英语背诵美文30篇(翻译)（精选5篇）

第一篇：英语背诵美文30篇(翻译)

1．青春------------青春不是人生的一个阶段，而是一种心境；青春不是指粉红的面颊、鲜艳的嘴唇、富有弹性的膝盖，而是指坚定的意志、丰富的想象、充沛的情感；青春，它是清新的生命之泉。

青春是一种气质，勇敢胜过怯弱，渴求冒险而不贪图安逸。这样的气息60老者常常有，20青年恰恰无。年岁增添，未必使人垂老；理想不再，终于步入暮年。

岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦、惶恐、自卑，使人心灵扭曲，心灰意冷。

无论60还是16岁，人人心中都怀着对新奇事物的向往，象孩童般对未来充满憧憬，此情永不消退，在生活的游戏中汲取快乐。在你我的内心深处都有一座无线电台，只要它接收到人间和上帝发出的美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就会青春永驻。

一旦你收拢天线，心灵即被愤世嫉俗和自暴自弃的冰霜覆盖，即使年方二十，已经步入垂暮之年；然而只要你竖起天线，接收积极乐观的信号，你就有望在八十高龄过世时依然年轻。（黄亚萍）2．假如给我三天光明(节选)-------------------------我们都读过震撼人心的故事，故事中的主人公只能再活一段很有限的时光，有时长达一年，有时却短至一日。但我们总是想要知道，注定将要离世的人会选择如何度过自己最后的时光。当然，我说的是那些有选择权利的自由人，而不是那些活动范围受到严格限定的死囚。

这样的故事让我们思考，在类似的处境下，我们该做些什么？作为终有一死的人，在临终前的几个小时内我们应该做什么事、经历些什么或做哪些联想? 回忆往昔，什么使我们开心快乐? 什么又使我们悔恨不已? 有时我想，把每天都当作生命中的最后一天来过，也不失为一个极好的生活法则。这种态度会使人格外重视生命的价值。我们每天都应该以优雅的姿态、充沛的精力、抱着感恩之心来生活。但当时间以无休止的日、月和年在我们面前流逝时，我们却常常没有了这种感觉。当然，也有人奉行犬儒主义的“吃喝玩乐”信条，但绝大多数人还是会感受到即将到来的死亡的压力。

在故事中，将死的主人公通常都在最后一刻因突降的幸运而获救，但他的价值观通常都会改变，他变得更加理解生命的意义及其永恒的精神价值。我们常常注意到，那些生活在或曾经生活在死亡阴影下的人无论做什么都会感到幸福。

然而，我们中的大多数人都把生命看成是理所当然的。我们知道有一天我们必将面对死亡，但总认为那一天还在遥远的将来。当我们身强体健之时，死亡简直不可想象，我们很少考虑到它。日子多得好象没有尽头。因此我们一味忙于琐事，几乎意识不到我们对待生活的麻木态度。

我担心同样的冷漠也存在于我们对自己官能和意识的运用上。只有聋子才理解听力的重要，只有盲人才明白视觉的可贵，这尤其适用于那些成年后才失去视力和听力的人，但是那些从未受过丧失视力或听力之苦的人很少充分利用这些宝贵的能力。他们的眼睛和耳朵模糊地感受着周围的景物与声音，心不在焉，也无所感激。这正如我们只有在失去后才懂得珍惜一样，我们只有在生病后才意识到健康的可贵。

我经常想，如果每个人在年轻的时候都有几天失明失聪，也不失为一件幸事。黑暗将使他更加感激光明，寂静将告诉他声音的美妙。（李汉莉）3．以书为伴(节选)-通常看一个人读些什么书就可知道他的为人，就像看他同什么人交往就可知道他的为人一样，因为有人以人为伴，也有人以书为伴。无论是书友还是朋友，我们都应该以最好的为伴。

好书就像是你最要好的朋友。它始终不渝，过去如此，现在如此，将来也永远不变。它是最有耐心、最令人愉悦的伴侣。在我们穷愁潦倒、临危遭难时，它也不会抛弃我们，对我们总是一如既往地亲切。在我们年轻时，好书陶冶我们的性情，增长我们的知识；到我们年 老时，它又给我们以慰藉和勉励。

人们常常因为喜欢同一本书而结为知己，就像有时两个人因为敬慕同一个人而成为朋友一样。有句古谚说道：“爱屋及乌。”其实“爱我及书”这句话蕴涵着更多的哲理。书是更为真诚而高尚的情谊纽带。人们可以通过共同喜爱的作家沟通思想、交流感情，彼此息息相通，并与自己喜欢的作家思想相通、情感相融。

好书常如最精美的宝器，珍藏着人生思想的精华，因为人生的境界主要就在于其思想的境界。因此，最好的书是金玉良言和崇高思想的宝库，这些良言和思想若铭记于心并多加珍视，就会成为我们忠实的伴侣和永恒的慰藉。

书籍具有不朽的本质，是人类努力创造的最为持久的成果。寺庙会倒坍，神像会朽烂，而书却经久长存。对于伟大的思想来说，时间是无关紧要的。多年前初次闪现于作者脑海的伟大思想今日依然清晰如故。他们当时的言论和思想刊于书页，现在依然生动如初。时间惟一的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因为只有真正的佳作才能经世长存。

书籍介绍我们与最优秀的人为伍，使我们置身于历代伟人巨匠之间，如闻其声、如观其行、如见其人，同他们情感交融、悲喜与共、感同身受。我们觉得自己仿佛在作者所描绘的舞台上和他们一起粉墨登场。

即使在人世间，伟大杰出的人物也永生不灭。他们的精神被载入书册，传于四海。书是人们至今仍在聆听的智慧之声，永远充满着活力。（傅琳娜）4．如果我休息，我就会生锈--------------------------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。对于那些为懒散而苦恼的人来说，这将是至理名言。甚至是最为勤勉的人也可以此为警示：如果一个人有才而不用，就像废弃钥匙上的铁一样，这些才能很快就会生锈，并最终无法完成安排给自己的工作。

有些人想取得伟人所获得并保持的成就，他们就必须通过不断运用自身才能，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。

勤奋使开启成功宝库的钥匙保持光亮。休•米勒如果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。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。如果苏格兰青年弗格森在山坡上放羊时，让自己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。

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。正如要想拥有自由就必须时刻警惕一样，要想取得伟大的、持久的成功，就必须坚持不懈地努力。（杜朝玉）5．抱负------------一个缺乏抱负的世界将会怎样，这不难想象。或许，这将是一个更为友善的世界：没有渴望，没有摩擦，没有失望。人们将有时间进行反思。他们所从事的工作将不是为了他们自身，而是为了整个集体。竞争永远不会介入；冲突将被消除。人们的紧张关系将成为过往云烟。创造的重压将得以终结。艺术将不再惹人费神，其功能将纯粹为了庆典。人的寿命将会更长，因为由激烈拼争引起的心脏病和中风所导致的死亡将越来越少。焦虑将会消失。时光流逝，抱负却早已远离人心。

啊，长此以往人生将变的多么乏味无聊！

有一种盛行的观点认为，成功是一种神话，因此抱负亦属虚幻。这是不是说实际上并不存在成功？成就本身就是一场空？与诸多运动和事件的力量相比，男男女女的努力显得微不足道？显然，并非所有的成功都值得景仰，也并非所有的抱负都值得追求。对值得和不值得的选择，一个人自然而然很快就能学会。但即使是最为愤世嫉俗的人暗地里也承认成功确实存在，成就的意义举足轻重，而把世上男男女女的所作所为说成是徒劳无功才是真正的无稽 之谈。认为成功不存在的观点很可能造成混乱。这种观点的本意是一笔勾销所有提高能力的动机、求取业绩的兴趣和对子孙后代的关注。

我们无法选择出生，无法选择父母，无法选择出生的历史时期与国家，或是成长的周遭环境。我们大多数人都无法选择死亡，无法选择死亡的时间或条件。但是在这些无法选择之中，我们的确可以选择自己的生活方式：是勇敢无畏还是胆小怯懦，是光明磊落还是厚颜无耻，是目标坚定还是随波逐流。我们决定生活中哪些至关重要，哪些微不足道。我们决定，用以显示我们自身重要性的，不是我们做了些什么，就是我们拒绝做些什么。但是不论世界对我们所做的选择和决定有多么漠不关心，这些选择和决定终究是我们自己做出来的。我们决定，我们选择。而当我们决定和选择时，我们的生活便得以形成。最终构筑我们命运的就是抱负之所在。（叶雅珍）6．为何而生--------我的一生被三种简单却又无比强烈的激情所控制：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难难以抑制的同情。这些激情像狂风，把我恣情吹向四方，掠过苦难的大海，迫使我濒临绝望的边缘。

我寻求爱，首先因为它使我心为之着迷，这种难以名状的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去换取哪怕几个小时这样的幸福。我寻求爱，还因为它能缓解我心理上的孤独，在这种可怕的孤独中，我感觉心灵的战栗，仿如站在世界的边缘而面前是冰冷、无底的死亡深渊。我寻求爱，因为在我所目睹的爱的结合中，我仿佛看到了圣贤和诗人们所向往的天堂之景。这就是我所寻找的，虽然对人的一生而言似乎有些遥不可及，但至少是我用尽一生所领悟到的。我用同样的激情去寻求知识。我希望能够理解人类的心灵，希望能够知道群星闪烁的缘由。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的“数即万物”思想。我已经悟出了其中的一点点道理，尽管并不是很多。

爱和知识，用它们的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情却总把人又拽回到尘世中来。痛苦的呼喊声回荡在我的内心。饥饿中的孩子、受压迫的难民、被儿女们当作负担的无助的老人，还有这整个充满了孤独、贫穷和痛苦的世界，都是对人类所憧憬的美好生活无情的无情嘲弄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，我也难逃其折磨。

这就是我的一生。我已经找到了它的价值。而且如果有机会，我很愿意能再活它一次。（陈敏芬）7．爱的召唤--------当爱召唤你时，请追随她，尽管爱的道路艰难险峻。当爱的羽翼拥抱你时，请顺从她，尽管隐藏在其羽翼之下的剑可能会伤到你。当爱向你诉说时，请相信她，尽管她的声音可能会打破你的梦想，就如同北风吹落花园里所有的花瓣。

爱会给你戴上桂冠，也会折磨你。爱会助你成长，也会给你修枝。爱会上升到枝头，抚爱你在阳光下颤动的嫩枝，也会下潜至根部，撼动你紧抓泥土的根基。

但是，如果你在恐惧之中只想寻求爱的平和与快乐，那你就最好掩盖住真实的自我，避开爱的考验，进入不分季节的世界，在那里你将欢笑，但并非开怀大笑，你将哭泣，但并非尽情地哭。爱只将自己付出，也只得到自己。爱一无所有，也不会为谁所有，因为爱本身就已自足。

爱除了实现自我别无他求。但是如果你爱而又不得不有所求，那就请期望： 将自己融化并像奔流的溪水一般向夜晚吟唱自己优美的曲调。明了过多的温柔所带来的苦痛。被自己对爱的理解所伤害； 并情愿快乐地悲伤。

在黎明带着轻快的心醒来并感谢又一个有爱的日子； 在中午休息并品味爱的喜悦； 在黄昏怀着感恩之心回家； 然后为内心所爱之人祈祷，吟唱赞美之歌，并带着祷告和歌声入眠。（张亚芳）8．成功之道--------年轻人创业之初，应该从最底层干起，这是件好事。匹兹堡有很多商业巨头，在他们创业之初，都肩负过“重任”：他们与扫帚相伴，以打扫办公室的方式度过了他们商业生涯中最初的时光。我注意到我们现在办公室里都有工友，于是年轻人就不幸错过了商业教育中这个有益的环节。如果碰巧哪天上午，专职扫地的工友没有来，某个具有未来合伙人气质的年轻人会毫不犹豫地试着拿起扫帚。在必要时新来的员工扫扫地也无妨，不会因此而有什么损失。我自己就曾经扫过地。

假如你已经被录用，并且有了一个良好的开端，我对你的建议是：要志存高远。一个年轻人，如果不把自己想象成一家大公司未来的老板或是合伙人，那我会对他不屑一顾。不论职位有多高，你的内心都不要满足于做一个总管、领班或者总经理。要对自己说：我要迈向顶尖！要做就做你梦想中的国王！

成功的首要条件和最大秘诀就是：把你的精力、思想、资金集中投入到你所从事的行业里去，无论从事哪个职业，就要下定决心在那一领域闯出一片天地来；做这一行的领导人物，采纳每一点改进之处，采用最优良的设备，对专业知识熟稔于心。

一些公司的失败就在于他们分散了资金，因为这就意味着分散了他们的精力。他们向这方面投资，又向那方面投资；在这里投资，在那里投资，到处都投资。“不要把所有的鸡蛋都放在一个篮子里”的说法大错特错。我要对你说：“把所有的鸡蛋都放在一个篮子里，然后小心地看好那个篮子。”看看你周围，你会注意到：这么做的人其实很少失败。看管和携带一个篮子并不太难。人们总是试图提很多篮子，所以才打破这个国家的大部分鸡蛋。提三个篮子的人，必须把一个顶在头上，而这个蓝子很可能倒下来，把他自己绊倒。美国商人的一个缺点就是不够专注。

把我的话归纳一下：要志存高远；不要出入酒吧；要滴酒不沾，或要喝也只在用餐时喝少许；不要做投机买卖；不要寅吃卯粮；要把公司的利益当作你自己的利益；取消订货的目的永远是为了挽救货主；要专注；把所有的鸡蛋放在一个篮子里，然后小心地看好它；要量入为出；最后，要有耐心，正如爱默生所言，“谁都无法阻止你最终成功，除非你承认自己失败。”（谢继华）9．论见名人--------许多人热衷于见名人，我始终不得其解。在朋友面前吹嘘自己认识某某名人，由此而来的声望只能证明自己的微不足道。名人个个练就了一套处世高招，无论遇上谁，都能应付自如。他们给世人展现的是一副面具，常常是美好难忘的面具，但他们会小心翼翼地掩盖自己的真相。他们扮演的是大家期待的角色，演得多了，最后都能演得惟妙惟肖。如果你以为他们在公众面前的表演就是他们的真实自我，那你就傻了。

我自己就喜欢一些人，非常喜欢他们。但我对人感兴趣一般不是因为他们自身的缘故，而是出于我工作的需求。正如康德劝告的那样，我从来没有把认识某人作为目的，而是将其当作对一个作家有用的创作素材。比之名流显土，我更加关注无名小卒。他们常常显得较为自然真实，他们无须再创造另一个人物形象，用他来保护自己不受世人干扰，或者用他去感动世人。他们的社交圈子有限，自己的种种癖性也就越有可能得到滋长。因为他们从来没有引起公众的关注，也就从来没有想到过要隐瞒什么。他们会表露他们古怪的一面，因为他们从来就没有觉得有何古怪。总之，作家要写的是普通人。在我们看来，国王，独裁者和商界大亨等都是不符合条件的。去撰写这些人物经常是作家们难以抗拒的冒险之举，可为此付出的努力不免以失败告终，这说明这些人物都过于特殊，无法成为一件艺术作品的创作根基，作家也不可能把他们写得真真切切。老百姓才是作家的创作沃土，他们或变幻无常，或难觅其二，各式人物应有尽有，这些都给作家提供了无限的创作素材。大人物经常是千人一面，小人物身上才有一组组矛盾元素，是取之不尽的创作源泉，让你惊喜不断。就我而言，如要在孤岛上度过一个月，我宁愿和一名兽医相守，也不愿同一位首相做伴。（杨婷婷）10．生活理论半对半-我信奉对半理论。生活时而无比顺畅，时而倒霉透顶。我觉得生活就像来回摆动的钟摆。读懂生活的常态需要时间和阅历，而读懂它也练就了我面对未来的生活态度。

让我们来确定一下好坏的基准：是的，我注定会死去。我已经经历了双亲、一位好友、一位敬爱的老板和心爱宠物的死亡。有些突如其来，近在眼前，有些却缓慢痛苦。这些都是糟糕的事情，它们属于最坏的部分。

生活中也不乏高潮：坠入爱河缔结良缘；身为人父养育幼子，诸如训练指导儿子的棒球队，当他和狗在小河中嬉戏时摇桨划船，感受他如此强烈的同情心——即使对蜗牛也善待有加，发现他如此丰富的想象力——即使用零散的乐高玩具积木也能堆出太空飞船。

但在生活最好与最坏部分之间有一片巨大的中间地带，其间各种好事坏事像耍杂技一样上下翻滚，轮番出现。这就是让我信服对半理论的原因。

有一年春天，我在一块洼地上过早地种上了玉米。那块地极易遭到水淹，所以邻居们都嘲笑我。我为了浪费精力而感到懊恼。没想到夏天更为残酷——我经历了最糟糕的热浪和干旱。空调坏了，井干了，婚姻破裂了，工作丢了，钱也没了。我正经历着某首乡村歌曲中描绘的情节，我讨厌这种音乐，只有刚出道不久的堪萨斯皇家棒球队能鼓舞我的精神。

回首那个糟糕的夏天，我很快就明白了，所有后来出现的好事只不过与坏事相互抵消。比一般情况糟糕的境遇不会延宕过久；而太平时光是我应得的，我要尽情享受，它们为我注入活力以应对下一个险情，并确保我可以兴旺发达。对半理论甚至帮助我在堪萨斯皇家棒球队最近的低潮中看到希望——这是一块艰难行进的新手们耕耘的土地，只要播种了，假以时日我们就可以收获十月的金秋。

那个夏天天气酷热，地面湿度适宜，提早播种就可以在热浪打蔫植尖之前完成授粉，由于干旱更没有爆发洪水，立在田里的玉米得以保存。因此那个冬天粮仓里堆满了玉米——丰满、健康、一颗三穗且从头到脚都是饱满的玉米粒的玉米穗——而我的邻居们收获的只是晒黑的空壳。

尽管过去的播种可能没有达到50%的收获期望，而且将来也可能是这样，但我仍然能靠着在旱季繁茂生长的庄稼而生存下去。（黄翠红）11．你的恢复速率是多少？--------------------------你的恢复速率是多少？你需要多长时间才能从让你烦恼的行为中恢复？几分钟？几小时？几天？几星期？你需要的恢复时间越长，那个事件对你的影响就越大，你也就越不能做到最好。简言之，你的恢复时间越长，你就越软弱，你的表现也就越差劲。

你充分意识到，要保持身体健康你需要锻炼，并且你无疑会接受，你的心脏和呼吸系统在锻炼后的恢复速度是衡量健康的一个合理尺度。同样，你越快摆脱使你烦恼的问题，越快恢复平静，你就越健康。此类行为的最好典范是专业运动员。他们知道，越快忘记一件事或失去的机会而好好比赛，他们的发挥就越好。实际上，大多数运动员会估量自己克服并忘记比赛中一个事件所需的时间，而且大多数人都认为３０秒的恢复时间太长了！

想象自己是一位站在舞台上的戏剧演员。你的目标是尽全力扮演好你的角色。你已经拿到了剧本，而剧本中的每句话都以句号结尾。每次你念到一个句子的末尾，你就会开始一个新的句子。尽管下一句和上一句有关联，但并不受它的影响。你的工作是尽力说好每句台词。不要生活在过去！要学会生活在现在，学会克服过去；不要让过去影响你的日常生活；不要让过去的思想妨碍你做到最好；不要让过去干扰你的生活；学会快速恢复。

记住，罗马不是一日建成的。每天都反思自己的恢复速率；每天上床睡觉前，都看看自己的进步；不要躺在床上对自己说：“我那个做错了。”“我应该做得更好。”不要那样做；回想自己的一天，并注意自己努力给某个事件画上句号的时刻。这就是一个成功，你在控制自己的生活。记住这是一个循序渐进的过程。这不是简单的修修补补。你正在进行的是真正的改变，你的目标是：减少用在恢复上的时间。将来该怎么做呢？ 生活在当下，而不是过去。（粘金婵）12． 清理心灵空间--想一下你最近一次受到的消极情绪，例如压力、愤怒或挫折。当你处于那种消极情绪时你在想些什么？是充满了混乱的思绪？还是陷于麻木，无法思考？

下次当你发现自己处于非常紧张的状态时，或是你感到气愤或受挫时，停下来。是的，对，停下来。不管你在做什么，停下来坐上一分钟。坐着的时候，让自己完全沉浸在那种消极情绪之中。

让那种消极情绪充满你的心，给自己一分钟的时间去真切的体会那种情绪，不要欺骗自己。花整整一分钟的时间——但只有一分钟——去体会那种情绪，别的什么也不做。

当一分钟结束时，问自己：“我是否想在今天余下的时间里继续保持这种消极情绪？” 一旦你允许自己完全沉浸在那种情绪当中并真切体会到它，你就会惊奇地发现那种情绪很快就消失了。

如果你觉得还需要点时间来保持那种情绪，没关系，再给自己一分钟的时间去体会它。如果你觉得已经充分地感受了那份情绪，问自己是否愿意在今天余下的时间里继续保持这种消极情绪。如果不愿意，那就深呼吸。呼气的时候，把所有的消极情绪都释放出去。

这个方法似乎很简单——几乎是太过简单了，但却非常有效。通过给自己空间真正体会消极情绪，你是在处理这种情绪，而不是将其压制下去然后尽量不加理会。通过给予消极情绪所需的空间和关注，你实际上是在消解其力量，你就摆脱了它的控制。你可以清理头脑并继续做事。

你下次笼罩于消极情绪时，试一下这种做法，给自己一点空间来体会那种情绪并看看会发生什么。随身带一张写着如下字句的纸条：

停下来。沉浸一分钟。我想保持这种消极情绪吗？深吸气、呼气、放松。继续做事。这会提醒你该怎么去做。记住，要花你所需要的时间去真正沉浸于那种情绪之中。然后，当你感到自己已经充分体会到了它，就将其释放——真的放开它。你会惊奇地发现，你很快就能摆脱消极情绪，并开始做你真正想做的事情！（郑倩）13．快乐-----------“快乐的日子使人睿智。”-----约翰。梅斯菲尔德 第一次读靠英国桂冠诗人梅斯菲尔德的这行诗时，我感到十分震惊。他想表达什么意思？我以前从未对此仔细考虑，总是认定这行诗反过来才正确。但他冷静而又胸有成竹的表达引起我的注意，令我无法忘怀。

终于，我似乎领会了他的意思，并意识到这行诗意义深远。快乐带来的睿智存在于敏锐的洞察力之间，不会因忧虑而含混迷惑，也不会因绝望和厌倦而黯淡模糊，更不会因恐惧而造成盲点。

积极的快乐——并非单纯的满意或知足——通常不期而至，就像四月里突然下起的春雨，或是花蕾的突然绽放。然后，你就会发觉与快乐结伴而来的究竟是何种智慧。草地更为青翠，鸟吟更为甜美，朋友的缺点也变得更能让人理解、宽容。快乐就像是一副眼镜，可以矫正你的精神视力。

快乐的视野并不仅限于你周围的事物。当你不快乐时，隔住了。而在你快乐时，这道墙就会砰然倒塌。

你的眼界变得更为宽广。你脚下的大地，你身边的世界，包括人、思想、情感和压力，现在都融入了更为广阔的景象之中，其间每件事物的比例都更加合理。而这就是睿智的起始。(林香妹)14．生命的美好-----尽管有很多事让人忧虑，但相比而言，值得感激的事要多得多。尽管生命的美好有时被蒙上阴影，但它却永远不会被埋没。

相对于每一个无谓的破坏行为而言，都有更多数以千计更为微小的、包含着爱、友善和 同情的举动静静地上演着。相对于每一个试图伤害他人的人而言，都有更多的人致力于帮助他人、治愈他人的创伤。

生命的美好不能否认。

在最为壮观的前景和最为琐碎的细节中，请仔细观察，因为美好的事物总是散发着耀眼的光芒闪亮登场。

生命的美好没有界限。每一次相遇都会使这美好变得越发丰富。你经历得越多，越能欣赏生命的美好，生命中的美好就会变得越多。

即使当寒风袭来，整个世界似乎被雾气掩盖之时，生命的美好仍会存在。睁开双眼，打开心扉，你就会发现这。因为，在最黑暗的时刻，有一点变得格外清楚，那就是，生命是无价的财富。因此，正是与生命的美好相对立的事物使其越发强大。

无数次地，当你担心这美好已经远离之时，你会发现生命的美好只与你相隔须臾。它就在下一个角落，存在于每个时刻之间，等着给你惊喜。

花些时间让生命的美好感动自己的灵魂，放松自己的思绪。然后，把你的幸运与他人分享。因为生命的美好会在每次给予之间变得越来越壮观。

尽管总是有问题让你去关注，冲突也似乎愈演愈烈，但生命的美好却总是静静地、平和地，带着比以往更强的意志和更多的价值变得更加强大。（王丽华）15．直面内在的敌人-我们的勇气并不是与生俱来的，我们的恐惧也不是。也许有些恐惧来自你的亲身经历、别人告诉你的故事，或你在报纸上读到的东西。有些恐惧可以理解，例如在凌晨两点独自走在城里不安全的地段。但是一旦你学会避免那种情况，你就不必生活在恐惧之中。

恐惧，哪怕是最基本的恐惧，也可以彻底粉碎我们的抱负。恐惧可能摧毁财富，也可能摧毁一段感情。如果不加以控制，恐惧还可能摧毁我们的生活。恐惧是潜伏于我们内心的众多敌人之一。

让我来告诉你我们面临的其他五个内在的敌人。第一个你要在它袭击你之前将其击败的敌人是冷漠。打着哈欠说：“随它去吧，我就随波逐流吧。”这是多么可悲的疾病啊！随波逐流的问题是：你不可能漂流到山顶去。

我们面临的第二个敌人是优柔寡断。它是窃取机会和事业的贼，它还会偷去你实现更美好未来的机会。向这个敌人出剑吧！

第三个内在的敌人是怀疑。当然，正常的怀疑还是有一席之地的，你不能相信一切。但是你也不能让怀疑掌管一切。许多人怀疑过去、相信未来、怀疑彼此、相信政府、怀疑可能性，并怀疑机会。最糟糕的是，他们怀疑自己。我告诉你，怀疑会毁掉你的生活和你成功的机会，它会耗尽你的存款，留给你干涸的心灵。怀疑是敌人，追赶它，消灭它。

第四个内在的敌人是担忧。我们都会有些担忧，不过千万不要让担忧征服你。相反，让它来警醒你。担忧也许能派上用场。当你在纽约走上人行道时有一辆出租车向你驶来，你就得担忧。但你不能让担忧像疯狗一样失控，将你逼至死角。不管是什么来打击你，你都要打击它。不管什么攻击你，你都要反击。

第五个内在敌人是过分谨慎。那是胆小的生活方式。胆怯不是美德，而是一种疾病。如果你不理会它，它就会将你征服。胆怯的人不会得到提拔，他们在市场中不会前进、不会成长、不会变得强大。你要避免过分谨慎。

一定要向这些敌人开战。一定要向恐惧开战。鼓起勇气抗击阻挡你的事物，与阻挡你实现目标和梦想的事物作斗争。要勇敢地生活，勇敢地追求你想要的事物并勇敢地成为你想成为的人。（林清素）16．富足的生活方式-富足是一种生活方式。它不是你偶尔买来、从架子上拿下来、抹去灰尘用上一两次然后又放回到架子上的东西。

富足是一种哲学，它体现于你的生理机能和价值观之中，并带有自己的一套信仰。无论 走路、睡觉、洗澡你都会感受到它，你还要维护并照顾它。

富足并不一定需要金钱。许多人拥有金钱所能买到的一切，但却内心空虚。富足源自内心，其中包含一些重要的自我成分，比如爱、关心、善良和温柔、体贴与同情。富足是一种存在状态，它向外发散，像处于众多星球之间的太阳那样发光发亮。

来自富足的光亮不允许黑暗的出现或存在，除非选择允许它存在。真正的富足不给谎言或通常玩的游戏留有空间，因为富足已经把空间填得太满了。这可能是一个挑战，因为我们仍然需要为了让别人看见而发光。

富足是看到人们的天赋，而不是他们的缺陷。所有的事物都要看其天赋而不是缺陷。从知道自己的富足是什么时候开始，填满空间，全身心地投入生活。你的选择已经告诉了你。例如：教练能够了解队员并激发其潜力，那是他们的天赋；顾问和客服专业人士通常能够提供很多成功且很具实用性的案例；行政助理和虚拟助理熟识协调配合和时间管理的技巧。富足充盈于你的四周以及你的内心。明白富足的内容，爱本色的自己，不要为自己缺少的或是能变得更好的方面爱自己，而是为此时此刻的富足爱自己。

要处于你已经拥有的事物的富足状态。我保证它们就在那儿，深藏不露却从未远离。将其看成空气，吸入体内，因为它们是你的。放开暂时并不富足的东西。把你富足的所有天赋写在橱柜里的鞋盒子上，如果需要就每天早晨拉开橱柜，知道你的天赋都在那儿。

你需要学会信任自己的富足。当你开始处在自己富足的空间之内时，你所需要的东西都会在你需要的时刻出现，这就是更高的力量设置这个宇宙运转的方式。要相信宇宙的能量。知道这一点会让你在其力量方面保持谦卑，但也会让你的光亮闪耀在所有需要的地方。只要处于富足的状态，就是做你自己。（粘金婵）17．人生如诗-------我以为，从生物学角度看，人的一生恰如诗歌。人生自有其韵律和节奏，自有内在的生长与衰亡。人生始于无邪的童年，经过少年的青涩，带着激情与无知、理想与雄心，笨拙而努力地走向成熟；后来人到壮年，经历渐广，阅人渐多，涉世渐深，收益也渐大；及至中年，人生的紧张得以舒缓，人的性格日渐成熟，如芳馥之果实、如醇美之佳酿，更具容忍之心，虽亦愤世嫉俗，但对人生的态度趋于和善；再后来就是人生迟暮，内分泌系统活动减小，若此时吾辈已经悟得老年真谛，并据此安排残年，那生活将平和、宁静、安详而知足；终于，生命之烛摇曳而终熄灭，人开始永恒的长眠，不再醒来。

人们当学会感受生命韵律之美，像听交响乐一样，欣赏其主旋律、激昂的高潮和舒缓的尾声。这些反复的乐章对于我们的生命都大同小异，但个人的乐曲却要自己去谱写。在某些人心中，不和谐音会越来越刺耳，最终竟然能掩盖主曲；有时不和谐音会获得巨大的能量，令乐曲不能继续，这时人们或举枪自杀或投河自尽。这是他最初的主题被无望地遮蔽，只因他缺少自我教育。否则，常人将以体面的进展和进程走向既定的终点。在我们多数人胸中常常会有太多的断奏或强音，那是因为节奏错了，生命的乐曲因此而不再悦耳。我们应该如恒河，学她气势恢弘而永不停息地缓缓流向大海。

人生有童年、成年和老年，谁也不能否认这是一种美好的安排，一天要有清晨、正午和日落，一年要有四季之分，如此才好。人生本无好坏之分，只是各个季节有各自的好处。如若我们持此种生物学的观点，并循着季节去生活，除了狂妄自大的傻瓜和无可救药的理想主义者，谁能说人生不能像诗一般度过呢。莎翁在他的一段话中形象地阐述了人生七个阶段的观点，很多中国作家也说过类似的话。奇怪的是，莎士比亚并不是虔诚的宗教徒，也不怎么关心宗教。我想这正是他的伟大之处，他对人生秉着顺其自然的态度，他对生活之事的干涉和改动很少，正如他对戏剧人物那样。莎翁就像自然一样，这是我们能给作家或思想家的最高褒奖。对人生，他只是一路经历着、观察着，然后离我们远去了。（徐少红）18．独处-----------我发现人若大部分时间用于独处，将有益身心。与人为伴，即使是挚友，也很快会有厌烦或虚度光阴的感觉。我爱独处，我发现没有比独处更好的伴侣了。出国，身在熙攘人群中，要比退守陋室更让人寂寞。心有所想、身有所系的人总是孤身一人，不论他身处何地。独处与否也不是由人与人之间的距离来确定。在剑桥苦读的学子虽身处蜂巢般拥挤的教室，实际上却和沙漠中的苦行僧一样，是在独处。农人终日耕于田间，伐于山野，此时他虽孤单但并不寂寞，因他专心于工作；但待到他日幕而息，却未必能忍受形影相吊，空有思绪做伴的时光，他必到“可以看见大伙儿”的去处去找乐子，如他所认为的那样以补偿白日里的孤独；因此他无法理解学子如何能竟夜终日独坐而不心生厌倦或倍感凄凉；然而他没意识到，学子虽身在学堂，但心系劳作，他是耕于心田，伐于学林，这正和农人一样，学子在寻求的无非是和他一样的快乐与陪伴，只是形式更简洁罢了。

与人交住通常都因唾手可得而毫无价值，在频繁的相处中，我们无暇从彼此获取新价值。我们每日三餐相聚，反复让彼此重新审视的也是依旧故我，并无新奇之处。为此我们要循规蹈矩，称其为懂礼仪、讲礼貌，以便在这些频繁的接触中相安无事，无须论战而有辱斯文。我们相遇在邮局，邂逅在社交场所，围坐在夜晚的炉火旁，交情甚笃，彼此干扰着，纠缠着；实际上我认为这样我们都或多或少失去了对彼此的尊重。对于所有重要的倾心交流，相见不必过频。想想工厂里的女孩，她们虽从不落单，但也少有梦想。像我这样方圆一英里仅一人居住，那情况会更好。人的价值非在肌肤相亲，而在心有灵犀。

我的房子里有很多伙伴，尤其在无人造访的清晨。我把自己和周围事物对比一下，你或许能窥见我生活的一斑。比起那湖中长笑的潜鸟，还有那湖，我并不比它们孤独多少。你看：这孤单的湖又何以为伴呢？然而它那一湾天蓝的湖水里有的却是天使的纯净，而非魔鬼的忧郁。太阳是孤独的，虽然时而在阴郁的天气里会出现两个太阳，但其中之一为幻日；上帝是孤独的——魔鬼才从不孤单，他永远不乏伙伴，因从他者甚众。比起牧场上的一朵毛蕊花、一支蒲公英、一片豆叶、一叶酢浆草、一只牛虻或大黄蜂来，我并不孤单多少；比起密尔溪、风标、北极星、南风、四月春雨、正月融雪、或者新房中的第一只蜘蛛，我也并不更加孤单。（张亚芳）19．给生命以意义---你有没有想过，你希望人们在你死后怎样评论你？你能否听到这样的说法，“他是个伟大的人”或“人们的确会怀念她”，他们还会说些什么？

人生最奇异的现象之一就是，你从事的事业在你死后仍将长久存在。这和你用所有的钱进行投资以便后人能从中获益难道不是如出一辙吗？也许，如果你审视自己的内心深处，你就会发现促使你做出这种贡献的驱动力——— 一种驱使每个人寻找在自己死后仍能继续存在的事业的驱动力。

你希望自己的名字被人记住吗？你希望别人提起你的名字时心怀敬畏吗？你希望自己的面容被雕刻在50英尺高的花岗岩上吗？答案真的那么简单吗？贡献一生的目的难道是终将一死之人想要获得不朽名声的自我鞭策的欲望？抑或是其他更伟大的事物？

今天活着的孩子明天就会死去。一个有可能成为下一个爱因斯坦的婴儿会死于出生并发症。生命的情形并不是固定不变的。我们并没有注定都要活到老年。我们已经认识到，生命是一个周期，其时间长度是特定的。如果这些时间没有被充分利用，那就是个悲剧，因为人的潜能还未实现，因为火花还没形成火焰就被扑灭。

由于存在于肉体之中，所以我们接受这些风险。我们使易朽的肉体服从周围的物理环境的法则。你仔细想一想就会发现，这种交易并不那么糟糕。当我们幻想生命应该如何时，问题就来了。当生命和我们的幻想不一致时，我们就变得烦恼、无奈或沮丧。

我们活着，那我们就要活得精彩；我们有能力体验，那我们就要体验人生甘苦；我们有能力学习，那我们就要在学海徜徉。生命的意义可以在一瞬间抓住—— 一个经常被我们忽略的短暂瞬间。

当生命戏剧般地一幕幕拉开时，其中隐含的意义是什么？当我们周围所有其他真理都似乎随着时间而消逝时，我们能够掌握哪个真理并依靠它来生活呢？

这些瞬间串联在一起，我们称之为事件。这些事件串联在一起，我们称之为生活。当我 们抓住那个瞬间并按照我们的意志来改变它——这意志受到我们内心深处的精神的驱使，我们就发现了生命的意义——这意义将在我们离开地球之后长久存在。（杨丽华）20．品味现在-------在我们的潜意识之中隐藏着一幅田园诗般的风景。我们仿佛置身于一次横跨大陆的迢迢旅途之中。我们乘火车而行，领略窗外流动的景色：附近公路上驰骋的汽车、十字路口处挥手的孩童、远处山坡上吃草的牛群、发电站里冒出的滚滚烟尘、成片的玉米和小麦、平原和山谷、群山和绵延的丘陵、天空衬托下城市的轮廓以及乡间的庄园和宅第。

可是我们心中想得最多的却是最终的目的地。在某一天的某一时刻，我们将会进站。迎接我们的将是演奏的乐队和飘舞的旗帜。我们一旦到了那儿，许多美妙的梦想就将成为现实，我们的生活也将变得完整，就像一幅拼好的拼图。可我们现在在车厢过道里烦燥不安地踱来踱去，咒骂火车的磨磨蹭蹭。我们等待着，等待着，等待着火车进站。“等我们一到站，就万事大吉了！”我们呼喊着。“等我18岁的时候。”“等我买一辆新的450LS奔驰轿车的时候！”“等我供最小的孩子念完大学的时候。”“等我还清抵押贷款的时候！”“等我升官晋职的时候。”“等到退休，我从此就可以过上幸福的生活啦！”

可是我们迟早会认识到，人生之旅并没有车站，最终也没有地方可以到达。生活的真正乐趣就在于旅行的过程，而车站仅仅是个梦，它总是可望而不可及即。

真正让人发疯的不是今天的负担，而是对昨天的悔恨以及对明天的恐惧。悔恨和恐惧是一对孪生窃贼，将今天从我们身边夺走。

那么就不要在车厢过道里徘徊了，不要算计自已已经走了多远。换一种活法，去攀登更多的高山，多吃点冰淇淋解解馋，经常光着脚闲游漫步，在更多的河流里畅游，多欣赏夕阳西下，多点欢笑，少些泪花。我们必须在前进的过程中生活，车站很快就会到来。（蔡双双）21．爱美-----------爱美乃是健全人性不可或缺之一部分。它是一种道德品质。缺乏这种品质并不能作为受到责难的充分理由，但是拥有这种品质则是心灵美好的永恒标志。品德的高尚与美好所达到的程度可能与对美的感受程度成正比。

大自然的美无处不在，整个宇宙就是美的殿堂。美，在春日百花中绽放：美，在绿叶嫩枝间摇曳;美，在深海幽谷里游弋;美，在奇石与贝壳的缤纷色彩中闪烁。不只是这些细微这物，还有海洋、山川、云彩、繁星、日升日落——一切都洋溢着美。这样的美是如此珍贵，与我们最温柔、最高尚的情愫是如此相宜。然而，想到很多人置身于美之中，却几乎对它熟 视无睹，真是令人痛心不已。

所有的人都应该去认识大自然之美。没有一条我们踩过的小虫，没有一片在秋风拂掠之际飞舞的树叶不值得我们研究与赞赏。欣赏美的能力不仅增加了我们快乐的来源，也加强了我们德性的修养。美使我们不安的心平静下来，也驱散了我们的忧虑。到田野或森林去，在夏日的海边或山上呆上一天，那么你所有微不足道的困惑与焦虑都会烟消去散。倾听悦耳 的音乐，你那愚蠢的恐惧与狭隘的嫉妒都会过去。世界之美将有助于我们找到为善之美。（曾惠敏）22．快乐之门-------快乐就像一块为了激起阵阵涟漪而丢进池塘的小石头。正如史蒂文森所说，快乐是一种责任。

快乐这个词并没有确切的定义，快乐的人快乐的理由多种多样。快乐的关键并不是财富或身体健康，因为我们发现有些乞丐、残疾人和所谓的失败者也都非常快乐。

快乐是一种意外的收获，但保持快乐却是一种成就、一种灵性的胜利。努力追寻快乐并不自私，实际上，这是我们对自己和他人应尽的责任。

不快乐就像是传染病，它使得人们都躲避不快乐的人。不快乐的人很快就会发现自己处于孤独、悲惨、痛苦的境地。然而，有一种简单得看似荒谬的治病良方：如果你不快乐，就假装你很快乐！这很有效。不久你就会发现，别人不再躲着你了，相反，你开始吸引别人了。你会发觉，做一块能激起好意涟漪的小石头有多么值得。

然后假装就变成了现实。你拥有了使心灵平静的秘密，会因帮助他人而忘我。

一旦你认识到快乐是一种责任并使快乐成为习惯，能向不可思议的大门就会向你敞开，那里满是感激你的朋友。（王丽华）23．生而为赢-------人皆生而为新，为前所未有之存在；人皆生而能赢。人皆有其特立独行之方式去审视、聆听、触摸、品位及思考，因而都具备独特潜质——能力和局限。人皆能举足轻重，思虑明达，洞察秋毫，富有创意，成就功业。

“成者”和“败者”含义颇多。谈及成者我们并非指令他人失意之人。对我们而言，成者必为人守信，值得信赖，有求必应，态度诚恳，或为个人、或社会一员皆能以真诚回应他人。

成者行事并不拘泥于某种信条，即便是他们认为应为其奉献一生的理念；而是本色行事，所以并不把精力用来表演，保持伪装或操控他人。他们明了爱与装爱、愚蠢与装傻、博学与买弄之间迥然有别。成者无须藏于面具之后。

成者敢于利用所学，独立思考，区分事实与观点，且并不佯装通晓所有答案。他们倾听、权衡他人意见，但能得出自己的结论。尽管他们尊重、敬佩他人，但并不为他人所局限、所推翻、所束缚，也不对他人敬若神灵。

成者既不佯装“无助”，亦不抱怨他人。相反，他们对人生总是独担责任，也不以权威姿态凌驾他人之上。他们主宰自己，而且能意识到这点。

成者善于审时度势，随机应变。他们对所接受的信息做出回应，维护当事人的利益、康乐和尊严。成者深知成一事要看好时节，行一事要把握时机。

尽管成者可以自由享乐，但他更知如何推迟享乐，适时自律，以期将来乐趣更盛。成者并不忌惮追求所想，但取之有道，也并不靠控制他人而获取安然之感。他们总是使自己立于不败。

成者心忧天下，并不孤立于尘世弊病之外，而是置身事内，满腔热忱，致力于改善民生。即使面对民族、国家之危亡，成者亦非无力回天之个体。他总是努力令世界更好。(林香妹)24．工作和娱乐-----要想真正生活得幸福和平安，一个人至少应该有两三种业余爱好，而且必须是真正的爱好。到了晚年才开始说“我要培养这个或那个兴趣”是毫无用处的，这种尝试只会增加精神上的负担。在与自己日常工作无关的领域中，一个人可以获得渊博的知识，但却很难有所收益或得到放松。做自己喜欢的事是无益的，你得喜欢自己所做的事。广言之，人可以分为三个类别：劳累而死的人、忧虑而死的人和无聊而死的人。对于那些体力劳动者来说，一周辛苦的工作使他们精疲力竭，因此在周六下午给他们提供踢足球或者打棒球的机会是没有意义的。对于政界人士、专业人士或者商人来说，他们已经为棘手的事务操劳或者烦恼了六天，因此在周末请他们为琐事劳神同样毫无意义。

或者可以这么说，理智的、勤奋的、有用的人可以分为两类：对第一类人而言，工作就是工作，娱乐就是娱乐；对于第二类人而言，工作和娱乐是合二为一的。很大一部分人属于前者。他们可以得到相应的补偿。在办公室或工厂里长时间的工作，不仅带给他们维持生计的金钱，还带给他们一种渴求娱乐的强烈欲望，哪怕这种娱乐消遣是以最简单、最淳朴的方式进行的。而第二类人则是命运的宠儿。他们的生活自然而和谐。在他们看来，工作时间永远不够多，每天都是假期；而当正常的假日到来时，他们总会抱怨自己有趣的休假被强行中断。然而，有一些东西对于这两类人来说都十分必要，那就是变换一下视角，改变一下氛围，尝试做点不同的事情。事实上，那些把工作看作娱乐的人可能最需要以某种方式将工作不时地驱赶出自己的大脑。（陈敏芬）25镜子，镜子，告诉我 充满爱意的人生活在充满爱意的世界里，充满敌意的人则生活在充满敌意的世界里。你 所遇到的每一个人都是你的镜子。

镜子有一个非常独特的功能，那就是映射出在其前面的影像。就像真正的镜子具有反射功能一样，我们生活中的所有人也都能映射出他人的影子。

当我们看到美丽的事物时，例如一座花园，那这花园就起到了反射作用。为了发现我们面前美好的事物，我们必须能发现自己内在的美。我们爱某个人，也正是我们爱自己的表现。我们经常听到这样的话：“当我和那个人在一起的时候，我爱那时的自己。”这句话也可以简单地说成：“在我爱那个人的同时，我也能爱我自己。”有时，我们遇见一个陌生人，感觉仿佛是一见如故，就好像我们已经相识甚久。这种熟悉感可能来自于彼此身上的共同点。

就像“镜子”或他人能映射出我们积极的一面一样，我们更有可能注意到映射出自己消极方面的“镜子”。例如，我们很容易就能记住我们碰到自己不太喜欢的人的时刻。我们可能在心里对那个人有些反感。当我们认识自己不喜欢与之相处的人时，这种情况就更为明显。具有讽刺意味的是，通常当我们讨厌别人身上的某些特质时，那就说明你其实讨厌自己身上相类似的特质。

每次，当我遇到自己不太喜欢的人时，我就开始进一步质问自己。我会扪心自问：“我不喜欢那个人的哪些方面？”然后还会问：“我是不是有和他相似的地方？”每次，我都能在自己身上看到一些令我厌恶的特质。我有时不得不深刻地反省自己。那这意味着什么呢？ 这意味着，就像我会对其他人身上令我厌恶的特质感到愤怒或不安一样，我应该更好地重新审视自己的特质，并考虑做一些改变。即使我不想做大的改变，至少我会考虑该如何修正自己正在做的一些事情。

我们时常会遇到陌生人，并感到疏远或厌恶。尽管我们不想去相信，不容易也不想去深究，但是弄清楚别人的哪些特质在自己身上有所体现是非常有意义的一课，这也正是增强自我意识的另一个途径。（陈银树）26．微尘与栋梁-----让人奇怪的是，和别人的过错比起来，我们自身的过错往往不是那样的可恶。我想，其原因应该是我们知晓一切导致自己犯错的情况，因此能够设法谅解自己的错误，而别人的错误却不能谅解。我们对自己的缺点不甚关注，即便是深陷困境而不得不正视它们的时候，我们也会很容易就宽恕自己。据我所知，我们这样做是正确的。缺点是我们自身的一部分，我们必须接纳自己的好和坏。

但是当我们评判别人的时候，情况就不同了。我们不是通过真实的自我来评判别人，而是用一种自我形象来评判，这种自我形象完全摒弃了在任何世人眼中会伤害到自己的虚荣或者体面的东西。举一个小例子来说：当觉察到别人说谎时，我们是多么地蔑视他啊！但是，谁能够说自己从未说过谎？可能还不止一百次呢。

人和人之间没什么大的差别。他们皆是伟大与渺小、善良与邪恶、高尚与低俗的混合体。有的人性格比较坚毅，机会也比较多，因而在这个或那个方面，能够更自由地发挥自己的禀赋，但是人类的潜能却都是相同的，至于我自己我认为自己并不比大多数人更好或者更差，但是我知道，假如我记下我生命中每一次举动和每一个掠过我脑海的想法的话，世界就会将我视为一个邪恶的怪物。每个人都会有这样的怪念头，这样的认识应当能够启发我们宽容自己，也宽容他人。同时，假如因此我们得以用幽默的态度看待他人，即使是天下最优秀最令人尊敬的人，而且假如我们也因此不把自己看得过于重要，那是很有裨益的。（王丽香）27．十月的日出-----第二天凌晨，在十月的太阳升起之前，我已经起身并穿过了旷野和丛林。十月的清晨乍寒乍暖，日出的景象非常壮观。透过一片晨曦，朝阳从朦胧的山岗和起伏连绵的高地边际，沉重的抬起肩头。在它的逼视下，蒙蒙的雾气向下沉降，落到洼地里去，接着一丝一缕缕地悄悄飘散，而在草地之上悬岩之下的那些隐秘角落里，雾气却还不愿散去，同时群山的雄姿接二连三地显现出来。

森林也层层叠叠地显现，宛若刚刚苏醒的山峦的斗蓬，端庄威严，并带着狂风暴雨的回 忆。秋天成熟的手已经在抚摸这些山林，因为它们的颜色已经改变，染上了金黄、丹红和橄榄绿。它们对朝阳所怀的一片喜悦，像是要奉献给一个新郎，更像是要奉献给一位父亲。

然而，在树林那流动的景色逝去之前，欢悦的晨光突然跃出了峰峦和山谷，光线所及，把照到的地方和周围的森林分别染成青色、紫色琥珀色和富丽的红玫瑰色。光线照到哪里，那里就如同一幅幕布被掀开。而所有的一切同样的驱散恐惧和黑暗的魔影，所有的一切都展开希望的翅膀，向前飞翔，并大声宣告：“上帝在这里！”于是生命和欢笑从每一个蜷伏的洞穴里信心十足地欣然跃出；一切花朵、蓓蕾和鸟雀都感到了生命和欢笑而抖动起来；上帝的凝视汇合成温柔的恩泽。

也许，那永恒的晨光就会这样降临人间，那时不再有险崖沟壑，不再有峰峦山谷，也不再有浩瀚无际的海洋；万物都将踊跃升腾，在造物主慈爱的光芒中生辉，因为太阳已经升起。（林锦丽）28．生存还是毁灭---“生存还是毁灭。”除《圣经》以外，这六个字是整个世界文学中最著名的六个字。这六个字是哈姆雷特喃喃自语时所说的，而这六个字也是莎士比亚作品中最有名的几个字，因为哈姆雷特不仅道出了自己的心声，也道出了所有在思考的人的心声。生存还是毁灭——是活下去还是不要活下去，是要生活得丰富充实、兴致勃勃，还是生活得枯燥委琐、贫乏无味。一位哲人曾想弄清自己是否在活着，其实这个问题我们每个人都应该不时地扪心自问。他对这个问题的答案是：“我思，故我在。”

但是我所见过的关于生存最好的定义却出自另一位哲学家：“生活即是联系。”如果这话不假，那么一个生物拥有的联系越多，它就越有活力。所谓要活得丰富也即是要扩大和加强我们的各种联系。不幸的是，我们天生就容易陷入自己的陈规旧套。试问除去我们的日常事务，我们在多大程度上是活着的？如果你只对日常事物感兴趣，那你的生命也就局限于那个范围之内。就其他事物而言——诗歌、散文、音乐、美术、体育、无私的友谊、政治、国际事务等等——你只是一个死人。

反之，每当你有了一种新的兴趣——甚至是一种新的技艺——你就增加了自己生命的能量。一个对许多事物都深感兴趣的人不可能总不快乐，真正的悲观者是那些失去兴趣的人。

培根曾说，一个人每当失去朋友便死一次，但是通过结交新朋友，我们就能获得新的生命。这条对于生物来说千真万确的道理也完全适用于人的思想，思想也是有生命的。你思想之所在即是你生命之所在。如果你的思想只局限于自己的工作、自己的物质利益、自己所居住的城镇内狭小的生活圈子，那么你的生命也是局限的、狭小的。但是如果你对当前中国所发生的种种事感兴趣，那么你就相当于生活在中国；如果你对一本绝妙小说中的人物感兴趣，你就相当于生活在那些极有趣的人中间；如果你能全神贯注地听绝妙的音乐，你就会超脱周围环境而生活在一个充满激情与想象的世界之中。

生存还是毁灭——是活得热烈而丰富，还是活得像行尸走肉，那都取决于我们自己。让我们扩大并加强我们的联系吧。活着就要精彩！（郭海冰）29．葛底斯堡演说---八十七年前，我们的先辈们在这块大陆上创建了一个新国家。这个国家孕育于自由之中，奉行人人生而平等的原则。

现在我们正投身于一场伟大的内战，以考验这个国家，或者任何一个孕育于自由并奉行上述原则的国家能否长久存在。我们相聚在这场战争的一个伟大战场上。我们来到这里，是为了把这片战场的一部分献给那些在此为国家生存而捐躯的人们，将其作为他们最终的安息之所。我们这样做是完全恰当的，也是应该的。

但是，从更广泛的意义上来说，这块土地我们不能奉献，不能圣化，也不能神化。那些曾在此战斗过的勇士们，不论是活着的还是牺牲的，都已经圣化了这片土地。他们所做的远非我们的微薄之力所能扬抑。世界不会注意也不会铭记我们今天在此所说的话，但却绝不会忘记勇士们在此所做的壮举。而我们这些活着的人，应该在此献身于这未尽之业，这崇高的 未尽之业正是那些在此奋斗过的勇士们迄今所推进的。我们应该在此献身于留给我们的伟大任务——我们要从这些光荣的先烈身上汲取更多的献身精神，投身于他们鞠躬尽瘁的事业；我们在此下定决心，不让先烈们白白牺牲；在上帝的保佑下，让这个国家获得自由的新生；让这个民有、民治、民享的政府与世长存。(郭海冰)30．就职演讲-------我们今天庆祝的并不是政党的胜利，而是自由的胜利。它象征着结束，也象征着开始；它意味着复兴，也意味着变革。因为我已在你们和全能的上帝面前宣誓，这庄严的誓言是我们的祖先在将近一又四分之三个世纪以前所拟就的。

同胞们，我们事业的最终成败，主要取决于你们，而不是我。自建国以来，每一代美国人都曾受到召唤去证明自己对祖国的忠诚。响应这种召唤而服军役的美国青年的忠骨遍及世界各地。

现在那号角又在召唤我们，不是号召我们拿起武器，虽然我们需要武器；不是号召我们奔赴战场，虽然我们严阵以待；而是号召我们肩负起重任，去作黎明前漫长的斗争，年复一年，“在希望中欢乐，在磨难中忍耐”。这是一场对抗人类公敌的斗争，这些人类的公敌是：暴政、贫困、疾病和战争。

我们是否能够不分东西南北，建立一个全球性的伟大联盟来对付这些敌人，以确保全人类过上更美好的生活？你们愿意参与这历史性的努力吗？

在漫长的历史长河中，只有少数几代人在自由遭遇最大威胁威胁时被赋予捍卫自由的重任。在这一重任面前，我决不退缩，我将迎接它。我相信我们之中没有人愿意跟任何其他民族或其他时代交换我们现在所处的位置。我们为此付出的精力，信念与奉献，将照亮我们的祖国以及所有为国效力的人。那火焰所发出的光芒必能照亮全世界。

所以，我的美国同胞们，不要问你的国家能为你做些什么，而要问你能为你的国家做些什么。

全世界的公民们，不要问美国会为你做什么，而应问我们能为人类的自由共同做些什么。最后，无论诸位是美国公民抑或是他国的公民，请在此以我们要求你们效力与奉献的高标准来要求我们。问心无愧是我们惟一确定的报酬，历史将是我们所作所为的最后裁判者。让我们勇往直前来引领我们所热爱的土地，同时祈求上帝的保佑与扶携。但我们知道，在这个世界上，上帝的任务必须由我们自已来完成。（郑婷婷）

（厦门大学）

第二篇：高中英语 经典美文背诵_英语

By heart

Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end.In many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same lines night after night.One would expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter.Yet this is not always the case.A famous actor in a highly successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in the Bastille for twenty years.In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner.Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, he always insisted that it should be written out in full.One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the contents of the letter by heart.The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell.Just then, the gaoler appeared with the precious letter in his hands.He entered the cell and presented the letter to the aristocrat.But the copy he gave him had not been written out in full as usual.It was simply a blank sheet of paper.The gaoler looked on eagerly, anxious to see if his fellow-actor had at last learnt his lines.The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds.Then, squinting his eyes, he said: 'The light is dim.Read the letter to me.' And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler.Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler replied: 'The light is indeed dim, sire.I must get my glasses.' With this, he hurried off the stage.Much to the aristocrat's amusement, the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of glasses and the usual copy of the letter which he proceeded to read to the prisoner.有些剧目十分成功，以致连续上演好几年。这样一来，可怜的演员们可倒霉了。因为他们需要一夜连着一夜地重复同样的台词。人们以为，这些演员一定会把台词背得烂熟，绝不会临场结巴的，但情况却并不总是这样。

有一位名演员曾在一出极为成功的剧目中扮演一个贵族角色，这个贵族已在巴士底狱被关押了20年。在最后一幕中，狱卒手持一封信上场，然后将信交给狱中那位贵族。尽管那个贵族每场戏都得念一遍那封信。但他还是坚持要求将信的全文写在信纸上。

一天晚上，狱卒决定与他的同事开一个玩笑，看看他反复演出这么多场之后，是否已将信的内容记熟了。大幕拉开，最后一幕戏开演，贵族独自一人坐在铁窗后阴暗的牢房里。这时狱卒上场，手里拿着那封珍贵的信。狱卒走进牢房，将信交给贵族。但这回狱卒给贵族的信没有像往常那样把全文写全，而是一张白纸。狱卒热切地观察着，急于想了解他的同事是否记熟了台词。贵族盯着纸看了几秒钟，然后，眼珠一转，说道：“光线太暗，请给我读一下这封信。”说完，他一下子把信递给狱卒。狱卒发现自己连一个字也记不住，于是便说：“陛下，这儿光线的确太暗了，我得去眼镜拿来。”他一边说着，一边匆匆下台。贵族感到非常好笑的是：一会儿工夫，狱卒重新登台，拿来一副眼镜以及平时使用的那封信，然后为那囚犯念了起来。

Three Days to See I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life.Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight;silence would tech him the joys of sound.Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see.Recently I was visited by a very good friends who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed.“Nothing in particular.” she replied.I might have been incredulous had I not been accustomed to such reposes, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little.How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch.I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf.I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine.In the spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter's sleep.I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower, and discover its remarkable convolutions;and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me.Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song.I am delighted to have the cool waters of a brook rush thought my open finger.To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.To me the page ant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama, the action of which streams through my finger tips.我常常想，如果每个人在他成年的早期有一段时间致瞎致聋，那会是一种幸事，黑暗会使他更珍惜视力，寂静会教导他享受声音。

我不时地询问过我的能看见东西的朋友们，以了解他们看到什么。最近，我的一个很好的朋友来看我，她刚从一片森林里散步许久回来，我问她看到了什么，她答道：“没什么特别的。”如果我不是习惯了听到这种回答，我都可能不相信，因为很久以来我已确信这个情况：能看得见的人却看不到什么。

我独自一人，在林子里散步一小时之久而没有看到任何值得注意的东西，那怎么可能呢？我自己，一个不能看见东西的人，仅仅通过触觉，都发现许许多多令我有兴趣的东西。我感触到一片树叶的完美的对称性。我用手喜爱地抚摸过一株白桦那光潮的树皮，或一棵松树的粗糙树皮。春天，我摸着树干的枝条满怀希望地搜索着嫩芽，那是严冬的沉睡后，大自然苏醒的第一个迹象。我抚摸过花朵那令人愉快的天鹅绒般的质地，感觉到它那奇妙的卷绕，一些大自然奇迹向我展现了。有时，如果我很幸运，我把手轻轻地放在一棵小树上，还能感受到一只高声歌唱的小鸟的愉快颤抖，我十分快乐地让小溪涧的凉水穿过我张开的手指流淌过去。对我来说，一片茂密的地毯式的松针叶或松软而富弹性的草地比最豪华的波斯地毯更受欢迎。对我来说四季的壮观而华丽的展示是一部令人激动的、无穷尽的戏剧。这部戏剧的表演，通过我的手指端涌淌出来。

YOUTH

Samuel Ullman Youth is not a time of life;it is a state of mind;it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.Youth means a tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20.Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.We grow old by deserting our ideals.Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spring back to dust.Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living.In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.青春

塞缪尔·厄尔曼

青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。

青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。

岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。

无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。

一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉希望。

Hello, Chicago.If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled.Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.We are, and always will be, the United States of America.It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.Yes we can.America, we have come so far.We have seen so much.But there is so much more to do.So tonight, let us ask ourselves--if our children should live to see the next century;if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call.This is our moment.This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids;to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace;to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one;that while we breathe, we hope.And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.Thank you.God bless you.And may God bless the United States of America.您好，芝加哥

如果还有人仍在怀疑美国是否是一个一切皆有可能的国度的话，如果还有人仍在疑虑我们美国的缔造者的梦想是否还存在于我们这个时代的话，如果还有人仍在质疑我们民主的力量的话，今晚你就可以得到答案。

它的答案告诉延伸线，围绕学校和教堂的人数这个民族从未见过的，等待三个小时，四个小时的人们，许多第一次在他们的生活，因为他们认为，这次一定是不同的，他们的声音可能是不同的。

不管你是年轻人还是老年人，是富人还是穷人，是民主党人还是共和党人，是黑人还是白人，也不管你是拉丁美洲人或亚洲人还是本土美国人，更无论你是否为同性变者、是否是残疾人，这是美国人共同的答案。美国人向全世界传递一个声音，那就是我们的选举从不分红州或蓝州。

我们属于，而且永远只属于美利坚合众国。

它的答案，导致这些谁一直在说这么长时间这么多的是玩世不恭和恐惧和怀疑是我们能够实现把他们手中的弧的历史和弯曲再次向希望一个更美好的一天。

虽然等待了很长时间，但在今晚的这一决定性时刻，由于我们在这次选举中的努力，美国终于迎来了变革。

一名男子降落在月球上，墙上下来在柏林，世界是连接我们自己的科学和想象力。

今年，在这次选举中，她谈到她的手指到屏幕上，她和演员投票，因为106年后，在美国，通过最好的时候和最黑暗的时间，她知道怎样可以改变美国。

是我们能够做到。

美国，我们来到迄今。我们已经看到这么多。但有这么多事情要做。因此，今夜，让我们反问一下我们自己，如果我们的孩子能够活到下个世纪；如果我的女儿能够幸运地活得像安-尼克森-库珀那样长，他们将会看到什么样的变化？我们那时将会取得什么样的进步？

这是我们来回答问题的机会，这是我们的时刻。

这是我们的时代，要使我们的人民重新工作并将机会留给我们的子孙；重新恢复繁荣并促进和平；回归我们的美国梦想并重申一个基本事实--在众人之中，我们也是其中一个；当我们呼吸，当我们充满希望的时候，我们遭遇冷嘲热讽和质疑，那些人认为我们无法做到。我们将用一句话来做出回应：不，我们可以！

谢谢您。上帝保佑你。愿上帝保佑美利坚合众国。

We are on a Journey

Wherever you are, and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike at this moment, and in all the moments of our existence.We are not at rest;we are on a journey.Our life is a movement, a tendency, a steady ceaseless progress toward an unseen goal.We are gaining something, or losing something, everyday.Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing.For the mere advance of time is a change.It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July.The season makes the difference.The limitations that are childlike in the children are childish in the man.Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another.Even the failure to do something is in itself a deed.It sets us forward or backward.The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole.To decline is to accept — the other alternative.Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday? Yes, — you must be a little nearer to some port or other;for since your ship was first launched upon the sea of life, you have never been still for a single moment;the sea is too deep, you could not find an anchorage if you would;there can be no pause until you come into port.无论你身处何处，也不管你是谁，此刻，抑或是我们生命存在的每一个瞬间，有一件事对我们来说都是一样的：我们没有停留；我们正在旅途上。

生命是一种运动，是一种趋势，是一个向着未知目标奋进的无休止的行进。每天，我们有所得亦有所失。我们时时刻刻都在改变，即使我们的状态和角色看上去没有丝毫的变化。只因为时间推移的本身就是一种变化。对于一块荒芜的土地，一月和七月是截然不同的。因为季节的变化让他有所区别。能力的局限在孩子们的身上只是一种天真，而在大人的身上却表现出一种幼稚。

我们做的所有事情都是向着某个方向迈出了一步。即使是失败，本身也是一个作为，左右着我们的进退。磁针的负极作用与正极作用是一样的真实。

对比昨天的你，今天你是否离自己的目标更近了？答案是肯定的，你一定离某个港口更近了些。因为自从你的航船在生命的海洋中起航的那一刻起，你就从来没有停泊过。海水太深了，你寻找不到抛锚之处。你永远都不可能停下来，除非你到达自己的港口。

《海上钢琴师》 经典英文对白

1900: Moonlight city.You just couldn’t see an end to it.It wasn’t what I saw that stopped me ,Max.It was what I didn’t see.Take the piano.Keys begin.Keys end.You know there are 88 of them.They’re not infinite.You’re infinite.And on those keys, the music that you can make is infinite.I like that.That I can live by.But you get me up on that gangway, and you roll them out

in front of me.Keyboards have millions and billions of keys that never end.That keyboard is infinite.Then on that keyboard there’s no music you can play.That’s God’s piano.Did you see the streets?

There’re thousands of them.How do you choose just one?

One woman, one house, one way to die…….You don’t even know where it comes to an end.Aren’t you ever just scared of breaking apart with the

thought of it?

I was born on this ship.And the world passed me by.But 2000 people at a time and there’re old wishes here.But nevermore that fit between prow and stern..You played out your happiness bit on a piano that was not

infinite.I learned to live that way.Land?

Land is a ship too big for me，It’s a woman too beautiful, a bridge too long, perfume to

strong, music I don’t know how to play.I can never get off this ship.At best, I didn’t step off my life.After all, I don’t exist for anyone.偌大的城市，绵延无尽。

并非是我眼见的让我停住了脚步，而是我所看不见的。你能明白吗？

拿钢琴来说。

键盘有始亦有终。

你确切地知道88个键就在那儿，错不了。

它们并不是无限的，而你，才是无限的。你能在键盘上表现的音乐是无限的。

我喜欢这样，我能轻松应付。

而你现在让我走过跳板，走到城市里，等着我的是一个没有尽头的键盘。

我又怎能在这样的键盘上弹奏呢？

那是上帝的键盘啊！

你看到那数不清的街道吗？

如何只选择其中一条去走？

一个共渡一生的女人，一幢属于自己的屋子，一种生与死的方式~~~~

你甚至不知道什么时候才是尽头。

一想到这个，难道不会害怕、会崩溃吗？

我在这艘船上出生。

世事千变万化，然这艘船每次只载2000人。

这里有着希望，但仅在船头和船尾之间。

你可以在有限的钢琴上奏出你的欢欣快乐。

我习惯了这样的生活。

陆地？

陆地对我来说是一艘太大的船，太漂亮的女人，太长的旅程，太浓烈的香水，无从着手的音乐。

我永远无法走下这艘船，这样的话，我宁可舍弃我的生命。

毕竟，我从来没有为任何人存在过

If I Were a Boy Again

If i were a boy again, I would practise perseverance more often, and never give up a thing because it was hard or invonvenient.If we want light, we must conquer darkness.Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results.“There are only two creatures,” says a proverb, “who can surmount the pyramides-the eagle and the snail.” If i were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention;I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand.I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once.The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough.I often hear grown-up people say,“I could not fix my attention on the lecture or book, althought i wished to do so,” and the reason is, the habit was not formed in yourth.If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of memory.I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and , on every possible occasion.It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately,but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble.It only needs early cultivation to become a power.If i were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side.Life is very much like a mirrow.If you smile upon it, it smiles back upon you;but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.Inner sunshine warms not only the heart fo the owner, but of all that come in contact with it.Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut from love.If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say“No” oftenner.I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing a unworthy act because it is unworthy.If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards stangers as well.The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would , if I werea boy again, try still harder to make others happy..假如我又回到了童年

假如我又回到了童年，我做事要更有毅力，决不因为事情艰难或者麻烦而撒手不干，我们要光明，就得征服黑暗。毅力在效果上有时能同天才相比。俗话说：“能登上金字塔的生物，只有两种——鹰和蜗牛。”

假如我又回到了童年，我就要养成专心致志的习惯；有事在手，就决不让任何东西让我分心。我要牢记：优秀的滑冰手从不试图同时滑向两个不同的方向。如果及早养成这种专心致志的习惯，它将成为我们生命的一部分。我常听成年人说：“虽然我希望能集中注意听牧师讲道或读书，但往往做不到。”而原因就是年轻时没有养成这种习惯。

假如我现在能重新开始我的生命，我就要更注意记忆力的培养。我要采取一切可能的办法，并且在一切可能的场合，增强记忆力。要正确无误地记住一些东西，在开始阶段的确要作出一番小小的努力；但要不了多久，记忆力本身就会起作用，使记忆成为轻而易举的事，只需及早培养，记忆自会成为一种才能。

假如我又回到了童年，我就要培养勇气。一位明智的作家曾说过：“世上没有东西比勇气更温文尔雅，也没有东西比懦怯更残酷无情。” 我们常常过多地自寻烦恼，杞人忧天。“怕祸害比祸害本身更可怕。”凡事都有危险，但镇定沉着往往能克服最严重的危险。对一切祸福做好准备，那么就没有什么灾难可以害怕的了。

假如我又回到了童年，我就要事事乐观。生活犹如一面镜子：你朝它笑，它也朝你笑；

如果你双眉紧锁，向它投以怀疑的目光，它也将还以你同样的目光。内心的欢乐不仅温暖了欢乐者自己的心，也温暖了所有与之接触者的心。“谁拒爱于门外，也必将被爱拒诸门外。”

假如我又回到了童年，我就要养成经常说“不”字的习惯。一个少年要能挺得起腰，拒绝做不应该做的事，就因为这事不值得做。我可以写上好几页谈谈早年培养这一点的重要性

假如我又回到了童年，我就要要求自己对伙伴和朋友更加礼貌，而且对陌生人也应如此。在坎坷的生活道路上，最细小的礼貌犹如在漫长的冬天为我们歌唱的小鸟，那歌声使冰天雪地的寒冬变得较易忍受。

最后，假如我又回到了童年，我不会力图为自己谋幸福，好像这就是人生唯一的目的；与之相反，我要更努力为他人谋幸福.No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you!

In 1989 an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened America, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes.In the midst of utter devastation and chaos, a father left his wife safely at home and rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be, only to discover that the building was as flat as a pancake.After the unforgettably initial shock, he remembered the promise he had made to his son: “No matter what, I'll always be there for you!” And tears began to fill his eyes.As he looked at the pile of ruins that once was the school, it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his commitment to his son.He began to direct his attention towards where he walked his son to class at school each morning.Remembering his son's classroom would be in the back right corner of the building;he rushed there and

started digging through the ruins.As he was digging, other helpless parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying: “My son!” “My daughter!” Other well-meaning parents tried to pull him off what was left of the school, saying: “It's too late!They're all dead!You can't help!Go home!Come on, face reality, there's nothing you can do!” To each parent he responded with one line: “Are you going to help me now?” And then he continued to dig for his son, stone by stone.The fire chief showed up and tried to pull him off the school's ruins saying, “Fires are breaking out, explosions are happening everywhere.You're in danger.We'll take care of it.Go home.” To which this loving, caring American father asked, “Are you going to help me now?”

The police came and said, “You're angry, anxious and it's over.You're endangering others.Go home.We'll handle it!” To which he replied, “Are you going to help me now?” No one helped.Courageously he went on alone because he needed to know for himself: “Is my boy alive or is he dead?” He dug for eight hours...12 hours...24 hours...36 hours...then, in the 38th hour, he pulled back a large stone and heard his son's voice.He screamed his son's name, “ARMAND!” He heard back, “Dad!?!It's me, Dad!I told the other kids not to worry.I told them that if you were alive, you'd save me and when you saved me, they'd be saved.You promised, No matter what happens, I'll always be there for you!You did it, Dad!” “What's going on in there? How is it?” the father asked.“There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad.We're scared, hungry, thirsty and thankful you're here.When the building collapsed, it made a triangle, and it saved us.” “Come out, boy!”

“No, Dad!Let the other kids out first, cause I know you'll get me!No matter what happens, I know you'll always be there for me!”

第三篇：英语美文段落背诵

Youth Youth is not a time of life;it is a state of mind;it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions;it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living.In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.------

Risks To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.To reach out for another is to risk involvement.To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.To place your ideas and your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.To love is to risk not being loved in return.To live is to risk dying.To hope is to risk despair.To try is to risk failure.But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.The person, who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing and is nothing.This person may avoid suffering and sorrow, but cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.Chained by attitudes he is a slave;and forfeited freedom.Only a person who risks is free.------

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;A time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;A time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;A time to get, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to cast away;A time to rend, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;A time to love, and a time to hate;a time of war, and a time of peace.－

Ecclesiastes 3:3

------

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after

righteousness: for they shall be filled.Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the

children of God.Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.--Matthew 5:3-11------

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever.Amen.--Matthew 6:9-13------

First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.Then they came for the socialists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.--Martin Niem?ller------

An Anonymous Poem After a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul, And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning and company doesn’t mean security，And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts and presents aren’t promises，And you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes open, with the grace of an adult, not the grief of a child, And learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans.After a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much.So plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.And you learn that really can endure…that your really are strong, And you really do have worth.------

Happiness Consists in Love

Who can say in what remoteness of time, in what difference of earthly shape, love first comes to us as a stranger in the jungle? We, in our human family, know him through dependence in childhood, through possession in youth, through sorrow and loss in their season.In childhood we are happy to receive;it is the first opening of love.In youth we take and give, dedicate and possess—rapture and anguish are mingled, until parenthood brings a dedication that, to happy, must ask for no return.All these are new horizons of content, which the lust of holding, the enemy of love, slowly contaminates.Loss, sorrow and separation come, sickness and death;possession, that tormented us, is nothing in our hands;it vanishes.Love’s elusive enchantment, his ubiquitous presence, again became apparent;and in age we may reach a haven that asking for nothing knows how to enjoy.------

Mystery We are all still romantics at heart.The romantics give us back our moon, for instance, which science has taken away from us and made into just another airport.Secretly we all want the moon to be what it was before—a mysterious, hypnotic light in the sky.We want love to be mysterious too, as it used to be, and not a set of psycho-therapeutic rules for interpersonal relationships.We crave mystery even as we forge ahead toward the solution of one cosmic mystery after another.

第四篇：英语经典美文背诵100篇007-010

Learn to live in the present moment 学会生活在现实中

To a large degree,the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live on the present moment.Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year, and what may or may not happen tomorrow, the present moment is where you are---always!我们内心是否平和在很大程度上是由我们是否能生活在现实之中所决定的．不管昨天或去年发生了什么，不管明天可能发生或不发生什么，现实才是你时时刻刻所在之处． Without question, many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about variety of things--all at once.We allow past problems and future concerns dominate your present moments, so much so that we end up anxious,frustrated,depressed,and hopeless.On the flip side, we also postpone our gratification, our stated priorities, and our happiness, often convincing that “someday” will be much better than today.Unfortunately, the same mental dynamics that tell us to look toward the future will only repeat themselves so that 'someday' never actually arrives.Jhon Lennone once said, “Life is what is happening while we are busy making other plans.” When we are busy making 'other plans', our children are busy growing up, the people we love are moving away and dying, our bodies are getting out of shape, and our dreams are slipping away.In short, we miss out on life.毫无疑问，我们很多人掌握了一种神经兮兮的艺术，即把生活中的大部分时间花在为种种事情担心忧虑上－－而且常常是同时忧虑许多事情．我们听凭过去的麻烦和未来的担心控制我们此时此刻的生活，以至我们整日焦虑不安，委靡不振，甚至沮丧绝望．而另一方面我们又推迟我们的满足感，推迟我们应优先考虑的事情，推迟我们的幸福感，常常说服自己＂有朝一日＂会比今天更好．不幸的是，如此告戒我们朝前看的大脑动力只能重复来重复去，以至＂有朝一日＂哟贫农公元不会真的来临．约翰．列侬曾经说过：＂生活就是当我们忙于制定别的计划时发生的事．＂当我们忙于指定种种＂别的计划＂时，我们的孩子在忙于长大，我们挚爱的人里去了甚至快去世了，我们的体型变样了，而我们的梦想也在消然溜走了．一句话，我们错过了生活．

Many people lives as if life is a dress rehearsal for some later date.It isn't.In fact, no one have a guarantee that he or she will be here tomorrow.Now is the only time we have, and the only time that we have any control over.When we put our attention on the present moment, we push fear from our minds.Fear is the concern over events that might happen in the future--we won't have enoughh money,our children will get into trouble,we will get old and die,whatever.许多人的生活好象是某个未来日子的彩排．并非如此．事实上，没人能保证他或她肯定还活着．现在是我们所拥有的唯一时间，现在也是我们能控制的唯一的时间．当我们将注意力放在此时此刻时，我们就将恐惧置于脑后．恐惧就是我们担忧某些事情会在未来发生－－我们不讳有足够的钱，我们的孩子会惹上麻烦，我们会变老，会死去，诸如此类．

To combat fear, the best stradegy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present.Mark Twain said,“I have been through some terrible things in life, some of which actually happened.” I don't think I can say it any better.Practice keeping your attention on the here and now.Your effort will pay great dividends.若要克服恐惧心理，最佳策略是学会将你的注意力拉回此时此刻．马克．吐温说过：＂我经历过生活中一些可怕的事情，有些的确发生过．＂我想我说不出比这更具内涵的话．经常将注意力集中于此情此景，此时此刻，你的努力终会有丰厚的报偿．

3How High Can You Jump?

Flea trainers have observed a strange habit of fleas while training them.Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it.The fleas will jump up and hit the top of the cardboard box over and over and over again.As you watch them jump and hit the lid, something very interesting becomes obvious.The fleas continue to jump, but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top.When you take off the lid, the fleas continue to jump, but they will not jump out of the box.They won't jump out because they can't jump out.Why? The reason is simple.They have conditioned themselves to jump just so high.Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high, that's all they can do!Many times, people do the same thing.They restrict themselves and never reach their potential.Just like the fleas, they fail to jump higher, thinking they are doing all they can do.跳蚤训练人在训练跳蚤时发现跳蚤有一个奇怪的习惯。若把跳蚤放在一个有顶盖的盒子里，他们会不断地跳起来，撞击顶盖。

你观察他们跳起来撞击顶盖，会慢慢发现一个有趣的现象。他们仍会跳起来，但不会再撞到顶盖。

当你把顶盖拿开时，跳蚤还会接着跳，但却不会跳出盒子。为什么呢？原因很简单。它们已经习惯了只跳那么高。

一旦它们习惯只跳这么高之后，它们就只能跳这么高了。

很多时候，人们也是一样。他们自己限制了自己，从来不去发掘自己的潜力。就像跳蚤一样，没能跳得更高，还以为已经到了自己能力的极限。4热爱生活（Love Your Life）Henry David Thoreau/享利.大卫.梭罗

However mean your life is,meet it and live it;do not shun it and call it hard names.It is not so bad as you are.It looks poorest when you are richest.The fault-finder will find faults in paradise.Love your life,poor as it is.You may perhaps have some pleasant,thrilling,glorious hourss,even in a poor-house.The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there,and have as cheering thoughts,as in a palace.The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any.May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.Most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means.which should be more disreputable.Cultivate poverty like a garden herb,like sage.Do not trouble yourself much to get new things,whether clothes or friends,Turn the old,return to them.Things do not change;we change.Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。5父爱和母爱

Motherly and Fatherly Love Motherly love by its very nature is unconditional.Mother loves the newborn infant because it is her child, not because the child has fulfilled any specific condition, or lived up to any specific expectation.Unconditional love corresponds in one of 'the deepest longings, not only of the child, but of every human being;on the other hand, to be loved because of one's merit, because one deserves it, always leaves doubt: maybe I did not please the person whom I want to love me, maybe this or that--there is always a fear that love could disappear.Furthermore, “deserved” love easily leaves a bitter feeling that one is not loved for oneself, that one is loved only because one pleases, that one is, in the last analysis, not loved at all but used.No wonder that we all cling to the longing for motherly love, as children and also as adults.The relationship to father is quite different.Mother is the home we come from, she is nature, soil, the ocean;father does not represent any such natural home.He has little connection with the child in the first years of his life, and his importance for the child in this early period cannot be compared with that of mother.But while father does not represent the natural world, he represents the other pole of human existence;the world of thought, of man-made things, of law and order, of discipline, of travel and adventure.Father is the one who teaches the child, who shows him the road into the world.Fatherly love is conditional love.Its principle is “1 love you because you fulfill my expectations, because you do your duty, because you are like me.” In conditional fatherly love we find, as with unconditional motherly love, a negative and a positive aspect.The negative aspect is the very fact that fatherly love has to be deserved, that it can be lost if one does not do what is expected.The positive side is equally important.Since his love is conditional, I can do something to acquire it, I can work for it;his love is not outside of my control as motherly love is.母爱和父爱

母爱的天性是无条件的。母亲爱她的新生婴儿，因为那是她的孩子，而不是因为这个小孩符合了什么特别的条件，也不是因为孩子达到了她的某种特别的期望。无条件的爱符合——不只是小孩子，而且是每个人最深切的渴望。另一方面，如果因为自己的优点，因为自己值得爱而被别人爱，我们总会心存疑虑：可能我没有使那个我希望他(她)爱我的人满意吧?可能这个，可能那个——总是害怕那份爱会消失。而且―值得的‖爱很容易令人产生一种辛酸的感觉：似乎一个人不是因为自身而被爱，而是因为自己可以令别人高兴，令别人满足才被爱，似乎自己根本不是被爱而是被利用了。无怪乎我们全都依恋、渴望着母爱，不论小孩还是成年人都如此。

孩子同父亲的关系就完全不同了。母亲是我们的发源地，她是自然、是土壤、是海洋；父亲不代表任何这些自然的归宿。在孩子初生的前几年中，父亲和孩子接触很少。在此期间，对于孩子来说，父亲的重要性远远比不上母亲。但是，虽然父亲不代表这自然的世界，他却代表了人类存在的另一极——思想的世界、人造的世界、法律和秩序的世界、纪律的世界、旅行和冒险的世界。教育孩子的人是父亲，向孩子展示通向世界之路的人也是父亲。父爱是有条件的。它的原则是：―因为你达到了我的期望，因为你完成了你的职责，因为你像我，所以我爱你。‖在有条件的父爱中，我们(像在无条件的母爱中一样)发现它既有消极的一面，又有积极的一面。消极的一面是父爱的给予只在你值得得到爱的条件下，而且如果你没有做到他所期望的事，你可能会失去这份爱。积极的一面也同样重要。既然他的爱是有条件的，我可以采取一些办法去获取它，我可以为之而努力；他的爱像母爱一样，并没有越出我的控制力

LOVE I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.我爱你，不是因为你是一个怎样的人，而是因为我喜欢与你在一起时的感觉。

2)No man or woman is worth your tears, and the one who is, won‘t make you cry.没有人值得你流泪，值得让你这么做的人不会让你哭泣。

3)The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can‘t have them.失去某人，最糟糕的莫过于，他近在身旁，却犹如远在天边。

4)Never frown, even when you are sad, because you never know who is falling in love with your smile.纵然伤心，也不要愁眉不展，因为你不知是谁会爱上你的笑容。

5)To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.对于世界而言，你是一个人；但是对于某个人，你是他的整个世界。

6)Don‘t waste your time on a man/woman, who isn‘t willing to waste their time on you.不要为那些不愿在你身上花费时间的人而浪费你的时间。

7)Just because someone doesn‘t love you the way you want them to, doesn‘t mean they don‘t love you with all they have.爱你的人如果没有按你所希望的方式来爱你，那并不代表他们没有全心全意地爱你。

8)Don‘t try so hard, the best things come when you least expect them to.不要着急，最好的总会在最不经意的时候出现。

9)Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one, so that when we finally meet the person, we will know how to be grateful.在遇到梦中人之前，上天也许会安排我们先遇到别的人；在我们终于遇见心仪的人时，便应当心存感激。

10)Don‘t cry because it is over, smile because it happened.不要因为结束而哭泣，微笑吧，为你的曾经拥有

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy –ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy.I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss.I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined.This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what-at last-I have found.With equal passion I have sought knowledge.I have wished to understand the hearts of men.I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flu.A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens.But always pity brought me back to earth.Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart.Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be.I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.This has been my life.I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.三种激情-----罗素

三种激情虽然简单，却异常强烈，它们统治着我的生命，那便是：对爱的渴望，对知识的追求，以及对人类苦难的难以承受的同情。这三种激情像变化莫测的狂风任意地把我刮来刮去，把我刮入痛苦的深海，到了绝望的边缘。

我曾经寻找爱，首先是因为它能使我欣喜若狂——这种喜悦之情如此强烈，使我常常宁愿为这几个小时的愉悦而牺牲生命中的其他一切。我寻求爱，其次是因为爱能解除孤独——在这种可怕的孤独中，一颗颤抖的良心在世界的边缘，注视着下面冰凉、毫无生气、望不见底的深渊。我寻求爱还因为在爱的融合中，我能以某种神秘的图像看到曾被圣人和诗人想象过的天堂里未来的景象。这就是我所追求的东西，虽然这似乎对于人类的生命来说过于完美，但这确实是我最终发现的东西。我怀着同样的激情去寻找知识，我曾渴望着理解人心，我曾渴望知道为何星星会闪烁，我还企图弄懂毕达哥拉斯所谓的用数字控制变化的力量，但在这方面，我只知道一点点。

爱的力量和知识的力量引我接近天堂，但同情之心往往又把我拉回大地。痛苦的哭泣回响、震荡在我的心中。饥饿的儿童，被压迫、受折磨的人们，成为儿孙们讨厌的包袱的、无助的老人们，充斥着整个世界的孤独的气氛，贫穷和苦难，所有这一切都是对人类生活原本该具有的样子所作的讽刺。我渴望消除一切邪恶，但我办不到，因为我自己也处于苦难之中。这就是我的生活，我认为值得一过。而且，如果有第二次机会，我将乐意地再过一次。

奥哈拉给女儿的信

这是奥哈拉写给女儿的一封信。女儿将从中学毕业，这就意味着她将不再是小孩了。在这人生关键时刻，作为父亲，他既对女儿过去的表现表示满意，也对女儿的将来充满信心。然而，他却不忘再次重复自己对女儿立身行事的一句忠告：真诚地对待自己。这是要求女儿具有自信、自助、自律、自尊、自爱的品质。这句话显然是作者丰富的生活阅历和人生经验的总结，也是对女儿的谆谆教诲，赋予思想一种真切动人的感情力量。虽然信是写给予自己女儿的，但是这句忠告却具有普遍性的教育意义，是天下父母对子女的最真挚的希望。作者的语言温馨自然，平和亲切，看似叙述家常，却在平常中显示了令人惊叹的智慧，又让人产生一心的感觉。

John O'hara to His Daughter

TLS,1 p.Mrs.Doughty Quogue, Long Island 16 September 1962, Sunday

My dear: Well, here we are — but not here.You at St.Tim's, Sister in Princeton, and me in Quogue, and another brand new year is about to start for you.For me, too.I always seem to approach the autumn in the frame of mind that spring induces in most people.The excitement of new things;the new plays, the new books, new clothes, etc., etc., etc.At the same time the autumn for me is a season of a sweet melancholy that is hard to explain.I love the early evenings, the leaves burning, the lights in houses.It is the beginning of a big year for you, in many respects your biggest so far.By the time June comes around you will be 18, and graduating from school.In the past week or so I have called you ―Kid‖ but subconsciously I have been doing that because your kid days are over, or just about.I suspect that you are going through the experience of first love, and no matter what else happens, after that experience you are never a kid again.Most of the nice things we associate with being a kid are okay — while you are still kid.But you gain more than you lose.You gain in understanding standing, in appreciation of people, in understanding and appreciation of yourself.You begin to see the wisdom in that quotation I have so often repeated to you: to thine own self be true.Every year at this time I have repeated that quotation to you, and the time is not really too far distant when you will be passing it on to your own children.It is probably the best single piece of advice I can give you, or you can give them.You have done well, and I am pleased with you, not only for what you have done, but for what you are.As Miss Finnegan said to Sister, ―Wylie has the right reactions.‖ So good luck in your Senior Year, and always know that the

oldman loves you very much

Always Dad Mother & Child 妈妈与孩子

It was Christmas 1961.I was teaching in

那是1961年的圣诞节。我在俄a small town in Ohio where my twenty-seven third graders eagerly anticipated the great day of gifts giving.亥俄州的一个小镇上教小学三年级。班上27个孩子都在积极参加“礼物赠送日”的活动。

教室的一角被一棵树装点得熠熠生辉，树上缀满了金银丝帛和华丽的彩纸。教室的另一角是A tree covered with tinsel and gaudy paper

一个涂着海报油彩由纸板制成的chains graced one corner.In another rested a manger scene produced from cardboard and 马槽，这出自孩子们那胖乎乎、脏poster paints by chubby, and sometimes

兮兮的小手。有人带来了一个娃grubby, hands.Someone had brought a doll and placed it on the straw in the cardboard

娃，把它放在纸板槽里的稻草上box that served as the manger.It didn't matter that you could pull a string and hear(假装小耶稣)。只要拉拉它身上的the blue-eyed, golden-haired dolly say, “My name is Susie.” “But Jesus was a boy 一条细绳，这个蓝眼睛、金发的娃baby!” one of the boys proclaimed.Nonetheless, Susie stayed.娃就会说道，“我叫苏西”，不过这都没有关系。一个男孩提出：“耶稣可是个小男孩呀!”不过苏西还是留了下来。Each day the children produced some new

每天孩子们都会做点儿新wonder--strings of popcorn, hand-made trinkets, and German bells made from

玩意--爆米花串成的细链子、手工wallpaper samples, which we hung from the

做的小装饰品和墙纸样做的德国ceiling.Through it all she remained aloof, watching from afar, seemingly miles away.式风铃，我们把这些风铃挂在了天I wondered what would happen to this quiet child, once so happy, now so suddenly

花板上。但自始至终，她都是孤零withdrawn.I hoped the festivities would

零地远远观望，仿佛是隔了一道几appeal to her.But nothing did.We made cards and gifts for mothers and dads, for

里长的障碍。我猜想着这个沉默的sisters and brothers, for grandparents，原来那个快乐and for each other.At home the students 孩子发生了什么事，made the popular fried marbles and vied 的孩子怎么突然变得沉默寡言起with one another to bring in the prettiest ones.“ You put them in a hot frying pan，来。我希望节日的活动能吸引她，Teacher.And you let them get real hot, and then you watch what happens inside.But you 可还是无济于事。我们制作了许多don't fry them too long or they break.”So，准备把它们送给爸爸as my gift to them, I made each of my 卡片和礼物，students a little pouch for carrying their

妈妈、兄弟姐妹、祖父母和身边的fried marbles.And I knew they had each made something for me: bookmarks carefully cut, 同学。学生们在家里做了当时很流colored, and sometimes pasted together;cards and special drawings;liquid embroidery doilies, hand-fringed, of course.把玻璃弹子放在热油锅里，让它们烧热，然后看看里面的变化。但不要炸得时间过长否则会破裂。“所以，我给每个学生做了一个装”油炸弹子“的小袋作为礼物送给他们。我知道他们每个人也都为我做行“油炸”玻璃弹子，并且相互比着，要把最好看的拿来。“老师，了礼物：仔细剪裁、着色，或已粘集成串的书签；贺卡和特别绘制的图片；透明的镶边碗碟垫布，当然是手工编制的流苏。

The day of gift-giving finally came.We 赠送礼物的那天终于到了。

在oohed and aahed over our handiwork as the presents were exchanged.Through it all, 交换礼物时我们为对方亲手做的she sat quietly watching.I had made a

小礼品不停地欢呼叫好。而整个过special pouch for her, red and green with white lace.I wanted very much to see her

程，她只是安静地坐在那儿看着。smile.She opened the package so slowly and carefully.I waited but she turned away.I 我为她做的小袋很特别，红绿相间had not penetrated the wall of isolation

还镶着白边。我非常想看到她笑一she had built around herself.笑。她打开包装，动作又慢又小心。我等待着，但是她却转过了身。我还是没能穿过她在自己周围树起的高墙，这堵墙将她与大家隔离了开来。

After school the children left in little 放学后，学生们三三俩俩地离groups, chattering about the great day yet 开了，边走边说着即将到来的圣诞to come when long-hoped-for two-wheelers 节：家中的圣诞树旁将发现自己心and bright sleds would appear beside their 系已久的自行车和崭新发亮的雪trees at home.She lingered, watching them 橇。她慢慢地走在后面，看着大家bundle up and go out the door.I sat down 拥挤着走出门外。我坐在孩子们的in a child-sized chair to catch my breath, 小椅子上稍稍松了口气，对要发生hardly aware of what was happening, when 的事没有一点准备。这时她向我走she came to me with outstretched hands, 来，双手拿着一个白色的盒子向我bearing a small white box, unwrapped and 伸过来。盒子没有打包装，稍有些slightly soiled, as though it had been held 脏。好像是被孩子未洗过的小手摸many times by unwashed, childish hands.She

过了好多遍。她没有说话。”给我said nothing.“For me?” I asked with a weak smile.She said not a word, but nodded her 的吗?“我微微一笑。她没出声，只head.I took the box and gingerly opened it.是点点头。我接过盒子，非常小心There inside, glistening green, a fried marble hung from a golden chain.Then I looked into that elderly eight-year-old

链子，上面坠着一块闪闪发光的face and saw the question in her dark brown eyes.In a flash I knew--she had made it

“油炸”玻璃弹子。然后我看着她for her mother, a mother she would never see again, a mother who would never hold her or 的脸，虽只有8岁，可却是成人的brush her hair or share a funny story, a mother who would never again hear her

表情。在她深棕色的眼睛里我找到childish joys or sorrows.A mother who had

了问题的答案。我在一瞬间明白过taken her own life just three weeks before.来--这是她为妈妈做的项链，她再也见不到的妈妈，再也不能抱她、给她梳头或一起讲故事的妈妈。她的妈妈已再也不能分享她充满童稚的快乐，分担她孩子气的忧伤。就在3个星期前她的妈妈离开了人世。

I held out the chain.She took it in both

我拿起那条链子。她用双手her hands, reached forward, and secured the simple clasp at the back of my neck.She 接过它，向前探了探身，在我的脖stepped back then as if to see that all was

子后把简易的项链钩系好。然后她well.I looked down at the shiny piece of glass and the tarnished golden chain, then

向后退了几步，好像在看看是否合back at the giver.I meant it when I whispered,“ Oh, Maria, it is so beautiful.适。我低下头看着闪闪发亮的玻璃She would have loved it.”Neither of us

珠和已失去光泽的金色链子，然后could stop the tears.She stumbled into my

地打开它。盒子里面有一条金色的arms and we wept together.And for that 抬起头望着她。

我很认真地轻声说brief moment I became her mother, for she had given me the greatest gift of all: 道：“哦，玛丽亚，这链子真漂亮。herself.你妈妈一定会喜欢的。“我们已无法抑制住泪水。她踉踉跄跄地扑进我的怀里，我们都哭了。在那短暂的一刻我成了她的妈妈，而她送给了我一份最珍贵的礼物：她的信任和爱。By Patricia A.Habada

What's your spiritual IQ? 什么是你的精神智商?

It's the secret weapon that will help you

对付生活烦扰的一个秘密武cope with the hassles of life.Here's how 器。以下几点教你如何将精神智商to put spiritual intelligence to work for 运用到工作中去。you.她前夫又一次失约了。他没能

参加他们10岁女儿的舞蹈演出 Her ex had done it again.After missing

会，第二天，他带着一束玫瑰来看their 10-year-old daughter's dance recital, he showed up the following day 她们。我的朋友詹妮承认说：”我第一个冲动就是批评他。“但是接with a bouquet of roses.”My first impulse was to tear into him,“ admits my friend 着闪入脑海的却是：”他是爱女儿的。女儿需要他。算了吧。“深吸Jennie.Then some phrases popped into her

一口气，她以此宽慰自己说：”纳mind: “He loves her.She needs him.Let it

塔利会喜欢这些花的。”至少在那be.“ Taking a deep breath, she listened to

一短暂、轻松的时刻，世上多了一this inner voice and said, ”Natalie's going

份和睦。to love the flowers.“ And for at least one brief, shining moment, there was a little more peace on earth.What happened? Without consciously beyond reason to a deeper level of

发生了什么情况呢？原来不到理解的深层次了，即心理学家称realizing why or how, Jennie had reached 知不觉间，詹妮已经超越理智进入understanding, a newly recognized way of 之为”精神智商“的一个刚被公认knowing that psychologists have dubbed 的认知方法。我们的精神智商，或”spiritual intelligence.“ Our spiritual SQ，帮助我们了解自我，生活得更intelligence quotient, or SQ, helps us 充实，更幸福。understand ourselves, and live fuller, happier lives.精神智商是一种能力，可以感受、理解并触及最深的自我、他人 Spiritual intelligence is the capacity 及我们周遭的世界。这种内心深处to sense, understand and tap in to the 的宁静可能是我们抵御日常困扰highest part of ourselves, of others and of 的最佳能力。the world around us.This source of inner serenity may be our best defense against the hassles that barrage us every day.While we' re all born with SQ, most of us

虽然我们生来就有精神智商，aren't even aware that we have it.但大多数人并没有意识到它的存Fortunately, you don't have to sign up for 在。有幸的是，你不必报名去学习classes to learn how to enhance your SQ.如何加强你的精神智商。以下几个Here are some simple steps that can lead you 简单的方法就可帮你达到理解的to this new level of understanding:

新境界：

Sit Quietly.The process of cultivating

静坐培养 精神智商可从独处和spiritual intelligence begins in solitude 静默开始。精神上的信仰大多需要and silence.Most spiritual traditions 心灵的智慧。要听到心灵的细语就involve an inner wisdom.To tune in to its 要放慢节奏，使纷繁嘈杂的生活平whisper, you have to turn down the volume 静下来，迫使自己放下一切事务。in your busy, noisy, complicated life and 逐渐为每一天创造一段安静的时force yourself to do nothing at all.Start 间。在开车时，用一些时间思考，small by creating islands of silence in 而不是打开收音机。在工作时，不your day.In the car, instead of reaching 妨利用会议间歇关上办公室的门，for the radio dial, use the time to reflect.深吸几口气，然后缓缓地呼出。在At work, shut the door to your office

家里，孩子上床后，独自细细地品between meetings, take a few deep breaths 位一下家里的宁静。and let them out very, very slowly.Savor the stillness in your home after the kids are finally in bed.Step Outside.For many people, nature

户外活动

对于许多人来说，sets their spirit free.It puts the hassles 大自然能给予他们精神上的自由，of daily living into perspective.使他们对日常生活中烦心的事能

用”风物长宜放眼量“的角度去看。Go outside to watch a beautiful sunset.If you're walk-ing the dog, take the time to

出去观看美丽的日出。如果出admire an azalea bush in bloom.Follow the 门遛狗，可以留意一下路边盛开的flight of a bird;watch clouds float of the stars as holes in the darkness letting heaven shine through.Find An

杜鹃花丛；可以仰望飞翔的小鸟；设想群星不过是黑幕上的点点小洞，让天堂之光透射进来。找到一overhead.Gaze into the night sky and think 观赏空中的浮云。凝视夜空，可以Activity You Enjoy.It's important to find 种自己喜爱的活动培养一种爱好a hobby that helps you tune in to your 对修身养性十分重要。例如：园艺、spirit.Garden, walk or jog, arrange soul.散步或慢跑、插花、倾听触动心灵flowers, listen to music that touches your 的音乐。

Ask Questions Of Yourself.Some people use

向自己提问 一些人在沉思中their contemplative time to focus on a line 思考圣经中的语句。另一些人问自of Scripture.Others ask open-ended are my choices? Where am I heading?”

己一些随意的问题，如“我现在感在去往何处？” questions, such as“What am I feeling? What 觉怎样？我的选择是什么？我现 But don't expect an answer to arrive via

但是不要期望以超自然的电子some super-natural form of e-mail.”Rarely 邮件方式得到答案。加利福尼亚do I get an immediate answer to my Presbyterian minister in Sausalito，州，索萨利托的长老会牧师雷弗伦很少立刻得到答案，但晚些时侯，questions,“ says Reverend Joan Carter, a 德〃琼〃卡特说：”对自问问题，California.“But later that day I suddenly 我会突然从不曾考虑到的另一个find myself thinking about a problem from 角度去思考这个问题。” a perspective I never considered before.“ Trust Your Spirit.While most of us rely on

相信自己的心灵 大多数人觉gut feelings to alert us to danger，察危险是凭直觉。精神智商却常常spiritual intelligence usually nudges us, 引导我们去采取，而不是背离某种not away from, but toward some action that 可以使结局更好的行动。will lead to a greater good.这是伊利诺伊州的一位作家 This is a lesson that Charlene Baumbich, 兼演说家查伦〃鲍姆比切曾经有过an author and speaker in Illinois, has 的一个亲身体会，甚得教益。几年learned well.Several years ago she was 前，她签约写一本书却认为自己无convinced that she couldn' t write a book 法如约完成，就在她准备取消合同she' d contracted to do.The day before she 的前一天，她去了一个工艺品交易planned to scuttle the deal, she went to a 市场。在那儿，她看到了一张照片，crafts fair.There Baumbich found a treasure chest--out of which flew butterflies.”There was a voice that

照片上一个胖乎乎的小孩正打开蝶。“有个声音说道'掀开盖子，写下第一个字'。”于是她照着去做photograph of a chubby toddler opening a 一个珠宝盒，从盒子中飞出了蝴said,'Just open the lid.Write the first 了，接着，《如何“忍气吞声”而不word.'“ So she did.And that book, How to 会”消化不良“》一书问世并获得成Eat Humble Pie and Not Get Indigestion, was 功。对心灵智慧有好奇心的其他女a success.Her advice to other women

子，她建议道：第一步，窥探心灵，curious about tuning in to their inner 如果看到了那蝴蝶，不要吃惊。By wisdom: Take the first step.Peer inside Dianne Hales（尹明 译自 yourself.And don' t be surprised if you Ladies’ Home Journal）find butterflies.Relish the moment

拥抱今天

Tucked away in our subconscious is an 我们的潜意识里藏着一派田idyllic vision.We see ourselves on a long 园诗般的风光!我们仿佛身处一trip that spans the continent.We are

次横贯大陆的漫漫旅程之中!乘traveling by train.Out the windows, we 着火车, 我们领略着窗外流动的drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby 景色：附近高速公路上奔驰的汽highways, of children waving at a crossing, 车、十字路口处招手的孩童、远山of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of 上吃草的牛群、源源不断地从电厂smoke pouring from a power plant, of row 排放出的烟尘、一片片的玉米和小upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and 麦、平原与山谷、群山与绵延的丘valleys, of mountains and rolling halls.But uppermost in our minds is the final

然而我们心里想得最多的却destination.On a certain day at a certain 是最终的目的地!在某一天的某hour, we will pull into the station.Bands 一时刻, 我们将会抵达进站!迎will be playing and flags waving.Once we 接我们的将是乐队和飘舞的彩旗!get there, so many wonderful dreams will 一旦到了那儿, 多少美梦将成为come true and the pieces of our lives will 现实, 我们的生活也将变得完整, fit together like a completed jigsaw

如同一块理好了的拼图!可是我puzzle.How restlessly we pace the aisles, 们现在在过道里不耐烦地踱来踱

陵、天空映衬下城市的轮廓, 以及hillsides, of city skylines and village 乡间的庄园宅第!damning the minutes for loitering--waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.去, 咒骂火车的拖拖拉拉!我们期待着, 期待着, 期待着火车进站的那一刻!

”When we reach the station, that will be “当我们到站的时候, 一切就it!”we cry.“When I'm 18.”“When I buy a 都好了!”我们呼喊着!“当我18new 450SL Mercedes Benz!”“When I put the 岁的时候!”“当我有了一辆新last kid through college.”“When I have 450SL奔驰的时候!”“当我供最小paid off the mortgage!”“When I get a promotion.”“When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever after!” 的孩子念完大学的时候!“"当我偿清贷款的时候!”“当我官升高任的时候!”“当我到了退休的时候, 就可以从此过上幸福的生活啦!”

Sooner or later, we must realize there

可是我们终究会认识到人生的is no station, no one place to arrive at 旅途中并没有车站, 也没有能够“once and for all.The true joy of life is 一到永逸”的地方!生活的真正乐the trip.The station is only a dream.It 趣在于旅行的过程, 而车站不过constantly outdistances us.是个梦, 它始终遥遥领先于我们!

“Relish the moment ”is a good motto, “享受现在”是句很好的箴言, especially when coupled with Psalm 118：尤其是当它与《圣经〃诗篇》中第24：“This is the day which the Lord hath １１８页２４行的一段话相映衬made；we will rejoice and be glad in it.”It 的时候, 更是如此：“今日乃主所isn't the burdens of today that drive men 创造；生活在今日我们将欢欣、高mad.It is the regrets over yesterday and 兴!”真正令人发疯的不是今日的the fear of tomorrow.Regret and fear are 负担, 而是对昨日的悔恨及对明twin thieves who rob us of today.日的恐惧!悔恨与恐惧是一对孪生窃贼, 将今天从你我身边偷走!

So stop pacing the aisles and counting

那么就不要在过道里徘徊吧, the miles.In stead, climb more mountains, 别老惦记着你离车站还有多远!eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, 何不换一种活法, 将更多的高山swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh 攀爬, 多吃点儿冰淇淋甜甜嘴巴, more, cry less.Life must be lived as we go 经常光着脚板儿溜达溜达, 在更along.The station will come soon enough.多的河流里畅游, 多看看夕阳西

下, 多点欢笑哈哈, 少让泪水滴

答!生活得一边过一边瞧!车站就会很快到达!By Robert J.Hastings 李端奇译

Thoughts for a new year

新年沉思

Most of us look away when we pass

当我们与陌生人擦肩而过时，多strangers.It is the expectional person who 数人往往把目光移开。要是有人停stops to help the woman maneuvering her 下来帮妇女哄她的小孩和帮她把kids and groceries up the staircase.We 食品搬上楼梯，反而会被人看成另rarely give up in line or on the subway or 类。无论是排队还是乘地铁或公共bus.Locked into our automobiles, we prefer 汽车，我们很少让位于他人。坐在gridlock to giving way.自己的汽车里，我们宁愿堵塞交通

也不愿给人让路。

These daily encounters, when they are angry

这些日常接触，要是气冲冲的or alien, diminish our lives.When they are 或是使人反感的，那便会减少我们pleasant, we feel buoyed.Yet when we sit 生活的乐趣，要是它们令人愉快，at home and make resolutions, we think 那便会使我们精神振奋。然而，当about what we can accomplish in private 我们坐在家里做出各种决定的时spaces：home, work.Too many have given up 候，我们考虑的仅是在个人天地--the belief that they control the shared, 家庭和工作里可以实现的目标。太the public world.多的人已经放弃了他们也管理着共享的、公共的世界这一信念。

As individuals we can change the contour 作为众人的一员，我们可以改变of a day, the mood of a moment, the way 一天的面貌，一时的情绪，以及人people feel.The demolition and

们对某件事的感觉。公共生活的毁reconstruction of public life is the result 坏和重建是人们每日所做的种种of personal decisions made every day：the 个人决定的综合结果。这些决定包decision to give up a seat on the bus；the 括：公共汽车上让座，面对逆境而decision to be patient or pleasant against 能容忍或具有乐观精神；让那个笨all odds；the decision to let that jerk take 蛋从右车道往左拐而不摇下车窗a left－hand turn from a right－hand lane 骂他蠢货。without rolling down the window and calling him a jerk.It's the resolution to be a civil, social 这是做一个文明的、社会的人的决creature.This may be a peak period for the 定。今天也许是人们为减少腰围和battle against the spread of a waistline 降低胆固醇而斗争的高峰期。然and creeping cholesterol.But it is also 而，反对城市野蛮行为和人际敌对within our will power to fight the spread 态度的蔓延，也是我们只要愿做就of urban rudeness and creeping hostility.能做到的事。有礼貌不能制止核战Civility doesn't stop nuclear holocaust 争，也不能为无家可归者提供栖身and doesn't put a roof over the head of the 之所，但它的确能改变一个社会群homeless.But it makes a difference in the 体的面貌，犹如举重定能改变一个shape of a community, as surely as lifting 人的体形一样。（摘自The World weights can make a difference in the shape of English）of a human torso.Interview God 采访上帝

“Come in,” God said to me, “so, you would “进来”，上帝

对我说，“你想like to interview Me?” 采访我?” “If you have the time,” I said.“是的，如果您有时间的話。” 我说。

He smiled through His beard and said: “My 上帝

微笑了，笑容通过他的胡须time is called eternity and is enough to do 绽开，说：“我时间的名字叫永恒，everything;what questions do you have in 足足可以做任何事情。你心里有什mind to ask me?” thing that surprises you most about mankind?“

麽问题想问我?”

人类让您感到最惊奇的事情是什麽呢?” ”None that are new to you.What's the one “对您来说是没有新鲜的提问的。He answered: “That they get bored of being 上帝

回答道：“人类在做孩子的children, are in a rush to grow up, and then 时候感到无聊，盼望着长大，长大long to be children again.That they lose 后又向往着返回童年；他们浪费自their health to make money and then lose 己的健康去赢得个人的财富，然后their money to restore their health.That 又浪费自己的财富去重建自身的by thinking anxiously about the future, 健康；他们焦虑地憧憬未来，忘记they forget the present, such that they 了眼前的生活，活得既不是为了现live neither for the present nor the

在也不是为了将来；他们活得似乎future.That they live as if they will never 永远不会死，他们死得也好像从来die, and they die as if they never had never 没活过…” lived...” His hands took mine and we were silent.上帝

握着我的手，我们一阵沉After a long period, I said, “May I ask you 默。过了好长一段时间，我说：“我another question?”

可以再问您一个问题吗?” He replied with a smile.“As a Father, what would you ask your children to do for the new year?”

上帝用微笑回答了我。

“作为天父，在新的一年里您会要求您的子民做什么?”

“To learn that they cannot make anyone love “去学习人不能强迫别人爱自己，them.What they can do is to let themselves 能做的是让自己接受爱； be loved.To learn that it takes years to build trust, 去了解信誉需要多年的努力去建and a few seconds to destroy it.立，但几秒钟就可以毁掉； To learn that what is most valuable is not 去懂得最有价值的不是他们生活what they have in their lives, but who they 中拥有的东西，而是他们生活里的have in their lives.人； To learn that it is not good to compare 去学会把自己和别人攀比是不好themselves to others.There will be others 的，比上不足比下总是有余； better or worse than they are.To learn that a rich person is not one who 去学知富有的人不是他的财产最has the most, but is one who needs the 多，而是他对生活的要求最少； least.To learn that they should control their 去学会应该端正他们的态度，否则attitudes, otherwise their attitudes will 他们的态度会控制他们； control them.To learn that it only takes a few seconds 去了解深深地伤害我们所爱的人to open profound wounds in persons we love, 只需要几秒钟，然而要愈合这个伤and that it takes many years to heal them.口需要许多年； To learn to forgive by practicing forgiveness.To learn that there are persons that love 去明白有很多人关爱着他们，只是them dearly, but simply do not know how to 这些人不懂得如何表达自己的情show their feelings.happiness.感； 幸福； To learn that money can buy everything but 去了解钱可以买万物，就是买不到To learn that while at times they may be 去懂得在某些时候他们有资格愤entitled to be upset, that does not give 怒，但愤怒本身没有给他们权力让them the right to upset those around them.身边的人不安；

To learn that great dreams do not require 去学习伟大的梦想不需要有伟大great wings, but a landing gear to achieve.的翅膀，有落地的齿轮才能使梦想

去通过宽恕的行为学习饶恕。

成真；

To learn that true friends are scarce, 去了解真正的朋友非常稀罕，找到he/she who has found one has found a true 了的人找到了真正的财富； treasure.To learn that they are masters of what they 去懂得自己是守住的言语的主人、keep to themselves and slaves of what they 脱口的奴隶； say.To learn that they shall reap what they 去懂得种什么收什么，如果散播流plant;if they plant gossip they will will harvest happiness.To learn that true happiness is not to 去学会真正的幸福不是实现自己achieve their goals but to learn to be 的目标，而是满足于所达到的成satisfied with what they already achieved.就； To learn that happiness is a

去得知幸福是一种决定，他们决定decision.They decide to be happy with 为自己是谁自己有什么快乐地活，what they are and have, or die from envy and 或为自己所没有的东西羡慕妒嫉jealousy of what they lack.same thing and see something totally different.To learn that those who are honest with 去学到那些能诚实地面对自己、不themselves without considering the consequences go far in life.担心后果的人，人生之路能走得很远； 地死；

到完全不同的东西； To learn that two people can look at the 去明白两个人看同样的事情会看

言蜚语他们就收获钩心斗角，如果harvest intrigues, if they plant love they 种植爱心他们就收获欢乐；

To learn that even though they may think 去了解尽管有时可能认为自己无they have nothing to give, when a friend 能为力，但是当一位朋友同他们一cries with them, they find the strength to 起挥泪的时候，他们能找到生活的appease the pain.勇气去抚平伤痛；

To learn that by trying to hold on to love 去懂得试图抓住所爱的人，所爱的ones, they very quickly push them away;and 人会推开你；给所爱的人以自由，by letting go of those they love, they will 他们会永远在你的左右。be side by side forever.To learn that even though the word ”love“ 去学习尽管爱这个字含义很广，滥has many different meanings, it loses value 用这个字会失去她的价值； when it is overstated.To learn that they can never do something 去明白他们永远不能用特殊的举extraordinary for Me to love them;I simply 动使我爱他们，我爱人类不需要理do.由；

To learn that the shortest distance they 去认识到他们和我最靠近的距离could be from Me is the ”the distance of a 是“祈祷者的距离 prayer.“ Roses for Rose 送给罗丝的玫瑰

Red roses were her favorites, her name

红玫瑰花是她的最爱，她的名字was also Rose.And every year her husband 也叫Rose。每年她的丈夫都要送sent them, tied with pretty bows.The year 她打了可爱蝴蝶结的红玫瑰。他去he died, the roses were delivered to her 世的那年，玫瑰花送到了她的门door.The card said, ”Be my Valentine, 口，卡片上写着：“我的情人节礼”like all the years before.物“，跟往年一样。

Each year he sent her roses, and the note

每年他为她送红玫瑰，卡片上would always say, ”I love you even more this 总这样说：“我今年更爱你，比去year, than last year on this day.”“My love 年的今天更爱。”“随着逝去的岁for you will always grow, with every time that the roses would appear.She

月，我对你的爱一直在增长。”她她想，他是提前订了玫瑰花。她亲passing year.“She knew this was the last 知道这将是最后一次收到玫瑰花。thought, he ordered roses in advance before 爱的丈夫不知道，他将走了。他总this day.Her loving husband did not know, 喜欢把事情做在前头，这样，如果that he would pass away.He always liked to 他很忙的话，每件事都照样做得妥do things early.Then, if he got too busy, 妥当当。她整理好花茎，把它们插everything would work out fine.She trimmed 进一个特别的花瓶，然后，将花瓶the stems, and placed them in a very special 放在他满脸笑容的像片旁，她会在vase.Then, sat the vase beside the

她丈夫喜欢的椅子上坐上好几个portrait of his smiling face.She would sit 小时，看着他的相片，玫瑰花放在for hours, in her husband's favorite chair.那儿。While staring at his picture, and the roses sitting there.A year went by, and it was hard to live 一年过去了，没有他的日子很难without her mate.With loneliness and

过。孤独和寂寞，成了她的命运。solitude, that had become her fate.Then, 然而，在情人节这天，跟以往送花the very hour, as on Valentines before, the 的时间相同，门铃响了，在她的门door－bell rang, and there were roses, 口放着玫瑰花。她将玫瑰拿进屋，sitting by her door.She brought the roses 吃惊地看着它们。然后，拨通了花in, and then just looked at them in shock.店的电话。她问店主能否向她解释Then, went to get the tele phone, to call 一下，为什么有人要这么做，引起the florist shop.The owner answered, and 她的痛苦？ she asked him, if he would explain, why

”我知道你的丈夫一年多前去would someone do this to her, causing her

世了，“店主说：”我知道你会打电such pain？

话来，你想知道是怎么回事。“" ”I know your husband passed away, more 今天你收到的花，已经提前付了than a year ago, “ The owner said, ”I knew 钱。“"你的丈夫总是提前计划，他you'd call, and you would want to know.” 做事从来不碰运气。“ ”The flowers you received today, were paid for in advance.“ ”Your husband always planned ahead, he left nothing to chance.“ ”There is a standing order, that I have on “我的存档里有一个固定的订file down here.And he has paid, well in 单，他已经提前付了钱，你每年都advance, you'll get them every year.There 会收到玫瑰花。还有另外一件事，also is another thing, that I think you 我想你应该知道，他写了一张特别should know.He wrote a special little 的小卡片……他几年前就写好了card...he did this years ago.” 的。“

”Then, should ever, I find out that he's “这样，如果我发现他已不在人no longer here.That's the card...that 世的话，这张卡片……这张卡片将should be sent, to you the following year.在下一年送给你。” “ She thanked him and hung up the phone, 她谢了他，挂了电话，眼泪her tears now flowing hard.Her fingers 夺眶而出，当她慢慢地伸手去拿卡shaking, as she slowly reached to get the 片时，她的手指在颤抖。在卡片里，card.Inside the card, she saw that he had 他看到了他写给她的短信。她默默written her a note.Then, as she stared in 地看着，他是这样写的：”亲爱的，total silence, this is what he wrote：“Hello 我知道我离开你已经一年了，我希my love, I know it's been a year since I've 望你所度过的这段日子不是太难。been gone, I hope it hasn't been too hard ”“我知道你肯定很孤独，而且这种for you to overcome.” “I know it must be 痛苦是如此的真切。因为如果这样lonely, and the pain is very real.For if 的事发生在我身上，我知道我会有it was the other way, I know how I would 怎样的感受。我们分享的爱让生命feel.The love we shared made everything so 中的每件事都是那么的美好，我对beautiful in life.I loved you more than 你的爱无法用言语表达，你是最完words can say, you were the perfect wife.美的妻子。” “

”你是我的朋友和爱人，你总能

满足我的每一个需求。我知道才过 “You were my friend and lover, you

了一年，但是请你尽可能不要悲fulfilled my every need.I know it's only

伤。我希望你快乐，即使流着泪。been a year, but please try not to grieve.这就是为什么在今后的岁月里每I want you to be happy, even when you shed

年都会送玫瑰给你?” your tears.That is why the roses will be sent to you for years.“ ”When you get these roses, think of all “当你收到这些花时，请想想the happiness that we had together, and how 我们一起度过的所有的幸福时光，both of us were blessed.I have always loved 我们是怎样受到祝福的。我一直爱you and I know I always will.But, my love, 着你，我知道我将永远爱着。但是，you must go on, you have some living still.亲爱的，你必须继续生活下去，你”

还有好多日子要过。

“Please...try to find happiness, while ”请你……在你的生活中努力living out your days.I know it is not easy, 去寻找欢乐，我知道并不容易，但but I hope you find some ways.The roses 我希望你能找到一些方式。玫瑰每will come every year, and they will only 年都会送来，而且，只有当你不再stop when your door's not answered, when 应门时，只有当花店店主停止敲门the florist stops to knock.“

时，它们才不会再来。”

“He will come five times that day, in case ”这一天，以防你出门不在，他会you have gone out.But after his last visit, 来５次。你是否还在，他最后一次he will know without a doubt.To take the 拜访就会明了。他会将花送到我指roses to the place, where I've instructed 定的地方，并将玫瑰放在我们再次him, and place the rose where we are, together once again.“ Peeling Away Artifice For the Pure Original

Sarah came running in.”Look what I

相聚的

回归童真

萨拉跑进来。“看，我发现了什么。”我正在看报，一条卷长的有found.“ Over the top of the paper I was 点支离破碎的东西出现在报纸上，reading came a crispy, crumbling long

把我吓得跳了起来。那是一条蛇的object that caused me to jump.It was a 蜕皮，我们的花园里有很多蛇。snake skin that had been shed by one of our

”它难道不漂亮吗？“我那7岁many garden snakes.的小女儿眨着她的大眼睛问道。

”Isn't it beautiful?“ said my wide-eyed seven-year-old.I stared at the organic wrapper and thought

我看着那条蛇皮，自忖它实在to myself that it really wasn' t that

算不上漂亮，但我明白决不能对孩beautiful, but I have learned never to 子冷淡抑或感到厌烦。孩子们初次appear nonchalant or jaded with children.见到的东西对于他们是形成美感Everything they see for the first time is 以及创造力的基础。在接受相关教elementary to their sense of beauty and 育之前，他们应当只会看到世上美creativity;they see only merit and excellence in the world until educated otherwise.”Why does it do this?“ Sarah asked.Robert, ever the innocent comedian，萨拉问：”蛇为什么要蜕皮？“

曾经做过天真喜剧演员的罗伯特说：”我们花园里有一条光着身子的蛇。“

said:”We have a naked snake in our garden!“ I also try to customize every opportunity

我也利用一切机会教给孩子们to teach my children that there is almost 知道任何事物不单有其表像，更有always something beyond the obvious;that 其深层原因的含义。我解释说：”there is something else going on besides 蛇为了获得新生，所以要蜕皮。“what they see in front of them.”Snakes shed 正如我家常常出现的情况，最初的their skin because they need to renew

话题会引出其它一个又一个新问themselves,“ I explained.As is so often 题，直到我们谈论的内容与最初的the case in my family, the original subject 毫不沾边为止。leads to another and another, until we are discussing something quite different.”Why do they need to renew themselves?“

萨拉问：”蛇为什么要获得新Sarah asked.生？“ 好的事物。

Robert quipped:” 'Cos they don't like who

罗伯特诙谐地说：“因为它们不

喜欢自己的样子，想要变成另外的they are and they want to be someone else.” 样子。“

Sarah and I politely ignored her brother.萨拉和我没再理会她哥哥。我I suddenly remembered an article on this 忽然记起许多年前报上曾有一篇page many years ago where the writer was 文章，作者表述了她对新生的看expressing her concept of renewal.She used 法：她用糊在墙壁上的一层层的壁layers of paper over a wall to describe how 纸来形容我们是如何将真实的自we hide our original selves, and said that 我隐藏起来的，并且说一层一层地by peeling away those layers one by one, we 剥去那些壁纸，我们便会发现藏在see the underlying original beneath.下面的纯真。

”We often need to shed our skins, those

我告诉全神贯注的小女儿：“coatings and facades that we cover

我们常常要'蜕皮'，换掉身上那些ourselves with,” I said to my now absorbed 衣服。我们长大了，有些东西不想daughter.“We outgrow some things and find 要了，有些不需要了。这条蛇不再other stuff unwanted or unnecessary.This 需要这张皮了。可能是蛇感到这张snake no longer needs this skin.It is 皮既僵硬又难看，穿在身上不像以probably too stiff and crinkly for him, and 前那么漂亮。就像买一套新衣服那he probably doesn' t think he looks as smart 样。” in it as he once did.Like buying a new suit.“

当然了，我敢肯定这样的解释 Of course, I' m sure this explanation won'

不能让真正的博物学家满意。但萨t sit well with bonafide naturalists.But

拉听明白了。谈话间，我知道萨拉Sarah was getting the point.As we talked，尽管是朦朦胧胧的，但理解了新生I knew that she began to comprehend, albeit

是进步的一部分，理解到我们需要slightly, that renewal is part of progress;

好好审视自我、房间、功课、创造that we need to take a good look at

力以及灵性，想想需要留下什么，ourselves, and our rooms and schoolwork and

摒弃哪些。我用心地解释这是自然creativity and spirituality, and see what

过程，并非强迫着去做的。we need to keep and what we need to cast off.I was careful to point out that this is a natural process, not one to be forced.”Snakes don' t peel off their skin when

我解释说：“蛇喜欢它的皮的时they feel like it.” I explained.“ It

侯，就不会蜕皮。随着它们的生长，happens as a natural consequence of their growth.” 蜕皮是自然的过程。“

”I see, Dad,“ said Sarah and jumped off my 萨拉说：”爸爸，我懂了。“说完从lap, grabbed the snakeskin, and ran off.我腿上跳下去，拿着蛇皮跑了。I hoped she would remember this.That often, in order to find our real selves

为了underneath the layers of community and

我希望她能记住这一次。

找寻年复一年为社会和环境所掩culture with which we cloak ourselves year

我们需要检查这after year, we need to start examining 盖的真正的自我，些”壁纸“，一旦认识到它们毫无价these layers.We need to gently peel some

值，不再需要或者有缺陷，需要轻away, as we recognize them to be worthless，轻剥去一些，最好是将那些摒弃的unnecessary, or flawed;or at best, store

激励我们更有the discarded ones as mementoes of our 东西尘封在记忆中，活力和更有精神地前进。By Roy H.promotion to a better vitality or spirit.Barnacle（袁堂欣 译The Christian Science Monitor

每个人都可以成为很伟大的人，因为任何人都很有用。你即使没有大学文凭或造不出一个合乎语法的句子，也可以发挥你的作用。只要有体谅的心、充满爱的灵魂足矣……

马丁．路瑟．金

一件微不足道的小事（也许你做这些事时并无意识），会改变一个人的命运……

Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve.You don't have to have a college degree to serve.You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve.You only need a heart full of grace.A soul generated by love.Martin Luther King, Jr.Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed that the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder.Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles.Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden.As they walked Mark discovered that the boy's name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television.The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then Mark went home.They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, then both gradated from junior high school.They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years.Finally the long awaited senior year came, and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met.”Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?“ asked Bill.”You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else.I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide.But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow.So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more.You saved my life.“

重点词汇：

* trip：我们都知道trip的意思是―旅行‖，是名词。而在这里，trip用作动词，表示―绊倒‖的意思。

* article：article有很多意思，我们常见的是―文章‖、―论文‖、―报道‖等。本文里，article表示―物件‖的意思。另外，article还表示―货色‖的意思，当它用来指人时，就含有贬义了。

* break up：break是―打碎‖的意思。break up在这里表示―终止‖、―破裂‖的意思。指男孩子与女朋友断绝了关系。另外，break up还有一个很有趣的含义，表示―大笑‖，是那种忍俊不禁、突然爆发出来的笑声。

* await：表示―等待‖，此时与wait for同义。另外它还表示―降临到……身上‖的意思，如：death awaits all men的意思是―死亡将临到一切人‖。

* locker ：―锁柜‖、―可锁的衣物柜‖的意思。

* mess：―凌乱状态‖、―凌乱的一堆‖等意思。在西方国家，如果有客到访，而房间正好比较凌乱时，要说一句excuse the mess，否则就是不礼貌的表现。* store away：或store up，意思是―把……储存起来‖、―储备‖。

Bill准备自杀，所以偷偷攒了一些他妈妈的安眠药。看来，Bill早已下定了自杀的决心。但Mark 不经意的友善行为改变了Bill 的决定，他决定不自杀了。可见，生活中的一些事情对一些人来说无足轻重，另一方面却可以改变其他人的命运。让我们多做一些象这样我们称为 ―举手之劳‖的事吧！

Feed Your Mind充实你的思想

Since the pre-historic times, man has had an urge to satisfy his needs.Be it hunger, shelter or search for a mate, he has always manipulated the circumstances to the best of his advantages.Probably this might be the reason why we human are the most developed of all living species on the earth, and probably also in the universe.As we climbed the steps of evolution with giant leaps, we somehow left behind common sense and logical thinking — we forgot that we have stopped thinking ahead of times.If you are hungry, what do you do? Grab a piece of your favorite meal and stay quiet after that? Just like your stomach, even your mind is hungry.But it never lets you know, because you keep it busy thinking about your dream lover, favorite star and many such absurd things.So it silently began to heed to your needs and never let itself grow.When mind looses its freedom to grow, creativity gets a full stop.This might be the reason why we all sometimes think ”What happens next?“, ”Why can't I think?“, ”Why am I always given the difficult problems?“ Well this is the aftermath of our own karma of using our brain for

thinking of not-so-worthy things.Hunger of the mind can be actually satiated through extensive reading.Now why reading and not watching TV? Because reading has been the most educative tool used by us right from the childhood.Just like that to develop other aspects of our life, we have to take help of reading.You have innumerable number of books in this world which will answer all your ―How to?‖ questions.Once you read a book, you just don't run your eyes through the lines, but even your mind decodes it and explains it to you.The interesting part of the book is stored in your mind as a seed.Now this seed is unknowingly used by you in your future to develop new ideas.The same seed if used many times, can help you link and relate a lot of things, of which you would have never thought of in your wildest dreams!This is nothing but creativity.More the number of books you read, your mind will open up like never before.Also this improves your oratory skills to a large extent and also makes a significant contribution to your vocabulary.Within no time you start speaking English or any language fluently with your friends or other people and you never seem to run out of the right words at the right time.Actually, I had a problem in speaking English fluently, but as I read, I could improve significantly.I am still on the path of improvement to quench my thirst for satisfaction.So guys do join me and give food for your thoughts by reading, reading and more reading.Now what are you waiting for? Go, grab a book, and

let me know!

充实你的思想

自史前时代起，人类就已有满足自己需求的强烈欲望。无论是饥饿、避难或寻觅配偶，人类总是操纵着环境使其达到最利于自己的状态。这或许解答了为什么人类是地球上甚至是宇宙中最高级的现存物种。然而在进化的阶梯上取得巨大飞跃之时，我们却不知何故将一些常识和逻辑思维抛诸脑后了——我们忘记了自己已经停止了超前思维。

如果你饿了，你会怎么做？抓起你最喜爱的美食饱餐一顿，然后静静地呆在那里？而你的大脑也像你的胃，是会感到饥饿的，但它却从不让你知道，因为你让它一直想着你的梦中情人、你最喜爱的明星和许多诸如此类的荒唐事。因此它只是默默地留意着你的需要却从不让自己成长。当思维恣意成长时，创造力就嘎然而止。这也许就是为什么我们有时会想―下一步该如何‖、―为什么我想不到？‖、―为什么我总是碰到难题？‖的原因吧。这也是我们的大脑总在考

虑那些毫无价值的事情产生的后果。

事实上，思维的饥荒可以通过广泛的阅读来满足。为什么是阅读而不是选择看电视呢？因为自孩提时代起，读书就已经是最具教育性的工具了。正如人生发展的其他方面一样，我们不得不求助于阅读。世界上有无数书籍可以回答你―如何做‖的问题。读书时不仅要用眼睛浏览文字，还要用脑去解读、诠释。书中有趣的部分就会像种子一样贮存在你的脑海里。将来你会不自觉地运用这粒种子引发新的想法。多次运用这粒种子将有助于你把许多事情联系起来，即使你做梦都想不到这些！这不是别的，就是创造力！你读的书越多，你的心智就会前所未有地开阔。而且这还会大幅度地提高你的演讲能力、丰富你的词汇量。你很快就能用流利的英语或别的语言与你的朋友或别人交谈，而且你再也不会在适合的场合缺少适合的词语。

实际上，我的英语还是不够流利，但只要我阅读，我就会取得显著进步。现在我仍在―自我提高‖、为头脑―解渴‖的长路上跋涉。请加入到我的行列吧！通过阅读、阅读、再阅读来为你的思想―喂食‖。你还在等什么？现在就拿起一本书让我瞧瞧！

三个纽约

《三个纽约》是一篇叙述不同人对纽约不同看法的随笔。作为闻名世界的国际大都市，纽约在不同人的心目中含有不同的意义。作者以敏锐的目光进行观察，发现三种视觉产生了三个纽约。土生土长的纽约城里人对一切都已习以为常。他们眼里的纽约总是那个老模样。住在郊外而在城里办公的人，每天乘班车上下班，来去匆匆，使纽约显得人潮滚滚，喧闹不定。唯有从其他各个地方纽约来寻求发展的人，纽约就是他们最后的目的地。在他们眼里，纽约是个应有尽有，充满希望，充满创业精神，令人振奋的城市，所以他们对纽约的感情也最为强烈。这篇随笔虽然篇幅短小，但是构思精巧，一气呵成，表现了作者扎实的文笔功底。

埃尔文·布鲁克斯·怀特(Elwyn Brooks White, 1899-1985)是美国优秀散文作家。他生于纽约州弗农山，1921年康奈尔大学毕业，曾先后但任《纽约人》和《哈珀斯》杂志的编辑、专栏作家和自由撰稿人。1941年与妻子合著《美国幽默拾零》。他的作品有《斯图亚特·利特尔》（1945）、《夏洛特的网》（1952）、《我罗盘上的方位》（1962）、《天鹅的喇叭》（1970）、《怀特书信集》（1976）、《怀特散文集》（1977）以及两本诗选。1960年曾获美国文学艺术协会金奖。怀特以文笔犀利，讽刺尖刻，思维独特，风格高雅而

在美国文坛享有极高声誉。

The Three New Yorks

Elwin Brooks White

There are roughly three New Yorks.There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable.Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night.Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last — the city of final destination, the city that is a goal.It is this third city that accounts for New York's high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements.Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness, natives give it solidarity and continuity, but the settlers give it passion.And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference: each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison

Company.The Rose

英汉对照

---Logan Pearsall Smith(1865-1946)The old lady had always been proud of the great rose-tree in her garden, and was fond of telling how it had grown from a cutting she had brought years before from Italy, when she was first married.She and her husband had been travelling back in their carriage from Rome(it was before the time of railways)and on a bad piece of road south of Siena they had broken down, and had been forced to pass the night in a little house by the road-side.The accommodation was wretched of course;she had spent a sleepless night, and rising early had stood, wrapped up, at her window, with the cool air blowing on her face, to watch the dawn.She could still, after all these years, remember the blue mountains with the bright moon above them, and how a far-off town on one of the peaks had gradually grown whiter and whiter, till the moon faded, the mountains were touched with the pink of the rising sun, and suddenly the town was lit as by an illumination, one window after another catching and reflecting the sun's beam, till at last the whole little city twinkled and sparkled up in the sky like a nest of stars.That morning, finding they would have to wait while their carriage was being repaired, they had driven in a local conveyance up to the city on the mountain, where they had been told they would find better quarters;and there they had stayed two or three days.It was one of the miniature Italian cities with a high church, a pretentious piazza, a few narrow streets and little palaces, perched, all compact and complete, on the top of a mountain, within and enclosure of walls hardly larger than an English kitchen garden.But it was full of life and nose, echoing all day and all night with the sounds of feet and voices.The Cafe of the simple inn where they stayed was the meeting place of the notabilities of the little city;the Sindaco, the avvocato, the doctor, and a few others;and among them they noticed a beautiful, slim, talkative old man, with bright black eyes and snow-white hair — tall and straight and still with the figure of a youth, although the waiter told them with pride that the Conte was molto vecchio — would in fact be eightey in the following year.He was the last of his family, the waiter added — they had once been great and rich people — but he had no descendants;in fact the waiter mentioned with complacency, as if it were a story on which the locality prided itself, that the Conte had been unfortunate in

love, and had never married.The old gentleman, however, seemed cheerful enough;and it was plain that he took an interest in the strangers, and wished to make their acquaintance.This was soon effected by the friendly waiter;and after a little talk the old man invited them to visit his villa and garden which were just outside the walls of the town.So the next afternoon, when the sun began to descend, and they saw in glimpses through door-ways and windows, blue shadows beginning to spread over the brown mountains, they went to pay their visit.It was not much of a place, a small, modernized, stucco villa, with a hot pebbly garden, and in it a stone basin with torpid gold-fish, and a statue of Diana and her hounds against the wall.But what gave a glory to it was a gigantic rose-tree which clambered over the house, almost smothering the windows, and filling the air with the perfume of its sweetness.Yes, it was a fine rose, the Conte said proudly when they praised it, and he would tell the Signora about it.And as they sat there, drinking the wine he offered them, he alluded with the cheerful indifference of old age to his love-affair, as though he took for granted that they had heard of it already.”The lady lived across the valley there beyond that hill.I was a young man then, for it was many years ago.I used to ride over to see her;it was a long way, but I rode fast, for young men, as no doubt the Signora knows, are impatient.But the lady was not kind, she would keep me waiting, oh, for hours;and one day when I had waited very long I grew very angry, and as I walked up and down in the garden where she had told me she would see me, I broke one of her roses, broke a branch from it;and when I saw what I had done, I hid it inside my coat — so —;and when I came home I planted it, and the Signora sees how it has grown.If the Signora admires it, I must give her a cutting to plant also in her garden;I am told the English have beautiful gardens that are green, and not

burnt with the sun like ours.“ The next day, when their mended carriage had come up to fetch them, and they were just starting to drive away from the inn, the Conte's old servant appeared with the rose-cutting neatly wrapped up, and the compliments and wishes for a buon viaggio from her master.The town collected to see them depart, and the children heard a rush of feet behind them for a few moments, but soon they were far down towards the valley;the little town with all its noise and life was high

above them on its mountain peak.She had planted the rose at home, where it had grown and flourished in a wonderful manner;and every June the great mass of leaves and shoots still broke out into a passionate splendour of scent and crimson colour, as if in its root and fibres there still burnt the anger and thwarted desire of that Italian lover.Of course the old Conte must have died many years ago;she had forgotten his name, and had even forgotten the name of the mountain city that she had stayed in, after first seeing it twinkling at dawn in the sky, like a nest of stars.Siena: 意大利城镇名

piazza: 特指意大利都市中的广场或市场

Sindaco: 意语，市长 avvocato: 意语，律师 Conte: 意语，伯爵

molto vecchio: 意语，very old

Signora：意语，夫人 buon viaggio: =good journey.参考译文：

老太太一直为她园中那株蔷薇树感到骄傲，好对人讲，这树是怎么从一根由意大利带回的枝条上长起来的，那是好多年以前的事，那时她刚结婚。她和她丈夫正从罗马乘坐马车回国（那时还没有火车），一天在辛拿城南一段崎岖的路上，车子出了毛病，不得已只好暂时到路边一所小宅院去过夜。设备当然是简陋极了；她度过了一个不眠之夜，次日很早起身，披衣凝立窗前，在拂面的习习晨风中，注视天色破晓。虽然事隔多年，她仍然记得青山让一轮皓月，远山之颠的一座城镇，逐渐泛白，继而月落，山边为徐徐升起的朝阳染成绯红；不久，城镇恍然似为巨焰所映，斗然大亮，窗扉一扇扇在朝霞的照耀下，光晶泛彩。最后整个小城在天

宇之间闪烁辉耀起来，宛若一团星群。

由于修车尚待时日，那天早上他们便搭乘当地车辆去了那座山城，那里据说可以觅到较好住处；他们在那里逗留了两三天。那座城是典型意大利式的小城，有一座高耸的教堂，一个矜饰的广场，几条狭窄的街道，几所矮小的楼房，紧凑齐全，毕集于一座山头之上，周围还有城墙环绕，占地比一个英国的家厨菜园也大不许多。然而这里却充满生机，非常热闹，轮蹄

喧哗，彻夜不休。

他们下榻的一家普通旅店中的餐馆为城中名流聚会之地；包括市长，律师，医生，以及一些其他人物；这些人中他们遇见了一位风姿翩翩，消瘦健谈的老人，乌黑的眸子炯炯有神，头发已经雪白 —— 他的体格修长挺立，仍然具有年轻人的身段，虽然侍者骄傲地对他们讲，这位伯爵已经molto vecchio（年纪很大）了 —— 实际上翌年即满八十。他是他家族的最后一人，侍者补充到 —— 他家曾经是富贵望族 —— 但他没有后代；伯爵在爱情上受过挫折，并从此未曾结婚，云云。实际上侍者提及此事时面有得意之色，仿佛这是当地人民引

以为荣的一段故事。

这为老先生兴致很高；显然他对这两位陌生人很感兴趣，并愿意结识他们。这事随即由友好的侍者促成；于是，在一次短暂的交谈之后，老人便邀请他们去他的别墅与花园做客，地址即在城墙之外不远的地方。于是次日下午，当夕阳开始西沉，门窗启处，兰色暗影已渐渐笼罩棕褐的山岭时，他们遂欣然命驾。那里地势局促 —— 一座不大的现代式灰墁别墅而外，另有一个炎澳的软石路面的花园，石砌水池之中浮游着一些懒散的金鱼，池旁靠墙处并有一尊女猎神及其猎犬的雕像等等。但是足为这小园增色的是其中一巨株蔷薇，树身过屋，绿荫翳窗，使院中沁满浓香。的确，这是一株不错的蔷薇，伯爵听了客人夸奖之后得意地说，并说他乐意把树的来历讲给夫人听听。于是当他们坐定之后，一边饮着酒时，他便以老年人满不在乎的欣然神情，略微提了提他的一段旧情，仿佛他相信他们对此一定早有所闻似的。―女士就住在青山背后的河谷对岸。那时我还是个少年，因为这已是多年前的事了。我常常骑马过去看她；路途不近，但我骑得很快，这点夫人当然理解，年轻人总是性急的。但这位女士心地不善良，喜欢叫人等个不休，往往一等就是几个小时；一天，我因为等得过久而生气起来。当我在她叫我等她的那个花园中踱来踱去时，我折了她的一朵，应该说一枝，蔷薇；当我发现自己做了这么一件事时，我便把那枝蔷薇藏在外衣里面 —— 就像这样 ——；回来以后我就把它种上，而夫人也已看到，它长得多好。如果夫人喜爱的话，我当然要奉赠一枝，好把它栽在园里；听说英国人的花园非常美丽，青葱翠绿，不象我们此地给太阳晒得那么燥

热。‖

第二天，修好了的马车来迎接他们。正当他们即将离开旅社之际，伯爵的老仆赶来，奉上包扎精致的蔷薇枝条一束，并代其主人转致一路平安之意。城中的人也都跑来向他们道别，儿童尾随在车子后面，一直跟出城外。他们听见车后的脚步声乱哄了一阵，但不久车子已经往下走了很远，进入河谷地带，而这座喧闹的山顶小城则早已高高地在他们头顶之上了。她把蔷薇栽在家中，蔷薇长得枝遂叶茂，十分美丽；每逢六月到来，浓碧的枝叶丛中，猩红馥郁，蔚成一派情如火灼的奇观，仿佛它的根茎之间依旧燃烧着那位意大利情人的愤怒与郁悒。当然那老伯爵此时肯定早已去世多年；而她也记不起他的名字，甚至连她所住过的那座山城叫什么名字，她也都记不起了，虽然她曾经在拂晓之时看它在空中闪烁发光，宛若一团

星The Two Roads

英汉对照

John Ruskin

It was New Year's Night.An aged man was standing at a window.He raised his mournful eyes towards the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating like white lilies on the surface of a clear calm lake.Then he cast them on the earth, where few more hopeless people than himself now moved towards their certain goal——the tomb.He had already passed sixty of the stages leading to it, and he had brought from his journey nothing but errors and remorse.Now his health was poor, his mind vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age short of comforts.The days of his youth appeared like dreams before him, and he recalled the serious moment when his father placed him at the entrance of the two roads——one leading to a peaceful, sunny place, covered with flowers, fruits and resounding with soft, sweet songs;the other leading to a deep, dark cave, which was endless, where poison flowed instead of water and where devils and poisonous snakes hissed and crawled.He looked towards the sky and cried painfully, ”O youth, return!O my father, place me once more at the entrance to life, and I'll choose the better way!“ But both his father and the days of his youth had passed away.He was the lights flowing away in the darkness.These were the days of his wasted life;he saw a star fall from the sky and disappeared, and this was the symbol of himself.His remorse, which was like a sharp arrow, struck deeply into his heart.Then he remembered his friends in his childhood, who entered on life together with him.But they had made their way to success and were now honoured and happy on this New Year's night.The clock in the high church tower struck and the sound made him remember his parents' early love for him.They had taught him and prayed to God for his good.But he chose the wrong way.With shame and grief he dared no longer look towards that heaven where his father live.His darkened eyes were full of tears, and with a despairing effort, he burst out a cry: ”Come back, my early days!Come back!“

And his youth did return, for all this was only a dream which he had on New Year's Night.He was still young though his faults were real;he had not yet entered the deep, dark cave, and he was still free to walk on the road which leads to the peaceful and sunny land.Those who still linger on the entrance of life, hesitating to choose the bright road, remember that when years are passed and your feet stumble on the dark mountains, you will cry bitterly, but in vain: ”O youth, return!Oh give me back my early days!“ Words:

mournful 悲伤的

remorse 悔恨

resounding 回响

hiss 嘶嘶作声

grief 悲痛

burst out 大声说出，脱口而出

linger 徘徊

stumble 绊倒

in vain 徒劳地

参考译文：

除夕之夜，一位老人伫立窗前。他满眼哀伤，仰望着深蓝色的天空，那儿，星星如清澈平静的湖面上的朵朵白莲在漂移着；后来，他将目光投向地面，几个比他更加绝望的人正在走向人生的终点——坟墓。在通往人生终点的道路上，他已走过了60多个驿站，除了过失和悔恨，他一无所获。现在，他健康欠佳，精神空虚，心情忧郁，缺少晚年应有的舒适和安逸。

青春的岁月如梦幻般浮现在他眼前，他回想起父亲将他放在人生岔路口上的关键时刻，当时，他面前有两条路：一条通向和平宁静、阳光灿烂的地方，那里到处是花果，到处回荡着柔和甜美的歌声；另一条则通向黑暗无底的深渊，那里流淌着毒液而不是清水，恶魔肆虐，毒蛇嘶嘶爬动。

他仰望天空，痛苦地哭喊：―哦，青春，你回来吧！哦，爸爸，请把我重新放到人生的路口上吧，我会做出更好的选择。‖然而他的父亲和他的青春年华皆离他远去。

他看见灯消逝在黑暗中，那便是他虚度的时光；他看见一颗星星从空中陨落、消失，那是他自身的象征。悔恨如同一支利箭，深深地刺进他的心。接着，他想起童年时代的朋友，他们曾与他一同踏上人生的旅程，现已获得成功，受到人们的尊敬，此刻正在幸福中欢度除夕。

教堂塔顶的钟声响了，使他回忆起父母早年对他的爱，他们曾给予他谆谆教诲，曾为他的幸福祈祷上帝。可他偏偏选择人生的歧途。羞愧和忧伤使他再也不敢正式他父亲所在的天堂。他双眼黯然无光，饱噙着泪水，在绝望中，他拼力高喊：―回来吧，我那逝去的年华！回来吧！‖

青春真的回来了，因为以上所发生的一切只是他在除夕所做的一场梦。他仍旧年轻，当然他真的犯有过失；但还未堕入深渊；他仍然可以自由地走上通向宁静和光明的道路。

在人生路口徘徊，不知该不该选择光明大道的年轻人啊，你们千万要记住：当你青春已逝，双足在黑暗的群山中举步维艰，跌跌撞撞之时，你才痛心疾首地呼唤：―哦，回来吧、青春！哦，把我的美好年华还给我！‖，这只会是徒劳无益的。群。

Crocus

It was an autumn morning shortly after my husband and I moved into our first house.Our children were upstairs unpacking，and I was looking out the window at my father moving around mysteriously on the front lawn.My parents lived nearby，and Dad had visited us several times already.”What are you doing out there?‖ I called to him.那是一个秋日的早晨，全家刚搬进我们第一处住宅不久。孩子们在楼上从包果里往外拿东西。我望着窗外，见父亲正神秘地在屋前的草地上打转。父母住在附近，父亲已到我家来过几次了。我向他喊道：―您在外边干什么呢?‖

He looked up，smiling.“I 'm making you a surprise.” Knowing my father, I thought it could be just about anything.A self-employed jobber, he was always building things out of odds and ends.When we were kids, he once rigged up a jungle gym out of wheels and pulleys.For one of my Halloween parties, he created an electrical pumpkin and mounted，it on a broomstick.As guests came to our door, he would light the pumpkin and have it pop out in front of them from a hiding place in the bushes.他笑着抬起头来说：―我要给你一个惊喜。‖我了解父亲，他会做出点事来的。他是个体手艺人，总是用零星东西做些小玩艺儿。当我们还是孩子的时候，有一次他用几个轮子和滑轮装配了一个攀登架。有一次万圣节，他为我做了个电南瓜，还把它装在一个扫帚把上。客人到我家门前时，他就把点亮藏在树丛中的南瓜灯，在他们走到跟前突然伸出来。

Today, however, Dad would say no more, and, caught ups in the busyness of our new life, I eventually forgot about his surprise.不过今天爸爸却不愿多说什么，况且我们新生活的还有千头万绪要理，结果我也就忘了他的什么惊喜了。

Until one raw day the following March when I glanced out the window.Dismal.Overcast.Little piles of dirty snow still stubbornly littering the lawn, Would winter ever end? 第二年三月的一天，我感到潮湿阴冷于是朝窗外望了望，外面阴沉沉，灰蒙蒙的，草坪上到处是一堆堆不―化‖的污雪。难道冬天就不会走了吗?

And yet...was it a mirage? I strained to see what I thought was something pink, miraculously peeking out of a drift.And was that a dot of blue across the yard, a small note of optimism in this gloomy expanse? I grabbed my coat and.headed outside for a closer look.可是...这该不是幻觉吧?我瞪大眼睛看，似乎有粉色的什么东西从吹积成的雪堆中神奇地冒出来。那是院子那头的一个小蓝点，是这郁闷压抑的阴霾中的一个快乐的小音符吗?我抓起外衣向外奔去，我要去看个究竟。

They were crocuses, scattered whimsically throughout the front lawn.Lavender, blue, yellow and my favorite pink-little faces bobbing in the bitter wind.是番红花，在屋前草坪上星罗棋布到处都是。淡紫色、蓝色、黄色和我钟爱的粉色——一个个小脸在凛冽的寒风中摇曳着。Dad.I smiled, remembering the bulbs he had secretly planted last autumn.He knew how the darkness and dreariness of winter always got me down.What could have been more perfectly timed, more attuned to my needs? How blessed I was, not only for the flowers but for him.爸爸。我笑了，想起了他去年秋天他偷偷种下的球茎。他知道，在万物凋零的冬天我总是情绪低落。还有什么比番红花更适合时宜的呢？还有什么比番红花更合我的需求呢?我好幸福，因为有了这些花，更因为有这样的爸爸。

My father' s crocuses bloomed each spring for the next four or five seasons, bringing that same assurance every time they arrived: Hard times almost over.Hold on, keep going, light is coming soon.以后的四五年中，父亲种的番红花年年在竞相吐艳，每逢花开都给我带来同样的信心：艰难时刻就要结束。坚持不懈，继续努力，光明就会来临。

Then a spring came with only half the usual blooms.The next spring there were none.I missed the crocuses, but my life was busier than ever, and I had never been much of a gardener.I would ask Dad to come over and plant new bulbs.But I never did.一年后的春天，开的花只有以往的一半。有过一年，一株花也不见了。我思念番红花，可我的妻子比平时更加忙碌而我又不擅长养花弄草。本想叫爸爸过来再种些球茎，可我一直也没付诸行动。

He died suddenly one October day.My family grieved deeply, leaning on our faith.I missed him terribly, though I knew he would always be a part of us.有一年十月的一天，他突然仙逝了。全家人都沉浸在悲痛之中，我们靠信念支撑着。我深深地怀念他，我知道他将永远和我们在一起。

Four years passed, and on a dismal spring afternoon I was running errands and found myself feeling depressed.You've got the winter blahs again, I told myself.You get them every year.四年过去了，这年春天的一个下午，天气阴沉郁闷，我外出办事感到心情压抑。难道你又犯冬季无聊症了，我心里想。你年年犯这个毛病。

It was Dad ' s birthday, and I found myself thinking about him.This was not unusual--my family often talked about him, remembering how he lived his faith.Once I saw him give his coat to a homeless man.Often he ' d chat with strangers, and if he learned they were poor and hungry, he would invite them home for a meal.But now, in the car, I could not help wondering: How is he now? Where is he? Is there really a heaven?

这天是爸爸的生日，我不由得想到了他，这并不奇怪——家里人经常谈起他，回忆他在生活中实践自己的信念的件件往事。有一次，我曾见他把自己的外衣送给一个无家可归的人。他常和陌生人聊天，要是听说他们处于困顿饥饿之境，他会把他们请到家里吃上一顿饭。而今，坐在汽车中我不禁自问：他现在怎样了?他在哪儿?真有天国存在吗?

I felt guilty for having doubts, but sometimes, I thought as I turned into our driveway, faith is so hard.我为有此疑惑而感到内疚，可有时，我认为坚守信念太难了。此时，我把车拐进了我家的车道上。

Suddenly I slowed, stopped and stared at the lawn.Muddy grass and small gray mounds of melting snow.And there, bravely waving in the wind, was one pink crocus.我猛地放慢了速度，停下车注视着草坪。草上粘满泥污，一个个灰色小雪堆正在溶化。就在这里，有一株粉红色的番红花却在不屈地迎风摇曳着。

How could a flower bloom from a bulb more than 18 years old, one that had not blossomed in over a decade? But there was the crocus.Tears filled my eyes as I realized its significance.18年前种下的已有10多年未曾生长开花的球茎，如今怎会从新开放呢?可那确是番红花。当我认识到其深刻含义时，不禁热泪盈眶。

Hold on, keep going, light is coming soon.The pink crocus bloomed for only a day.But it built my faith for a lifetime.坚持不懈，继续努力，光明就会来临。这株粉色番红花只开了一天。但却为我的一生树立了信念。

The Son

儿子

一位富翁和他儿子爱好收藏

画，他们收藏了从毕加索到拉费奥等很多艺术品。常常他俩坐在一起 A wealthy man and his son loved to collect works

欣赏着大师的作品。of art.They had everything from Picasso to Raphael.They would often sit together and admire the great works of art.当越战爆发的时候，儿子投入When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went

了战争。他非常勇敢，在一次作战to war.He was very courageous and died in battle

中因为抢救战友而牺牲了。父亲接while rescuing another soldier.The father was

到了通知，深深地哀恸他唯一的儿notified and grieved deeply for his only son.子。约一个月之后，正好是圣诞节About a month later, just before Christmas, there

前，门上传来敲门声。一位年轻人

站在那里，手里拿着一个很大的包was a knock at the door.A young man stood there

裹。他说道：“先生，你不认识我，with a large package in his hands.He said “Sir, you

我就是你儿子为了救我而牺牲的don't

那个战士。那天他救了很多人，当他背着我走向安全地带的时候，一know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son 颗子弹击中了他的心脏，他顿时就gave his life.He saved many lives that day, and he 牺牲了。他常常说起你和你对艺术的爱好，”年轻人举起他的包裹，was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him

“我知道这不算什么，我是真的不in the

怎样的艺术家，但我想你儿子会要

你保留这幅画的。”父亲打开了包heart and he died instantly.He often talked about

裹，是他儿子的一幅肖像画，是这you and your love for art.’’ The young man held

年轻人画的。他惊奇地注视着画中out his package.”I know this isn't much.I'm really 那士兵是如何捕捉到他儿子的个not a great artist, but I think your son would have 性的。父亲如此地被画里的眼睛吸

引，他自己的眼睛也充满了泪水。wanted you to have this.“ The father opened the

他谢了那年轻人并提议买下这幅package.It was a portrait of his son, painted by the

画。“噢，不要钱，先生，我永远young man.不能偿还你儿子给我做的一切。这是礼物。”

He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting.The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes swelled up with tears.He thanks the young man and offered to pay him for the picture.”Oh no, sir, I could never repay what you son did for me.It's a gift.父亲把这肖像画挂在壁炉架The father hung the portrait over his

上，每次有客人来他家拜访，他总mantle.Every time visitors came to his

是在给他们看他收藏的许多名作home he took them to see the portrait of

之前，先带他们看儿子的肖像。his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.富翁在几个月之后死了。他的The man died a few months later.There was to be a

伟大收藏也将要被拍卖掉。许多人great auction of his great works of art.Many people

聚集着，为能一睹这些伟大的收藏gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and

以及能从他的收藏里买一个加入自己的收藏品这一机会而激动不having an opportunity to purchase one for their

已。在讲台上安臵着那儿子的肖像collection.On the platform sat the portrait of his

画，拍卖经纪人用他的槌子敲打着son.The auctioneer pounded his gavel, “we will start

台面：“我们从这幅儿子的肖像画with this portrait of the son.Who will bid for this

开始。谁投这幅画的标？”

picture？

场面非常安静。这时有一个There was silence.Then a!voice in the back of the

声音在厅堂的后面叫道：“我们要

看名画，跳过这一幅。” room shouted ”We want to see the famous paintings.Skip this one.“

但拍卖经纪人坚持着：“有But the auctioneer persisted, ”Will someone bid for

没有人投这幅画的标？谁先开this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100，始？一百，两百？ $200?“

另外一个声音高喊着，非Another voice shouted angrily, ”We didn't come here

常愤怒：“我们不是来这里看这幅to see this painting.We came to see the Van Gohs，画的，我们是来看梵高的画，看伦the Rembrandts.Get on with the real bids“.伯朗的画的。快进入真正的竞标吧。”

但拍卖经纪人依旧继续 But still the auctioneer continued, ”The son!

着：“儿子，儿子，谁要这儿子？”The son!Who will take The son?“ Finally, a voice

终于，一个声音从厅堂的深处传came from the very back of the room.It was the longtime

来：“我出十块钱要这画。”因为穷，这是他力所能及的价钱。

gardener of the man and his son.”I'll give you $10 for the painting.“ Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.”We have $10, who will bid $20??“

“十块给他吧，让我们看名作。

”Give it to him for $10.Let's see the masters“.”

”$10 is the bid, won't someone bid $20?“

人群开始愤怒起来。他们不The crowd was becoming angry.They didn't want

想要这儿子的画。他们要收藏的是the picture of the son.They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.更值得投资的东西。

拍卖经纪人敲打着槌子：“一次竞标，两次竞标，十块得 The auctioneer pounded his gavel.”Going once, 标！” twice, SOLD for $10!“

一位坐在第二排的人喊道：“现在“标价十块，没有人标二十的吗？”

“有人标了十块，有谁肯标二十的吗？”

让我们开始进入收藏品的竞标。”

那拍卖经纪人放下他的A man sitting in the second row shouted, ”Now let's get on with the collection!

“那些收藏品怎么办？”

The auctioneer laid down his gavel “I'm sorry, the auction is over”.”

“What about the paintings?”

“对不起，当我被叫来负“I'm sorry, when I was called to conduct this auction，责这场拍卖的时候，我被告知那人I was told of a secret stipulation in the will.I was 的遗嘱中有秘密的约定，一直到现not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this

在我是不允许暴露这个秘密的。只有儿子这幅画是要拍卖的。谁买了time.Only the painting of the son would be 这幅画谁就继承整个遗产，包括这auctioned.Whoever bought that painting would 幅画。那个男人拿了儿子肖像，得到了一切。” inherit the entire estate, including the paintings.The man who took the son, gets everything!”

上帝在2000年以前给他God gave his son 2000 years ago to die on the cruel 的儿子在残酷的十字架上受死。和cross.Much like the auctioneer, His message today

这经纪人非常相似，他今天的福音is “The son, the son, who'll take the son?” Because，是：“儿子，儿子，谁承受这个儿you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.子？”因为，你看，谁接纳儿子谁

槌子说：“很抱歉，竞标已经结束了。”

就获得一切。

The Sunday School Teacher

Miss Swan couldn't take being a Sunday Sunday。This handful of disrespectful

主日学校的老师

斯万小姐再也受不了主日一个星期天都不行！这一群不知school teacher any longer.Not for another 学校教师的这一工作了。再多干teenagers snapped their gum during prayer 尊重为何物的十几岁孩子们，会time and read magazines during Bible study.在祈祷的时候大嚼口香糖，在学But most awful of all，at prayer re-quest习圣经的时候读杂志。最可气的they asked the Lord to increase their weekly 是：他们竟然在祈祷中要求上帝allowances!让他们每星期的零花钱有所增加。

“我受够你们了，我辞职！”“I have had it with you.I quit。”she

她朝学生们喊道。“酷毙了，”雷screamed at the students.“Cool，”Rick said

克说，一边还点头表示赞同。他nodding in approval.He was the rudest kid

是她曾遇到过的最没有礼貌的she'd ever met.小孩。

过了２个月才为那个主日It took two months to find a new replacement

学校班找到新的老师。贝蒂〃雷for that Sunday school class.The pastor

小姐去见这一群看起来像假天escorted Miss Betty Ray in to meet the

使一样的孩子们的时候，教区牧pseudo-angelic-looking group.New in town，师亲自为她护驾。她新来乍到，she hadn't heard of their reputation for

对镇上这群孩子赶走老师的名chasing off teachers.By the look of her

声尚无所闻。从她明显小一号的pink dress，one size too small，and her bad

粉红色衣服，以及染得不好的一blonde bleach job，the students obviously

头金发，学生们已经明显感到遇felt they had an easy mark.Soon bets were

到了一个好对付的目标。很快他taken as to how long Miss Betty would last.们开始打赌贝蒂会待多久。Betty introduced herself，stating that she

贝蒂做了自我介绍，说明自recently came from the South.She certainly 己刚从南方来。她的确看起来像looked like a southern belle who wore outdated clothes and whose beauty had

一个穿着过时衣服的南方女人，她已经不像１０年前那么漂亮，peaked a decade earlier，only she didn't 只是她自己没有察觉。当她在那know it yet.Snickers rip pled in the room 个被当作手袋的大背包里面寻as she rummaged through the huge shoulder 找什么东西的时候，窃笑声开始bag she carried for a purse.在教室里此起彼伏。

“Have any of you ever been out of state？

”你们中有谁去过其他州“she asked in a friendly tone.A few hands 吗？”她用友好的语调问道。有went up.“Anyone travel beyond five hundred

几个手举了起来。

”有人到过５００英里以外miles？“One hand went up as the snickering 的地方吗？”有一只手举了起diminished.来，同时窃笑声逐渐消失。“Anyone visited outside the country？”No

“有人去过国外吗？”现在hands went up now.The silent teens were 没有人举手了。安静下来的孩子puz-zled.What did this have to do with 们有点儿困惑。她问这些是什么anything？Was she using psychology on them，意思？她是在他们身上使用心or was she just plain clueless？

理学呢，还是她本来就是这样毫

无章法？ Finally，Betty's bony hand struck on what she had been searching for in her handbag.最后，贝蒂瘦消的手终于摸Pulling up a long tube，she unrolled a map 到了她在背包里找的东西。她抽of the world.“What else do you have in 出一个长卷筒，打开了一张世界there？Lunch？”Someone cracked.Betty later.“"Cool，”Rick quipped.地图。“背包里面还有什么呢？蒂淡淡地笑了一下回答道：”待会儿给大家的小点心。“"酷毙了，”雷克嘲弄道。

随后她用长长的指甲指向Then she pointed with a long fingernail to 一个样子挺奇怪的陆地。“我出an odd-shaped continent.”I was born here，生在这里，“她用手指敲了一下。”she tapped with her finger.“And I lived ”我一直长到你们这么大才离开here until I was about your age.“Everyone 那儿。”每个人都伸长了脖子去craned their neck to see where it was.“Is 看它到底在哪儿。”是德克萨斯that Texas？“Someone sitting in the back 吗？”坐在后面的一个学生问asked.“Not even close.It is India.”Her 道。“和德克萨斯不沾边，它是eyes twinkled with joy.印度。”她的眼睛高兴地眨了一下。

“How did you get way over there to be born？ ”你是怎么跑到那里出生的“Betty laughed.”My parents were

呢？“贝蒂笑了。”我的父母是那missionaries there，and that is where my 里的传教士，那就是我降生的时mother was when I came into the world.“ 候母亲待的地方。”

“Cool!”Rick leaned back in his chair duly “酷毙了！”雷克仰向椅子的impressed.Betty fumbled again in her 后背，很显然感兴趣了。贝蒂又purse，this time pulling out a handful of 在背包里摸索了一阵子。这次拿old wrinkled pictures along with a tin of 出来的是一叠起皱的旧照片和chocolate chip cookies.They passed the 一盒巧克力小点心。学生们开始pictures around，viewing each with great in 传阅照片，很感兴趣的样子。照terest.Dark faces stared up from the 片里被时间凝固下来的黑黑的photos，frozen in time.The kids studied 面孔盯着他们。孩子们一边吃小them as they bit into the sweets.点心，一边仔细观察这些面孔。

“You don't have to be a

你们没有必要非要当传教smiled lightly and answered，”Cookies for 午饭？“有人开玩笑地问道。贝missionary--everyone can do something in 士--在这个世界上每个人都可this world to help another，”Miss Betty 以为帮助其他人做些事情。“贝said.The hour quickly slid by as she told 蒂小姐说。她为孩子们讲述一些them her stories about faraway places and 发生在很远地方的故事，以及那what the people were like there and how they 里的居民是什么样子，他们是怎lived.么生活的等等，这样一小时很快

地过去了。”Wow，this is as exciting as TV。“one young girl told her.”喔，这简直和电视一样精彩！“一个小女孩告诉她。

一个星期天接着一个星期Sunday after Sunday，Betty came to class，天，贝蒂来到课堂上，把功课和tying her lessons to their everyday lives.学生们的日常生活紧密地结合She told the teens how they could make a 起来。她告诉这些十几岁的孩子difference right now.The students grew to 们他们怎样可以现在就做出一love her，bleached blonde hair and all.The 些有意义的事情来。学生们开始more they liked her，the lovelier she became.喜欢上了她，连同她染过的金发以及她的一切。他们越是喜欢她，她就显得越可爱。

Betty taught that Sunday school class for

贝蒂在那个主日学校班教了twenty years.Though she never married，２０年。尽管她从未结婚，也没or had children of her own，the town came

有自己的孩子，镇子里的人却认to think of her as a surrogate parent since

为她是母亲的化身，因为她教了she taught two generations of children.At

两代小孩。最后，她的头发变成last，her hair grew into a natural gray.了很自然的灰白色。嘴角和眼角Increasing wrinkles about her mouth and

不断增多的皱纹给她那张娃娃eyes added character to her cherub face.Her

脸上增添了个性。她的手随着年hands began to shake with age.Every now and

龄的增长开始颤抖。时不时地，then，she received a letter from a former

她会收到以前学生的一封封来student.There was a doctor，a research

信。他们中间有医生、科学家、scientist，a homemaker，a businessman，and

家庭主妇、商人，也有很多老师。

many teachers among them.One day she reached into her mailbox and

一天她打开信箱抽出一个pulled out a blue envelope with a familiar 蓝色的信封，信封的右上角贴着foreign stamp in the upper right-hand a boy in that very first Sunday school always liked her cookies and seemed so

一张熟悉的外国邮票。在左上角一个主日学校班里面的一个男么喜欢她的小点心，并且对她的corner.In the left corner was the name of 是一个很多年前她教的镇上第class，years ago.She recalled how he'd 生的名字。她回忆起他一直是多interested in her lessons.A picture slid 课是多么地感兴趣。一张照片从out of the envelope and onto her lap.信封里滑了出来，掉到了她的腿Squinting her eyes，she smiled at the man 上。她眯起眼睛看着照片，冲着in the photo，still seeing the teenage boy 照片里的那个男人笑了；在她眼in him.Standing in the rubble，in the city 里他还是那个十几岁的孩子。照of Delhi，India，he stood with other volunteers who had come to help the earthquake victims.片上他和其他去救助地震遇难者的志愿者们在一起，站在印度德里市的一片瓦砾中间，The caption read，”Because of you，I am here 旁边有几个字：“因为您，now.” 我现在来了这里。“

A Coke and a Smile

可乐与微笑

I know now that the man who sat with me

我现在知道，35年前那个炎on the old wooden stairs that hot summer

热夏夜和我坐在破旧的木楼梯night over thirty-five years ago was not a

上的老人并不高大，但对一个5tall man.But to a five-year-old, he was a

岁的孩子来说，他却是一个巨giant.We sat side by side, watching the sun

人。我们并排坐着，看着太阳落go down behind the old Texaco service

在繁忙的街对面那个老德克萨station across the busy street.A street

克加油站的背后。除非有大人或that I was never allowed to cross unless

至少一个哥哥或姐姐陪着，我从accompanied by an adult, or at the very

未被允许穿过那条街。

least, an older sibling.Cherry-scented smoke from Grampy's pipe

从祖父烟斗里喷出的白色烟kept the hungry mosquitoes at bay while 雾在我们脑袋周围上下旋绕，它gray, wispy swirls danced around our heads.们散发的樱桃香味使贪婪的蚊Now and again, he blew a smoke ring and 子不敢靠近。他不时地喷出一串laughed as I tried to target the hole with 烟圈，在我试着将手指插入烟圈my finger.I, clad in a cool summer nightie, 时他放声大笑。我穿着凉爽的小and Grampy, his sleeveless T-shirt, sat 睡衣，祖父穿着他的无袖T恤，watching the traffic.We counted cars and 坐在那儿观看繁忙的交通。我们tried to guess the color of the next one to 数着过往的车辆，并猜想着下一turn the corner.circumstances.The fourth born of six

辆拐过街角的汽车的颜色。的中间境遇，作为6个孩子中的 Once again, I was caught in the middle of 我又一次陷于两头都够不上children, it was not uncommon that I was 老四，很多事情对于我来说不是either too young or too old for something.因为年龄太小，就是太大而不合This night I was both.While my two baby 适。那天夜里就是这样。我的两brothers slept inside the house, my three 个小兄弟在屋里睡觉，我的另外older siblings played with friends around 3个长兄和姐姐在拐角与小伙伴the corner, where I was not allowed to go.们玩，而我是不允许去那里的。I stayed with Grampy, and that was okay with 我与祖父呆在一起，这也挺好，me.I was where I wanted to be.My grandfather was baby-sitting while my mother, father and grandmother went out.”渴吗？“祖父烟斗不离口地 Thirsty?” Grampy asked, never removing the

问我。

pipe from his mouth.“是的。”我回答说。“跑到街对 ” Yes,“ was my reply.” How would you like

面的加油站去给你自己买瓶可to run over to the gas station there and get

乐怎么样？“

yourself a bottle of Coke?”

我简直不敢相信自己的耳 I couldn't believe my ears.Had I heard

朵，我没有听错吧?他是在跟我right? Was he talking to me? On my family's

说话吗？就我们家微薄的收入modest income, Coke was not a part of our

来说，可乐不是我们家庭开销的budget or diet.A few tantalizing sips was

一部分。我只是迫不及待地啜过all I had ever had, and certainly never my

几小口，从来没有自己喝过一own bottle.瓶。“ Okay,” I replied shyly, already

“好的。”我害羞地回答说，已wondering how I would get across the street.经在想着该怎样穿过马路，祖父Surely Grampy was going to come with me.当然会跟我一块。Grampy stretched his long leg out straight 祖父将他的长腿伸直，把他的and reached his huge hand deep into the 大手伸进口袋。我能听到零钱相pocket.I could hear the familiar jangling 碰而发出的熟悉的丁当声，他总of the loose change he always carried.是把这些零钱带在身上。他张开Opening his fist, he exposed a mound of 手，露出了一堆宝贝似的银币。silver coins.There must have been a million 那里面一定有100万美元！他让dollars there.He instructed me to pick out 我拿出一个1角的硬币。把零钱a dime.After he deposited the rest of the 放回口袋后，他站了起来。

change back into his pocket, he stood up.“好吧，”他说，帮着我下楼 “ Okay,” he said, helping me down the

梯到马路沿儿那儿去，“我站在stairs and to the curb, ” I'm going to stay 这儿，听着屋里的两个孩子有没

正是我想呆的地方。在父母和祖母外出时，祖父就在家看孩子。here and keep an ear out for the babies.I'll 有动静，什么时候穿过马路安tell you when it's safe to cross.You go over 全，我会告诉你的。你到对面的to the Coke machine, get your Coke and come 可乐机那儿买到你的可乐后再back out.Wait for me to tell you when it's 走回来。等着我告诉你什么时候safe to cross back.“ My heart pounded.I clutched my dime

过马路安全。”

我的心砰砰地跳着，紧紧地tightly in my sweaty palm.Excitement took

用汗手攥着那枚1角的硬币，兴my breath away.奋地喘不上气来。Grampy held my hand tightly.Together we

祖父紧紧地拉着我的手，我looked up the street and down, and back up

们一块看了看大街的前后左右。again.He stepped off the curb and told me

他走下马路沿儿，告诉我现在可it was safe to cross.He let go of my hand

以过去了。他放开我的手，我跑and I ran.I ran faster than I had ever run

了起来。我从没有跑得这么快before.The street seemed wide.I wondered

过。街道似乎很宽，我怀疑自己if I would make it to the other side.是否能跑到对面。跑到对面后，Reaching the other side, I turned to find

我回头寻找祖父，他正站在我离Grampy.There he was, standing exactly

开他的地方，为我自豪地微笑where I had left him, smiling proudly.I

着。我朝他挥了挥手。

waved.“ Go on, hurry up,” he yelled.“接着走，快点。”他喊道。

My heart pounded wildly as I walked inside 我的心砰砰乱跳着走进昏the dark garage.I had been inside the garage 暗的修车站。我以前曾和父亲一before with my father.My surroundings were 块来过这里，对周围的一切都很familiar.I heard the Coca-Cola machine 熟悉。甚至在看见可口可乐机之motor humming even before I saw it.I walked 前就听到了其马达发出的嗡嗡directly to the big old red-and-white

声。我径直走向那台红白相间的dispenser.I knew where to insert my dime.巨大的老自动售货机。我知道该I had seen it done before and had fantasized 往哪儿插硬币，我曾看人做过并about this moment many times.曾多次幻想有一天我也能亲身

试一试。The big old monster greedily accepted my dime, and I heard the bottles shift.On

那个老巨人贪婪地吞下我的tiptoes I reached up and opened the heavy 硬币，我听见了瓶子移动的声door.There they were: one neat row of thick 音。我踮起脚尖伸手摸索着打开green bottles, necks staring directly at 了它厚重的门。它们就在那儿!me, and ice cold from the refrigeration.I 一排整齐的深绿色瓶子，瓶颈一held the door open with my shoulder and 个挨一个地凝视着我，冰箱里散grabbed one.With a quick yank, I pulled it 发出冰冷的气息。我用肩膀顶着free from its bondage.Another one

门，伸手抓住一个，迅速一拉，immediately took its place.The bottle was 将它从捆绑中拉了出来，另一个cold in my sweaty hands.I will never forget 立即占据了它的位置。瓶子在我the feeling of the cool glass on my skin.汗浸浸的手中显得格外冰凉，我With two hands, I positioned the bottleneck 永远忘不了冰凉的瓶子接触我under the heavy brass opener that was bolted 皮肤时的感觉。我两手抓住瓶to the wall.The cap dropped into an old 子，将瓶颈放在固定的墙上的厚wooden box, and I reached in to retrieve it.铜开瓶器下，瓶盖立即掉在一个I was cold and bent in the middle, but I knew 老木箱里，我伸手将它捡了出I needed to have this souvenir.Coke in 来，感觉好凉，中间已经弯曲，hand, I proudly marched back out into the 但我知道我需要拥有这个纪念early evening dusk.Grampy was waiting patiently.He smiled.品。手拿可乐，我自豪地走回到外面，已是黄昏时分。祖父正耐心地等待着，并面带微笑。

“停在那儿，”一两辆车在我面

前飞驶而过，祖父再次走下马路 “ Stop right there,” he yelled.One or two cars sped by me, and once again, Grampy 沿儿，“现在过来，”他说，“跑stepped off the curb.” Come on, now,“ he 过来！”我跑了起来，冰凉的棕

色泡沫溅在我的手上。“别再一said, ” run.“ I did.Cool brown foam sprayed my hands.” Don't ever do that alone,“ he 个人独自过马路！”他警告我。warned.I held the Coke bottle tightly, 我紧紧地抱着可乐瓶，生怕他让我把可乐倒在杯子里，毁掉我的fearful he would make me pour it into a cup，梦想。他没有。我咕噜噜长长地ruining this dream come true.He didn't.One 吞下一口冰凉的可乐，冒汗的身long swallow of the cold beverage cooled my

体顿觉清爽无比。我认为自己再sweating body.I don't think I ever felt so proud.也没有过当时那样的自豪。By Jacqueline M.Hickey（袁红梅 译 自 Chicken Soup for the Woman's Soul)

have two adopt sisters

An only child, a perfectly ordinary little girl in rural Wisconsin, I wanted

我有两个领养妹妹

小时候我是家里的独生女，sisters more than anything.When I turned

是威斯康新州农村的一个非常seven, my parents made a decision that delighted me beyond measure: they chose to 普通的女孩。那时我特别想要的adopt.就是妹妹。我7岁那年，父母做出了一个让我喜出望外的决定：他们要领养了。

那是圣诞节期间，我的两个新妹妹，一个6岁，一个It was Christmastime when my two new sisters, aged 6 and 3, arrived from

3岁，从哥伦比亚来到了我家。

她们的到来带来了喜庆，亲朋好Colombia.They came with a great flourish of celebration, as friends and relatives 友带着礼物来我家欢迎她们。那visited us bearing gifts to welcome them.天晚上客人们走后，剩下了我们That evening our guests went home and we were left to ourselves.My sisters and I

自己，我和妹妹们走进我们共用went to the bedroom we were to share;as we 的卧室；当我们爬上床时，父母crawledsintosour beds, our parents came to each of us, tucking us in and saying

进来了，为我们一一掖好被角并goodnight.“Te amo,”they whispered to my new sisters in Spanish,“I love you.”

且道了晚安，“Te amo”，他们用西班牙语向我的新妹妹耳语道，“我爱你”。

From the beginning these newcomers were

从一开始，新来的妹妹就like my own flesh and blood;we played and

像是我的亲妹妹；我们一起玩，bickered and learned just as if we had

一起斗嘴，一起学习，仿佛我们always been sisters.From the beginning we all were my parents' daughters equally, as

一直就是姐妹；父母对我们指they supervised and scolded and encouraged us.教、训斥或鼓励时，我们都是父

母的女儿，谁都不受偏袒。

生活看上去非常好。然而，在表象之下，父母却在为他 Life seemed great.Beneath the surface, 们之间的婚姻问题而苦苦挣扎，however, my parents were struggling with

当我们姐妹十几岁时，父母说出their own marital problems.As we girls were approaching our teen years, my parents a divorce.”

了那句致命的话：“我们要离婚uttered the fateful words,“We're getting

了。”

My sisters had been hurt before.They had

妹妹们以前就受到过伤been dealt a great wound when their birth mother abandoned them, and none of us understood the depth of their inner

害，当她们遭生母遗弃时蒙受过turmoil.It was a pain that now resurfaced, 巨大的伤痛，无人能够理解她们as the emotions from that abandonment years

内心的烦乱有多深，而这一痛苦earlier overwhelmed them.如今又重新浮现出来，早年被遗弃时的情感使她们不知所措。

在这一段时间里我们都在苦苦挣扎。我的父亲再婚 We all struggled during this time.My

了，并努力通过新的家庭——另father remarried and strove to provide some sort of stability for us through this new

一个妈妈、弟弟和妹妹——为我family: another mother, brother and sister.But the bonds between my parents and sisters

们提供稳定的生活。但父母与我continued to disintegrate.By the time I left for college, my family was in profound

们姐妹间的关系仍在分崩离析。disarray.在我离开家上大学时，家里正处于一片混乱当中。

第五篇：英语经典美文背诵100篇007-010

Learn to live in the present moment

学会生活在现实中

To a large degree,the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live on the present moment.Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year, and what may or may not happen tomorrow, the present moment is where you are---always!

我们内心是否平和在很大程度上是由我们是否能生活在现实之中所决定的．不管昨天或去年发生了什么，不管明天可能发生或不发生什么，现实才是你时时刻刻所在之处．

Without question, many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about variety of things--all at once.We allow past problems and future concerns dominate your present moments, so much so that we end up anxious,frustrated,depressed,and hopeless.On the flip side, we also postpone our gratification, our stated priorities, and our happiness, often convincing that “someday” will be much better than today.Unfortunately, the same mental dynamics that tell us to look toward the future will only repeat themselves so that 'someday' never actually arrives.Jhon Lennone once said, “Life is what is happening while we are busy making other plans.” When we are busy making 'other plans', our children are busy growing up, the people we love are moving away and dying, our bodies are getting out of shape, and our dreams are slipping away.In short, we miss out on life.毫无疑问，我们很多人掌握了一种神经兮兮的艺术，即把生活中的大部分时间花在为种种事情担心忧虑上－－而且常常是同时忧虑许多事情．我们听凭过去的麻烦和未来的担心控制我们此时此刻的生活，以至我们整日焦虑不安，委靡不振，甚至沮丧绝望．而另一方面我们又推迟我们的满足感，推迟我们应优先考虑的事情，推迟我们的幸福感，常常说服自己＂有朝一日＂会比今天更好．不幸的是，如此告戒我们朝前看的大脑动力只能重复来重复去，以至＂有朝一日＂哟贫农公元不会真的来临．约翰．列侬曾经说过：＂生活就是当我们忙于制定别的计划时发生的事．＂当我们忙于指定种种＂别的计划＂时，我们的孩子在忙于长大，我们挚爱的人里去了甚至快去世了，我们的体型变样了，而我们的梦想也在消然溜走了．一句话，我们错过了生活．

Many people lives as if life is a dress rehearsal for some later date.It isn't.In fact, no one have a guarantee that he or she will be here tomorrow.Now is the only time we have, and the only time that we have any control over.When we put our attention on the present moment, we push fear from our minds.Fear is the concern over events that might happen in the future--we won't have enoughh money,our children will get into trouble,we will get old and die,whatever.许多人的生活好象是某个未来日子的彩排．并非如此．事实上，没人能保证他或她肯定还活着．现在是我们所拥有的唯一时间，现在也是我们能控制的唯一的时间．当我们将注意力放在此时此刻时，我们就将恐惧置于脑后．恐惧就是我们担忧某些事情会在未来发生－－我们不讳有足够的钱，我们的孩子会惹上麻烦，我们会变老，会死去，诸如此类．

To combat fear, the best stradegy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present.Mark Twain said,“I have been through some terrible things in life, some

of which actually happened.” I don't think I can say it any better.Practice keeping your attention on the here and now.Your effort will pay great dividends.若要克服恐惧心理，最佳策略是学会将你的注意力拉回此时此刻．马克．吐温说过：＂我经历过生活中一些可怕的事情，有些的确发生过．＂我想我说不出比这更具内涵的话．经常将注意力集中于此情此景，此时此刻，你的努力终会有丰厚的报偿．

3How High Can You Jump?

Flea trainers have observed a strange habit of fleas while training them.Fleas are trained by putting them in a cardboard box with a top on it.The fleas will jump up and hit the top of the cardboard box over and over and over again.As you watch them jump and hit the lid, something very interesting becomes obvious.The fleas continue to jump, but they are no longer jumping high enough to hit the top.When you take off the lid, the fleas continue to jump, but they will not jump out of the box.They won't jump out because they can't jump out.Why? The reason is simple.They have conditioned themselves to jump just so high.Once they have conditioned themselves to jump just so high, that's all they can do!

Many times, people do the same thing.They restrict themselves and never reach their potential.Just like the fleas, they fail to jump higher, thinking they are doing all they can do.跳蚤训练人在训练跳蚤时发现跳蚤有一个奇怪的习惯。若把跳蚤放在一个有顶盖的盒子里，他们会不断地跳起来，撞击顶盖。

你观察他们跳起来撞击顶盖，会慢慢发现一个有趣的现象。他们仍会跳起来，但不会再撞到顶盖。

当你把顶盖拿开时，跳蚤还会接着跳，但却不会跳出盒子。为什么呢？原因很简单。它们已经习惯了只跳那么高。

一旦它们习惯只跳这么高之后，它们就只能跳这么高了。

很多时候，人们也是一样。他们自己限制了自己，从来不去发掘自己的潜力。就像跳蚤一样，没能跳得更高，还以为已经到了自己能力的极限。

4热爱生活（Love Your Life）

Henry David Thoreau/享利.大卫.梭罗

However mean your life is,meet it and live it;do not shun it and call it hard names.It is not so bad as you are.It looks poorest when you are richest.The fault-finder will find faults in paradise.Love your life,poor as it is.You may

perhaps have some pleasant,thrilling,glorious hourss,even in a poor-house.The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there,and have as cheering thoughts,as in a palace.The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any.May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.Most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means.which should be more disreputable.Cultivate poverty like a garden herb,like sage.Do not trouble yourself much to get new things,whether clothes or friends,Turn the old,return to them.Things do not change;we change.Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。

5父爱和母爱

Motherly and Fatherly Love

Motherly love by its very nature is unconditional.Mother loves the newborn infant because it is her child, not because the child has fulfilled any specific condition, or lived up to any specific expectation.Unconditional love corresponds in one of 'the deepest longings, not only of the child, but of every human being;on the other hand, to be loved because of one's merit, because one deserves it, always leaves doubt: maybe I did not please the person whom I want to love me, maybe this or that--there is always a fear that love could disappear.Furthermore, “deserved” love easily leaves a bitter feeling that one is not loved for oneself, that one is loved only because one pleases, that one is, in the last analysis, not loved at all but used.No wonder that we all cling to the longing for motherly love, as children and also as adults.The relationship to father is quite different.Mother is the home we come from, she is nature, soil, the ocean;father does not represent any such natural home.He has little connection with the child in the first years of

his life, and his importance for the child in this early period cannot be compared with that of mother.But while father does not represent the natural world, he represents the other pole of human existence;the world of thought, of man-made things, of law and order, of discipline, of travel and adventure.Father is the one who teaches the child, who shows him the road into the world.Fatherly love is conditional love.Its principle is “1 love you because you fulfill my expectations, because you do your duty, because you are like me.” In conditional fatherly love we find, as with unconditional motherly love, a negative and a positive aspect.The negative aspect is the very fact that fatherly love has to be deserved, that it can be lost if one does not do what is expected.The positive side is equally important.Since his love is conditional, I can do something to acquire it, I can work for it;his love is not outside of my control as motherly love is.母爱和父爱

母爱的天性是无条件的。母亲爱她的新生婴儿，因为那是她的孩子，而不是因为这个小孩符合了什么特别的条件，也不是因为孩子达到了她的某种特别的期望。无条件的爱符合——不只是小孩子，而且是每个人最深切的渴望。另一方面，如果因为自己的优点，因为自己值得爱而被别人爱，我们总会心存疑虑：可能我没有使那个我希望他(她)爱我的人满意吧?可能这个，可能那个——总是害怕那份爱会消失。而且“值得的”爱很容易令人产生一种辛酸的感觉：似乎一个人不是因为自身而被爱，而是因为自己可以令别人高兴，令别人满足才被爱，似乎自己根本不是被爱而是被利用了。无怪乎我们全都依恋、渴望着母爱，不论小孩还是成年人都如此。

孩子同父亲的关系就完全不同了。母亲是我们的发源地，她是自然、是土壤、是海洋；父亲不代表任何这些自然的归宿。在孩子初生的前几年中，父亲和孩子接触很少。在此期间，对于孩子来说，父亲的重要性远远比不上母亲。但是，虽然父亲不代表这自然的世界，他却代表了人类存在的另一极——思想的世界、人造的世界、法律和秩序的世界、纪律的世界、旅行和冒险的世界。教育孩子的人是父亲，向孩子展示通向世界之路的人也是父亲。父爱是有条件的。它的原则是：“因为你达到了我的期望，因为你完成了你的职责，因为你像我，所以我爱你。”在有条件的父爱中，我们(像在无条件的母爱中一样)发现它既有消极的一面，又有积极的一面。消极的一面是父爱的给予只在你值得得到爱的条件下，而且如果你没有做到他所期望的事，你可能会失去这份爱。积极的一面也同样重要。既然他的爱是有条件的，我可以采取一些办法去获取它，我可以为之而努力；他的爱像母爱一样，并没有越出我的控制力