vigilance n. 警戒,警覺心,守夜
The celebrated mathematician,Edmund Stone,would never have published a mathematical dictionary,never have found the key to science of mathematics,if he had given his spare moments to idleness,had the little Scotch lad,Ferguson,allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads,he would never have become a famous astronomer. Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant,spasmodic,or ill-directed labor;but faithful,unremitting,daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.
如果休·米勒在采石場(chǎng)勞作一天后，晚上的時(shí)光用來(lái)休息消遣的話，他就不會(huì)成為名垂青史的地質(zhì)學(xué)家。著名數(shù)學(xué)家愛德蒙·斯通如果閑暇時(shí)無(wú)所事事，就不會(huì)出版數(shù)學(xué)詞典，也不會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)開啟數(shù)學(xué)之門的鑰匙。如果蘇格蘭青年弗格森在山坡上放羊時(shí)，讓他那思維活躍的大腦處于休息狀態(tài)，而不是借助一串珠子計(jì)算星星的位置，他就不會(huì)成為著名的天文學(xué)家。 勞動(dòng)征服一切。這里所指的勞動(dòng)不是斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的，間歇性的或方向偏差的勞動(dòng)，而是堅(jiān)定的，不懈的，方向正確的每日勞動(dòng)。正如要想擁有自由就要時(shí)刻保持警惕一樣，要想取得偉大的，持久的成功，就必須堅(jiān)持不懈地努力。