(568) Carrot's Good News and Bad News

Two carrots are walking together down the street1). One of them stepped onto2) the road and ended up3) getting run over4) by a car.

The other carrot calls 9115) and they take him to the hospital.

After hours of waiting the doctor comes out and says, "I have good news and bad news, the good news is your friend is going to make it6), the bad news is that he's going to be a vegetable7) for the rest of his life."
二本のニンジンがいっしょに通りを歩いている1)。一本が道路にあしを踏み入れてしまい2)、結局3)車にひかれてしまった4)。もう一本のニンジンは救急車5)を呼び、病院へ連れて行った。何時間も待たされたあと、医者が出てきて、こう言った、「良いニュースと悪いニュースがあります、良いニュースは、あなたの友人は助かりそうだということです6)、悪いニュースは彼は今後、一生、植物人間7)になってしまうということです。」

1) down the street: along/down/up the street

2) onto: used with verbs to express movement on or to a particular place or position

   She stepped down from the train tonto the platform.

3) end up: to find yourself in a place or situation at the end of a process or period of time end up doing something / I ended up doing all the work myself.

4) run over: (of a vehicle or its driver) to knock a person or animal down and drive over their body or a part of it / Two children were run over and killed. My dog almost got run over.

5) 911: the phone number used in the US to call the police, fire or ambulance services in an emergency

6) make it: to survive after a serious illness or accident; do deal successfully with a difficult experience / The doctors think he's going to make it.

7) vegetable: (offensive) an offensive word for a person who is physically alive but not capable of much mental or physical activity, for example because of a serious accident or illness
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(567) Marathon vs 100m run

(1) Life is a marathon, so what's the use of coming in first for just 100 meters?

I often hear of similar quotes, and this reminds me of a Japanese phrase 一生懸命. I understand it as working hard for a lifetime.

My question is whether life is a marathon for everybody. The answer is no. Because I've found the next quote from a web site, Marathon Quotes.

(2) Life is often compared to a marathon, but I think it is more like being a sprinter; long stretches of hard work punctuated by brief moments in which we are given the opportunity to perform at our best.
長い間懸命に努力し、その間に最高のパフォーマンスを発揮できる瞬間がある。

  Who said this? Michael Johnson did. Who is he? He is an American retired sprinter who won four Olympic gold medals and 8 World Championships gold medals in the span of his career. He worked very hard for being a sprint. This reminds me another Japanese phrase, 一所懸命. This originally means "Work hard in one place," and means work hard for one thing.

These two quotes (1) and (2) say about opposite things, the marathon and the sprint. Which is more important for people to win a marathon or a 100m sprint? We cannot compare these two different kinds of races. Both are equally important at last.

  By the way, who said the quote (1)?
Taizo Ishizaka (1886-1975) did. He is a Japanese who served as chairman of Keidanren [Japan Business Federation] for 12 years.

人生はマラソンなんだから、100メートルで一等をもらったってしょうがない。
石坂泰三(1886-1975) 経団連

His quote can be rephrased like this, "I want to aim for victory at my life's goal, not be happy or sad about immediate success." He wanted to aim for victory at his life's goal.
What is life's goal?

It varies from person to person. For Michael Johson, being a sprinter was his life's goal. Then being a sprinter is as important as life is a marathon. Because importance doesn't depend on the length of races and lifetime. And Japanese 一所懸命 and 一生懸命 are now used in the same way, as work hard.
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