找到自己“精致的矿脉”

Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.

世人多不知道自己的短处，但也很少人知道自己的长处。人如土地，有时蕴藏金矿，本身却不知道。

——乔纳森·斯威夫特（Jonathan Swift）

【语句解析】

·men: man的复数，没有任何定冠词，实际上是指普通人类。

·be accused of：被指责为、被批判为。“He's accused of selfishnes”，意思是“他被指责为很自私”。

·few：和a few的区别，few是很少，而a few是尽管不多但有一些，所以few表示了否定性的极少。

·soil：土壤、土地。

·vein：静脉，在这儿是指矿脉，a vein of gold就是金子的矿脉。

·the owner knows not of: not of是中古英语的用法，正确用法应该是the owner doesn't know of, know of表示知道、知晓，把not放在后面，像诗歌的写法一样，是文学上的强调。