经典英语励志美文欣赏
年轻人,在你落败的时候绝不能读太多励志书籍,读励志书籍有时候会把一个人读傻。下面小编整理了英语励志美文欣赏,希望大家喜欢!
英语励志美文摘抄
Roll Away the Stone
推开石头
I enjoy life because I am endlessly interested in people and their growth. My interest leads me to widen my knowledge of people, and this in turn compels me to believe in the common goodness of mankind. I believe that the normal human heart is born good. That is, it’s born sensitive and feeling, eager to be approved and to approve, hungry for simple happiness and the chance to live. It neither wishes to be killed, nor to kill. If through circumstances, it is overcome by evil, it never becomes entirely evil. There remain in it elements of good, however recessive, which continue to hold the possibility ofrestoration.
生活让我感到快乐,因为我对人、对人类的发展有无穷无尽的兴趣。这一兴趣使我不停地了解更多的人,而对人的深入了解则促使我相信人之初,性本善。也就是说人生来就善解人意,有同情心,热望被人认同,也认同他人,渴望单纯的幸福和生存的机会。人不希望被人杀害也不希望去杀害被人。即使邪念因境而生,人也不会完全被邪念所左右。人总有其美好的一面,无论如何退化变质,总有弃恶从善的可能。
I believe in human beings, but my faith is without sentimentality. I know that in environments of uncertainty, fear, and hunger, the human being is dwarfed and shaped without his being aware of it, just as the plant struggling under a stone does not know its own condition. Only when the stone is removed can it spring up freely into the light. But the power to spring up is inherent, and only death puts an end to it. I feel no need for any other faith than my faith in human beings.
我相信人类,但我的信念绝非是滥施情感。我知道,处于饥饿、恐惧、无法预测未来的环境中,人类没有意识到他们的发展遇到了很大的阻力,正如石头下的植物挣扎着生长却不知道自己被石头压住了一样。只有推开了石头,植物才能自由地、蓬勃地在阳光下生长。但是,蓬勃生长的力量是植物固有的,只有死亡才能夺去它们的这种力量。
Life Confucius of old, I am absorbed in the wonder of earth, and the life upon it, and I cannot think of heaven and the angels. I have enough for this life. If there is no other life, than this one has been enough to make it worth being born, myself a human being. With so profound a faith in the human heart and its power to grow toward the light, I find here reason and cause enough for hope and confidence in the future of mankind. The common sense of people will surely prove to them someday that mutual support and cooperation are only sensible for the security and happiness of all. Such faith keeps me continually ready and purposeful with energy to do what one person can towards shaping the environment in which the human being can grow with freedom. This environment, I believe, is based upon the necessity for security and friendship.
如同古代的孔夫子一样,我深深地沉醉于奇妙的大地和美好的尘世生活之中,不可能再去畅想什么天堂和天使。此生我活得充实。如果没有来世,今世也足以值得我为它诞生,不枉为一世人。对人心之善及其向往光明之力的坚定信念使我对人类的未来充满希望和信心。人类的常识一定在未来的某一天向他们证明,互相支持与合作只会对全人类的安全和幸福有实际意义。这种信念使我精力充沛、尽我所能去营造人类能自由发展的环境且乐此不疲。营造这个环境,我相信,是以安全和友谊为必要前提的。
I take heart in a promising fact that the world contains food supplies sufficient for the entire earth population. Our knowledge of medical science is already sufficient to improve the health of the whole human race. Our resources and education, if administered on a world scale, can lift the intelligence of the race. All that remains is to discover how to administer upon a world scale, the benefits which some of us already have. In other words, to return to my simile, the stone must be rolled away. This too can be done, as a sufficient number of human beings come to have faith in themselves and in each other. Not all will have such faith at the same moment, but there is a growing number who have the faith.
我对未来充满信心:世界的食物能供养人类;我们的医学知识足以改善人类的健康状况;我们的教育资源,若在世界范围内统一管理,能提高各种族的智力;我们只需去发现如何在世界范围内管理我们已经拥有的资源。换言之,用我刚提到的明喻来表示,石头必须推开。这也是能做到的。因为我们相当多的人已逐渐树立了对自己的信念,彼此也相互信任。虽然并不是所有的人在同一时刻具备这种信念,但具备这种信念的人数在不断增加。
Half a century ago, no one had thought of world food, world health, world education. Many are thinking today of these things. In the midst of possible world war, of wholesale destruction, I find my only question this: are there enough people now who believe? Is there time enough left for the wise to act? It is a contest between ignorance and death, or wisdom and life. My faith in humanity stands firm.
半个世纪以前,没有人关注世界的食品问题、健康问题和教育问题。今天就有许多人想到这些了。在可能发生的世界战争中,在大规模的毁灭过程中,我发现我唯一的疑问是:有足够多的人树立了信仰吗?有足够的时间让智者采取行动吗?这是无知与死亡之间或是智慧与生命之间的较量。我对人类的这种信念坚定不移。
英语励志美文鉴赏
Life in a Violin Case
情系小提琴
In order to tell what I believe, I must briefly sketch something of my personal history.
为了阐明我的信仰,我必须简单介绍一下我的经历。
The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and study music. My parents, although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved of it as a profession. This was understandable in view of the family background. My grandfather had taught music for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved and respected in the community, earned barely enough to provide for his large family. My father often said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness of my grandmother that kept the wolf at bay. As a consequence of this example in the family, the very mention of music as a profession carried with it a picture of a precarious existence with uncertain financial rewards. My parents insisted upon college instead of a conservatory of music, and to college I went – quite happily, as I remember, for although I loved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I had many other interests.
我人生的转折点是我决定不做发迹有望的商人而专攻音乐。父母虽然与我志趣相投,也像我一样热爱音乐,却反对我以音乐为职业。考虑到我的家庭情况,他们的态度是完全可以理解的。我祖父在莫比尔的斯普林希尔学院教授音乐达四十年之久,深受学院师生的热爱和敬重,他的工资却只能勉强维持一大家人的生活。父亲常说若不是祖母精明能干,克勤克俭,一家人非挨饿不可。所以在我们家,只要一提起音乐这个职业,大家就联想起收入不稳定的那种苦日子。父母坚持要我上大学,不让我进音乐学院,我也就上了大学。记得当时我还挺开心,因为虽然我热爱小提琴,大部分时间都用来练琴,我还有许多其他的爱好。
Before my graduation form Columbia, the family met with severe financial reverses and I felt it my duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I launched upon a business career – which I always think of as the wasted years.
没等我从哥伦比亚大学毕业,家里的经济情况就变得很糟,我感到自己有责任退学找工作,这才投身商界——我始终认为那段经商岁月是虚掷光阴。
Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage business. My whole point I is that it was not for me. I went into it for money, and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family, money is all I got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From being merely discontented I became acutely miserable. My one ambition was to save enough to quit and go to Europe to study music. I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for “downtown”, distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfast at the last minute. Instead of lunching with my business associates, I would seek out some cheap café, order a meager meal and scribble my harmony exercises. I continued to make money, and finally, bit by bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent, and my help no longer necessary, I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man released from jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed of working before and enjoyed every minute of it.
我从来无意贬低经商,我的意思是它不适合我。我经商只是为了挣钱,除了能补贴家用给我带来一点满足以外,钱是我经商得到的一切。这是不够的。我感到年华似水从我身边流走。对职业的不满使我痛苦不堪。我唯一的抱负是积攒足够的钱,辞去商务,到欧洲学习音乐。于是,我每天黎明即起,练习小提琴,然后去“商业区”上班。几乎来不及囫囵吞下仓促准备的早餐,弄得我可怜的妈妈惶恐不安。我不与业务合伙人共进午餐,总是找个便宜的餐馆,随便混上一顿,信手写些和声练习曲。我不停地挣钱,终于一分一分攒够了出国的钱。这时,家庭经济情况也好转了,不再需要我的帮助。我辞去商务,感到自己像出狱的犯人一样自由,便乘船去了欧洲,一去就是四年。我学习比从前想象的刻苦得多,但我非常快乐。
“Enjoyed” is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a free man and I was doing what I loved to do and what I was meant to do.
“快乐”一词还不足以表达我的心情,我是乐不可支,飘飘欲仙。我过着真正的生活。我是个自由人,做我爱做的、命中注定要做的事情。
If I had stayed in business, I might be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those inner satisfactions, that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man’s primary goal is financial success.
假如我一直经商,今天可能会相当富有,但我不认为我的人生会很成功。我可能会放弃一切无形的、金钱绝对买不到的精神上的满足;这种精神上的满足常常因为人的主要生活目的是发财致富而不可企及。
When I broke away from business, it was against the advice of practically all my friends and family. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that the thought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane. If so, all I can say is “Gee! It’s great to be crazy.”Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price for it.
我脱离商界之举是与所有亲友的忠告相违的,因为我们大多数人习惯把成功与金钱联系在一起,为理想而放弃高薪似乎是发疯。如果真是如此,我倒要说:“咳,发疯可真好!”金钱是好东西,但可能为了金钱,我们付出的代价太昂贵。
英语励志美文赏析
A Lesson Learned at Midnight By James Q. DuPont
午夜的一课 詹姆斯.Q.杜邦
Ever since one midnight, in nineteen hundred and nine, when I first heard my mother crying, I have been groping for beliefs to help me through the rough going and confusions of life. My dad’s voice was low and troubled as he tried to comfort Mother. And in their anguish, they both forgot the nearness of my bedroom. I overheard them. I was only seven then, and while their problem of that time has long since been solved and forgotten, the big discovery I made that night is still right with me: life is not all hearts and flowers; it’s hard and cruel for most of us much of the time. We all have troubles, they just differ in nature, that’s all. And that leads to my first belief.
自1909年的一个午夜第一次听到母亲哭泣以来,我一直寻找信仰帮我度过生活中的艰辛与困惑。父亲安慰母亲时,声音低沉而忧郁。极度的痛苦让他们忘记我的卧室就在附近。我无意中听到了他们的谈话,那时我只有七岁。尽管他们当时的问题如今已经解决也被遗忘,但那一晚的重大发现仍然教导我:生活并不总是充满鲜花和爱情。许多时候生活对于我们大多数人来说艰辛而残酷,我们都有烦恼,只是烦恼的性质不同,仅此而已。这就是我的第一个信念。
I believe the human race is very, very tough—almost impossible to discourage. If it wasn’t, then why do we have such words as “laugh” and “sing” and “music” and “dance”—in the language of all mankind since the beginning of recorded time? This belief makes me downright proud to be a human being.
我相信人类十分坚强,几乎不可能感到灰心沮丧。如若不然,为何有史以来人类所有的语言中都有“欢笑”、“歌唱”、“音乐”和“舞蹈”这样的词呢?这一信念让我无比自豪,因为我是一个人。
Next, I believe there is good and evil in all of us. Thomas Mann comes close to expressing what I’m trying to say with his carefully worded sentence about the “frightfully radical duality” between the brain and the beast in man—in all of us.
其次,我相信我们都有善和恶的一面。托马斯.曼字斟句酌地阐述了人类(我们所有人)身上存在的理智与兽性这一“极基本的双重性”时,几乎道出了我的观点。
This belief helps me because so long as I remember that there are certain forces of evil ever present in me—and never forget that there is also a divine spark of goodness in me, too—then I find the “score” of my bad mistakes at the end of each day is greatly reduced. “Forewarned of evil, is half the battle against it.” I believe in trying to be charitable, in trying to understand and forgive people, especially in trying to forgive very keen or brilliant people. A man may be a genius, but he can still do things that practically break your heart.
这种信仰让我受益,因为只要记住自己身上一直存在着某些邪恶的力量——但也从未忘记自己身上也有上帝赐予的善良火花——我就会发现每天结束时,错误和悔恨的“得分”大大降低。可见“事先警惕恶行是与之斗争成功的一半”。我相信人要尽量乐善好施,尽量理解和宽恕别人,尤其要宽恕特别敏锐和聪慧的人,因为即使天才也会做出让你伤心的事情。
I believe most if not all of our very finest thoughts and many of our finest deeds must be kept to ourselves alone—at least until after we die. This used confuse me. But now I realize that by their very nature, these finest things we do and cannot talk about are a sort of secret preview of a better life to come.I believe there is no escape from the rule that we must do many, many little things to accomplish even just one big thing. This gives me patience when I need it most.
我相信,即使不是全部,大多数我们提出的最富创见的思想,大多数我们实施的最富成果的行为,都不应让人知道我们提出和实施的——至少要到我们去世之后才能让人知道。这一点过去常让我感到困惑,但如今我明白,我们完成这些最美妙的事情却秘而不宣,实质上是暗地里预见未来更美好的生活。我相信我们必须做许许多多小事才能成就大事,哪怕只一件大事。这一规律无法逃避。这种信仰使我在最需要办大事的时候很耐心。
And then I believe in having the courage to be myself. Or perhaps I should say, to be honest with myself. Sometimes this is practically impossible, but I’m sure I should always try.
还有,我相信要有勇气还自己本色。或许我该说,要对自己实事求是。有时这几乎不可能,但我确信我应该永远努力为之。
Finally, and most important to me, I do believe in God. I’m sure there is a very wise and wonderful Being who designed, constructed, and operates this existence as we mortals know it: this universe with its galaxies and spiral nebulae, its stars and moons and planets and beautiful women, its trees and pearls and deep green moss—and its hopes and prayers for peace.
最后一点,也是对我而言最重要的一点,我深深信仰上帝。我确信有一位非常睿智和神奇的神灵设计、建造并统治这个世界,就像我们凡人所认识的样子:这个宇宙有星群、螺旋型的星云、星星、月亮、行星、美女、树木、珍珠和深绿的苔藓,还有希望和对和平的祈祷。