Level B2 General English

Lesson 45

Making And Reaching Goals
目標設定と達成

In high school, I was very competitive in everything I did. I always got top marks in all of my subjects. Even in sports, I always had to be the best and I hated it when my team lost the game. My parents would tell me that I should try to have more fun, but for me being the best was fun.

Of course, I got all A grades for my final exams and this meant that I was accepted by Oxford University to study biology. I wanted to be a scientist, I wanted to be the best scientist. I studied very hard but I remembered my parents' advice to have more fun. They had a saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”, so I tried to go out with my friends more often.

One evening I met a very nice girl in the pub. Her name was Alice and we both liked each other very much. We started going out and we were very happy. But I started studying longer and longer hours each day. Sometimes I forgot to meet Alice and she was angry with me. I spent my evenings doing experiments, writing essays and working on projects. One day I found a note slipped under my door. My relationship with Alice was over. I graduated from university with top grades of course but I always missed Alice. I suppose that’s the price of ambition.