The significant inscription（銘文） found on an old key "If I rest, I rust（生銹）" would be an excellent motto（座右銘） for those who are afflicted（折磨） with the slightest（輕微地） taint（玷污） of idleness（懶惰）. Even the most industrious might adopt（采用） it with advantage（有助于） to serve as（用作） a reminder（提醒） that, if one allows his faculties（天賦） to rest, like the iron（鐵） in the unused key, they will soon show signs（跡象） of rust and, ultimately（最終）, cannot do the work required（需要） of them.

Those who would attain（得到，達(dá)到） the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished（嫻熟的） by constant（不斷地） use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard（保護(hù)） the entrances（入口） to the professions（行業(yè)，領(lǐng)域）, to science, art, literature（文學(xué)）, agriculture（農(nóng)業(yè)） --- every department of human endeavor（努力）.

Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury（寶庫） of achievement（成就）. If Hugh Miller（休米勒，英格蘭地質(zhì)學(xué)家）, after toiling（辛勞） all day in a quarry（菜市場(chǎng)）, had devoted（貢獻(xiàn)） his evenings to rest and recreation（娛樂，消遣）, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated（著名的，馳名的；慶祝） mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published（出版） 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（小伙子）, 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（有孔的珠子）, he would never have become a famous astronomer（天文學(xué)家）.

Labor（勞動(dòng)） vanquishes（征服） all --- not inconstant（斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的）, spasmodic（間歇性的）, or ill-directed（方向偏差的） labor, but faithful（堅(jiān)定的）, unremitting（不懈的）, daily effort（努力） toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal（永恒的） vigilance（警惕） is the price of liberty（自由）, so is eternal industry is the price of noble（高貴） and enduring（持久的） success.