英语美文赏析

Love Is Everything

  The winter cold hung in the air like a frozen dinosaur trying to thaw from his glacier and walk across the earth. Breath iced like a tiny morning mist upon a meandering river. The sounds of the city rising and spilling into silence as the night began to claim its citizens for sleep.

  Blowing on gloved hands that seemed to have little effect on cold hands that ached with chill. Long hours hanging pressed clothes, pulling tickets and ringing up the customers. The last of the packaged hot chocolate gone and only the longing need for home and a pot pie to warm her.

  It was payday and she cashed her check. Two Santas and one Salvation Army captain and she was minus ten dollars but what did it matter? She had a place to sleep, something decent to eat, and she had Drew.

  Drew with his kindness, his caring and his humor to lighten her day. Thanksgiving was nigh and they were collecting early for the hungry and the children that would have no Christmas without them. She was so much more lucky than most of them but perhaps not as lucky as those that scurried in the Wednesday night sleet, shopping early before the pickings became slim. Life was not always easy but sometimes it could always be safe.

  She had Drew, and Smat, the ugly little terrier that nobody wanted. She had comfort and warmth in the apartment. She had dinner for tomorrow thawing in the small turkey and the little Thanksgiving bonus from her boss.

  But most of all, she had love. It was the most important of all.

有爱就有了一切

冬天的寒冷在空气中纠缠不去，就象被冰冻的恐龙想要从冰河里解冻出来走到地上一样。呵气就象蜿蜒的河面上微薄的晨雾，城市的喧嚣升起又归于沉静，夜晚开始宣布它的臣民应该入睡了。

往带着手套的手上呵气好像也没有什么效果，冻僵的手冷得发痛。工作的那几个小时很漫长，熨平的衣服要挂起来，标签要拆下来，还要给顾客打电话。最后一个盒装的热巧克力喝完了，只渴望着回家，吃一块热馅饼来暖和一下。

今天是发薪日，她把支票兑换成了现金。路遇两个圣诞老人和一个救世军领队，她的钱减少了十元，但这又怎样呢？她有地方睡觉，有像样的东西吃，而且她还有德鲁。

德鲁的亲切、爱心和幽默总能照亮她的每一天。感恩节近了，他们早早地开始为那些饥饿的人筹款，孩子们过圣诞节也少不了他们。她要比这些人幸运得多，当然可能比不上那些在周三雪夜赶着去购物的人，他们要早早把东西买好以免货物变少而无法挑选。生活并不总是很容易，但总是很安全。

她有德鲁，还有那条丑得没人要的小猎狗斯迈特；她有公寓里的舒适和温暖；她有明天的晚餐（小火鸡正在解冻着呢）；她还有老板给的一小笔感恩节奖金。

  而且她还有爱，这是所有事情中最重要的。

Grow great by dreams（因梦想而伟大）

The question was once asked of a highly successful businessman, "How have you done so much in your lifetime?"

He replied, "I have dreamed. I have turned my mind loose to imagine what I wanted to do. Then I have gone to bed and thought about my dreams. In the night I dreamt about my dreams. And when I awoke in the morning, I saw the way to make my dreams real. While other people were saying, 'You can't do that, it is impossible,' I was well on my way to achieving what I wanted." As Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the U.S., said: "We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers."

They see things in the soft haze (阴霾) of a spring day, or in the red fire on a long winter's evening. Some of us let these dreams die, but others nourish (养育) and protect them; nourish them through bad days until they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.

So please, don not let anyone steal your dreams, or try to tell you they are too impossible.

"Sing your songs, and dream your dreams, hope your hope and pray your prayer."

     

曾经有人问一个非常成功的商人：“你是怎样在有生之年取得这样的成就呢？”

他回答：“我做梦。我放飞自己的思想，想象自己想要的东西。然后我就上床，沉思自己的梦想。那个晚上，我就可以梦到自己的梦想。当第二天早上醒来，我就看到了通向梦想的路。当别人对我说：‘你做不到，这不可能’，而我总是坚持实现自己梦想的路。”正如美国第28届总统伍德鲁•威尔逊所说：“我们因为梦想而变得伟大。所有伟人都是梦想家。”

他们在春天的薄雾或冬夜的篝火里辨清事物。我们有些人让梦想消失，但有些人却培养、保护它们；在生命低潮时仍然培养它们直到看到太阳和光明，而这些只属于那些真诚希望实现梦想的人们。

所以，请不要让别人偷走你的梦想，或者让他们对你说梦想太遥不可及。

“唱你的歌，做你的梦，给你的希望以希望，给你的祈祷以祈祷。”

[wmv=314,256,1]http://happy-fan.bandari.net/gifan_55857da07fe0c0c4/Bandari/05Mist/14.Bandari.Net_Morning.wma[/wmv]




Catch the star that holds your destiny, the one that forever twinkles within your heart. Take advantage of precious opportunities while they still sparkle before you. Always believe that your ultimate goal is attainable as long as you commit yourself to it.
   
Though barriers may sometimes stand in the way of your dreams, remember that your destiny is hiding behind them. Accept the fact that not everyone is going to approve of the choices you've made. Have faith in your judgment. Catch the star that twinkles in your heart and it will lead you to your destiny's path. Follow that pathway and uncover the sweet sunrises that await you.

　　Take pride in your accomplishments, as they are stepping stones to your dreams. Understand that you may make mistakes, but don't let them discourage you. Value your capabilities and talents for they are what make you truly unique. The greatest gifts in life are not purchased, but acquired through hard work and determination. Find the star that twinkles in your heart? For you alone are capable of making your brightest dreams come true. Give your hopes everything you've got and you will catch the star that holds your destiny.

    当生命中的那颗星在你内心闪耀的时候，要学会把握它，永远相信只要自己持之以恒，就一定能够实现自己心中的梦想。

   尽管通往梦想的道路上总有坎坷，你需要记住的是，你的命运就隐藏在那困难背后。学会接受这样的事实：不是每一个人都赞同你的选择。你要坚定自己的判断走下去。捕捉住那颗在你内心闪耀的星吧，它将引领你抵达自己的命运之路。沿那条路走下去，你就会发现那属于自己的美丽日出。

　　为自己的成绩自豪，因为它们是你通往梦想的阶梯。要知道你自己也会犯错误，但是可别因此而气馁。正确评价自己的能力，是它们令你与众不同。生活里最丰厚的礼物不是买来的，而是通过艰苦的努力和决心获得的。找到在你内心闪耀的那颗星吧??虽然你独自一人，但也有能力实现你最辉煌的梦想。对即得的怀抱希望并抓住那颗掌控你命运的星吧

人的生命只一次

There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real!

Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.

Always put yourself in others' shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the other person, too.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss and ends with a tear.

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

Please send this message to those people who mean something to you, to those who have touched your life in one way or another, to those who make you smile when you really need it, to those that make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down, to those who you want to let them know that you appreciate their friendship.


And if you don't, don't worry, nothing bad will happen to you, you will just miss out on the opportunity to brighten someone's day with this message.

　　生活中，有时强烈的思念使我们恨不得一把将所爱的人从梦中带走，实实在在地拥抱他们。

　　做自己想做的梦吧。去自己想去的地方吧。做自己想做的人吧。生命只有一次，机会只有一回。

　　愿你有足够的欢乐，使自己甜蜜；有足够的考验，使自己坚强；有足够的悲伤，使自己富有人情；有足够的希望，使自己幸福。

　　要经常换位思维。一件事，要是你感到对自己有伤害，就可能对他人也有伤害。

　　最幸福的人并不是那些拥有最好东西的人，他们只是能够将得到的东西变得最好。

　　幸福属于那些会哭泣的人，那些受过伤害的人，那些探索的人，以及那些尝试过的人。只有他们才懂得对自己生活有影响的人们的重要。爱以微笑开始，在亲吻中成长，以泪水终结。

　　光明灿烂的明天建立在忘却的过去之上。只有让以往的失败和伤心随风而去，你才能过得更好。

　　出生伊始，哭啼的是你，周围的人却在微笑。珍视生活，好好地活着，这样入死，让周围的人哭啼，自己却在微笑。

　　请把这些语言送给那些你所关心的人，那些在生活中这样或那样同自己打交道的人，那些需要时能给你带来微笑的人，那些在逆境中依然能使你看到光明的人，那些你珍视与他们之间友谊的人。


　　即使你没有这样做，也不要紧。没有什么大不了的事情，你只是错过了用这些言语照亮他人日子的机会。

Dance With Me (和我跳舞吧!)

By Jean Harper from Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul

When we’re young and we dream of love and fulfillment, we think perhaps of moon-drenched Parisian nights or walks along the beach at sunset.

No one tells us that the greatest moments of a lifetime are fleeting, unplanned and nearly always catch us off guard.

Not long ago, as I was reading a bedtime story to my seven-year-old daughter, Annie, I became aware of her focused gaze. She was starring at me with a faraway, trancelike expression. Apparently, completing The Tale of Samuel Whiskers was not as important as we first thought.

I asked what she was thinking about.

“Mommy,” she whispered, “I just can’t stop looking at your pretty face.”

I almost dissolved on the spot.

Little did she know how many trying moments the glow of her sincerely loving statement would carry me through over the following years.

Not long after, I took my four-year-old son to an elegant department store, where the melodic notes of a classic love song drew us toward a tuxedoed musician playing a grand piano. Sam and I sat down on a marble bench nearby, and he seemed as transfixed by the lilting theme as I was.

I didn’t realize that Sam had stood up next to me until he turned, took my face in his little hands and said, “Dance with me.”

If only those women strolling under the Paris moon knew the joy of such an invitation made by a round-cheeked boy with baby teeth. Although shoppers openly chuckled, grinned and pointed at us as we glided and whirled around the open atrium, I would not have traded a dance with such a charming young gentleman if I’d been offered the universe.

年轻时幻想爱与满足时，我们脑海中首先闪现的意象，不是月光浸润下巴黎街头的夜色，就是夕阳映照下海滩上的散步。

没有人告诉我们，一生中那些最动人的时刻，常常在我们未曾防备、猝不及防之时突然闪现。

不久前的一天晚上，临睡前我给7岁的女儿安妮读故事，发现她眼睛直愣愣地盯着我，恍惚、出神的样子。显然，此时塞缪尔•惠斯克斯的故事已退居其次了。

我问她在想什么。

“妈妈，”她悄声地说，“我忍不住想看你的脸，好漂亮。”

那一刻，我简直就要被熔化了。

她不会知道，她这纯稚的话语，在我后来的岁月里激励我度过多少艰难的时光。

前不久我带4岁的儿子塞姆去一家非常高级的百货商店，大厅内飘荡的悠扬的经典情歌的旋律，把我俩都吸引到那位身着燕尾服、正在弹钢琴的音乐家的身边，我俩在旁边的大理石长椅上坐下，和我一样，塞姆似乎也被这扣人心弦的旋律打动了。

塞姆是什么时候站到我跟前的，我都没察觉。他伸出双手捧着我的脸颊，“和我跳舞吧！”

那些在月光下慢步巴黎的女人，能享受到接受一个满口乳牙、圆圆脸蛋的小男孩的邀请而共舞的快乐吗？我们滑动，我们旋转，似乎有顾客在窃笑、在私语、在指指点点，可与这么迷人的年轻绅士共舞，纵然你用整个世界来与我交换，我亦不屑。

【英文美文】别了,我生命中的过客

　　When he told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which has just smashed. There were pieces of me all over the tidy, tan tiles. He kept talking, telling me why he was leaving, explaining it was for the best, I could do better, it was his fault and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still not immune; perhaps one did not become immune to such felony.
　　He left and I tried to get on with my life. I filled the kettle and put it on to boil, I took out my old red mug and filled it with coffee watching as each coffee granule slipped in to the bone china. That was what my life had been like, endless omissions of coffee granules, somehow never managing to make that cup of coffee.
　　Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing warning I pretended not to hear it. That's what Mike's leaving had been like, sudden and with an awful finality. I would rather just wallow in uncertainty than have things finished. I laughed at myself. Imagine getting all philosophical and sentimental about a mug of coffee. I must be getting old.
　　And yet it was a young woman who stared back at me from the mirror. A young woman full of promise and hope, a young woman with bright eyes and full lips just waiting to take on the world. I never loved Mike anyway. Besides there are more important things. More important than love, I insist to myself firmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closure on the whole Mike experience.
　　He doesn't haunt my dreams as I feared that night. Instead I am flying far across fields and woods, looking down on those below me. Suddenly I fall to the ground and it is only when I wake up that I realize I was shot by a hunter, brought down by the burden of not the bullet but the soul of the man who shot it. I realize later, with some degree of understanding, that Mike was the hunter holding me down and I am the bird that longs to fly. The next night my dream is similar to the previous nights, but without the hunter. I fly free until I meet another bird who flies with me in perfect harmony. I realize with some relief that there is a bird out there for me, there is another person, not necessarily a lover perhaps just a friend, but there is someone out there who is my soul mate. I think about being a broken vase again and realize that I have glued myself back together, what Mike has is merely a little part of my time in earth, a little understanding of my physical being. He has only, a little piece of me.

　　当他告诉我他要离开的时候，我感觉自己就像花瓶裂成了碎片，跌落在茶色瓷砖地板上。他一直在说话，解释着为什么要离开，说什么这是最好的，我可以做得更好，都是他的错，与我无关。虽然这些话我已经听上好几千遍了，可每次听完都让我很受伤，或许在这样巨大的打击面前没有人能做到无动于衷。
　　他走了，我尝试着继续过自己的生活。我烧开水，拿出红色杯子，看着咖啡粉末一点点地落入骨灰瓷的杯子里。这正是我自己的鲜活写照，不断地往下掉咖啡粉末，却从来没有真正地泡成一杯咖啡。
　　水开了，水壶发出警报声，我假装没有听见。迈克的离去也是一样，突如其来，并且无可挽回。要知道，我宁愿忍受分与不分的煎熬，也不愿意以这样的方式被宣判“死刑”。想着想着我就哑然失笑，自己竟然为一杯咖啡有如此多的人生感怀，我自己一定是老了。
　　可是镜子里回瞪着我的那个女孩还是那么年轻啊！明目皓齿，充满了前途与希望，光明的未来在向她招手。没关系的，反正我也从来没有爱过迈克。何况，生命中还有比爱更重要的东西在等待着我，我对自己坚持说。我将咖啡罐的盖子盖好，也将所有关于迈克的记忆尘封起来。
　　那天晚上，出乎意料的是，他并没有入到我的梦中。在梦里，我飞过田野和森林，俯瞰着大地。突然间，我掉了下来……醒来后才发现原来自己被猎人打中了，但是令我坠落的不是他的子弹，而是他的灵魂。我后来才渐渐明白，原来迈克就是那个使我坠落的猎人，而我是那只渴望飞翔的小鸟。到了第二天晚上，我仍然做了类似的梦，但是猎人不见了，我一直在自由地飞翔，直到遇上另外一只小鸟和我比翼双飞。我开始意识到，总有那么一只鸟，那么一个人在前面等我，这个人可能是我的爱人，可能只是朋友，但一定是知我懂我的人，这令我感觉如释重负。我想起曾经觉得自己像花瓶一样裂开了，才意识到原来自己已经把自己修理好了。迈克只是我生命过程中的小小过客，他仅仅了解我的表面，他仅仅是我生命中的小小一部分。

英语美文：甜蜜爱情的十xxx忌
10 Ways We Hurt Our Romantic Relationships

It’s not easy to have a great relationship with your boy/girlfriend, partner, or spouse. But it’s not impossible, either — it takes some work, of course, but it’s work, work that’s a joy when everything comes together.



A lot of times, though, the work isn’t enough. We get in our own way with ideas and attitudes about relationships that are not only wrong, but often work to undermine our relationships no matter how hard we work at it.

I’ve watched a lot of breakups (some of them my own). I’ve seen dramatic flare-ups and drawn-out slow fades, and I’ve tried to pay attention to what seems to be going on. Here are a few of the things I’ve seen that cause people to destroy their own relationships.

1. You’re playing to win

One of the deadliest killers of relationships is the competitive urge. I don’t mean competition in the sense that you can’t stand to lose at tennis, I mean the attitude that the relationship itself is a kind of game that you’re tying to win. People in competitive relationships are always looking for an advantage, the upper hand, some edge they can hold over their partner’s head. If you feel that there are things you can’t tell your partner because she or he will use it against you, you’re in a competitive relationship — but not for long.

2. You don’t trust

There are two aspects of trust that are important in relationships. One is trusting your partner enough to know that s/he won’t cheat on you or otherwise hurt you — and to know that he or she trusts you that way, too. The other is trusting them enough to know they won’t leave you or stop loving you no matter what you do or say. The second that level of trust is gone, whether because one of you takes advantage of that trust and does something horrible or because one of you thinks the other has, the relationship is over — even if it takes 10 more years for you to break up.

3. You don’t talk

Too many people hold their tongues about things that bother or upset them in their relationship, either because they don’t want to hurt their partner, or because they’re trying to win. (See #1 above; example: “If you don’t know why I’m mad, I’m certainly not going to tell you!”) While this might make things easier in the short term, in the long run it gradually erodes the foundation of the relationship away. Little issues grow into bigger and bigger problems — problems that don’t get fixed because your partner is blissfully unaware, or worse, is totally aware of them but thinks they don’t really bother you. Ultimately, keeping quiet reflects a lack of trust — and, as I said that’s the death of a relationship.

4. You don’t listen

Listening — really listening — is hard. It’s normal to want to defend ourselves when we hear something that seems like criticism, so instead of really hearing someone out, we interrupt to explain or excuse ourselves, or we turn inward to prepare our defense. But your partner deserves your active listening. S/he even deserves you to hear the between-the-lines content of daily chit-chat, to suss out his/her dreams and desires when even s/he doesn’t even know exactly what they are. If you can’t listen that way, at least to the person you love, there’s a problem.

5. You spend like a single person

This was a hard lesson for me to learn — until it broke up a 7-year relationship. When you’re single, you can buy whatever you want, whenever you want, with little regard for the future. It’s not necessarily wise, but you’re the only one who has to pay the consequences. When you are with someone in a long-term relationship, that is no longer a possibility. Your partner — and your children, if there are or will be any — will have to bear the brunt of your spending, so you’d better get in the habit of taking care of household necessities first and then, if there’s anything left over, of discussing with your partner the best way to use it.

This is an increasing problem these days, because more and more people are opting to keep their finances separate, even when they’re married. There’s nothing wrong with that kind of arrangement in and of itself, but it demands more communication and involvement between the partners, not less. If you’re spending money as if it was your money and nobody else has a right to tell you what to do with it, your relationship is doomed.

6. You’re afraid of breaking up

Nobody in a truly happy partnership is afraid of breaking up. If you are, that’s a big warning sign that something’s wrong. But often, what’s wrong is the fear itself. Not only does it betray a lack of trust, but it shows a lack of self-confidence and self-esteem — you’re afraid that there’s no good reason for someone to want to be with you, and that sooner or later your partner will “wise up” and take off. So you pour more energy into keeping up the appearance of a happy relationships than you do into building yourself up as a person. Quite frankly, this isn’t going to be very satisfying for you, and it also isn’t going to be very satisfying for your partner.

7. You’re dependent

There’s a thin line between companionship and support and dependency. If you depend on your partner — that is, if you absolutely cannot live without her or him — you’ve crossed that line. The pressure is now on your partner to fill whatever’s missing in you — a pressure s/he will learn to resent. If you expect your partner to bring everything while you bring nothing to your relationship — and I’m talking finances as well as emotional support, here — you’re in trouble. (Note: I’m not saying that you need to contribute equally to household finances — what I’m saying is that if you’re not contributing to the household budget, and you’re not contributing anywhere else, things are out of whack and that’s never good.)

8. You expect Happiness

A sign of a bad relationship is that one or both partners expect either to make the other happy or for their partner to make them happy. This is not only an unrealistic expectation to lay on yourself or on them — nobody can “make” you happy, except you — but it’s an unrealistic expectation to lay on your relationship. Relationships aren’t only about being happy, and there’s lots of times when you won’t and even shouldn’t be. Being able to rely on someone even when you’re upset, miserable, depressed, or grieving is a lot more important than being happy all the time. If you expect your partner to make you happy — or worse, you’re frustrated because you aren’t able to make your partner happy — your relationship isn’t going to fare well when it hits a rough spot.

9. You never fight

A good argument is essential, every now and then. In part, arguing helps bring out the little stuff before it becomes major, but also, fighting expresses anger which is a perfectly normal part of a human’s emotional make-up. Your relationship has to be strong enough to hold all of who you are, not just the sunny stuff.

One reason couples don’t fight is that they fear conflict — which reflects a lack of trust and a foundation of fear. That’s bad. Another reason couples avoid arguments is that they’ve learned that anger is unreasonable and unproductive. They’ve learned that arguing represents a breakdown rather than a natural part of a relationship’s development. While an argument isn’t pleasant, it can help both partners to articulate issues they may not have even known they had — and help keep them from simmering until you cross a line you can’t come back from.

10. You expect it to be easy/you expect it to be hard
There are two deeply problematic attitudes about relationships I hear often. One is that a relationship should be easy, that if you really love each other and are meant to be together, it will work itself out. The other is that anything worth having is going to be hard — and that therefore if it’s hard, it must be worth having.

The outcome of both views is that you don’t work at your relationship. You don’t work because it’s supposed to be easy and therefore not need any work, or you don’t work because it’s supposed to be hard and it wouldn’t be hard if you worked at it. In both cases, you quickly get burnt out — either because the problems you’re ignoring really don’t go away just because you think they should. or because the problems you’re cultivating are a constant drag on your energy. A relationship that’s too much work might be suffering from one of the attitudes above, but a relationship that doesn’t seem to need any work isn’t any better.

Your choices

There isn’t any one answer to any of the problems above. There are choices though: you can either seek out an answer, something that addresses why you are hurting your relationship, or you can resign yourself to the failure of your relationship (and maybe the next one, and the next one, and…). Failure doesn’t always mean you break up — many people aren’t that lucky. But people can live quite unhappily in failed relationships for years and even decades because they’re afraid they won’t find anything better, or worse, they’re afraid they deserve it. Don’t you be one of them — if you suffer from any of these problems, figure out how to fix it, whether that means therapy, a solo mountain retreat, or just talking to your partner and committing yourselves to change.

英文美文：Mother Teresa's Saying

Mother Teresa's Saying------------

    德 蕾 莎 修 女 的 格 言

I Will do More than belong......I Will participate.

我不但要归主，而且要尊行－我要参与事奉

I Will do More than believe......I Will practice.

我不但要信仰，而且要实践－我要身体力行。


　　I Will do More than forgive......I Will forget.

    我不但要宽恕，而且要爱人－我要忘却得失。


　　I Will do More than teach......I Will inspire.

    我不但要言传，而且要身教－我要感化众人。


　　I Will do More than care......I Will help.

    我不但要关怀，而且要挽救－我要助人为乐。


　　I Will do More than dream......I Will work.

    我不但要梦想，而且要实干－我要广施善行


　　I Will do More than give......I Will serve.

    我不但要施予，而且要效力－我要服务终生。

英文美文：Life------Mother Teresa

Life is an opportunity, benefit from it.
生活是机遇,从中受益吧.
Life is beauty, admire it.
生活是美景,去赞美它吧.
Life is bliss, taste it.
生活是天赐之福,去体现它吧.

Life is a dream, realize it.
生活是一个梦想,去实现它吧
Life is a challenge, meet it.

生活是一个挑战,去迎接它吧.
Life is a duty, complete it.
生活是一种责任,去完成它吧.
Life is a game, play it.
生活是一场游戏,去和它玩耍吧.

Life is a promise, fulfill it.
生活是一种承诺,去兑现它吧
Life is sorrow, overcome it.
生活是一种不幸,去克服它吧
Life is a song, sing it.
生活是一首歌,去歌唱它吧.
Life is a struggle, accept it.
生活是一场斗争,去接受它吧.

Life is a tragedy, confront it.
生活是一出悲剧,去直面它吧.
Life is an adventure, dare it.
生活是一次历险,去承担它吧.

Life is luck, make it.
生活是一种运气,去抓住它吧.
Life is too precious, do not destroy it.
生活太宝贵了，别毁了它.

Life is life, fight for it.
生活就是生活,为它而奋斗吧!

英语美文：My Miraculous Family ----生命的奇迹


    
  I never considered myself unique, but people are constantly telling me, "you are a miracle." To me, I was just an ordinary "guy" with realistic goals and big dreams. I was a 19-year-old student at the University of Texas and well on my way toward fulfilling my "big dream" of one day becoming an 1)orthopedic surgeon.

   On the night of February 17, 1981 I was studying for an 2)Organic Chemistry test at the library with Sharon, my girlfriend of three years. Sharon had asked me to drive her back to her dormitory as it was getting quite late. We got into my car, not realizing that just getting into a car would never quite be the same for me again. I quickly noticed that my gas 3)gauge was registered on empty so I pulled into a nearby convenience store to buy $2.00 worth of gas. "I'll be back in two minutes," I yelled at Sharon as I closed the door. But instead, those two minutes changed my life forever.

   Entering the convenience store was like entering the 4)twilight zone. On the outside I was a healthy, athletic, pre-med student, but on the inside I was just another statistic of a violent crime. I thought I was entering an empty store, but suddenly I realized it was not empty at all. Three robbers were in the process of committing a robbery and my entrance into the store caught them by surprise. One of the criminals immediately 5)shoved a .38 6)caliber handgun to my head, ordered me to the cooler, pushed me down on the floor, and pumped a bullet into the back of my head - execution style. He obviously thought I was dead because he did not shoot me again. The 7) trio of thieves finished robbing the store and left calmly.
Meanwhile, Sharon wondered why I had not returned. After seeing the three men leave the store she really began to worry as I was the last person she saw entering the store. She quickly went inside to look for me, but saw no one-only an almost empty cash register containing one check and several pennies. Quickly she ran down each aisle shouting, "Mike, Mike!"

Just then the 8) attendant appeared from the back of the store shouting, "Lady, get down on the floor. I've just been robbed and shot at!"

Sharon quickly dropped to the floor screaming, "Have you seen my boyfriend? He has 9)auburn hair." The man did not reply but went back to the cooler where he found me choking on my vomit. The attendant quickly cleaned my mouth and then called for the police and an ambulance.
Sharon was in shock. She was beginning to understand that I was hurt, but she could not begin to comprehend or imagine the severity of my injury.

When the police arrived they immediately called the 10)homicide division as they did not think I would survive and the 11)paramedic reported that she had never seen a person so severely wounded survive. At 1:30 a.m. my parents who lived in Houston, were awakened by a telephone call from Brackenridge Hospital advising them to come to Austin as soon as possible for they feared I would not make it through the night.

But I did make it through the night and early in the morning the 12)neurosurgeon decided to operate. However, he quickly informed my family and Sharon that my chances of surviving the surgery were only 40/60. If this were not bad enough, the neurosurgeon further shocked my family by telling them what life would be like for me if I 13)beat the odds and survived. He said I probably would never walk, talk, or be able to understand even simple commands.

My family was hoping and praying to hear even the slightest bit of encouragement from that doctor. Instead, his pessimistic words gave my family no reason to believe that I would ever again be a productive member of society. But once again I beat the odds and survived the three and a half hours of surgery.
Granted, I still could not talk, my entire right side was paralyzed and many people thought I could not understand, but at least I was stable. After one week in a private room the doctors felt I had improved enough to be transferred by jet ambulance to Del Oro 14)Rehabilitation Hospital in Houston.
My 15)hallucinations, coupled with my physical problems, made my 16)prognosis still very bleak. However, as time passed my mind began to clear and approximately six weeks later my right leg began to move ever so slightly. Within seven weeks my right arm slowly began to move and at eight weeks I uttered my first few words.

My speech was extremely difficult and slow in the beginning, but at least it was a beginning. I was starting to look forward to each new day to see how far I would progress. But just as I thought my life was finally looking brighter I was tested by the hospital europsychologist. She explained to me that judging from my test results she believed that I should not focus on returning to college but that it would be better to set more "realistic goals."

Upon hearing her evaluation I became furious for I thought, "Who is she to tell me what I can or cannot do. She does not even know me. I am a very determined and stubborn person!" I believe it was at that very moment that I decided I would somehow, someday return to college.

It took me a long time and a lot of hard work but I finally returned to the University of Texas in the fall of 1983 - a year and a half after almost dying. The next few years in Austin were very difficult for me, but I truly believe that in order to see beauty in life you have to experience some unpleasantness. Maybe I have experienced too much unpleasantness, but I believe in living each day to the fullest, and doing the very best I can.

And each new day was very busy and very full, for besides attending classes at the University I underwent therapy three to five days each week at Brackenridge Hospital. If this were not enough I flew to Houston every other weekend to work with Tom Williams, a trainer and executive who had worked for many colleges and professional teams and also had helped many injured athletes, such as Earl Campbell and Eric Dickerson. Through Tom I learned: "Nothing is impossible and never, never give up or quit."
Early, during my therapy, my father kept repeating to me one of his favorite sayings. I have repeated it almost every day since being hurt: "Mile by mile it's a trial; yard by yard it's hard; but inch by inch it's a cinch."

I thought of those words, and I thought of Tom, my family and Sharon who believed so strongly in me as I climbed the steps to receive my diploma from the Dean of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas on that bright sunny afternoon in June of 1986. Excitement and pride filled my heart as I heard the dean announce that I had graduated with "highest honors", been elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and been chosen as one of 12 Dean's Distinguished Graduates out of 1600 in the College of Liberal Arts.

The overwhelming emotions and feelings that I experienced at that very moment, when most of the audience gave me a standing 17)ovation, I felt would never again be matched in my life-not even when I graduated with a masters degree in social work and not even when I became employed full time at the Texas Pain and Stress Center. But I was wrong!

On May 24, 1987, I realized that nothing could ever match the joy I felt as Sharon and I were married. Sharon, my high school sweetheart of nine years, had always stood by me, through good and bad times. To me, Sharon is my miracle, my diamond in a world filled with problems, hurt, and pain. It was Sharon who dropped out of school when I was hurt so that she could constantly be at my side. She never wavered or gave up on me.

It was her faith and love that pulled me through so many dark days. While other nineteen year old girls were going to parties and enjoying life, Sharon devoted her life to my recovery. That, to me, is the true definition of love.

After our beautiful wedding I continued working part time at the Pain Center and completed my work for a masters degree. We were extremely happy, but even happier when we learned Sharon was pregnant.
On July 11, 1990 at 12:15 a.m. Sharon woke me with the news: "We need to go to the hospital… my water just broke." I couldn't help but think how ironic it was that my life almost ended in a convenience store and now on the date "7-11" we were about to bring a new life into this world. This time it was my turn to help Sharon as she had helped me over those past years.

She was in labor for 15 hours. At 3:10 p.m. Sharon and I experienced the birth of our beautiful daughter, Shawn Elyse Segal!

Tears of joy and happiness came to my eyes as our healthy, alert, wonderful daughter entered this world. We anxiously counted her 10 fingers and her 10 toes and watched her wide eyes take in the world about her. It was truly a beautiful picture that was 18)etched in my mind forever as she lie in her mother's waiting arms, just minutes after her birth. At that moment I thanked God for blessing us with the greatest miracle of all-Shawn Elyse Segal.

    我从未觉得自己与众不同，但人们常对我说：“你的生命是个奇迹。”对我而言，我只是一个普通人，有着现实的目标和远大的理想。我曾是德克萨斯大学一名十九岁的大学生，在通向理想之路上信步前行，梦想有一天我会成为一名整形外科医生。

     1981年2月17日的晚上，我和交往三年的女友沙伦在为有机化学测试做准备。因为太晚了，沙伦叫我驾车把她送回宿舍。我们钻进汽车，谁能想到在今后的生命中我不能再如此矫健地重复这样一个简单的动作。我很快发现油表空了，于是我把车泊在附近的一家便利店旁，想买两块钱的汽油。“我两分钟就回来，”我关上车门朝沙伦喊到。但就是这短短的两分钟改变了我一生的命运，永远地改变了。

    进入这家便利店就如同踏上了阴阳间的奈何桥，门外的我还是个健康的，活蹦乱跳的未婚大学生，而门内的我却成了暴力犯罪的又一个牺牲品。我还以为店里没有人，但我突然发现我错了——有三个匪徒正在打劫这家店，而我的进入让他们有些惊慌失措。其中一个匪徒迅速掏出一把口径为38毫米的手枪用力指着我的头，勒令我走到冷冻机旁，然后把我推倒在地，像执行死刑般从后面朝我头部开了一枪。他没再朝我开第二枪，显然他以为我死了。打劫完后三个劫匪逃之夭夭。

    与此同时，沙伦对我的不归忧心忡忡。看到这三个匪徒离开便利店后她真的很担心，因为我是她见到的最后一个进入店里的人。她赶快跑进店来找我，只见几乎被一扫而空的收银机上挂着一张帐单，还有几枚硬币散落在上面，四周无人。她在货架间飞快地跑着、喊着：“迈克，迈克！”

     这时一名服务员从店后面走出来叫到：“小姐，过来一下，我刚才被打劫了，他们还向我开了枪。”

    沙伦跌跌撞撞地过来哭喊到：“你见到我的男朋友了吗？长褐色头发的。” 那人默默走到冷冻机旁，找到了我，此时呕吐快令到我窒息了。他赶忙帮我擦干了嘴，叫了警察和救护车。

     沙伦被吓坏了。渐渐地她才明白我受伤了，但是她根本想象不到伤势的严重性。
    警察来了，他们很快断定是杀人案，因为没人相信我还能活过来，而救护人员说她从来没有见过伤势如此严重的人可以逃离死劫。下午一点半，我住在奥斯汀的父母被来自布莱肯瑞吉医院的电话铃惊醒，医院通知他们尽快赶到奥斯汀，因为他们认为我熬不过当晚了。

    但那晚我挺了过来，第二天清晨神经外科医生决定给我动手术。但他立即告知我的家人和沙伦我存活的机会只有百分之四十。然后他还雪上加霜地告诉我的家人，向他们描述如果我万幸活下来将面临怎样的生活——我可能再也不会走路了，不会说话了，甚至不能理解一些极其简单的命令。这些对我的家人来说都是莫大的打击。

    本来家里人祈望能从医生的口中听到一点点鼓励的话，而他悲观的言语让他们没理由相信我还会成为一个对社会有用的人。在经历了三个半小时的手术之后，我再次侥幸地活了下来。
    医生的话得到了应验，我不能说话，整个右边的身体瘫痪了，许多人认为我变傻了，但至少我身体状况是稳定的。在私人看护病房里呆了一个星期后，医生觉得我已经好转了许多，并可以坐救护飞机转到奥斯汀的德欧洛康复医院。
    意识上的幻觉和生理上的病疾使我的病情预断非常的渺茫。然而时间的飞逝使我的意识开始变得清晰，大约六个星期以后我的右腿可以轻微地活动了，七周以后我的右臂开始缓慢地活动了，八周以后我终于开口说话了。
     说话对于我非常地艰难并且开始的时候说得很慢，但是总算是开头了。我开始寄希望于新的一天的到来，祈望着新的进步。但正当我以为生活总算初露光明的时候，医院里有个欧洲来的心理学家对我做了测试。她向我解释到，从检测的结果来看她坚信我不能再重返学校，劝我对此不要抱有任何希望，希望我最好树立些更现实点的目标。
    她的这番结论让我怒不可遏，“她是谁，凭什么告诉我能做什么或不能做什么。她根本不了解我。我是很坚强而固执的人！”我相信就在那时我决定无论如何，总有一天我会返回学校的。
    在经历了一年半垂死挣扎的生活后，在漫长的等待和艰辛的付出后，终于在1983年的秋天，我返回了德克萨斯大学。在奥斯汀接下来的几年里我生活得非常艰难，但我确信为了看到生活中的真善美你必须要经历一些苦难。也许我经历的苦难太多了，但我有一个信念——充实地过每一天，尽力做到最好。
    日子过的很繁忙、很充实，除了读书，每周我还在要在布莱肯瑞吉医院接受三到五次的治疗。如果这还不够忙的话，我还要隔周和汤姆·威廉斯飞到奥斯汀工作。汤姆是一个教练兼主管，他曾效力于许多大学校队和职业联队，并帮助过许多受伤的运动员，如：厄尔·坎贝尔 和 艾立克·迪克森。从汤姆的身上我学到“没有什么是不可能的，千万千万不要放弃，永不放弃。”
    早在我接受治疗的时候，父亲总是重复他最爱的那句话，每天当我感到痛苦的时候我也对自己重复那句话，那就是“脚踏实地，切勿急功近利。”
    1986年六月那个阳光明媚的午后，当我步履蹒跚地走上德克萨斯大学迪安文学院的台阶接受文凭的时候，我思索着这些话，想到汤姆、父母还有沙伦，他们都那么坚定地给予了我信任。当我听到院长宣布我以最高荣誉毕业时，我的心中充满了骄傲和自信。接着他还宣布我被选入美国大学优等生荣誉学会，并在1600名毕业生中当选为12名迪安文学院的杰出毕业生之一。
     当场有许多观众站起来为我鼓掌，那一刻令我心潮澎湃、百感交集。我甚至觉得生命中不可能再经历那样的感慨和激情，这种想法一直延续到我获得社会学的硕士学位，成为德克萨斯止痛减压中心的一名全职工作人员。但幸运之神再次眷顾了我！
     1987年5月24日，我觉得再没有什么能与此时的快乐相提并论，我和沙伦结婚了。沙伦是我高中时代的女友，风风雨雨九年来，她一直陪在我身旁。对我来说，她是我的奇迹，是我在这个充满困惑和伤痛的世界上拥有的一颗钻石。为了能日夜守侯在我的身旁，沙伦在我受伤的时候放弃了学业。她的爱从未动摇过，她从未抛弃过我。
    是她的忠诚和爱伴着我度过了无数个黑暗的日子。当别的十九岁的女孩子参加舞会、享受生活的时候，沙伦把青春献给了病床上的我，等待我的康复。对我来说，这就是爱的真谛。
     在那个美满的婚礼之后，我继续在止痛中心做着兼职的工作，并获得了我的硕士学位。我们非常的幸福，而沙伦怀孕的消息更让我们恩爱有加。
    1990年7月11日12点15分，沙伦把我从梦中唤醒：“我们得去医院了…… 我羊水破了。”我忍不住想命运真让人啼笑皆非，它几乎让我在那家便利店里丢了性命，而在一个命名为“7·11”的日子里它却让我迎来新生命的出世。多年来沙伦帮我度过了一次又一次难关，这次该我来帮助她了。
     沙伦经历了15个小时的分娩。在3点10分的时候，沙伦和我一起迎来了我们美丽的女儿——萧恩·艾丽斯·斯高。
     当我看到美丽的女儿健康地来到这个世上，喜悦和幸福化作泪水夺眶而出。我们迫不及待地数着她的十个手指和十只脚趾，看着她大大的眼睛注视着她的世界。初生的婴儿躺在妈妈柔软的怀里如一副优美的图画将永驻我的心中。那一刻，我感谢上帝赐予我们如此最伟大的奇迹——我的萧恩·艾丽斯·斯高。

英语美文o not wait... 爱，永远禁不起等待

Don’t wait for a smile to be nice...
不要等到了一个笑容才面露慈善　　　

　　　　　　　
Don’t wait to be loved, to love.
不要等被爱了以后，才要去爱　　　　　　　　　　

Don’t wait to be lonely, to recognize the value of a friend.
不要等到寂寞了，才明白朋友的价值。　　　　　　　　　　

Don’t wait for the best job, to begin to work.
不要非要等到一份最好的工作，才要开始工作　　　　　　　　　　

Don’t wait to have a lot, to share a bit.
不要等拥有许多后，才开始分享一些　　　　　　　　　　

Don’t wait for the fall, to remember the advice.
不要等到失败后，才记得别人的忠告　　　　　　　　　　

Don’t wait for pain, to believe in prayer.
不要等到受伤了，才相信愿意祈祷　　　　　　　　

Don’t wait to have time, to be able to serve.
不一定要等到有时间，才能够去付出服务　　　　　　　　　　

Don’t wait for anybody else pain, to ask for apologies...
不要等别人受伤了，才来乞求原谅　　　　　　　　　　

... neither separation to make it up.
不要等到分开了，才想到去挽回　　　　

Don’t wait...
Because you don’t know how long it will take.
不要等待,因为，你不知道等待需要花费多少的时间

Remember: Friendship is like wine, it gets better as it grows older.
记得：友谊像醇酒，越久越浓。

英语美文：有种旅行叫作人生

Life comes in a package. This package includes happiness and sorrow, failure and success, hope and despair. Life is a learning process. Experiences in life teach us new lessons and make us a better person. With each passing day we learn to handle various situations.

Love
Love plays a pivotal role on out life. Love makes you feel wanted. Without love a person could go hayward and also become cruel and ferocious. In the early stage of our life, our parents are the ones who shower us with unconditional love and care, they teach us about what is right and wrong, good and bad. But we always tend to take this for granted. It is only after marriage and having kids that a person understands and becomes sensitive to others feelings. Kids make a person responsible and mature and help us to understand life better.

Happiness and Sorrow
Materialistic happiness is short-lived, but happiness achieved by bringing a smile on others face gives a certain level of fulfillment. Peace of mind is the main link to happiness. No mind is happy without peace. We realize the true worth of happiness when we are in sorrow. Sorrow is basically due to death of a loved one, failure and despair. But these things are temporary and pass away.

Failure and Success
Failure is the path to success. It helps us to touch the sky, teaches us to survive and shows us a specific way. Success brings in money, fame, pride and self-respect. Here it becomes very important to keep our head on out shoulder. The only way to show our gratitude to God for bestowing success on us is by being humble, modest, courteous and respectful to the less fortunate ones.

Hope and Despair
Hope is what keeps life going. Parents always hope their children will do well. Hope makes us dream. Hope builds in patience. Life teaches us not to despair even in the darkest hour, because after every night there is a day. Nothing remains the same we have only one choice keep moving on in life and be hopeful.

Life teaches us not to regret over yesterday, for it has passed and is beyond our control. Tomorrow is unknown, for it could either be bright or dull. So the only alternative is work hard today, so that we will enjoy a better tomorrow.

人生好似一个包裹，这个包裹里藏着快乐与悲伤、成功与失败，希望与绝望。人生也是一个学习的过程。那些经历给我们上了全新的课，让我们变得更好。随着每一天的过去，我们学会了处理各种各样的问题。
爱
爱在生活之外扮演了一个关键的角色。爱使你想要得到些什么。没有爱，一个人将走向不归路，变得凶暴、残忍。在我们最初的人生道路上，我们的父母给予了我们无条件的关爱，他们教会我们判断正确与错误、好与坏。然而我们常常把这想当然了，只有等到我们结了婚并且有了孩子之后，一个人才会懂得并注意别人的感受。孩子让我们变得富有责任心、变得成熟稳重，并且更好的理解人生。
快乐与悲伤
物质上的快乐往往是短暂的，然而，当你给予他人一个微笑的时候，那种满足却是无与伦比的。心灵的平静往往是快乐的源泉。没有平和的心态就没有快乐的心情。在伤心的时候，我们往往能够体会到快乐的真谛。悲伤基本都来自于一个爱人的去世、失败还有绝望，但是这样的事情都是暂时的，总会过去的。
失败与成功
失败是成功之母。它让我们触及蓝天，它教会我们如何生存，它给予我们一条特殊的路。成功给予我们金钱、名誉、骄傲和自尊。这里，保持头脑清醒便显得尤为重要。唯一能让我们感激上帝给予的成功便是始终卑微、谦虚、礼貌并且尊重没有我们幸运的人们。
希望与绝望
希望是人生动力之源。父母总是希望自己的孩子能够做得很好。希望使我们有梦想。希望使我们变得有耐心。人生教会我们即使是在最困难的时候都不要绝望，因为黑暗之后终将是黎明。没有什么事一成不变的，我们惟有充满希望地继续生活。
人生教会我们不要对过去的事感到后悔，因为过去的终究是过去了并且我们已无法控制。没人知道明天会是怎样，因为它可以是光明的同样也可以是无趣的。所以，唯一的选择便是在今天努力工作，这样才能让我们去享受更美好的明天。

英语美文:我为什么而生What I have Lived for

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.

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.
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 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.

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



有三种简单然而无比强烈的激情左右了我的一生：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难的难以忍受的怜悯。这些激情象飓风，无处不在、反复无常地吹拂着我，吹过深重的苦海，濒于绝境。

我寻找爱，首先是因为它使人心醉神迷，这种陶醉是如此的美妙，使我愿意牺牲所有的余生去换取几个小时这样的欣喜。我寻找爱，还因为它解除孤独，在可怕的孤独中，一颗颤抖的灵魂从世界的边缘看到冰冷、无底、死寂的深渊。最后，我寻找爱，还因为在爱的交融中，神秘而又具体而微地，我看到了圣贤和诗人们想象出的天堂的前景。这就是我所寻找的，而且，虽然对人生来说似乎过于美妙，这也是我终于找到了的。

以同样的激情我探索知识。我希望能够理解人类的心灵。我希望能够知道群星为何闪烁。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的数字力量，它支配着此消彼涨。仅在不大的一定程度上，我达到了此目的。

爱和知识，只要有可能，通向着天堂。但是怜悯总把我带回尘世。痛苦呼喊的回声回荡在我的内心。忍饥挨饿的孩子，惨遭压迫者摧残的受害者，被儿女们视为可憎的负担的无助的老人，连同这整个充满了孤独、贫穷和痛苦的世界，使人类所应有的生活成为了笑柄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，而且我自己也在忍受折磨。

这就是我的一生。我发现它值得一过。如果再给我一次机会，我会很高兴地再活它一次。
最

英语美文:雨中的记忆 Run Through the Rain

世间万物皆有自己的季节，做任何事情也有一个恰当的时机。如果有机会，你也可以在雨中狂奔一回……

She had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful brown haired, freckle-faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the Earth it has no time to flow down the spout.

We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Wal-Mart. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in. "Mom, let's run through the rain," she said.

"What?" Mom asked.

"Let's run through the rain!" She repeated.

"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain."

"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.

"No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm."

This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.

Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said.

But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. Time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith. "Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said. Then off they ran.

We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing. Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories. So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories every day!

To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. I hope you still take the time to run through the rain.


雨中的记忆
　　她和妈妈刚在沃尔玛购完物。这个天真的小女孩应该6岁大了，头发是美丽的棕色，脸上有雀斑。外面下着倾盆大雨。雨水溢满了檐槽，来不及排走，就迫不及待地涌向了大地。
　　我们都站在沃尔玛门口的遮篷下。大家在等待，有的人很耐心，也有人烦躁，因为老天在给他们本已忙碌的一天添乱。雨天总引起我的遐思。我出神地听着、看着老天洗刷冲走这世界的污垢和尘埃，孩时无忧无虑地在雨中奔跑玩水的记忆汹涌而至，暂时缓解了我这一天的焦虑。
　　小女孩甜美的声音打破了这令人昏昏欲睡的气氛，“妈妈，我们在雨里跑吧，”她说。
　　“什么？”母亲问。
　　“我们在雨里跑吧，”她重复。
　　“不，亲爱的，我们等雨小一点再走，”母亲回答说。
　　过了一会小女孩又说：“妈妈，我们跑出去吧。”
　　“这样的话我们会湿透的，”母亲说。
　　“不会的，妈妈。你今天早上不是这样说的。”小女孩一边说一边拉着母亲的手。
　　“今天早上？我什么时候说过我们淋雨不会湿啊？”
　　“你不记得了吗？你和爸爸谈他的癌症时，你不是说‘如果上帝让我们闯过这一关，那我们就没有什么过不去了。’”
　　人群一片寂静。我发誓，除了雨声，你什么都听不到。我们都静静地站着。接下来的几分钟没有一个人走动。母亲停了一下，在想着应该说些什么。
　　有人也许会对此一笑了之，或者责备这孩子的不懂事，有人甚至不把她的话放在心上。但这却是一个小孩子一生中需要被肯定的时候。若受到鼓舞，此时孩子单纯的信任就会发展成为坚定的信念。“亲爱的，你说得对，我们跑过去吧。如果淋湿了，那也许是因为我们的确需要冲洗一下了，”母亲说。然后她们就冲出去了。
　　我们站在那里，笑着看她们飞快地跑过停着的汽车。他们把购物袋高举过头想挡挡雨，但还是湿透了。好几个人像孩子般尖叫着，大笑着，也跟着冲了出去，奔向自己的车子。当然，我也这样做了，跑了出去，淋湿了。我也需要接受洗礼。环境或其他人可以夺去你的物质财富，抢走你的金钱，带走你的健康，但没有人可以带走你珍贵的回忆。因此，记得要抓紧时间，抓住机会每天都给自己留下一些回忆吧！
　　世间万物皆有自己的季节，做任何事情也有一个恰当的时机。希望你有机会在雨中狂奔一回。

英语美文：If 如 果 ……

If 如 果

——吉卜林【英】给儿子的诗

·If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about,don't deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with triumph and disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twiseted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

　　

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothin in you

Except the Will which says to them:"Hold on!";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings -nor lose the common touch;

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty second' worth of distance run -

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! 　

　　　

·如果在众人六神无主的之时，

你能镇定自若而不是人云亦云；

如果在被众人猜忌怀疑之日，

你能自信如常而不去妄加辩论；

如果你能够等待，却不因此而厌烦，

或者被人欺骗，却不以血还血，

或者被人所恨，却不以牙还牙，

同时，依然不愠不火，谈吐不凡。

如果你有梦想，又能不迷失自我；

如果你有神思，又不致走火入魔；

如果在成功中能不忘形于色，

而在灾难之后也勇于咀嚼苦果；

如果听到自己说出的奥妙，被无赖

歪曲成面目全非的魔术而不生怨艾；

如果看到自己追求的美好，受天灾

破灭为一摊零碎的瓦砾，也不说放弃；

如果你辛苦劳作，已是功成名就，

为了新的目标你依然冒险一搏，哪怕功名成乌有；

即使惨遭失败，也仍要从头开始，

而丝毫不去计较个人得失；

如果你的整个身心已经灰飞烟灭，

而你驱使其留下的德行能流芳百世；

那么坚持到底吧——即使你的内心已空无一物，

只能听到意志的呼唤：“坚持！”

如果你跟村夫交谈而不离谦恭之态，

和王侯散步而不露谄媚之颜；

如果你的敌手和挚友都无法伤害你，

如果所有人都指望你，却无人全心全意；

如果你肯花六十秒进行短程跑，

去填满生命中无情的每一分钟，

那么你既可以拥有整个世界和其万物，

更重要的是，你就是个真正的男子汉了，我的孩子！

英语美文：Away in a Manger

Away in a Manger

One afternoon about a week before Christmas, my family of four piled into our minivan to run an errand, and this question came from a small voice in the back seat: "Dad," began my five-year-old son, Patrick, "how come I've never seen you cry?"
Just like that. No preamble. No warning. Surprised, I mumbled something about crying when he wasn't around, but I knew that Patrick had put his young finger on the largest obstacle to my own peace and contentment -- the dragon-filled moat separating me from the fullest human expression of joy, sadness and anger. Simply put, I could not cry.
I am scarcely the only man for whom this is true. We men have been conditioned to believe that stoicism is the embodiment of strength. We have traveled through life with stiff upper lips, secretly dying within.
For most of my adult life I have battled depression. Doctors have said much of my problem is physiological, and they have treated it with medication. But I know that my illness is also attributable to years of swallowing rage, sadness, even joy.
Strange as it seems, in this world where macho is everything, drunkenness and depression are safer ways for men to deal with feelings than tears. I could only hope the same debilitating handicap would not be passed to the next generation.
So the following day when Patrick and I were in the van after playing at a park, I thanked him for his curiosity. Tears are a good thing, I told him, for boys and girls alike. Crying is God's way of healing people when they're sad. "I'm glad you can cry whenever you're sad," I said. "Sometimes daddies have a harder time showing how they feel. Someday I hope to do better."
Patrick nodded. In truth, I held out little hope. But in the days before Christmas I prayed that somehow I could connect with the dusty core of my own emotions.
"I was wondering if Patrick would sing a verse of "Away in a Manger" during the service on Christmas Eve," the church youth director asked in a message left on our answering machine.
My wife, Catherine, and I struggled to contain our excitement. Our son's first solo.
Catherine delicately broached the possibility, reminding Patrick how beautifully he sang, telling him how much fun it would be. Patrick himself seemed less convinced and frowned. "You know, Mom," he said, "sometimes when I have to do something important, I get kind of scared."
Grownups feel that way too, he was assured, but the decision was left to him. His deliberations took only a few minutes.
"Okay," Patrick said. "I'll do it."
From the time he was an infant, Patrick has enjoyed an unusual passion for music. By age four he could pound out several bars of Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries on the piano.
For the next week Patrick practiced his stanza several times with his mother. A rehearsal at the church went well. Still, I could only envision myself at age five, singing into a microphone before hundreds of people. When Christmas Eve arrived, my expectations were limited.
Catherine, our daughter Melanie and I sat with the congregation in darkness as a spotlight found my son, standing alone at the microphone. He was dressed in white, with a pair of angel wings.
Slowly, confidently, Patrick hit every note. As his voice washed over the people, he seemed a true angel, a true bestowed of Christmas miracles.
There was eternity in Patrick's voice that night, a beauty rich enough to penetrate any reserve. At the sound of my son, heavy tears welled at the corners of my eyes.
His song was soon over, and the congregation applauded. Catherine brushed away tears. Melanie sobbed next to me.
After the service, I moved to congratulate Patrick, but he had more urgent priorities. "Mom," he said as his costume was stripped away, "I have to go to the bathroom."
As Patrick disappeared, the pastor wished me a Merry Christmas, but emotion choked off my reply. Outside the sanctuary I received congratulations from fellow church members.
I found my son as he emerged from the bathroom. "atrick, I need to talk to you about something," I said, smiling. I took him by the hand and led him into a room where we could be alone. I knelt to his height and admired his young face, the large blue eyes, the dusting of freckles on his nose and cheeks, the dimple on one side.
He looked at my moist eyes quizzically.
"atrick, do you remember when you asked me why you had never seen me cry? "He nodded. "Well, I'm crying now." "Why, Dad?" "Your singing was so wonderful it made me cry."
Patrick smiled proudly and flew into my arms. "Sometimes," my son said into my shoulder, "life is so beautiful you have to cry."
Our moment together was over too soon. Untold treasures awaited our five-year-old beneath the tree at home, but I wasn't ready for the traditional plunge into Christmas just yet. I handed Catherine the keys and set off for the mile-long hike home.
The night was cold and crisp. I crossed a park and admired the full moon hanging low over a neighborhood brightly lit in the colors of the season. As I turned toward home, I met a car moving slowly down the street, a family taking in the area's Christmas lights. Someone rolled down a window.
"Merry Christmas," a child's voice yelled out to me.
"Merry Christmas," I yelled back. And the tears began to flow all over again.

在圣诞节前一个星期的某个下午，我们一家四口人挤进自己家的小货车去送货，车后座忽然轻声地传来这样一个问题：“爸爸，”我五岁的儿子——帕特里克开始问道：“我怎么从来没见你哭过呢？”
　　就是这么唐突，没有前言，没有任何的预示。我感到很错愕，当他不在旁边时，我自言自语地琢磨着哭泣这一话题，但我知道帕特里克那小脑袋已经发现了我心灵深处的一道屏障，那道屏障使我无法获得内心的平静与满足，像一道难以逾越的壕沟，把我从充满人性感情的喜悦、悲哀和生气中隔离开来。直接一点说，我就是不能哭。
　　其实这种情况并不是只发生在我身上。我们男人已经接受了这种信念，坚忍克己才是力量的体现。在人生道路上，我们总是抿着僵硬的上唇，丝毫不让自己有任何的感情外露，内心的情感不知不觉中已枯竭。
　　成年后的大部分日子我都在与消沉沮丧抗争。医生都说我的问题主要是生理上的，所以他们给我作药物治疗。但我知道，我的病根在于我多年来对愤怒、悲哀，甚至是欢乐等情感的压抑。
　　但这似乎也很奇怪，在雄性主宰一切的世界里，在男人处理感情困扰时，酗酒和消沉是比痛哭流涕更安全的方法。我只是希望这种耗损人精神体力的情感障碍不会传给下一代。
　　所以，第二天，我带帕特里克去公园玩，在架车返家途中，我对他的好奇表示了谢意。流眼泪是件好事情，我告诉他，无论对于男孩还是女孩。哭泣是当人们悲哀时，上帝拯救他们的方法。“我很高兴，在你觉得伤心的时候，你都能哭出来，”我说，“有时候做爸爸的比较难以表达他们的情感。我希望有一天我会做得更好。”
　　帕特里克点点头。事实上，我对此不抱什么希望。但圣诞节前的那些日子里，我祈祷着无论如何也要揭开我那尘封的感情了。
　　“不知道帕特里克是否愿意在平安夜的礼拜仪式上唱《远处的马槽》这首圣诗呢，”年轻的教堂主持在我们的电话留言里问道。
　　我的妻子――凯瑟琳和我都拼命地抑制着内心的兴奋。这是我们的儿子第一次独唱。
　　凯瑟琳很巧妙地向帕特里克问及这件事的可能性。她提醒帕特里克，他的歌唱得有多动听，告诉他那是多么有趣的事。帕特里克似乎不大相信这些话，他皱着眉头。“你知道的，妈妈，”他说，“有时候，当我要做一件重要的事情时，我总觉得紧张，害怕。”
　　我们告诉他大人也有这样的感觉，但最后还得由他自己决定。他只沉思了几分钟。
　　“好吧，”帕特里克说，“我去。”
　　打从襁褓开始，帕特里克就对音乐表现出不同寻常的热爱。他四岁时，就能在钢琴上敲出瓦格纳的《女武神》的几个小节了。
　　在接下来的那个星期，帕特里克和他的妈妈把那首圣诗练习了好几次。在教堂里举行的彩排非常成功。相比起来，在我五岁的时候只能想象自己在数百人面前对着麦克风歌唱。而当平安夜到来的时候，我的期望就会落空。
　　凯瑟琳、我们的女儿梅拉尼、我和其他的信众坐在黑暗当中，当一盏聚光灯掠过时，我找到了我儿子，他一个人站在麦克风前面，白衣飘飘，两侧插着天使的翅膀。
　　缓缓地、自信地，帕特里克唱准了每一个音符。他的声音陶醉了在座的每一个人，他就像是一个真正的天使，上帝赐予的一件奇迹般的圣诞礼物。
　　那晚，帕特里克的声音里似乎蕴含着永恒，他的声音圆润得足以穿透世间万物。聆听着儿子的歌声，大颗大颗的泪珠从我眼角涌了出来。
　　他的歌很快唱完了，大家都鼓起掌来。凯瑟琳擦拭着眼泪，梅拉尼在我身旁哽咽。
　　礼拜结束后，我去向帕特里克道贺，但他却急着做别的事情。“妈妈，”他一边脱衣服一边说，“我得先去浴室。”
　　帕特里克走开后，牧师祝我圣诞快乐，但我激动得一句话也答不上来。在教堂外，我接受了信众们的祝贺。
　　我找到了我的儿子，当时他正从浴室出来。“帕特里克，我要和你谈谈。”我微笑着说。我拉着他的手，带他到一个只有我们俩的房间。我蹲下来，和他一般高，欣赏着他那嫩嫩的脸蛋，蓝色的大眼睛，鼻子和两颊有一层雀斑，一边面颊上还有一个小酒窝。
　　他不解地看着我湿润的双眼。
　　“帕特里克，你还记得你问过我为什么没有见过我哭吗？”他点点头。“嗯，我在哭”。“为什么呢，爸爸？”“因为你的歌唱得太好了。”
　　帕特里克自豪地笑着扑进我的怀抱。“有时候，”我儿子伏在我肩膀上说，“生活会美得让你流泪。”
　　我们在一起的瞬间太短暂了。
　　 家中圣诞树下的那些还未拆封的礼物正等着我五岁的儿子，但我还没有为一贯以来都匆匆而来的圣诞节做好准备。我把车钥匙递给凯瑟琳，徒步走回一英里以外的家。
　　那晚的天气干燥寒冷。我穿过公园，在这多彩而快乐的时节，欣赏着挂在半空的满月照耀着万家灯火。当转身回家时，我看见一辆车在街上慢慢地行驶着，原来是一家人在欣赏区内的圣诞灯饰。有人拉下了窗户。
　　“圣诞快乐。”一个小孩对着我喊。
　　“圣诞快乐。”我回应道。眼泪又开始流出来了。

美文欣赏:今天我学会控制情绪

Today I will be master of my emotions.
The tides advance; the tides recede. Winter goes and summer comes. summer wanes and the cold increases. The sun rises; the sun sets. The moon is full; the moon is black. The birds arrive;the birds depart. Flowers bloom; flowers fade.Seeds are sown; harvests are reaped. all nature is a circle of moods and I am a part of nature and so,like the tides, my moods will rise; my moods will fall.

今天我学会控制情绪。
潮起潮落，冬去春来，夏末秋至，日出日落，月圆月缺，雁来雁往，花飞花谢，草长瓜熟，自然界万物都在循环往复的变化中，我也不例外，情绪会时好时坏。


Today I will be master of my emotions.
It is one of nature's tricks, little understood,that each day I awaken with moods that have changed from yesterday. Yesterday's joy wilI become today's sadness; yet today's sadness will grow into tomorrow's joy. Inside me is a wheel,constantly turning from sadness to joy, from exultation to depression, from happiness to melancholy. Like the flowers, today's full bloom of joy will fade and wither into despondency, yet I will remember that as today's dead flower carries the seed of tomorrow's bloom so, too, does today's sadness carry the seed of tomorrow's joy.

今天我学会控制情绪。
这是大自然的玩笑，很少有人窥破天机。每天我醒来时，不再有旧日的心情。昨日的快乐变成今天的哀愁，今天的悲伤又转为明日的喜悦。我心中像一只轮子不停地转着，由乐而悲，由悲而喜，由喜而忧。这就好比花儿的变化，今天枯败的花儿蕴藏着明天新生的种子，今天的悲伤也预示着明天的快乐。
Today I will be master of my emotions.
And how will I master these emotions so that each day will be productive? For unless my mood is right the day will be a failure. Trees and plants depend on the weather to flourish but I make my own weather, yea I transport it with me. If I bring rain and gloom and darkness and pessimism to my customers then they will react with rain and gloom and darkness and pessimism and they will purchase naught. If I bring joy and enthusiasm and brightness and laughter to my customers they will react with joy and enthusiasm and brightness and laughter and my weather will produce a harvest of sales and a granary of gold for me.
今天我学会控制情绪。 我怎样才能控制情绪，以使每天卓有成效呢？除非我心平气和，否则迎来的又将是失败的一天。花草树木，随着气候的变化而生长，但是我为自己创造天气。我要学会用自己的心灵弥补气候的不足。如果我为顾客带来风雨、忧郁、黑暗和悲观，那么他们也会报之于风雨、忧郁、黑暗和悲观，而他们什么也不会买。相反的，如果我们为顾客献上欢乐、喜悦、光明和笑声，他们也会报之以欢乐、喜悦、光明和笑声，我就能获得销售上的丰收，赚取成仓的金币。

Today I will be master of my emotions.
And how will I master my emotions so that every day is a happy day, and a productive one? I will learn this secret of the ages: Weak is he who permits his thoughts to control his actions; strong is he who forces his actions to control his thoughts. Each day, when I awaken, I will follow this plan of battle before I am captured by the forces of sadness, self-pity and failure-
今天我学会控制情绪。
我怎样才能控制情绪，让每天充满幸福和欢乐？我要学会这个千古秘诀：弱者任思绪控制行为，强者让行控制思绪。每天醒来当我被悲伤、自怜、失败的情绪包围时，我就这样与之对抗：

If I feel depressed I will sing.
If I feel sad I will laugh.
If I feel ill I will double my labor.
If I feel fear I will plunge ahead.
If I feel inferior I will wear new garments.
If I feel uncertain I will raise my voice.
If I feel poverty I will think of wealth to come.
If I feel incompetent I will remember past success.
If I feel insignificant I will remember my goals.
沮丧时，我引吭高歌。
悲伤时，我开怀大笑。
病痛时，我加倍工作。
恐惧时，我勇往直前。
自卑时，我换上新装。
不安时，我提高嗓声。
穷困潦倒时，我想象未来的富有。
力不从心时，我回想过去的成功。
自轻自贱时，我想想自己的目标。
Today I will be master of my emotions.
Henceforth, I will know that only those with inferior ability can always be at their best, and I am not inferior. There will be days When I must IN THE WORLD constantly struggle against forces which would tear me down. Those such as despair and sadness are simple to recognize but there are others which approach with a smile and the hand of friendship and they can also destroy me. Against them, too, I must never relinquish control-
总之，今天我要学会控制自己的情绪。
从今往后，我明白了，只有低能者才会江郎才尽，我并非低能者，我必须不断对抗那限些企图摧垮我的力量。失望与悲伤一眼就会被识破，而其它许多敌人是不易觉察的。它们往往面带微笑，却随时可能将我们摧垮。对它们，我们永远不能放松警惕。 自高自大时，我要追寻失败的记忆。
If I become overconfident I will recall my failures.
If I overindulge I will think of past hungers.
If I feel complacency I will remember my competition.
If I enjoy moments of greatness I will remember moments of shame.
If I feel all-powerful I will try to stop the wind.
lf I attain great wealth I will remember one unfed mouth.
If l become overly proud I will remember a moment of weakness.
If I feel my skill is unmatched I will look at the stars.

纵情得意时，我要记得挨饿的日子。
洋洋得意时，我要想想竞争的对手。
沾沾自喜时，不要忘了那忍辱的时刻。
自以为是时，看看自己能否让步驻步。
腰缠万贯时，想想那些食不果腹的人。
骄傲自满时，要想到自己怯懦的时候。
不可一世时，让我抬头，仰望群星。

Today I will be master of my emotions.
And with this new knowledge I will also understand and recognize the moods of him on whom I call. I will make allowances for his anger and irritation of today for he knows not the secret of controlling his mind. I can withstand his arrows and insults for now I know that tomorrow he will change and be a joy to approach.
No longer will l judge a man on one meeting;no longer will I fail to call again tomorrow on he who meets me with hate today. This day he will not buy gold chariots for a penny, yet tomorrow he would exchange his home for a tree. My knowledge of this secret will be my key to great wealth.

今天我学会控制情绪。
有了这项新本领，我也更能体察别人的情绪变化。我宽容怒气冲冲的人，因为他尚未懂得控制自己的情绪，就可以忍受他的指责与辱骂，因为我知道明天他会改变，重新变得随和。 我不再只凭一面之交来判断一个人，也不再一时的怨恨与人绝交，今天不肯花一分钱买金蓬马车的人，明天也许会用全部家当换树苗。知道了这个秘密，我可以获得极大的财富。

Today l will be master of my emotions.
Henceforth I will recognize and identify the mystery of moods in all mankind, and in me.From this moment I am prepared to control whatever personality awakes in me each day. I will master my moods through positive action and when I master my moods I will control my destiny.
Today I control my destiny, and my destiny is to become the greatest salesman in the world!
I will become master of myself.
I wi1l become great.



今天我学会控制情绪。
我从此领悟人类情绪的变化的奥秘。对于自己千变万化的个性，我不再听之任之，我知道，只有积极主动地控制情绪，才能掌握自己的命运。
我控制自己的命运就是成为世界上最伟大的推销员！
我成为自己的主人。
我由此而变得伟大。

英语美文：Life Together 一生相随

One fine day, an old couple around the age of 70, walks into a lawyer’s office. Apparently, they are there to file a divorce. Lawyer was very puzzled, after having a chat with them, he got their story.
　　在一个阳光明媚的日子里，一对70多岁的老夫妇走进了律师事务所。显然地，他们准备到那儿办理离婚手续。律师对这对年老的夫妇提出要离婚的事感到非常困惑。后来，跟他们交谈了之后，他得知他们之间有这样一段故事：
　　
This couple had been quarreling all their 40 over years of marriage nothing ever seems to go right.
这对夫妇从40年前结婚之日起就一直吵个不停。他们似乎找不到共同点，一切在他们看来都格格不入。 　　

They hang on because of their children, afraid that it might affect their up-bringing. Now, all their children have already grown up, have their own family, there’s nothing else the old couple have to worry about, all they wanted is to lead their own life free from all these years of unhappiness from their marriage, so both agree on a divorce.
　　由于担心他们的离婚会给孩子的成长带来不良影响，这对老夫妇把离婚的事搁浅到现在。现在，他们的孩子都长大成人了，也有他们各自的家庭了。于是，这对老夫妇再也没有什么事可以担忧的了。他们现在渴望的就是过各自的生活，免受这些年来婚姻带给他们的种种不幸。正因为这样，两个老人都赞同通过离婚解决事情的争端。
　　
Lawyer was having a hard time trying to get the papers done, because he felt that after 40 years of marriage at the age of 70, he couldn’t understand why the old couple would still wants a divorce.
律师极其艰难地为他们拟造了一份离婚协议书，因为他觉得，经过婚后40年的相濡以沫现在两个老人都70多岁了，他就是弄不明白为什么这对老夫妇仍然坚持要离婚。
　　
While they were signing the papers, the wife told the husband. “I really love you, but I really can’t carry on anymore, I’m sorry.”
　　当他们签署文件时，老夫人遗憾地告诉丈夫：“我真的很爱你，但我再也不能忍受下去了，我非常抱歉。”
　　
“It’s OK, I understand.” said the husband. Looking at this, the lawyer suggested a dinner together, just three of them, wife thought, why not, since they are still going be friends.
“没有关系，我理解。”她的丈夫有点悲伤地回答道。看到他们夫妇还有一线挽救的希望，律师于是建议他们三个人一起去吃顿晚餐。就他们三个人，老夫人想道，为什么不呢，反正他们很快就成为朋友了。
　　
At the dining table, there was a silence of awkwardness.
餐桌上，这对夫妇沉默不语，尴尬的气氛顿时弥漫开来。
　　
The first dish was roasted chicken, immediately, the old man took the drumstick for the old lady. “Take this, it’s your favorite.”
第一道菜是烤鸡。立刻地，老夫人的丈夫夹了一个鸡腿给她说道：“尝尝这个，我知道你最喜欢吃鸡腿了。”
　　
Looking at this, the lawyer thought maybe there’s still a chance, but the wife was frowning when she answer. “This is always the problem, you always think so highly of yourself, never thought about how I feel, don’t you know that I hate drumsticks?”
　　见到这种情景，律师心想，他们相亲相爱到这个地步本不应该提出离婚的。然而，出奇意料的是，当老夫人接过丈夫所夹的菜时，眉毛却很不自然地皱了一下答道：“这就是问题所在，你总是自以为是，从来没有顾及过我的感受，难道你就不知道我很讨厌吃鸡腿吗？”
　　
Little did she know that, over the years, the husband have been trying all ways to please her, little did she know that drumsticks was the husband’s favorite.
　　她一点也不清楚，这些年来，她的丈夫一直使尽办法讨她开心；她一点也不知道，鸡腿是她丈夫最喜爱吃的食物。
　　
Little did he know that she never thought he understand her at all, little did he know that she hates drumsticks even though all he wants is the best for her.
他一点也不清楚，他的妻子会认为他完全不了解她；他一点也不知道，他妻子讨厌吃鸡腿，尽管他把自己最喜爱吃的都给了她。
　　
That night, both of them couldn’t sleep, toss and turn, toss and turn. After hours, the old man couldn’t take it anymore, he knows that he still loves her, and he can’t carry on life without her, he wants her back, he wants to tell her, he is sorry, he wanted to tell her, “I love you.”
那天晚上，两个老人都睡不着，各自在自己的床上辗转反侧，辗转反侧。挣扎了几个小时后，老夫人的丈夫终于忍耐不住，他发觉他仍然深爱着老夫人。他的生活不能没有老夫人，他要她回来，他要亲口告诉她，“我很抱歉；”他要亲口告诉她，“我爱你。”
　　
He picks up the phone, started dialing her number. Ringing never stops. He never stop dialing.
于是，他拿起电话，开始按老夫人的电话号码，铃声响个不停，但另一边却没人接。尽管对方不接通他的电话，他还是一直不停地在按着重拔键。
　　
On the other side, she was sad, she couldn’t understand how come after all these years, he still doesn’t understand her at all, she loves him a lot, but she just can’t take it any- more. Phone’s ringing, she refuses to answer knowing that it’s him. “What’s the point of talking now that it’s over. I have asked for it and now. I want to keep it this way, if not I will lose face. “She thought. Phone still ringing. She has decided to pull out the cord.
另一方面，老夫人也很伤心，她搞不清楚为什么经过多年来的相处她丈夫仍然一点都不了解她。事实上，她也非常爱她的丈夫，但她再也不愿意跟他一起生活了。电话铃声在响，老夫人知道是她丈夫打来的，但她心意已决不再接他的电话。“现在谈论还有什么意思呢？我和你的感情已经结束了。当初，第一次提出离婚的人是我，那我现在也得保持这种现状。要不然，你会说我反悔，那我岂不是很丢脸。对，对，就这样下去。”老夫人心想道。电话铃声仍然在响，她于是索性把电话线拉开了。
　　
Little did she remember, he had heart problems.
悲剧就这样发生了，她一点也不曾记起，她的丈夫有心脏病。
　　
The next day, she received news that he had passed away. She rushed down to his apartment, saw his body, lying on the couch still holding on to the phone. He had a heart attack when he was still trying to get thru her phone line.
第二天早上，老夫人得知她丈夫昨晚已逝世的消息。她径直向他的公寓里跑去，发现死后的丈夫躺在沙发上，手里仍然拿着电话。那天晚上，当她的丈夫试图接通她的电话时，心脏病突然发作，他就这样离开了她。
　　
As sad as she could be. She will have to clear his belongings. When she was looking thru the drawers, she saw this insurance policy, dated from the day they got married, beneficiary is her. Together in that file there’s this note.
　　尽管她很悲伤，老夫人仍不得不亲自动手清理他的遗物。当老夫人认真细致地翻着一个抽屉时，她发现了一张保险单。保险日期从他们结婚之日起算起，毫无疑问，保险受益人是她。在这个文件夹里，还有一份就是她丈夫亲手写的遗嘱，里面说道：
　　
“To my dearest wife, by the time you are reading this, I’m sure I’m no longer around, I bought this policy for you, though the amount is only $100k, I hope it will be able to help me continue my promise that I have made when we got married, I might not be around anymore, I want this amount of money to continue taking care of you, just like the way I will if I could have live longer. I want you to know I will always be around, by your side. I love you.”
　　“献给我最亲爱的妻子：当你读着这封遗嘱的时候，我确信我已不在人间。我为你买了这份保险。虽然金额总数才区区100英磅，但我希望它能帮助我继续履行我们结婚时我所起的照顾你一生一世的诺言。我不能再陪你一起度过你的余生，但我希望保险金额里的钱能够帮助我实现照顾你后半生生活的愿望，就像我可以重生的话那样照顾你。我同时也想让你知道，我会一直在你的周围，在你的身边，保护你关心你，我爱你！”
　　
    Tears flowed like river.  
　　老夫人读着读着，泪水如小河流水般奔涌而出。
　　
   When you love someone, let them know. You never know what will happen the next minute. Learn to build a life together. Learn to love each other for who they are. Not what they are
　　当你爱着一个人的时候，务必要让他们知道，因为你永远不知道下一分钟将会发生什么事。学会一起生活，学会互爱，不是他们是你的什么，而是他们是你的谁.

英语美文：The life I desired 我所追求的生活

That must be the story of innumerable couples,and the pattern of lifeof life it offers has a homely grace.It reminds you of a placid rivulet,meandering smoohtly through green pastures and shaded by pleasant trees,till at last it falls into thevasty sea;but the sea is so calm,so silent,so infifferent,that you are troubled suddently by a vague uneasiness.Perhaps it is only by a kink in my nature,strong in me even in those days,that i felt in such an existence,the share of the great majority,something amiss.I recognized its social value.I saw its ordered happiness,but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course.There seemed to me something alarming in such easy delights.In my heart was desire to live more dangerously.I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous,shoals it I could only have change-change and the exicitement of unforeseen.

这一定是世间无数对夫妻的生活写照，这种生活模式给人一种天伦之美。它使人想起一条平静的溪流，蜿蜒畅游过绿茵的草场，浓荫遮蔽，最后注入烟波浩渺的汪洋大海；但是大海太过平静，太过沉默，太过不动声色，你会突然感到莫名的不安。也许这只是我自己的一种怪诞想法，在那样的时代，这想法对我影响很深：我觉得这像大多数人一样的生活，似乎欠缺了一点儿什么。我承认这种生活有社会价值，我也看到了它那井然有序的幸福，但我血液里的冲动却渴望一种更桀骜不驯的旅程．这样的安逸中好像有一种叫我惊惧不安的东西．我的心渴望一种更加惊险的生活。只要生活中还能有变迁———以及不可知的刺激，我愿意踏上怪石嶙峋的山崖，奔赴暗礁满布的海滩。

美丽英文:Hanover Square 汉诺威广场--- 追忆似水年华


Can it really be sixty-two years ago that I first saw you?
It is truly a lifetime, I know. But as I gaze into your eyes now, it seems like only yesterday that I first saw you, in that small café in Hanover Square.
From the moment I saw you smile, as you opened the door for that young mother and her newborn baby. I knew. I knew that I wanted to share the rest of my life with you.
I still think of how foolish I must have looked, as I gazed at you, that first time. I remember watching you intently, as you took off your hat and loosely shook your short dark hair with your fingers. I felt myself becoming 1)immersed in your every detail, as you placed your hat on the table and cupped your hands around the hot cup of tea, gently blowing the steam away with your 2)pouted lips.
From that moment, everything seemed to make perfect sense to me. The people in the café and the busy street outside all disappeared into a 3)hazy 4)blur. All I could see was you.
All through my life I have relived that very first day. Many, many times I have sat and thought about that the first day, and how for a few 5)fleeting moments I am there, feeling again what is like to know true love for the very first time. It pleases me that I can still have those feelings now after all those years, and I know I will always have them to comfort me.
Not even as I shook and trembled uncontrollably in the 6)trenches, did I forget your face. I would sit huddled into the wet mud, terrified, as the hails of bullets and mortars crashed down around me. I would 7)clutch my rifle tightly to my heart, and think again of that very first day we met. I would cry out in fear, as the noise of war beat down around me. But, as I thought of you and saw you smiling back at me, everything around me would be become silent, and I would be with you again for a few precious moments, far from the death and destruction. It would not be until I opened my eyes once again, that I would see and hear the 8)carnage of the war around me.
I cannot tell you how strong my love for you was back then, when I returned to you on leave in the September, feeling 9)battered, bruised and fragile. We held each other so tight I thought we would burst. I asked you to marry me the very same day and I 10)whooped with joy when you looked deep into my eyes and said "yes" to being my bride.
I`m looking at our wedding photo now, the one on our dressing table, next to your jewellery box. I think of how young and innocent we were back then. I remember being on the church steps grinning like a 11)Cheshire cat, when you said how dashing and handsome I looked in my uniform. The photo is old and faded now, but when I look at it, I only see the bright vibrant colors of our youth. I can still remember every detail of the pretty wedding dress your mother made for you, with its fine delicate lace and pretty pearls. If I concentrate hard enough, I can smell the sweetness of your wedding bouquet as you held it so proudly for everyone to see.
I remember being so over enjoyed, when a year later, you gently held my hand to your waist and whispered in my ear that we were going to be a family.
I know both our children love you dearly; they are outside the door now, waiting.
Do you remember how I panicked like a mad man when Jonathon was born? I can still picture you laughing and smiling at me now, as I 12)clumsily held him for the very first time in my arms. I watched as your laughter faded into tears, as I stared at him and cried my own tears of joy.
Sarah and Tom arrived this morning with little Tessie. Can you remember how we both hugged each other tightly when we saw our tiny granddaughter for the first time? I can`t believe she will be eight next month. I am trying not to cry, my love, as I tell you how beautiful she looks today in her pretty dress and red shiny shoes, she reminds me so much of you that first day we met. She has her hair cut short now, just like yours was all those years ago. When I met her at the door her smile wrapped around me like a warm glove, just like yours used to do, my darling.
I know you are tired, my dear, and I must let you go. But I love you so much it hurts to do so.
As we grew old together, I would tease you that you had not changed since we first met. But it is true, my darling. I do not see the wrinkles and grey hair that other people see. When I look at you now, I only see your sweet tender lips and youthful sparkling eyes as we sat and had out first picnic next to that small stream, and chased each other around that big old oak tree. I remember wishing those first few days together would last forever. Do you remember how exciting and wonderful those days were?
I must go now, my darling. Our children are waiting outside. They want to say goodbye to you.
I wipe the tears away from my eyes and bend my frail old legs down to the floor, so that I can kneel beside you. I lean close to you and take hold of your hand and kiss your tender lips for the very last time.
Sleep peacefully my dear.
I am sad that you had to leave me, but please don`t worry. I am content, knowing I will be with you soon. I am too old and too empty now to live much longer without you.
I know it won`t be long before we meet again in that small café in Hanover Square.
Goodbye, my darling wife.

我们初次相遇，难道真的是六十二年前吗？
年华似水，倏忽间我们已相携一世。望着你的眼睛，当年的邂逅历历如在昨昔，就在汉诺威广场的那间小咖啡馆里。
从见到你的那一刻起，那一刻你正为一位年轻的母亲和她的小宝宝开门，那一刻当看到你的盈盈笑靥，我就明白我只愿与你执手携老，共度今生。
我仍然不时想起，那天自己那样地盯着你，一定很傻；就那样情不自禁怔怔地望着你，追随你摘下小帽，用手指松了松短短的黑发，追随你把帽子放在桌前，双手捧起暖暖的茶杯，追随你微撅樱唇，轻轻吹走飘腾的热气，我的目光始终追随着你，感觉自己在你的温柔举止间慢慢融化。
从那一刻起，一切似乎都鲜明了意义。咖啡馆里的来来往往和外面闹市的熙熙攘攘忽然都模糊了起来，我眼里能看到的，只有你。
光阴似箭，那一天却不断在我的记忆里重演，鲜活如初。多少次我再次坐下，不断追忆那天的点滴，不断回味那些飞纵的瞬间，重新体会一见钟情的美丽。岁月的流逝却并没有带走我的爱恋感觉，这些体验会永远伴随我，安抚我的寥寥余生。
即使是当我在战壕中控制不住地颤抖，我也不曾忘记你的容颜。我蜷缩在稀泥中，身边是枪林弹雨，弥漫硝烟，我把步枪紧紧地攥在胸前，一颗惊恐不安的心，还是想起了我们初识的那一天。身旁战火呼啸，恐惧让我想要大声呼叫，直到想起你，仿佛见到你在我身后盈盈浅笑，战场忽然沉寂下来，在这珍贵的瞬间，我觉得自己暂时远离了毁灭和死亡，飞向你的身旁。我拼命想留住这美好，直到睁开眼，周围却依然是血与火的生死战场。
九月休假回到你身边，我疲惫而脆弱，没能再告诉你战火纷飞时我对你的爱有多深。我们只能紧紧拥抱在一起，仿佛要把对方挤碎。也就在那天，面对我的求婚，你深深凝望我的眼睛，答应做我的新娘，而我早已欢喜地大喊大叫。
我现在正看着我们的结婚照片，总是放在妆台上的那张，就在你的首饰盒旁。那时候，我们多么年轻，多么纯真。我记得我们站在教堂的台阶上，开心得像一对甜蜜的鸳鸯，你还说我穿着制服多么英武俊朗。照片已经旧得泛黄了，但我看到的，却只有当年青春的明媚姿彩。我仍然记得你母亲为你做的那件新娘礼服，那些精致的花边和漂亮的珠饰。让我再想一想，我还能闻到那婚礼花束的甜香，你那么骄傲地捧着花，让每一个人分享你的幸福时光。
一年后，你轻轻地把我的手放到你的腹前，对着我的耳朵悄悄透露这个让我欣喜若狂的好消息：我们就快有宝宝啦。
我知道我们的孩子都深深地爱你，他们现在就在门外等候。
你还记得乔纳森出生的时候我那手足无措的慌张样子吗？当我笨拙地把他抱在怀里，我还记得你笑话我的样子，我看着他，我们都情不自禁地迸出了开心的泪花。
今天早晨撒拉和汤姆带着小缇西也赶到了。你还记得吗？第一次看到这个可爱的小孙女，我俩高兴地紧紧拥抱。真让人难以相信，她下个月就八岁了。亲爱的，我不得不忍住眼泪告诉你，小家伙今天穿着漂亮的裙子，闪亮的红色小鞋，让我立刻想起当年相遇时的你，连她的短发也像极了年轻的你。当我在门口看到她的时候，她的笑容暖人心脾，这竟然也和你一模一样。
我明白，亲爱的，你累了，我应该让你离开。可是爱人即逝，孤侣何伤！
这些年我们相濡以沫，白首到老，我总是逗你说你的容颜依然如昔。可这是真的，亲爱的，我真的见不到他人眼里的皱纹和白发。现在我望着你，也还是只能看到你娇嫩温柔的红唇和秋水流盼的眼眸，仿佛我们第一次在那条小溪边野餐，在那棵巨大的老橡树旁追逐嬉戏。那时候我们刚刚在一起，总是盼望那样的日子生生世世，你还记得吗？那些日子是多么激情荡漾，让人不忍回首……
亲爱的，我应该走了。孩子们都等在外面，他们要和你道别。
我擦去了眼角的泪，跪在你的身边，轻轻靠近你，握住你的双手，最后一次吻你。
亲爱的，安心地睡吧。
这分离扯碎了我的心。别担心，我很快就会来陪伴你。生死茫茫，尘世间没有你，这满腔的衷肠凭谁倾诉？这只影的寂寥复有何欢？
很快，我们就能在汉诺威广场的那间小咖啡馆里再相逢。
再会了，我的爱妻。