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英语口·米老师说 

朗读可以培养语感,训练思维,体会音韵,还可以让您在一种优美的语言交融中不知不觉地体会到英语水平的提升。分享60篇适合晨读的美文给大家,让您的英语水平在每天开口的15分钟里潜移默化、逐步提高!






英语·晨读美文

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51
Nature 
自然
To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun. At least they have a very superficial seeing. The sun illuminate only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. The lover of nature is he whose inward and out­ward senses are still truly adjusted to each other; who has retained the spirit of infancy even into the era of man­hood. His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food. 
说实话,没有几个成年人能真正看见自然。大多数人都看不见大阳;至少,他们眼里看出来的大阳是单一的。对于成人来说,大阳只是照亮了他的眼睛,但对孩子而言,阳光却渗入了他的眼睛和心灵。一个热爱自然的人,他外在的知觉和内心的感触是合而为一的,即使他长大成年以后,还依然保持着一颗童年的心。对他来说,与天地的交流,是日常生活中不可残缺的一部分。

In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows. Nature says, he is my creature, and maugre all his im­pertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me. Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corre­sponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece. 
面对大自然,哪怕生活中有再大的忧伤,他的内心也会涌起莫大的喜悦。大自然说,他乃我所生,尽管他有各种无端的忧伤,但他将和我一同快乐。自然带给我们的快乐不单单是阳光和夏日,每一个季节、每时每刻她都给我们带来欢乐和欣喜。这是因为,每一刻、每一个变化,从沉闷的中午到漆黑的午夜,都意味着一种全新的心情。在自然这个大舞台上,既能上演喜剧,也能烘托悲情。

In good health, the air is a cordial of incredible virtue. Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration. I am glad to the brink of fear. In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child, in the woods, is perpetual youth. Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a pe­rennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years, In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes) which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bare, ground, my head bathed by the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of Gods. In the tranquil landscape, and especially in the distant line of the horizon, man be­holds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature.
如果身心健康,那么,你会觉得空气中仿佛也充满了善意与美德。当我在黎明阴沉的天空下踏着积雪的水坑,穿过空旷的广场时,虽然明知道不会有什么特别的好运降临,内心却分明感到了极度的兴奋。我庆幸自己仿佛来到了恐惧的边缘。在森林中也是如此,人一年一年地老去,就如同蛇蜕去了身上的皮,但不管他处在生命的哪个阶段,他永远是一个孩子。在森林里,青春是永恒的主旋律。在这些上帝掌管的田园里,礼仪与圣洁高高在上,喜庆的节日四季不断,尊贵的客人沉醉其中、逍遥自在,千年都不醒。在森林里,我们复归理性与信仰。在那里,生活中所遭遇到的一切一耻辱、灾难(除非我的眼睛看不见)统统都会在自然的神力作用下消遁于无形。当我伫足旷野,头脑陶醉在宜人的空气中,身体只觉得飘飘然腾空而起,所有卑微的私心杂念都荡然无存了。我变成了一颗透明的眼球。我渺小至极,却洞悉一切。世间生灵汇成一股洪流,在我周身循环,我成了上帝或大或小的一个部分。在静谧的风景里,尤其在遥远的地平线上,人们看见了某种与他本性一般美好的事物。


52
The Choice of Companion 
选择朋友
A good companion is better than a fortune, for a fortune cannot purchase those elements of character which make companionship a blessing. The best companion is one who is wiser and better than ourselves, for we are inspired by his wisdom and virtue to nobler deeds.
一个好友胜过一笔财富,因为钱财买不到人的某些品德因素,而正是这些因素,使友情成为一种恩惠。最好的朋友是那些比我们更睿智、更出色的人,我们会受到他们的智慧和美德的激励,从而使我们的行为更加高尚。

"Keep good company, and you shall be one of the number," said George Herbert. "A man is known by the companion he keeps. " Character makes character in the associations of life faster than anything else. Purity begets purity, like begets like; and this fact makes the choice of companion in early life more important even than that of teachers and guardians.
“与优秀者为伍,你也会成为优秀者中的一员。”乔治•赫伯特曾说,“从一个人所交的朋友可知其为人。”在社会交往中,品性对品性的塑造胜过其他任何因素。纯洁的品格会培养纯洁的品格,爱好会引发相同的爱好。这一事实使得在年少时选择朋友甚至比选择老师和监护人还要重要。

It is true that we cannot always choose all of our companions, some are thrust upon us by business or the social relations of life, we do not choose them, we do not enjoy them; and yet, we have to associate with them more or less. The experience is not altogether without compensation, if there be principle enough in us to bear the strain. Still, in the main, choice of companions can be made, and must be made. It is not best or necessary for a young person to associate with "Tom, Dick, and Harry" without forethought or purpose. Some fixed rules about the company he or she keeps must be observed. The subject should be uttermost in the thoughts, and canvassed often.
事实上,并非所有的朋友都是我们选择的,有些是生意或社会关系强加于我们的。我们没有选择他们,也不喜欢他们,可是我们不得不或多或少地与他们交往。不过,在情势的压力之下,只要我们自有主张,这样的交往也并非全无益处。大多数情况下,我们还是可以而且必须要选择朋友的。一个年轻人无所考虑、无所目的地随意与张三李四交往是不好的,也是没必要的,他/她必须遵循一些交友的定例,择友时应首先考虑这些定例,并经常加以审视。

Companionship is education, good or not; it develops manhood or womanhood, high or low; it lifts the soul upward or drags it downward; it ministers to virtue or vice. Sow virtue, and the harvest will be virtue, Sow vice, and the harvest will be vice. Good companionships help us to sow virtue;evil companionships help us to sow vice.
无论是有益还是有害,友谊就是一种教育。它可以培育高贵或卑微的品格;它可以升华灵魂,也可以使之沉沦;它可以滋生美德,也可以助长邪恶。播种美德,就会收获美德;播种邪恶,就会收获邪恶。有益的友谊帮助我们播种美德,而有害的友谊则使我们播种邪恶。

53
Application and Perseverance 
实践与坚持
The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, affords ample opportunities for acquiring experience of the best kind.
人生最大的收获往往是通过最简单的方法或对常识的准确应用而获得的。每一个平凡的日子都会为我们提供许多机会, 并使我们的阅历有所增强。

Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities are found the most useful,such as common sense, attention, application, and perseverance.
人们常常认为:机会是可遇而不可求的。而那些懂得细心观察生活的人往往会发现:机会总是更偏向于勤勉的人,正如海风与波浪经常会与航海家做伴一样。哪怕是在对人类事业的最高追求上,实践也是最有效的途径之一。当然,顽强的毅力也是必不可少的。

Genius may not be necessary, though even genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these ordinary qualities. The very greatest men have been among the least believers in the power of genius, and as worldly wise and persevering as successful men of the commoner sort. Some have even defined genius to be only common sense intensified. A distinguished teacher and president of a college spoke of it as the power of making ef forts. John Foster held it to be the power of lighting one's own fire.
天赋并不是获取成功的制胜法宝,即便是天才也同样会意识到常识的重要性。事实上,一些伟大人物往往是那些最不相信天赋的人。真正的智者和成功人士也并非在哪一方面特别出众,甚至他们曾被认为是缺少天赋的人。没错,他们之所以能够获得成功正是凭借着扎实的基本功,对基本常识的强化训练。一位校长兼优秀教师曾说过,他的成功源自不懈的努力。约翰•福斯特则把这种力量称之为“点燃生活的火焰”。

Newton's was unquestionably a mind of the very highest order, and yet, when asked by what means he had worked out his extraordinary discoveries, he modestly answered, "By always thinking unto them." At another time he thus expressed his method of study: "I keep the subject continually before me, and wait till the first dawnings open slowly by little and little into a full and clear light." It was in Newton's case, as in every other,only by diligent application and perseverance that his great reputation was achieved.
无可争议,牛顿的头脑是最高才智的头脑,但当我们问及他是通过什么方法取得了如此重大的发现时,他非常谦虚地答道:“全靠对那些问题不断地深思。”另一次,他这样表述他的研究方法:“我从未停止探索的脚步,当我看到第一缕曙光后,坚定的新年支撑着我最终看到了清晰的世界。”正是通过勤奋和实践,牛顿才最终获得了不朽的名誉和伟大的成就。

Dalton, the chemist, repudiated the notion of his being "a genius," attributing everything which he had accomplished to simple industry and accumulation. John Hunter said of himself, "My mind is like a beehives; but full as it is of buzz and apparent confusion, it is yet full of order and regularity, and food collected with incessant industry from the choiceset stores of nature. "
英国化学家道尔顿对世人称他为“天才”的做法进行了批判。他认为自己之所以能获得成功完全凭借自身的不懈努力和对知识的不断积累。约翰•亨特也曾说过:“我的思想如同一个蜂箱,常常嗡嗡作响,甚至还会出现混乱,但通过不懈的努力,嗡嗡声已经消失了,蜜蜂们也都恢复了正常的秩序,而且还学会了如何从大自 然的宝库中寻找食物。”

We have, indeed, but to glance at the biographies of great men to find that the most distinguished inventors, artists, thinkers, and workers of all kinds, owe their success, in a great measure, to their indefatigable industry and application.
我们同样可以在诸多人物传记中看到:大多数杰出人物,无论是发明家、艺术家、思想家、工人,还是社会各界人士,都无一例外地将自己的成就归功于勤奋和实践。

54
The Love of Beauty
爱美
The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature. It is a moral quality. The absence of it is not an assured ground of condemnation, but the presence of it is an invariable sign of goodness of heart. In proportion to the degree in which it is felt will probably be the degree in which nobleness and beauty of character will be attained.
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。

Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence. The universe is its temple. It unfolds into the numberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and the sea. It gleams from the hues of the shell and the precious stone. And not only these minute objects but the oceans, the mountains, the clouds, the stars, the rising and the setting sun---all overflow with beauty. This beauty is so precious, and so congenial to our tenderest and noblest feelings, that it is painful to think of the multitude of people living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost blind to it.
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,在绿叶嫩芽间摇曳;美,在深海幽谷里游弋;美,在奇石与贝壳的缤纷色彩中闪烁。不只是这些细微之物,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。

All persons should seek to become acquainted with the beauty in nature. There is not a worm we tread upon, nor a leaf that dances merrily as it falls before the autumn winds, but calls for our study and admiration. The power to appreciated beauty not merely increases our sources of happiness---it enlarges our moral nature, too. Beauty calms our restlessness and dispels our cares. Go into the fields or the woods, spend a summer day by the sea or the mountains, and all your little perplexities and anxieties will vanish. Listen to sweet music, and your foolish fears and petty jealousies will pass away. The beauty of the world helps us to seek and find the beauty of goodness.
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,没有一片在秋风拂略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,也加强了我们德行的修养。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云散。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。

55
Human Life a Poem
人生如诗
I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem. It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. It begins with innocent childhood, followed by awkward adolescence trying awkwardly to adapt itself to mature society, with its young passions and follies, its ideals and ambitions; then it reaches a manhood of intense activities, profiting from experience and learning more about society and human nature; at middle age, there is a slight easing of tension, a mellowing of character like the ripening of fruit or the mellowing of good wine, and the gradual acquiring of a more tolerant, more cynical and at the same time a kindlier view of life; then In the sunset of our life, the endocrine glands decrease their activity, and if we have a true philosophy of old age and have ordered our life pattern according to it, it is for us the age of peace and security and leisure and contentment; finally, life flickers out and one goes into eternal sleep, never to wake up again.
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,经历少年的青涩,呆着激情与无知、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,人生的紧张得以舒展,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,内分泌系统活动减少,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、安详和知足;终于,生命之烛摇曳而终熄灭,人开始永恒长眠,不再醒来。

One should be able to sense the beauty of this rhythm of life, to appreciate, as we do in grand symphonies, its main theme, its strains of conflict and the final resolution. The movements of these cycles are very much the same in a normal life, but the music must be provided by the individual himself. In some souls, the discordant note becomes harsher and harsher and finally overwhelms or submerges the main melody. Sometimes the discordant note gains so much power that the music can no longer go on, and the individual shoots himself with a pistol or jump into a river. But that is because his original leitmotif has been hopelessly over-showed through the lack of a good self-education. Otherwise the normal human life runs to its normal end in kind of dignified movement and procession. There are sometimes in many of us too many staccatos or impetuosos, and because the tempo is wrong, the music is not pleasing to the ear; we might have more of the grand rhythm and majestic tempo o the Ganges, flowing slowly and eternally into the sea.
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掩蔽,只因为他缺少自我教育。否则,常人将以体面的进展和进程走向既定的终点。在我们大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。

No one can say that life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement; the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its seasons, and it is good that it is so. There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season. And if we take this biological view of life and try to live according to the seasons, no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem. Shakespeare has expressed this idea more graphically in his passage about the seven stages of life, and a good many Chinese writers have said about the same thing. It is curious that Shakespeare was never very religious, or very much concerned with religion. I think this was his greatness; he took human life largely as it was, and intruded himself as little upon the general scheme of things as he did upon the characters of his plays. Shakespeare was like Nature itself, and that is the greatest compliment we can pay to a writer or thinker. He merely lived, observed life and went away.
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,谁能说人生不像诗一般度过呢。莎翁在他的一段话中形象地阐述了人生分七个阶段的观点,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。我想这正是他的伟人之处,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。

56
Be Happy 
快乐
“The days that make us happy make us wise.”----John Masefield
“快乐的日子使人睿智。”——约翰.梅斯菲而德



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.
终于,我似乎领会到了它的意思,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前,不会因忧虑而含混迷惑,也不会因绝望和厌倦而暗淡模糊,更不会因恐惧而造成盲点。

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.
积极的快了——并非单纯的满意或者知足——通常不期而至,就像是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,鸟鸣更为甜美,朋友的缺点也变得更让人理解、宽容。快乐就像是一副眼镜,可以矫正你的精神视力。

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.
快乐的视野并不仅限于你周围的事物。当你不快乐时,你的思维陷入情感上的悲哀,你的眼界就像被一道墙给阻隔住了。而当你快乐时,这道墙会砰然倒塌。

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. Everything assumes a fairer proportion. And here is the beginning of wisdom.
你的眼界变的更为宽广。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。

57
Companionship of Books 
以书为伴
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
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。无论是书还是朋友,我们都应该以最好的为伴。

A good book may be among the best of friends. 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 in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
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的亲切。在我们年轻时,好书陶冶我们的性情,增长我们的见识;到我们年老时,它又给我们以慰藉和勉励。

Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.
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、交流情感,彼此息息相通,并与自己喜欢的作家思想相通,情感相融。

A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining 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 of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.
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,就回成为我们忠诚的伴侣和永恒的慰藉。

Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account 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 have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.
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新如故。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 the 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 actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
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粉墨登场。

The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which on still listens.
即使在人时间,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,永远充满活力。

58
The Goodness of life 
生命的美好


Though there is much to be concerned about, there is far, far more for which to be thankful. Though life’s goodness can at times be overshadowed, it is never outweighed.
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。

For every single act that is senselessly destructive, there are thousands more small, quiet acts of love, kindness and compassion. For every person who seeks to hurt, there are many, many more who devote their lives to helping and to healing.
相对于每一个无谓的破坏行为而言,都是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。相对每一个试图伤害他人的人而言,都是更多的人致力于帮助他人,治愈他人的创伤。

There is goodness to life that cannot be denied.
生命的美好不能否认。

In the most magnificent vistas and in the smallest details, look closely, for that goodness always comes shining through.
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。

There si no limit to the goodness of life. It grows more abundant with each new encounter. The more you experience and appreciate the goodness of life, the more there is to be lived.
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。你经历的越多,越能欣赏生命的美好,生命中的美好就会变的越多。

Even when the cold winds blow and the world seems to be cov ered in foggy shadows, the goodness of life lives on. Open your eyes, open your heart, and you will see that goodness is everywhere.
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,你就会发现这美好无处不在。

Though the goodness of life seems at times to suffer setbacks, it always endures. For in the darkest moment it becomes vividly clear that life is a priceless treasure. And so the goodness of life is made even stronger by the very things that would oppose it.
尽管生命的美好有时似乎遭遇挫折,但它总会挺过来。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。

Time and time again when you feared it was gone forever you found that the goodness of life was really only a moment away. Around the next corner, inside every moment, the goodness of life is there to surprise and delight you.
无数次地,当你担心这美好已经远离之时,你就会发现生命的美好其实只是与你相隔须臾。它就在下一个角落,存在于每个时刻之间,等着给你惊喜。

Take a moment to let the goodness of life touch your spirit and calm your thoughts. Then, share your good fortune with another. For the goodness of life grows more and more magnificent each time it is given away.
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。因为生命的美好就会在每次给予之间变得越来越壮观。

Though the problems constantly scream for attention and the conflicts appear to rage ever stronger, the goodness of life grows stronger still, quietly, peacefully, with more purpose and meaning than ever before.
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为强大。

59
What I have Lived for
我为何而生

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.
我的一生被三种简单却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控制的同情。这些激情像狂风,把我的恣情吹向四方,掠过苦难的大海,迫使我濒临绝望的边缘。

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy---ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for 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.
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,我觉得心灵的战栗,仿如站在世界的边缘而前是冰冷,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,但至少是用尽一生所领悟到的。

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.
我用同样的激情去寻找知识。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”的思想。我已经悟出了其中的一点点道理,尽管并不是很多。

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always it 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.
爱和知识,用它们的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情却总是又拽回到尘世中来。痛苦的呼喊声回荡在我的内心。饥饿的孩子、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。

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
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。

60
Three Days to See
假如给我三天光明
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 24 hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero 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.
我们都读过震撼人心的故事,故事中的主人公只给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。

Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings, what regrets?
这样的故事让我们思考,在类似的处境下,我们该做些什么呢?作为终有一死的人,在临终的几个小时内我们该做什么事、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?

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 gentleness, 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 Epicurean motto of “Eat, drink, and be merry”. But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
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“吃、喝、享受”的享乐主义信条,但绝大多数人还是会受到即将到来的死亡的惩罚。

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.
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,他变的更加理解生命的意义及永恒的精神价值。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。

Most of us, however, 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 tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
然而,我们中的大多数人都把生命看作是理所当然的。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。日子多的好像没有尽头。因此我们一味忙于琐事,几乎意识不到我们对待生活的冷漠态度。

The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all 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 sounds 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, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
我担心同样的冷漠也存在于我们对自己官能和意思的运用上。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高贵的能力。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才懂得珍惜一样,我们只有生病后才意识到健康的可贵。

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.
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。


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