英文文章经典美文励志摘抄
励志的“十不”:得意不忘形,失意不丧志;失败不灰心,挫折不气馁;低潮不退潮,休息不停顿;果
断不草率,临危不慌乱;自强不欺人,功成不自居。下面小编整理了英文文章经典励志美文,希望大家喜欢!
英文文章经典励志美文摘抄
Taxi Drivers Are People, Too
出租司机也是人
By John Hughes
约翰·休斯
I believe honesty is one of the greatest gifts there is. I know they call it a lot of fancy names these days, like integrity and forthrightness. But it doesn’t make any difference what they call it; it’s still what makes a man a good citizen. This is my code, and I try to live by it.
我相信诚实是一件最棒的礼物。我知道如今他们给它取了许多好听的名字,像正直和直率。但是怎么称呼并不重要,关键还在于怎样才算一个好公民。这就是我的准则,我努力按这一准则生活。
I’ve been in the taxicab business for thirty-five years, and I know there is a lot about it that is not so good. Taxicab drivers have to be rough and tumble fellows to be able to take it in New York. You’ve got to be tough to fight the New York traffic eight hours a day, these days.
我入出租车这一行已经三十五个年头,知道这一行有很多不好的地方。的士司机得凶狠粗暴才能在纽约干这一行。这年头你得有副好身板儿才顶得住纽约一天八小时的交通战。
Because taxi drivers are tough, people get the wrong impression that they are bad. Taxi drivers are just like other people. Most of them will shake down as honest fellows. You read in the papers almost every week where a taxi driver turns in money or jewels or bonds, stuff like that, that people leave in their cabs.
由于态度粗暴,人们误认为出租司机不是好人,其实,他们和其他人就没啥区别。他们大多诚实,与人和睦相处。你几乎每个星期都可以从报纸上知道某的士司机归还了乘客掉在车里的钱或珠宝或票据之类的东西。
If they weren’t honest, you wouldn’t be reading those stories in the papers.One time in Brooklyn, I found an emerald ring in my cab. I remembered helping a lady with a lot of bundles that day, so I went back to where I had dropped her off. It took me almost two days to trace her down in order to return her ring to her. I didn’t get as much as “thank you.” Still, I felt good because I had done what was right. I think I felt better than she did.
要不是他们诚实,你没法在报纸上读到那些新闻。一次在布鲁克林,我发现车里有一枚祖母绿钻戒,我记得那天帮一位女士拉了很多捆行李,所以我开回到她下车的地方,几乎花了两天时间才找到她,把戒指还给了她。我连个谢字也没得到,还是感到很高兴,因为我做了件好事。我想我比她更高兴。
I was born and raised in Ireland and lived there until I was nineteen years old. I came to this country in 1913 where I held several jobs to earn a few dollars before enlisting in World War Number I. After being discharged, I bought my own cab and have owned one ever since. It hasn’t been too easy at times, but my wife takes care of our money and we have a good bit put away for a rainy day.
我生长在爱尔兰,在那儿呆到十九岁。1913年来到这个国家,为了挣几个钱干了不少工作,一战时当了兵,退伍之后自己买了辆出租,从此有了自己的车。有时日子不太容易,可我老婆精打细算,我们还存了些钱,以防有个什么难处。
When I first started driving a cab, Park Avenue was mostly a bunch of coal yards. Hoofer’s Brewery was right next to where the Waldorf-Astoria is now. I did pretty well, even in those days.
刚开始开出租的时候,有钱人呆的派克大街几乎全是一片煤场,胡弗啤酒厂正靠近现在的沃尔多夫·阿斯托里亚。就是在那些年头我干得也挺不错。
In all my years of driving a taxicab, I have never had any trouble with the public, not even with drunks. Even if they get a little headstrong once in a while, I just agree with them and then they behave themselves.
开出租的这些年,我从没和乘客有过纠纷,连给醉鬼开车也没出过麻烦。就是他们偶尔有点转不过弯,我也不和他们争执,他们接下来就规规矩矩了。
People ask me about tips. As far as I know, practically everyone will give you something. Come to think of it, most Americans are pretty generous. I always try to be nice to everyone, whether they tip or not.I believe in God and try to be a good member of my parish. I try to act toward others like I think God wants me to act. I have been trying this for a long time, and the longer I try, the easier it gets.
有人问我小费的事。据我所知,实际上每个人都会给一点。想想吧,大多数美国人是很大方的。不管给不给小费,我都尽力好好为每位乘客服务。我信仰上帝,努力成为教区的好教民。我想上帝希望我怎么对待别人,我就尽量怎么对待别人。我坚持这样做很长时间了,时间越久,这样做就越容易。
作者简介:
John Hughes was born in Ireland, orphaned at the age of two, came to America when he was 19, and served in World War I. As a New York City cab driver for more than 35 years, Hughes often drove Edward R. Murrow to the airport.
英文文章经典励志美文鉴赏
Learning to Get Out of the Way
学会摆脱自负
In every one of the higher religions there is a strain of infinite optimism on the one hand,and on the other,of a profound pessimism.In the depths of our being,they all teach,there is an inner high--but an inner Light which our egotism keeps,for most of the time,in a state of more of less eclipse.
在每种高级宗教的信仰中既包含无穷的乐观精神,又有一种深奥的悲观论。它们都告诫我们,在我们生命深处有一道内在的光芒——而这道光芒大多时候多多少少被我们自负的阴影所遮盖。
If,however,it so desires,the ego can get out of the way,so to speak,can dis--eclipse the Light and become identified wiht its divine source.Hence the unlimited optimmism of the traditional religions.There pessinism springs from the observed fact that,though all are called,few are chosen--for the sufficient reason that few choose to be chosen.
然而,如果愿意,自负可以离开,或者说可以让这道光芒重新闪耀,并与创造它的神相融合,于是产生了传统宗教无尽的乐观主义,而其悲观论源于人们观察到的事实,即尽管人人皆受到召唤,却只有极少数人受到垂青——全因几乎无人愿受到垂青。
To me,this older conception of man's nature and destiny seems more realistic,more nearly in accord with the given facts,than any form of modern utopianism.
在我看来,这种关于人性及命运的更老的观念似乎比任何形式的现代乌托邦主义更现实,更符合既成事实。
In the Lord's Prayer we are taught to ask for the blessing which consists in not being led into temptation.The reason is only too obvious.Whe temptations are very great or unduly prolonged,most persons succumb on them.To devise a perfect social order is probably beyond our powers,but I believe that it is perfectly possible for us to reduce the number of dangerous temptations to a level far below that which is tolerated at the present time.
主祷文教导我们要乞求上帝保佑,不被诱惑引入歧途,原因非常清楚,如果诱惑太大或延续太久,大多数人就会屈服。也许我们无力设计一种完美的社会秩序,但我相信我们完全可以将危险的诱惑减少到远远低于目前可忍受的程度。
A society so arranged that there shall be a minimum of dangerous temptations--this is the end towards which,as a citizen,I have to strive.In my efforts to that end,I can make use of a great variety of means.Do good ends justify the use of intrinsically bad means?
构建一个能将危险的诱惑最小化的社会是我作为一个公民奋斗的目标。在为之奋斗的过程中,我可以采用各种方式,然而目标正确就可以采用实质上不正当的手段开脱吗?
On the level of theory,the point can be argued indefinitely.In practice,meanwhile,I find that the means employed invariably determine the nature of the end achieved.Indeed,as Mahatma Gandhi was never tired of insisting,the means are the end in its preliminary stages.
在理论层面上,这一点可以广泛讨论;在实践中,我同时发现,采用的手段决定目标的性质,无一例外。确实正如马哈特玛·甘地不厌其烦地坚持的那样,手段是目标的初始阶段。
Men have put forth enoumous efforts to make their world a better place to live in;but except in regard to gadgets,plumbing and hygiene,their sussess has been pathetically small."hell,"as the proverb has it,"is paved with good intentions."And so long as we go on trying to realize our ideals by bad or merely inappropriate means,our good intentions will come to the same bad ends.In this consists the tragedy and the irony of history.
人们千方百计将这个世界建成更美好的家园,但除了小器械,管道安装和卫生之外,他们的成就少得可怜。“地狱”正如一句谚语所说“是由善意铺就的”。只要我们继续试图以卑劣或仅仅不当的手段实现理想,我们的善意将同样酿出恶果,构成历史的悲剧和讽刺。
Can I,as an individual,do anything to make future history a little less tragic and less ironic than history past and present?
作为个人,我能尽全力使未来不像过去和现在那么富有悲剧和讽刺意味吗?
I believe I can.As a citizen,I can use all my intelligence and all my good will to develop political means that shall be of the same kind and quality as the ideal ends which I am trying to achieve.And as a person,as a psychophysical roganism,I can learn how to get out of the way,so that the divine source of my life and consciousness can come out of eclipse and shine through me.
我相信,我能。作为公民,我能以我全部的智慧和全部的善意,运用与我为之奋斗的理想同种同质的政治手段。作为一个人,一种具备身心的有机体,我能学会如何摆脱自负,这样赋予我生命和意识的神的光芒就能驱散阴影,照亮我全身。
作者简介:
奥尔德斯·赫胥黎:是伟大的科学家托马斯·赫胥黎的孙子,生于英格兰的萨里郡,现住在洛杉矶,是一名多产作家。
英文文章经典励志美文赏析
The Soundest Investment of All
最成功的投资
by C. Jared Ingersoll
C.贾里德.英格索尔
I feel very presumptuous and uncomfortable about trying to explain out loud the things I believe in. But I do think that all human problems are in some way related to each other, so perhaps if people compare their experiences they may discover something in common in hunting the answers.
我想,若是大声解释我的信仰,不仅会给人一种自大的感觉,也会使我感到不安。但是我认为,从某种程度上来说,人类所有的问题都是息息相关的。因此,倘若人们比较一下他们的经历,也许就能在寻找答案的过程中发现某些共同之处。
I am a very fortunate man for I lead a full and what is for me a happy life. I say this even though I happen to have had, in the course of it, a couple of severe personal blows.
我是一个幸运的人,因为我的生活充实而幸福。不管怎样,我依然会这么说,即使曾经的多次不幸给我带来了沉重的打击。
My first wife collapsed and died one day while she and I were ice skating, after eighteen years of a most happy existence together. My only son, a sergeant in the army combat engineers, was killed in Italy in the last war. Nevertheless, these tragedies did not throw me completely and I have been able to fill my life anew with happiness.
我与第一个妻子共同度过了18年幸福的婚姻生活,然而在我们去滑冰的那天,她突然倒下,撒手人寰。我唯一的儿子是一名工兵军士,二战期间,在意大利阵亡。然而,我并没有被这些不幸彻底打倒,而是再次让我的生活充满幸福。
I do not mean to sound calloused. Those blows hurt me deeply. I guess that two basically important things helped me most to recover.
我并不是想让大家觉得我冷酷无情。这些不幸确实对我造成了很大的伤害。
One is the fact that I have come to see life as a gamble. The other is a belief in what some people call the hereafter. I try to live fully so that when and if my luck changes there will be little room for regret or recrimination over time lost or misspent.
我想我之所以能够重新振作起来,其中有两个重要的原因:一是我认为生活其实就是一场赌博,二是我对人们所说的来世深信不疑。为了在晦运时,不至于因虚度时光而后悔或自责,我努力让自己充实地生活。
My belief in the hereafter is wrapped in the intangible but stubborn thoughts of a layman. Very likely I would get lost in trying to describe or defend, by cold logic, my belief in God but nobody could argue me out of it.
作为一个普通信徒,无形而坚定的思想正是我信仰来世的来源。我信仰上帝,也许我难以用冷冰冰的逻辑来描述这个信仰或为它辩护,但谁也无法说服我放弃它。
I have come to believe that I owe life as much as it owes me, and I suppose that explains this fine satisfaction I get out of endeavoring to do a job to the best of what ability I have, and out of helping somebody else.
我相信,我对生活付出多少,就会得到多少。因此,我认为,我最大的满足正是来源于尽自己最大的努力去做一份工作或是帮助别人。
As a kid I used to ride a rake in the hayfields. I got a tremendous kick out of trying to sweep every field clean as a whistle. Here I made a surprising and happy discovery: that there could be actual enjoyment in the exercise of thoroughness and responsibility, and that duty didn’t have to be a drudge.
孩提时,我常会在干草地上开耙草机。在将每片草地耙干净的过程中,我总会获得极大的成就感,并惊奇地发现:尽心而尽责地完成一件事会为你带来真正的快乐,而尽责也并不一定是做苦工。
I don’t know exactly why, but I like to do things for other people. Not only family responsibilities, work on a hospital board, and various church organizations but also the most inconsequential things that might hardly seem worth the time.
我很喜欢为人服务。我不仅为家庭负责,在一家医院的理事会及各种教会组织中工作,我还会去做一些看似浪费时间的最无关紧要的琐事。
My office happens to be on Independence Square and now and then I have occasion to direct a tourist to the Liberty Bell or fill him in on a little of the history of Philadelphia. The tourist doesn’t seem to mind and it makes me feel good. I’m afraid
我的办公室正好在独立广场,因此我偶尔会为去独立钟的游客带路,一路上给他讲一些费城的历史。虽然游客并不在乎这些,但我却乐此不疲。
I’m not very profound. that I have found it a good investment. It has paid me a very high return, undoubtedly more than I deserve.I have tried to comprehend why something so simple and so sound as the Golden Rule is so often forgotten or held in disrepute. I can only say—and I say this quite selfishly—
我自己并非知识渊博之人。我常常想弄明白,像黄金定律那样简单而合理的箴言为何总被人们遗忘或不屑一顾。我只能说,也自私地说,我发现为人服务是一项最成功的投资。毫无疑问,它给予我的回报远远高于我的应得。