Outline:

1~3：Writer believes that competition should be canceled.

4~10: He found the importance of changing opponents to partners.

11~13: The disadvantage of competition.

14~15: The pursuit of happiness is more worth than the competition.

Summary:

In his essay, “Competition Is Destructive”，Alfie Kohn thinks that the pursuit of happiness is more worth than the competition. We should do our best to enjoy the life instead of making the playground into a battlefield.

Initially, he believes that competition should be canceled. But he found himself nagged by the following question: If competition is so destructive and counterproductive during the week, why do we take for granted that it suddenly becomes benign and even desirable on weekend? He has come to believe that recreation at its best does not require people to try to triumph over others. Quite the contrary.

As the study process of the author, He discovered the importance of changing the opponent to the partner. The benefits of cooperative activities is that require everyone in order to achieve a common goal and work together. He thinks that if our culture’s idea of fun requires beating someone else, it may just be because we do not know any other way. In fact two-thirds of the boys and all girls preferred them to the kind that require opponents after someone taught them noncompetitive games.

The writer thinks that the whole affair soon becomes a vicious circle: the more you compete, the more you need to compete to feel good about yourself. What’s more, competition is having an equally toxic effect on our relationships and it difficult to regard others as potential friends or collaborators. At worst, it invites outright aggression.

So the problem is not just that we compete the wrong way. This is the best way for us to find the spring of happiness.

SEM 13241213 景佳玮

第二篇：English summary三

1. 我可能不是一个天生的农民，但提到在农场的生活，我过得马马虎虎。

I may not to be a born farmer，but I can get by when it comes to the life on the farm 。

2. 多年来，城市生活让我和妻子身心疲惫，如今在乡下我们找到了心灵的满足。

After years of frustration with city living，my wife and I have finally contentment in the country。

3. 当然，我现在赚的钱远远比不上我全职工作是赚得多。

Of course ，I’m not making anywhere near as much as I did when I was employed full time。

4. 但是，我们能够通过削减开支来弥补收入的不足，而我们的生活水准并没有明显下降。 But，we’ve been able to make up the difference in income by cutting back without appreciably lowering our standard of living.

5. 然而，幸福的农村生活必须具备一些品质：其一，要能耐得住寂寞；其二，要有充沛的体力。

However，happy country living takes a couple of special qualities. One is a tolerance for solitude; the other requirement is energy——a lot of it.

1. 地下铁路是由那些帮助黑奴逃往自由之地的英雄们努力创建的。

The underground railroad was forged by the heroes who helped slaves to escape north to liberty.

2. 在这些曾帮助把奴隶运送到北方的英雄当中，有些人以前自己就是奴隶。

Among these heroes who helped to transport slaves to the north, some of them were former slaves themselves.

3. 另外一些白人“列车员”由于其根深蒂固的信仰，觉得自己不能不参与其中。

Other White “conductors” felt compelled to take part because of their deeply held convictions.

4. 对许多参与者来说，把奴隶从剥削者那儿解放出来成了他们的使命。

For many of those involved, liberating the slaves from those who exploited them because a mission.

5. 当然，他们的最终目的是彻底废除奴隶制度。

Certainly, their eventual goal was to abolish slavery completely.

1. 美国已经从“自由之国”蜕变成一个最不安全的国家。无论在城市还是在乡村，再也不是门不落锁了。

America is deteriorating from “the land of the free” into the most insecure nation.. Doors are no longer left unlocked either in cities or in rural areas.

2. 取而代之的是防盗锁，安全链，电子报警系统的广泛使用。机场的安全部门使用电子透视设备防止恐怖袭击。

Instead, dead—bolt locks, security chains , and electronic alarm systems are widely put into use. Airport security uses electronic X—ray equipment to guard against terrorism.

3. 人们看到一些家庭的玻璃窗上也贴上了谨防小偷的小告示，郊区人家的玻璃滑门内也装上了不锈钢条。

Small notices warning against burglary are commonly seen pasted on the windows of most homes. Suburban families have steel bars built in sliding glass doors.

4. 大中型公司要求工作人员出示出入证。郊区的主妇们甚至在钥匙链上挂上了防强暴口哨。

Access cards are required of those who work with medium—to—large—size companies. Suburban housewives wear rape whistles on their key chains.

5. 我们应该记住的教训是：在对无行的恐惧的，人们把恐惧锁在门外，他们也成了自己的

囚徒。

The best legacy we should remember is that , in dealing with unseen horrors, people may have locked their fears out, but they become prisoners of themselves.

1. 出海在外的一个特别孤独的日子：19xx年感恩节，我开始认真思考这一节日的真正意义。

On an especially lonely day to be at sea ——Thanksgiving day in 1943, I began to give serious thought to the true meaning of the festival.

2. 感恩节的真正意义在于：我们应该真心地对待那些曾经帮助过我们的人表达我们真正的

谢意。

The true meaning of Thanksgiving is that we should sincerely express our gratitude to those who have ever helped us.

3. 我深刻地认识到：大凡人都暗自期望着有更多的人对自己的努力表达谢意。

I’ve got an insight into how most human beings go about longing in secret for more of their fellows to express appreciation for their efforts.

4. 我立刻给我父亲、祖母和学校校长写了信，用真挚的文字表达对他们的由衷的感激之情。

I immediately wrote letters to my dad. . my grandma and my school principle, expressing my heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to them with genuine statements.

5. 其实我们都是十分相像的凡人，有着相似的需求。因此，我强烈地希望每个人都能够发

现并褒扬各种美好的事物。

Actually, we are mightily and merely people, each with similar needs. So I strongly wish everyone to find the good and praise it.

1. 苏和约翰西在一家咖啡屋相遇，发现双方有许多共同语言，于是就一起开了这间画室。

Sue and Johnsy had met at a café, and they found that they had much in common, so the joint studio resulted.

2. 以前约翰西总是很活泼很愉快。后来她染上肺炎，这时苏才认识了她几个月的时间。

Johnsy had always been so lively and merry before she suffered from pneumonia. By then Sue had only known her a few months.

3. 而现在约翰西却只能直直地坐在床上，呆呆地看着窗外，似乎丧失了生存下去的勇气。

Now Johnsy just sat up in bed, staring out of the window, and seemed to lose the will to hang on to life.

4. 令人费解的是，她有一个奇怪的念头，即当窗外葡萄藤上的最后一片叶子落下的时候，

她也会死去。

It was puzzling that she had a strange belief that once the last leaf on the outside fell, she would die.

5. 多亏了我们的楼下邻居贝尔曼先生，他冒着生命危险画的“最后一片叶子”给了她重生

的希望。

Thanks to Behrman, our downstairs neighbor, the leaf he painted at the cost of his life aroused Johnsy’s hope to live on. 1. 干挨家挨户上门推销这一行得脸皮厚，这时因为不仅要经受风吹日晒，还要承受一次又

一次的闭门羹。

Making a living as a door-to-door salesman demands a thick skin, both to protect against the weather and against constantly having the door shut in your face.

2. 比尔波特忍受着一切，以及别的种种折磨——他说话困难而且很慢，右手手指严重扭曲，

走起路来摇摇晃晃。

Bill porter puts up with all this and much, much more- his speaking was difficult and took time, his right hand fingers were twisted and his steps were unsteady.

3. 他每天提着公文包沿着波特兰的大街挨家挨户地介绍和推销沃特金斯公司的家用物品。

Every day, he would pick up his briefcase, walk along Portland’s streets, and introduce or sale Watkins’ household products.

4. 连续好几年他都是沃特金斯的最佳零售推销员。他的一些老客户都是那些多次把他拒之

门外而后才买的人。

For several years he was Watkins’ top retail salesman. Some of his best customers are people who repeatedly turned him down before buying.

5. 比尔波特过着离群索居的生活。他没有带薪假期，没有放假，也没有加薪。但他能冲破

身体的局限，靠自己活着。

Bill porter leads a solitary life. He gets no paid holidays, vocations or raises. But he rises

above his limitations and lives on his own.