写在前面
这本书是耐克创始人菲尔·奈特(Phil
Knight)写的关于耐克公司的创业史，书的全名叫做《Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator
of Nike》，讲述了菲尔·奈特从一个热爱跑步的普通人进入跑鞋销售领域，从卖别人的鞋到创造自己的品牌，中间遭遇合作伙伴的背叛、开户银行的翻脸、竞争对手的构陷等重重困难，最终蜕变成一个世界品牌的艰辛历程。这本书并不是心灵鸡汤，也没有描述作者各种开挂的人生，而是写得有血有肉，幽默风趣，同时也写得很真实，敢于披露自己一些不太光彩的历史，值得我们重新审视对商业道德的思考。
这个书名Shoe Dog是什么意思，作者在一开头也没有说，是写到一半的时候才解释了这个词的来源，我们也不提前剧透，先卖个关子。另外，题目中的Memoir是需要学习的一个词，在传记类作品中很常见，读音[ˈmem·wɑr]，意思是a book or other piece of writing based on thewriter's personal knowledge of famous people, places, or events.
学习笔记
今天带来一部分描述菲尔·奈特遇到困难时如何思考、如何面对的内容，我觉得很经典，感触很深。
I SPENT MOSTofthe flight memorizingHow to Do Business
with the Japanese. When my eyes grew tired I shut the book and stared outthe window. I tried to talk to myself, to coach myself up. I told myself that Ineeded to put aside hurt feelings, put aside all thoughts ofinjustice, which would onlymake me emotional and keep me from thinking clearly. Emotion would befatal. I needed to remaincool.
injustice:a situation in which people are treated very unfairly and not given theirrights.
例句：They were aware of the injusticesof the system.
fatal:having a very bad effect, especially making someone fail or stop what they aredoing.
例句：He made the fatal mistake/errorof believing what they told him.
I thought back on my runningcareer at Oregon. I’d competed with, and against, men far better, faster, more physicallygifted. Many werefuture Olympians. And yet I’d trained myself to forget this unhappy fact.Peoplereflexivelyassumethat competition isalways a good thing, that it always brings out the best in people, but that’sonly true of people who can forget the competition. The art of competing, I’dlearned fromtrack,was the art of forgetting, and I now reminded myself of that fact. You mustforget your limits. You must forget your doubts, your pain, your past. You mustforget thatinternalvoice screaming, begging, “Not one more step!” And when it’s not possible toforget it, you must negotiate with it. I thought over all the races in which mymind wanted one thing, and my body wanted another, those lapsin which I’d had to tell my body,“Yes, you raise someexcellentpoints, but let’s keep going anyway . . .”
gifted:having special ability in a particular subject or activity.
reflexively:in a way that is caused by an uncontrolled physical reaction.
例句：My arm went up reflexively.
assume:to think that something is true, although you do not have definite proof.
例句：I didn’t see your car, so Iassumed you’d gone out.
track:a sport in which people compete with each other by running a race on aspecially prepared circular path.
internal:existing in your mind.
lap:a complete trip around a race track that is repeated several times during acompetition.
例句：Rubens Barrichello finished a lapahead of his team-mate.
excellent:extremely good or of very high quality
例句：His car is in excellentcondition.
Despite all my negotiations withthat voice, the skill had never come naturally, and now I feared that I wasout of practice. As theplaneswoopeddowntoward Haneda Airport I told myself that I’d need tosummonthe old skill quickly, or lose.
I could not bear the thought oflosing.
out of : nolonger in a stated place or condition.
swoop:to move quickly in a smooth path, esp. through the air.
summon:to try very hard to have enough of something such as courage, energy, orstrength, because you need it.
温馨提示
这本书有大概400页，用词有一定难度，不建议英语初学者阅读，特别是读开头部分的时候，会有点搞不懂作者想说什么，不过读到15%左右入戏就好了。