2021年1月23日发(作者：藩篱什么意思)
英语美文
30
篇


英语美文
30
篇
01-Youth
Youth
原文

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, aquality 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 , 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.
名家译文

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年轻。

英语美文
30
篇
02-Three Days to See
Three Days to See
假如拥有三天光明

Helen Keller/
海伦
.
凯勒

All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was
as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours, but always we
were interested in discovering just how the doomed man chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of
course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.
Such stories set up thinking, wondering what we should do under similar events, what
experiences,what What associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should
we find in reviewing the past, what regrets?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an
attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with a gentleness, a vigor, and a
keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days
and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the epicu
rean motto of “Eat, drink, and

be merry,” most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.

In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense
of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has
often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything
they do.
Most of us take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the
future, when we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in
an endless vista. So we go about our petty task, hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life.
The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing,
only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who
have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom
make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sound hazily, without
concentration, and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we
lose it, as not being conscious of health until we are ill.
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 teach him the
joys of sound.

英语美文

30
篇
03-Companionship of Books
Companionship of Books (Samuel Smiles-- The political reformer and moralist was born)
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company(playmates) he keeps;
（
Birds of a
feather flock together
）
for there is a companionship (friendship) of books as well as of men; and one should always
live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men. --- the author has contrast of books and friends.
A good book may be among the best of friends.(a good book is like our best friend) It is the same today that it always
was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us
(abandon) in times of adversity or distress.(in times of misfortunes or poverty) It always receives us with the same
kindness
，
amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.(in old age)
一本好书就像是一个最好的朋 友。它始终不渝，过去如此，现在仍然如此，将来也永远不变。它是最有耐心、

最令人愉快的 伴侣。在我们穷愁潦倒、临危遭难的时候，它也不会抛弃我们，对我们总是一往情深。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，它又给我们以安慰和勉励。

Men often discover their affinity (close relationship) to each other by the love they have each for a book --- just as
two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both have for a third. There is an old proverb,
“Love me, and love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer an
d
higher bond of union. (uniting force) Men can think, feel, and sympathize (share the feelings or ideas of another) with
each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he (lives) in them. ---they can find their
opinions from books, in reverse, the ideas of the author influence them too.
人们常常因为同爱一本书而结为知 己，就像有时两个人因为敬慕同一个人而交为朋友一样。古谚说：
“
爱屋及

乌
”
。但是，
“
爱我及书
”
这句话却有更深的哲理。书是更 为坚实而高尚的情谊纽带。人们可以通过共同爱好的

作家沟通思想感情，彼此息息相通。他们 的思想共同在作者的著述里得到体现，而作者的思想反过来又化为

他们的思想。

“Books,” said Hazlitt,“Wind into the heart;
the poet's verse slides in the current of our blood. We read them when
young, we remember them when old. We feel that it has happened to ourselves. They are to be very cheap and good.
We breathe but the air of books.”

哈兹利特曾经说过：
“
书潜移默化人们的内心，诗歌熏陶人 们的气质品性。少小所习，老大不忘，恍如身历其

事。书籍价廉物美，不啻我们呼吸的空气。
”

A good book is often the best urn (a vase with foot and round body, especially as anciently for storing ashes of the
dead.
有腳之圓形缸，古時以此缸盛人屍體之骨殖。
) of a life enshrining (inclosing or preserving as in shrine.
保

而藏之（如帝王駕崩，高僧圓寂之後，藏其遺骸於神龕中）
.) the best that life could think out; for the world of a
man's life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries (a place where
valuable things are kept. ) of good words, the golden (precious, excellent) thoughts, which, remembered and
cherished, become our constant companions and comforters (a thing that gives comfort). “They are never alone,” said

Sir Philip Sidney, “that are accompanied by noble thoughts.”

好书常如最精美的宝器 ，珍藏着人的一生思想的精华。人生的境界，主要就在于他思想的境界。所以，最好

的书是金 玉良言的宝库，若将其中的崇高思想铭记于心，就成为我们忠实的伴侣和永恒的慰籍。菲利普
·
悉尼

爵士说得好：
“
有高尚思想作伴的人永不孤独。
”

The good and true thought may in times of temptation (lure) be as an angel of mercy purifying and guarding the soul.
It also enshrines the germs of action, for good words almost always inspire to good works.
当我们面临诱惑的时 候，优美纯真的思想会像仁慈的天使一样，纯洁并保卫我们的灵魂。优美纯真的思想也

蕴育着行动的胚芽，因为金玉良言几乎总会启发善行。

Books possess an essence of immortality (the nature of endless life). They are by far the most lasting products of
human effort. Temples and statues decay (rot), but books survive. Time is of no account (of no importance ) with
great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds, ages ago. What was
then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to
sift out (make sth bad away) the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really good.
书籍具有不朽的本质，是人类勤奋努力的最为持久的产物。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，时间是无关重要的。多少年代前初次闪现在作者脑海里的 伟大思想今天依然清新如故。

他们当时的言论和思想刊于书页，如今依然那么生动感人。时间 唯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。

Books introduce us into the best society they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We
hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them,
grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure (in some degree ) actors
with them in the scenes which they describe.
书籍引导我们与最优秀的人物为伍，使我们置身历代伟人 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。他们的感受成为我 们自己的感受，我们觉得有点象是在作者所描绘的人生舞台上跟

他们一起粉墨登场了。

The great and good do not die even in this world. Embalmed (Spring embalms the woods and fields.
春天使森林和田

野吐露芬芳。
) in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which one still
listens. Hence we ever remain under the influence of the great men of old. The imperial intellects of the world are as
much alive now as they were ages ago.
即 使在人世间，伟大杰出的人物，也是永生不灭的，他们的精神载入书册，传之四海。书是人们至今仍在聆

听的智慧之声，永远充满着活力。所以，我们永远都是在受着历代伟人的影响。多少世纪以前的盖世英才 ，

如今仍同当年一样，显示着强大的生命力。


英语美文

30
篇
04-If I Rest,I Rust
If I Rest,I Rust
如果我休息，我就会生锈

The significant inscription found on an old key---
“If I rest, I rust”
---would be an excellent motto for those who are
afflicted with the slightest bit of idleness. Even the most industrious person might adopt it with advantage to serve as
a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust
and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use,
so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art,
literature, agriculture---every department of human endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry,
had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated
mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to
science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed
the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a
string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a
well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble
and enduring success.

英语美文

30
篇
05-Ambition
Ambition
抱负

It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world: without demands,
without abrasions, without disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Such work as they did would not
be for themselves but for the collectivity. Competition would never enter in. conflict would be eliminated, tension
become a thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. Art would no longer be troubling, but purely
celebratory in its functions. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke
caused by tumultuous endeavor. Anxiety would be extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long
departed from the human heart.
Ah, how unrelieved boring life would be!
There is a strong view that holds that success is a myth, and ambition therefore a sham. Does this mean that success
does not really exist? That achievement is at bottom empty? That the efforts of men and women are of no
significance alongside the force of movements and events now not all success, obviously, is worth esteeming, nor all
ambition worth cultivating. Which are and which are not is something one soon enough learns on one’s own. But

even the most cynical secretly admit that success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that the true
myth is that the actions of men and women are useless. To believe otherwise is to take on a point of view that is
likely to be deranging. It is, in its implications, to remove all motives for competence, interest in attainment, and
regard for posterity.
We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of
our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose
the time or conditions of our death. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live:
courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and
what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no
matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make.
We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end, forming our own destiny is
what ambition is about.



英语美文

30
篇
06-What I have Lived for
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 great 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 wished to know
why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the
flux. 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 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 this 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.

英语美文

30
篇
07-When Love Beckons You
When Love Beckons You
When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you, yield to
him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you, believe in him,
though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as
he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to our roots
and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
But if, in your fear, you would seek only lov
e’s peace and love’s pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your

nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing
-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your
laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but it self and takes naught but from itself. Love
possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and must have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a payer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

英语美文

30
篇
08-The Road to Success
Andrew Carnegie
It is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the
leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career.
They were introduced to the broom, and spent the first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice
we have janitors and jamtresses now in offices, and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of a
business education. But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy who has the genius of
the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. The other day a fond fashionable mother in
Michigan asked a young man whether he had even seen a young lady sweep in a room so grandly as her Priscilla. He
said so, he never had, and the mother was gratified beyond measure, but then said he, after a pause,
like to see her do is sweep out a room.
one of those sweepers myself.
Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started, my advice to you is
give a fig for the young man who has not already seen himself the partner or the head of an important firm. Do not
rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk, or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter
how extensive. Say to yourself,
And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively
upon the business in which your are engaged. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in
it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it.
The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital, which means that they have scattered their
brains also. They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here, there, and everywhere.
in one basket
and take notice; men who do that do not often fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too
many baskets, that breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head, which is
apt to tumble and trip him up. One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.
To summarize what I have said: Aim for the highest, never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor, or if at all only at
meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make the firm's interest yours; break orders
always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within
revenue; lastly be not impatient, for, as Emerson says,
yourselves.
）


英语美文

30
篇
09-On Meeting the Celebrated
On Meeting the Celebrated
William Somerset Maugham
I have always wondered at the passion many people have to meet the celebrated. The prestige you acquire by being
able to tell your friends that you know famous men proves only that you are yourself of small account. The
celebrated develop a technique to deal with the persons they come across. They show the world a mask, often an
impressive one, but take care to conceal their real selves. They play the part that is expected from them, and with
practice learn to play it very well, but you are stupid if you think that this public performance of theirs corresponds
with the man within.
I have been attached, deeply attached, to a few people; but I have been interested in men in general not for their own
sakes, but for the sake of my work. I have not, as Kant1) enjoined, regarded each man as an end in himself, but as
material that might be useful to me as a writer. I have been more concerned with the obscure than with the famous.
They are more often themselves. They have had no need to create a figure to protect themselves from the world or to
impress it. Their idiosyncrasies2) have had more chance to develop in the limited circle of their activity, and since
they have never been in the public eye it has never occurred to them that they have anything to conceal. They display
their oddities3) because it has never struck them that they are odd. And after all it is with the common run of men that
we writers have to deal; kings, dictators, commercial magnates are from our point of view very unsatisfactory. To
write about them is a venture that has often tempted writers, but the failure that has attended their efforts shows that
such beings are too exceptional to form a proper ground for a work of art. They cannot be made real. The ordinary is
the writer's richer field. Its unexpectedness, its singularity, its infinite variety afford unending material. The great man
is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is a bundle of contradictory elements. He is inexhaustible. You never
come to the end of the surprises he has in store for you. For my part I would much sooner spend a month on a desert
island with a veterinary surgeon than with a prime minister.
注释

1) Kant
：即
Immanuel Kant
（伊曼努尔
·
康德
1724
－

1804
）
，德国古典哲学创始人

2) idiosyncrasy [7idiE5siNkrEsi] n.
特质
,
特性

3) oddity [5Cditi] n.
奇异
,
古怪
,
怪癖

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，< br>
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

之名流显士，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< br>
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。



英
语
美
文

30
篇
10-The
50-Percent
Theory
of
Life
生活半对半
[The 50-Percent Theory of Life]
I believe in the 50-percent theory. Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe
life is a pendulum swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the
perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.
Let's benchmark the parameters: Yes, I will die. I've dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved
boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff,
and it belongs at the bottom of the scale.
Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad
things like coaching my son's baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he's swimming with the
dogs, discovering his compassion so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, his imagination so vivid he
builds a spaceship from a scattered pile of Legos.
But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and the good flip-flop acrobatically. This is what
convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory.
One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone that neighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the
wasted effort. Summer turned brutal -- the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air- conditioner died, the
well went dry, the marriage ended, the job lost, the money gone. I was living lyrics from a country tune -- music I
loathed. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed my spirits.
Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the bad.
Worse than normal wouldn't last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. They reinvigorate me for the next
nasty surprise and offer assurance that I can thrive. The 50 percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals'
recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.
Oh, yeah, the corn crop? For that one blistering summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed
pollination before heat withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing corn from floods. That winter my
crib overflowed with corn -- fat, healthy three-to-a- stalk ears filled with kernels from heel to tip -- while my
neighbors' fields yielded only brown, empty husks.
Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future,
I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.
中文：

我信奉对半理论。生活时而无比顺畅，时而倒霉透顶，好 坏参半。我觉得生活就像来回晃动的钟摆。读懂生

活的常态需要时间和阅历，也正是这样才练就了我面对未来荣辱不惊的生活态度。

让 我们掂量这些点点滴滴：是的，我注定会死去。我已经经历了双亲的仙逝，一位友人的亡故，一位敬爱的

老板的离逝，还有心爱宠物的死亡。当中一些变故突如其来，直击眼前；有些却长期折磨，痛苦不堪。糟 糕

的事儿，它们驻留谷底。

当然生活也不乏熠熠光彩：坠入爱河缔结良缘 ；养育幼子身为人父，训练儿子的棒球队，当他和狗在水中嬉

戏时，摇桨划船前瞻后顾，感受 他如此强烈的同情心
——
即使对蜗牛也善待有加，发现他如此活跃的想像力

——
即使零散的积木也能堆出太空飞船。

但在它们发生期间有一片宽广的草 坪，在那儿上演的各种好事坏事像耍杂技一样地翻新。这就是让我信服对

半理论的原因。

有一年春天，我在一片容易被淹的低洼地过早地种下了玉米，邻居们 都为此嘲笑我。一番心血付之东流让我

懊恼不已。接着我生命中最难熬的酷暑来临了
——
热浪袭人，酿至旱灾。空调失灵，水井枯竭，婚姻破裂，

惨遭失业，积蓄挥空。 我正经历某个乡村调频描绘的情节，我讨厌这种音乐。只有一支人气攀升的堪萨斯皇

家棒球队的小组因他们的第一次出征世界大赛团结起来使我精神振奋。

回想那个可怕 的夏天，我不久就明白了所有的好事坏事不过是正负抵消。不顺心的境遇不会延宕过久。太平

时光是我应得的，我要尽情享受。它们给我新的活力以应对突如其来的险境，并确保我再度辉煌。对半理论

甚至帮我在我喜爱的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，播种了，

假以时日我们就可以收获十月的金秋。

哦，对 了，玉米收成？就那年炎热的夏天，庄稼地的湿度恰到好处，过早的种植使授粉避开酷热在顶梢干枯
< br>前完成，雨水稀少使地里长着的玉米免遭水灾。那年冬天，我的粮仓里堆满了玉米
——
饱 满结实的玉米每株

秆上结三个，每个玉米从底到顶端长满了玉米粒
——
而我 的邻居们地里长出来的只是暗沉干瘪的壳。

尽管过去播种的收获没有达到

50
％的期望，而且将来也可能是这样，我仍然要为经历旱季依然丰收的玉米而

坚守阵地。






英语美文

30
篇
11-What is Your Recovery Rate

What is Your Recovery Rate ?
By Graham Harris
What is your recovery rate? How long does it take you to recover from actions and behaviors that upset you? Minutes?
Hours? Days? Weeks? The longer it takes you to recover, the more influence that incident has on your actions, and
the less able you are to perform to your personal best. In a nutshell, the longer it takes you to recover, the weaker you
are and the poorer your performance.
You are well aware that you need to exercise to keep the body fit and, no doubt, accept that a reasonable measure of
health is the speed in which your heart and respiratory system recovers after exercise. Likewise the faster you let go
of an issue that upsets you, the faster you return to an equilibrium, the healthier you will be. The best example of this
behavior is found with professional sportspeople. They know that the faster they can forget an incident or missed
opportunity and get on with the game, the better their performance. In fact, most measure the time it takes them to
overcome and forget an incident in a game and most reckon a recovery rate of 30 seconds is too long!
Imagine yourself to be an actor in a play on the stage. Your aim is to play your part to the best of your ability. You
have been given a script and at the end of each sentence is a full stop. Each time you get to the end of the sentence
you start a new one and although the next sentence is related to the last it is not affected by it. Your job is to deliver
each sentence to the best of your ability.
Don’t live you
r life in the past! Learn to live in the present, to overcome the past. Stop the past from influencing your
daily life. Don’t allow thoughts of the past to reduce your personal best. Stop the past from interfering with your life.

Learn to recover quickly.
Live in the present. Not in the precedent.
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 ，你越快摆脱是你烦恼的问题，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。

生活在现在，而不是从前


英语美文

30
篇
12-Clear Your Mental Space
Clear Your Mental Space
Think about the last time you felt a negative emotion---like stress, anger, or frustration. What was going through your
mind as you were going through that negativity? Was your mind cluttered with thoughts? Or was it paralyzed, unable
to think?
The next time you find yourself in the middle of a very stressful time, or you feel angry or frustrated, stop. Yes, that’s

right, stop. Whatever
you’re doing, stop and sit for one minute. While you’re sitting there, completely immerse

yourself in the negative emotion.
Allow that emotion to consume you. Allow yourself one minute to truly feel that emotion. Don’t cheat yourself here.

Take the entire minute--- but only one minute---to do nothing else but feel that emotion.
When the minute is over, ask yourself, “Am I wiling to keep holding on to this negative emotion as I go through the

rest of the day?”

Once you’ve allowed yourself to be totally immer
sed in the emotion and really fell it, you will be surprised to find
that the emotion clears rather quickly.
If you feel you need to hold on to the emotion for a little longer, that is OK. Allow yourself another minute to feel the
emotion.
When you feel yo
u’ve had enough of the emotion, ask yourself if you’re willing to carry that negativity with you for

the rest of the day. If not, take a deep breath. As you exhale, release all that negativity with your breath.
This exercise seems simple---almost too simple. But, it is very effective. By allowing that negative emotion the space
to be truly felt, you are dealing with the emotion rather than stuffing it down and trying not to feel it. You are actually
taking away the power of the emotion by giving it the space and attention it needs. When you immerse yourself in the
emotion, and realize that it is only emotion, it loses its control. You can clear your head and proceed with your task.
Try it. Next time you’re in the middle of a negative emotion, give yourself t
he space to feel the emotion and see what
happens. Keep a piece of paper with you that says the following:
Stop. Immerse for one minute. Do I want to keep this negativity? Breath deep, exhale, release. Move on!
This will remind you of the steps to the process. Remember; take the time you need to really immerse yourself in the
emotion. Then, when you feel you’ve felt it enough, release it
---really let go of it. You will be surprised at how
quickly you can move on from a negative situation and get to what you really want to do!

英语美文

30
篇
13-Be Happy

Be Happy
！


When I first read this line by England's Poet Laureate, it startled me. What did Masefield mean? Without thinking
about it much. I had always assumed that the opposite was true. But his sober assurance was arresting. I could not
forget it.
Finally, I seemed to grasp his meaning and realized that here was a profound observation. The wisdom that happiness
makes possible lies in clear perception, not fogged by anxiety nor dimmed by despair and boredom, and without the
blind spots caused by fear.
Active happiness not mere satisfaction or contentment_ Often comes suddenly, like an April shower or the unfolding
of a bud. Then you discover what kind of wisdom has accompanied it. The grass is greener, bird songs are sweeter,
the shortcomings of your friends are more understandable and more forgivable. Happiness is like a pair of eyeglasses
correcting your spiritual vision.
Nor are the insights of happiness limited to what is near around you. Unhappy, with your thoughts turned in upon
your emotional woes, your vision is cut short as though by a wall. Happy, the wall crumbles.
The long vista is there for the seeing. The ground at your feet, the world about you _people, thoughts, emotions,
pressures_ are now fitted into the larger scene. Every thing assumes a fairer proportion. And here is the beginning of
wisdom.
快乐吧！