2020수능특강 영어 3강 본문

3강

1

 You are much more than just a list of your accomplishments. It’s not only what you do, but how you do it that counts in the real scorebook of your life. Making the spectacular diving catch says more about you than the “out” that is recorded in the scorebook. It says you have game. It says you give 110%. Every performance in your life becomes a choice you have to make. Will you do just enough to get by, letting the ball drop in front of you for a base hit? Or will you push yourself to perform like an all-star, the legendary player you know you can be, and dive for the ball? Your special effort will be recorded in the minds and memories of the others. More importantly, you will have the peace of mind and self-respect that come from knowing that you gave your very best – even if you don’t end up making the catch. That’s the stuff of legends. 

 

 2

 Irrational acts don’t just sabotage us. They can also make us heroes, lovers, and generous helpers. The qualities we admire most in others are their emotional ones, not their intellectual ones. Rarely does intellect alone inspire romantic acts or heroic deeds. The television mini-series Lonesome Dove was a big hit in the 1980s. Two rugged Texas Rangers shared a life together that eventually led them from Texas to Montana, where they made their fortune from a cattle drive. One partner died and the other promised to personally return the body to Texas; an incredible sacrifice. From rational point of view, the dead partner wouldn’t know where he was buried; he was already dead. The surviving partner’s friends thought his promise was foolish. They pressured him to ship the boy to Texas by train. No rational argument would ever win this battle, and if it had, the movie would have lost its charm. 

 

 3

 Ideas or theories about human nature have a unique place in the sciences. We don’t have to worry that the cosmos will be changed by our theories about the cosmos. The planets really don’t care what we think or how we theorize about them. But we do have to worry that human nature will be changed by our theories of human nature. Forty years ago, the distinguished anthropologist Clifford Geertz said that human beings are “unfinished animals.” What he meant is that it is human nature to have a human nature that is very much the product of the society that surrounds us. That human nature is more created than discovered. We “design” human nature, by designing the institutions within which people live. So we must ask ourselves just what kind of a human nature we want to help design. 

 

 4

 Near my old office building, the window of a shoe store advertised the generous offer of a free shoe shine. I walked by this store dozens of times and thought nothing of it. One day, though, with my shoes looking a little scuffed and some time on my hands, I decided to avail myself of this small bounty. After my shine, I offered the shoeshine man a tip. He refused. Free was free, he said. I climbed down from the chair feeling distinctly indebted. “How could this guy shine my shoes,” I thought, “and expect nothing?” So I did what I suspect most people who take the offer do – I looked around for something to buy. I had to even the score, somehow. Since I didn’t need shoes, I found myself mindlessly looking at shoe trees, laces, and polish. Finally, I quietly walked out of the store empty-handed and uneasy. Even though I had managed to escape from the store, I was sure many others were not so fortunate.