With the orange we do live year in and year out. That speaks well for the orange. The fact is that there is an honesty about the orange which appeals to all of us. If it is going to be bad—for the best of us are bad sometimes—it begins to be bad from the outside, not from the inside. How many a pear which presents a blooming face to the world is rotten at the core. How many an innocent-looking apple is harboring a worm in the bud. But the orange had no secret faults. Its outside is a mirror of its inside, and if you are quick you can tell the shop men so before he slips it into the bag.

　　我们年复一年地吃着柑橘生活，这就是对它有力的辩护。事实上，是柑橘诚实的品格吸引了我们。假如它要开始腐败的话——因为我们之中的优秀者有时也会腐败的——它是从外表而不是从内里开始的。有多少梨子在向世人展示其鲜嫩的容光时，内里已经腐烂。有多少看上去纯美无瑕的苹果，刚刚发芽就已经包藏蛀虫。而柑橘从不隐藏瑕疵。它的外表是它内心的镜子，那么，如果你反应快，不等售货员把它丢进纸袋儿，你就能告诉他这是一个坏橘子。

　　更多精彩内容 >> 新东方网英语频道  

　　 全国新东方英语课程搜索

（编辑：王美娇）