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There was once a boy who liked nothing more in the world than to win. He loved winning at whatever it may be：football, cards, video games……everything.And because he couldn't stand losing, he had become an expert in all kinds of tricks and cheating.He could play tricks in practically every situation, without being noticed；even in video games or playing alone.He could win without ever being caught.
He won so many times that everyone saw him as the champion.It meant that almost no one wanted to play with him, he was just too far ahead of everyone.One person who did play with him was a poor boy, who was a bit younger.The champion really enjoyed himself at the poor boy's expense, always making the boy look ridiculous.
But the champion ended up getting bored with all this. He needed something more, so he decided to apply for the national video games championship, where he would find some competitors worthy of himself.At the championship he was keen to show his skills but, when he tried using all those tricks and cheats he knew from a thousand different games, well……none of them worked.The competition judges had prevented any of the tricks from working.
He felt terribly embarrassed：he was a good player, but without his cheats, he couldn't beat a single competitor. He was soon eliminated, and sat there, sad and pensive.Finally, they announced the name of the tournament champion.It was the poor boy from home.The one he had always beaten！
Our boy realised that the poor boy had been much cleverer than himself. It hadn't mattered to the poor boy if he lost and got a good beating, because what he was really doing was learning from each of his defeats.And from so much learning he had been transformed into a real master.
From then on, the boy who had loved winning gave up wanting to win all the time.He was quite happy to lose sometimes, because that was when he would learn how to win on the really important occasions.
从前有一个小男孩，他在世界上最喜欢的事情就是赢。他喜欢在什么方面都赢：赢足球，赢纸牌，赢电子游戏……一切都要赢。因为他受不了输，所以他精通各种诡计和作弊方法。他几乎每次都可以耍花招，而且都不会被发现。甚至在打电子游戏或自己玩的时候他都要耍花招。他可以凭此取胜，一次都没有被抓住过。
他总是赢，所以大家都把它当作冠军。这也就意味着没有人想和他玩，他把所有人都落在了后面。唯一一个和他玩的是个穷小子，要比他稍小一些。冠军和穷小子一起玩得很是享受，他总是把小男孩弄得看上去很可笑。
但是冠军最终厌倦了这一切。他想要更多，所以他决定参加全国电子游戏锦标赛，在锦标赛上他也许能找到一些和他旗鼓相当的竞争对手。在比赛中他急于展示自己的才能，但是，当他试图使用那些他从以往的各种游戏中学到的鬼把戏和骗人伎俩的时候，却无一灵验。大赛的裁判们设法杜绝了所有这些花招发挥效力。
他感到非常尴尬：他是个很好的玩家，但是不通过作弊，他甚至连一个选手都打败不了。他很快就被淘汰了，坐在那里，悲伤而且忧心忡忡。终于，他们宣布了锦标赛冠军的名字。是那个家里来的穷孩子。那个总是被他打败的人！
男孩意识到穷孩子比他聪明多了。那个贫穷的男孩不在乎输赢。因为他会从每次的失败中吸取教训。经过这么多经验教训的洗礼，他变成了一个真正的高手。
从那以后，这个喜欢赢的男孩不再一味想赢了。有些时候他还输得挺开心，因为失败的时候，也正是他学习如何在至关重要的场合取胜的时候。
Moral of the Story：
The desire to always win at everything, to the extent of resorting to cheating, is the greatest obstacle to winning when winning is most important.
故事寓意：
在关键时刻影响获胜的最大障碍是即使通过作弊也要赢得一切的欲望。
词海拾贝：
play tricks 耍手段
ahead of 领先于；超过，胜过
ridiculous[rɪˈdɪkjʊləs]adj.可笑的；荒谬的
eliminated[ɪˈlɪmɪnetɪd]v.被淘汰；消除；排除（eliminate的过去分词）
pensive[ˈpensɪv]adj.忧郁的；悲伤的
tournament[ˈtʊənəm（ə）nt]n.锦标赛，联赛；比赛
transform into 转变成
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