A young man asked Socrates the secret of success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning.
They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river.
When the water got up to their necks, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water.
The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until he started turning blue. The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath.
Socrates asked, “What did you want most when you were there?” The man replied, “Air.”
Socrates said, “That's the most important secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret.”
【助读词汇】
-duck vt. 把（人等）猛按入水中
-gasp vi. 喘息，气喘 vt. 气喘吁吁地说
【参考译文】
一名年轻男子向苏格拉底请教成功的秘诀。苏格拉底告诉他次日早晨在河边相见。
两人如期而遇。苏格拉底要这个年轻男子和他一起向河中走去。
当河水漫到他们脖子的时候，苏格拉底突然抓住该男子并把他猛按入水中。
男子挣扎着想出来，但是苏格拉底非常强壮有力，一直摁着该男子，直到他脸色变青。年轻男子拼命挣扎并最终冲出了水面，紧接着就是大口喘气与深呼吸。
苏格拉底问道：“在水里时，你最想得到什么？”男子答道：“空气。”
苏格拉底说：“这就是成功的最重要的秘诀。当你像渴望空气一样迫切渴望成功时，你就会成功。没有其他的秘诀。”
【人生启迪】
我们每个人都渴望成功，都想拥有成功的秘诀，但是成功的秘诀其实很简单，首先就是要有对成功的渴望，只有如此，我们才会付出种种努力去追求成功，否则，连对成功最迫切的渴望都没有，自然没有动力去追求，又何来成功呢？