晨读励志英文美文摘抄

2017-02-07

晨读励志英文美文：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 of restoration.

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.

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.

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.

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.

晨读励志英文美文：直墙难砌

As I try to outline my thoughts, the subject becomes more and more difficult. I have many basic beliefs, but as I try to pick and choose, it seems to me that they can all be summarized in the word character. Obviously what you believe is a fundamental thing. There can be no fanfare, no embellishments. It must be honest.

An architect once told me that the most difficult structure to design was a simple, monumental shaft. The proportions must be perfect to be pleasing. The hardest thing to build is a plain, straight wall. The dimensions must be absolute. In either case, there is no ornamentation to hide irregularities, no moldings to cover hidden defects, and no supports to strengthen concealed weaknesses.

I’m using this example to illustrate human character, which, to me, is the most important, single power in the world today. The young people of today are, in reality, foundations of structures yet to be built. It is obvious that the design of these human structures is the combined efforts of many human architects. Boys and girls are influenced first by their parents, then by their friends, and finally by their business associates. During this period of construction, the human character is revised and changed until, at maturity, a fairly well fixed form of character is found.

There are a few human straight walls and fewer human monumental shafts. Such men and women are personalities of great beauty and are so rare that history records their being and holds them up as examples for the future. The Biblical characters are, for me, the closest examples of human perfection. They were unselfish, steadfast in their faith, and unstinted in their help to others. Today in this world of turmoil and trouble, we could use more of such people, but they do not just happen along. I believe that they are the result of concentrated effort on the part of the parents and associates, and the more we build with character, the better this world will become.

This may sound like a dreamer’s hope and a theoretical goal, which can never be reached. I do not think so. The world, as a whole, has progressed tremendously, material-wise, and we are a fortunate nation in that we are leading the possession. It is, I believe, natural that nations not so fortunate should look upon us with envy. We would do the same if the positions were reversed, so we should not judge too harshly the efforts of others to equal our standard of living. In either case, the fortunate or the unfortunate character in the individual, and collectively in the nation, stands out.

I agree that it is easier to build character under ideal conditions, but not forget that character is also required to give, as well as to receive. It should be to the benefit of humanity if all individuals—and this includes myself—did a renovating or remodeling job on our own character; it may merely be a case of removing such rough edges or tossing away moldings to expose irregularities; in some cases to remove a prop and stand on one’s own feet. In any event, if some of us set the examples, others will follow, and the results should be good. This I believe.