69. Mean What You Say p.476

    Some people say that promises are made to be broken. That certainly seems to be true in this cutthroat society that we live in. But if you break your promise, you will ruin your reputation¹ and no one will trust you anymore. So whenever we say, "I give you my word," we should mean it. There is nothing worse than to be let down by others because they have not kept their promises.

    In fact, it isn't so difficult to keep promises. Just remember never to promise anything we are not sure we can live up to. In short, therefore, to be trustworthy, we should always say what we mean and mean what we say.

    （You should） mean what you say  说话算话

    make/keep/break promises

    in cutthroat society 竞争激烈的社会    competitive 竞争的    to compete with others

    ruin/destroy one's reputation

    give you my word = Don't go back on your word   word不用复数  words吵架    promises 可用复数

    let down = disappointed  失望

    as a matter of fact —— in fact

    live up to 做到    live up to one's expectations（永远用pl）达到某人的期望