming from. Can you give me one good reason why you should be with him?"
我极力地保持着平静，说道：“你怎么会甩了我而选择罗伯？看看我，一个聪明过人的学生，一个不同凡响的学者，一个前途无量的人。

再看看罗伯，一个肌肉发达的蠢材，一个有了上顿没下顿的家伙。

你是否能给我一个充足的理由，为什么要选择跟他？”
43 "Wow, what presumption! I'll put it in a way someone as brilliant as you can understand," retorted Polly, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Full disclosure —I like Rob in leather. I told him to say yes to you so he could have your jacket!"
“喔，这是什么假设啊！为了让像你这样聪明的人能够明白，我这么说吧，”波莉反驳道，声音里充满了讽刺，“事情的真相是——我喜欢罗伯穿皮衣。

是我让他同意你们的协议的，这样他就能拥有你的夹克！”
unit 2 TextA
The confusing pursuit of beauty
令人困惑的对美的追求
1 If you're a man, at some point a woman will ask you how she looks.
如果你是一位男士，肯定在某个时候会有女士问你她看起来怎么样。

2 You must be careful how you answer this question. The best technique is to form an honest yet sensitive response, then promptly excuse yourself for some kind of emergency. Trust me, this is the easiest way out. No amount of rehearsal will help you come up with the right answer.
对于如何应对这个问题，你一定得小心。

最好的对策就是给一个诚实但又谨慎的回答，然后借口有急事马上脱身。

相信我，这是最简单的方法。

对于她的这一问题，无论你事先练习多少次，都不会找到正确答案。

3 The problem is that men do not think of their looks in the same way women do. Most men form an opinion of themselves in seventh grade and stick to it for the rest of their lives. Some men think they're irresistibly desirable, and they refuse to change this opinion even when they grow bald and their faces visibly wrinkle as they age.
其原因是，男性和女性对外表的看法截然不同。

大多数男性对自己外表的评价在七年级时就形成了，而且终生不变。

有些男性认为自己有不可抗拒的魅力，即使随着年龄的增长，他们头发掉光了，脸上布满皱纹，他们仍然拒绝改变这种看法。

4 Most men, I believe, are not arrogant about their looks. If the transient thought passes through their minds at all, they like to think of themselves as average-looking. Being average doesn't bother them; average is fine. They don't affix much value to their looks, or think of them in terms of aesthetics. Their primary form of beauty care is to shave themselves, which is essentially the same care they give to their lawns. If, at the end of his four minute allotment of time for grooming, a man has managed to wipe most of the shaving cream out of the strands of his hair and isn't bleeding too badly, he feels he's done all he can.
我相信，大多数男性都不会对自己的相貌感到过分自傲。

如果他们偶尔想到自己外表的话，他们愿意认为自己样貌中等。

长相普通不会使他们有任何烦恼，因为普通就已经是很好了。

男性不是特别注重自己的外貌，也不会从美学的角度去审视自己。

他们的打扮方式主要就是刮刮胡子，就像打理自家草坪一样。

对于一位男性来说，如果能花四分钟刮刮胡子，结束之后再把粘到头发上的剃须膏擦净，又没有出血太厉害，他就觉得自己已经尽心尽力了。

5 Women do not look at themselves this way. If I had to guess what most women think about their appearance, it would be: "Not good enough." No matter how attractive a woman may be, her perception of herself is eclipsed by the beauty industry. She has trouble thinking "I'm beautiful." She magnifies the smallest imperfections in her body and imagines them as glaring flaws the whole world will notice and ridicule.
女性可不是这样看待自己的。

如果非要我猜测大多数女性对自己的相貌是如何评价的话，那肯定是：“还不够好。

”一位女士，无论她看起来多么吸引人，她对自己的看法总是由于受美容业的影响而蒙着一层阴影。

要她认为“我很漂亮”是一件难事。

她把身体上的极小的不完美之处加以放大，并且幻想这些缺点十分明显，以至于全世界的人都会注意到并且嘲笑她。

6 Why do women consider their looks so deficient? This chronic insecurity isn't inborn, but created through the interaction of many complex psychological and societal factors, beginning with the dolls we give them as children. Girls grow up playing with dolls proportioned so that, if they were human, they would be seven feet tall and weigh 61 pounds, with tiny thighs and a large upper body. This is an absurd standard to live up to, especially when you consider the size of the doll's waist, a relative measurement physically impossible for a living human to achieve. Contrast this absurd standard with that presented to little boys with their "action figures". Most of the toys that young boys have played with were weird-looking, like the one called Buzz-Off that was part human, part flying insect. This guy was not a looker, but he was still extremely self-confident. You could not imagine him saying to the others, "Is this accessory the right shade of violet for this outfit?"
为什么女性会把自己的外貌想得这么差呢？这种长期的不安全感并不是与生俱来的，而是由
许多复杂的心理和社会因素的相互作用造成的，从小时候大人们给她们买洋娃娃时就开始了。

女孩成长过程中摆弄的洋娃娃，如果按照身材比例还原为真人大小的话，就会是7英尺高，61英磅重，大腿纤细，上身丰满。

要达到这样的标准是很荒唐的，尤其是当我们想想那种洋娃娃的腰围尺寸，就知道其相对尺寸对任何一个活人来说都是不可企及的。

与女孩玩具的这种荒唐标准相比，小男孩们得到的“动作玩偶”却是完全不同的模样。

大多数男孩的玩具都样貌古怪，例如那个叫作“蜜蜂侠”的玩偶，一半像人，一半像会飞的昆虫。

这个玩偶尽管样子不好看，但仍然非常自信。

你肯定无法想象他会问别人说：“这个配饰的紫罗兰色和这件外套配不配呢？”
7 But women grow up thinking they need to look like Barbie dolls or girls on magazine covers, which for most women is impossible. Nonetheless, the multibillion-dollar beauty industry, complete with its own aisle in the grocery store, is devoted to constant warfare on female self-esteem, convincing women that they must buy all the newest moisturizing creams, bronzing powders and appliances that promise to "stimulate and restore" their skin. I once saw an Oprah Show in which supermodel Cindy Crawford dispensed makeup tips to the studio audience. Cindy had all these middle-aged women apply clay masks and other "wrinkle-removing" products to their faces; she stressed how important it was to adhere to the guidelines, like applying products via the tips of their fingers to protect elasticity. All the women dutifully did this, even though it was obvious to any rational observer that, no matter how carefully they applied these products, they would never have Cindy Crawford's face or complexion.
然而，女性在成长过程中却认为自己应该长得像芭比娃娃或杂志的封面女郎那样，这对大多数女性来说是不可能的。

尽管如此，产值达几十亿美元的美容业，在超市化妆品销售专区的配合下，总是在不停地攻击着女性的自尊，使其相信自己只有购买最新的保湿面霜、古铜散粉，以及各种美容器具，才能“激发和恢复”肌肤活力。

我曾经看过一期《奥普拉脱口秀》，在节目中，超级名模辛迪·克劳馥和演播室里的观众分享了自己的化妆秘诀。

辛迪要求这些中年妇女在脸上敷上黏土面膜和其他去皱产品；她还强调一定要遵守这些方法，例如：往脸上涂抹这些产品时，要用指尖，这样可以保护皮肤的弹性。

所有这些妇女都非常忠实地按照辛迪说的做了。

可是对任何一个理智的旁观者来说，无论她们如何认真地使用这些产品，她们都不可能拥有辛迪那样的面容或肤色。

8 I'm not saying that men are superior. I'm just saying that you're not going to get a group of middle-aged men to plaster cosmetics to themselves under the instruction of Brad Pitt in hopes of looking more like him. Men don't face the same societal focus purely on physical beauty, and they're encouraged to reach out to other characteristics to promote their self-esteem. They might say to Brad: "Oh yeah? Well, what do you know about lawn care, pretty boy?"
我并不是说男性优于女性。

我的意思是你不可能让一群中年男子在布拉德·皮特的指导下把化妆品敷到自己脸上，期望自己能看起来更像布拉德。

与女性不同，男性的外貌美不是社会所关注的唯一焦点。

人们会鼓励男性借助其他特征来提升自尊。

他们也许会对布拉德说：“是吗？那么帅哥，你对草坪维护又知道多少？”
9 Of course women argue that they become obsessed with appearance as a reaction to pressure from men. The truth is that most men think beauty is more than just lipstick and perfume and take no notice of these extra details. I have never once, in more than 40 years of listening to men talk about women, heard a man say, "She had gorgeous fingernails!" To most men, little things
like fingernails are all homogeneous anyway, and one woman's flawless pink polish is exactly as invisible as another's bare nails.
当然，女性会争辩说她们对外表的热衷追求是出于对来自男性的压力的一种反应。

而事实是，大多数男性认为美丽不仅仅来自于口红和香水，而且他们也不会去注意这些额外的细节。

四十多年来，我在听男性谈论女性时，从来没有一次听到过哪位男性这样说：“她的指甲真漂亮啊！”对大多数男性来说，像指甲这样小的东西看起来都一样，无论一个女士的指甲是用粉色指甲油涂得完美无瑕，还是光光的毫无修饰，男性都一概视而不见。

10 By participating in this system of extreme conformity, women are actually opening themselves up to the scrutiny of other women, the only ones qualified to judge their efforts. What is the real benefit of working this hard to appease men who don't notice when it only exposes women to prosecution from other women?
女性参与这种极端的从众行为，实际上是把自己置于其他女性的审视之下，因为只有那些女性才有资格评价她们所付出的努力。

但是，如此费力地去取悦男性而他们却根本不会注意，同时又只是招致其他女性的指责，这样做究竟有什么好处呢？
11 Anyway, to get back to my original point: If you're a man, and a woman asks you how she looks, you can't say she looks bad without receiving immediate and well-deserved outrage. But you also can't shower her with empty compliments about how her shoes complement her dress nicely because she'll know you're lying. She has spent countless hours worrying about the differences between her looks and Cindy Crawford's. Also, she suspects that you're not qualified to voice a subjective opinion on anybody's appearance. This may be because you have shaving cream in your hair and inside the folds of your ears.
不管怎样，言归正传：如果你是一位男性，当有女士问你她看起来怎么样时，你千万不能说她看起来很糟糕，那样肯定会使她立刻迁怒于你，这也是你咎由自取。

但是，你也不能慷慨地大放空洞之词，赞美她的鞋子和裙子是多么相配，因为她知道你是在说谎。

她已经花费了无数个小时发愁自己的容貌不能和辛迪·克劳馥的一样。

而且，也许因为你的头发和耳廓上粘着剃须膏，她会怀疑你根本没有资格对任何人的外表给出主观评价。

unit3 TextA
Fred Smith and FedEx: The vision that changed the world
弗雷德•史密斯与联邦快递：一个改变了世界的创想
1 Every night several hundred planes bearing a purple, white, and orange design touch down at Memphis Airport, in Tennessee. What precedes this landing are package pick-ups from locations all over the United States earlier in the day. Crews unload the planes' cargo of more than half a million parcels and letters. The rectangular packages and envelopes are rapidly reshuffled and sorted according to address, then loaded onto other aircraft, and flown to their destinations to
be dispersed by hand —many within 24 hours of leaving their senders. This is the culmination of a dream of Frederick W. Smith, the founder, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board of the FedEx Corp. —known originally as Federal Express —the largest and most successful overnight delivery service in the world. Conceived when he was in college and now in its 28th year of operation, Smith's exquisite brainchild has become the standard for door-to-door package delivery.
每天夜晚，在田纳西州的孟菲斯机场，都有几百架带着白、紫、桔色图案的飞机降落。

而在每天此前的早些时候，这些飞机都在美国各地收集包裹。

工作人员从飞机上卸下的包裹及信件数量超过五十万之巨。

长方形的包裹和信封又在这里依据收件地址被迅速整理分拣，然后装载上其他飞机，飞往各自的目的地，在那儿再由人工投递——到这时很多邮件离开寄件人之手还不到24小时。

这是弗雷德里克·W.史密斯的终极梦想，他就是联邦快递集团（最初为联邦快递）这一全球最大、最成功的隔夜送达服务企业的创始人、总裁、首席执行官及董事会主席。

如今，史密斯这一源于大学时代的妙想已在现实中经营到了第28个年头，并已成为包裹快递入户行业的标杆。

2 Recognized as an outstanding entrepreneur with an agreeable and winning personality, Smith is held in high regard by his competitors as well as his employees and stockholders. Fred Smith was just 27 when he founded FedEx. Now, so many years later, he's still the "captain of the ship". He attributes the success of the company simply to leadership, something he deduced from his years in the military, and from his family.
史密斯被公认为是一位和蔼可亲、性格迷人的杰出企业家。

无论是他的竞争者、员工，还是他公司股票的持有人，都对他十分敬重。

弗雷德·史密斯创建“联邦快递”时只有27岁。

现在多年过去了，他仍然坐在“掌门人”的位置上。

他将公司的成功简单地归因于领导力，而这一推论则来自于他的军旅生涯及其家庭的影响。

3 Frederick Wallace Smith was born into a wealthy family clan on August 11, 194
4 in Mississippi. His father died when he was just four years old. As a juvenile, Smith was an invalid, suffering from a disease that left him unable to walk normally. He was picked on by bullies, and he learned to defend himself by swinging at them with his alloy walking stick. Cured of the disease by the age of l0, he became a star athlete in high school, playing football, basketball, and baseball.
弗雷德里克·华莱士·史密斯1944年8月11日出生于密西西比州一个富裕的家族。

他四岁时父亲就离世了。

史密斯年少时被视为病残者，因为他得了一种病，使他无法正常行走。

为此他常遭受坏孩子的侮辱捉弄，他学会了挥舞合金拐杖来保护自己。

十岁时他的病治好了，到了高中他则成了学校里的体育明星，足球、篮球、棒球样样能行。

4 Smith's passion was flying. At 15, he was operating a crop-duster over the skyline of the Mississippi Delta, a terrain so flat that there was little need for radar navigation. As a student at Yale University, he helped revive the Yale flying club; its alumni had populated naval aviation history, including the famous "Millionaires' Unit" in World War I. Smith administrated the club's business end and ran a small charter operation in New Haven.
史密斯对飞行充满了激情。

15岁时，他就曾驾驶一架作物喷粉飞机在密西西比三角洲的天际翱翔，三角洲的地形平坦开阔，甚至都不需要雷达导航。

在耶鲁大学上学时，他参与重建了耶鲁飞行俱乐部，在美国海军航空史的每个时期都有这一俱乐部出来的校友的身影，包括一战时期著名的“百万富翁飞行队”。

史密斯负责管理俱乐部的事务，同时还在纽黑文经营
一项小规模的租赁业务。

5 With his study time disrupted by flying, his academic performance suffered, but Smith never stopped looking for his own "big idea". He thought he had found it when he wrote a term paper for an economics class. He drafted a prototype for a transportation company that would guarantee overnight delivery of small, time-sensitive goods, such as replacement parts and medical supplies, to major US regions. The professor wasn't impressed and told Smith he couldn't quantify the idea and clearly it wasn't feasible.
由于飞行打乱了学习时间，他的学业受到了影响，但史密斯从未停止寻找自己的“伟大想法”。

在撰写一门经济学课程的学期论文时，他认为自己已经找到了它。

他设计了一份运输企业的经营草案，该运输企业可以确保连夜递送小型或时间紧迫的货品到达美国的主要地区，如替换零件、医药用品等等。

教授对这篇论文未予重视，他告诉史密斯说，他无法量化他的想法，并说这一想法明显不切合实际。

6 However, Smith was certain he was onto something, even though several more years elapsed before he could turn his idea into reality. In the interim, he graduated from Yale in 1966, just as America's involvement in the Vietnam War was deepening. Since he was a patriot and had attended officers' training classes, he joined the Marines.
然而，史密斯确信自己已经发现了些什么，尽管又过了好几年他才得以把自己的想法付诸实施。

在此期间，他于1966年从耶鲁大学毕业，那时正值美国在越战中越陷越深，而他是个充满爱国热情的人，又参加过士官训练课程，所以他加入了美国海军陆战队。

7 Smith completed two tours in Vietnam, eventually flying more than 200 missions. "In the military, leadership means getting a group of people to subordinate their individual desires and ambitions for the achievement of organizational goals," Smith says, fusing together his military and business experiences. "And good leadership has very measurable effects on a company's bottom line."
史密斯在越南战场上服役两期，完成了两百多次飞行任务。

“在军队中，领导力意味着能使团队中所有成员将个人的期望与抱负置于从属地位，而以实现集体目标为重，”史密斯说道，这其中融合了他军旅生涯和经营管理的经验。

“而优秀的领导力对控制一个公司的盈亏底线来说具有相当重要的作用。

”
8 Home from Vietnam, Smith became fascinated by the notion that if you connected all the points of a network through an intermediary hub, the streamlined efficiency could be enormous compared to other disjointed, decentralized businesses, whether the system involved moving packages and letters or people and planes. He decided to take a stab at starting his own business. With an investment from his father's company, as well as a chunk of his own inheritance, Smith bought his first delivery planes and in 1971 formed the Federal Express.
从越南战场回国后，史密斯开始执着于这样一个理念，即如果能将某个运输网络的各个节点通过一个中介枢纽相互连接，其效率较之其他各环节相互之间无联系的分散经营的模式来说要高出许多，不论这一系统所涉及的是运送包裹和信件还是人员和飞机。

他决定放手一搏，创建自己的企业。

史密斯用父亲公司的投资和他自己继承财产的一部分购买了第一架快递飞机，并于1971年创建了联邦快递。