1. The significant inscription found on an old
key---“If I rest, I rust”---would be an excellent motto for those
who are afflicted with the slightest bit of
idleness.
在一把旧钥匙上发现了一则意义深远的铭文——如果我休息，我就会生锈。对于那些懒散而烦恼的人来说，这将是至理名言。
inscription：题字，碑铭
...inscription found
on..."found"此处为过去分词作定语
motto座右铭，比如新东方的motto：Language is
Power!语言就是力量！
be afflicted with受折磨
2. Even the most industrious person might adopt
it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his
faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon
show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of
them.
甚至最为勤勉的人也以此作为警示：如果一个人有才能而不用，就像废弃钥匙上的铁一样，这些才能就会很快生锈，并最终无法完成安排给自己的工作。
industrious勤勉的
industrious勤勉的
with advantage有效地
adopt采用
serve as a reminder当作提醒
show signs of
rust显出生锈的迹象，即上锈了
ultimately最终
3. Those who would attain the heights reached and
kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant
use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that
guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art,
literature, agriculture---every department of human
endeavor.
有些人想取得伟人所获得并保持的成就，他们就必须不断运用自身才能，以便开启知识的大门，即那些通往人类努力探求的各个领域的大门，这些领域包括各种职业：科学，艺术，文学，农业等。
这句话需要耐心理解：
先来分析
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by
great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use
句子主干：Those must keep their faculties...
who引导定语从句。
再分析who定语从句：who(those people)would attain the
heights reached and kept
by...(过去分词作定语，修饰前面的heights,相当于which were
reached and kept by great
men)整句含义：想取得伟人所获得并保持的成就的人们，他们必须不断运用自身才能。
so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate
that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art,
literature, agriculture---every department of human
endeavor.
so that引导目的状语从句“以便”
entrances to...通往...的入口
4. Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement.
勤奋使开启成功宝库的钥匙保持光亮。
5. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a
quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would
never have become a famous geologist.
如果休"米勒在采石场劳作一天后，晚上的时光用来休息消遣的话，他就不会成为名垂青史的地质学家。
toil苦干
devote onself to rest and
recreation献身于休息和娱乐
6. 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.
著名数学家爱德蒙"斯通如果闲暇时无所事事，就不会出版数学词典，也不会发现开启数学之门的钥匙。
celebrated著名的
give his spare time to
idleness闲暇时无所事事
7. 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.
如果苏格兰青年弗格森在山坡上放羊时，让他那思维活跃的大脑处于休息状态，而不是借助一串珠子计算星星的位置，他就不会成为著名的天文学家。
这句话的特色是倒装。主干是：had the little Scotch...allowed the
busy brain...,he would never have become a famous
astronomer.
相当于if the little Scotch...allowed the busy
brain...he would never have become a famous astronomer
8. Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant,
spasmodic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily
effort toward a well-directed purpose.
劳动征服一切。这里所指的劳动不是断断续续的，间歇性的或方向偏差的劳动，而是坚定的，不懈的，方向正确的每日劳动。
ill-directed方向有所偏差的
well-directed方向正确的
9. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the
price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and
enduring success.
正如要想拥有自由就要时刻保持警惕一样，要想取得伟大的，持久的成功，就必须坚持不懈地努力。
so is eternal industry the price of noble and
enduring success依然是个倒装结构，意为：
eternal industry is the price of noble and
enduring success.
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