晨读英语美文 Encouragement Can Work Miracles

Encouragement Can Work Miracles

[00:07.39]Someone said that encouragement is simply reminding a person 

[00:12.09]of the shoulder he's standing on, 

[00:14.07]the heritage he's been given. 

[00:15.91]That's what happened when a young man, 

[00:18.11]the son of a star baseball player, 

[00:20.39]was drafted by one of the minor-league teams. 

[00:22.70]Hard as he tried, 

[00:24.02]his first season was disappointing, 

[00:26.09]and by midseason he expected to be released any day.

[00:29.38]The coaches were bewildered by his failure 

[00:31.78]because he possessed all the characteristics of a superb athlete, 

[00:35.48]but he couldn't seem to incorporate those advantages 

[00:38.89]into a coordinated effort. 

[00:40.62]He seemed to have become disconnected from his potential.

[00:44.14]His future seemed darkest one day 

[00:46.98]when he had already stuck out his first time at bat. 

[00:49.94]Then he stepped up to the batter's box again 

[00:52.66]and quickly ran up two strikes. 

[00:54.43]The catcher called a time-out 

[00:56.71]and ran to the pitchers mound for a conference. 

[00:59.23]While they were busy, the umpire, 

[01:01.73]standing behind the plate, 

[01:03.27]spoke casually to the boy.

[01:04.59]Then play resumed, the next pitch was thrown  

[01:07.97]and the young man knocked it out of the park. 

[01:10.73]That was the turning point. 

[01:12.79]From then on, he played the game with a new confidence and power 

[01:16.60]that quickly drew the attention of the parent team, 

[01:19.65]and he was called up to the majors.

[01:21.74]On the day he was leaving for the city, 

[01:24.79]one of his coaches asked him what had caused such a turnaround. 

[01:28.40]The young man replied that it was the encouraging remark 

[01:31.69]the umpire had made that day 

[01:33.76]when his baseball career had seemed doomed.

[01:35.84]He told me I reminded him of all the times 

[01:39.44]he had stood behind my dad in the batter's box, 

[01:42.30]the boy explained. 

[01:43.71]He said I was holding the bat just the way Dad had held it. 

[01:47.23]And he told me, 

[01:48.52]I can see his genes in you; 

[01:50.66]you have your father's arms. 

[01:52.15]After that, whenever I swung the bat, 

[01:55.20]I just imagined I was using Dad's arms instead of my own.