英語(yǔ)勵(lì)志美文欣賞
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英語(yǔ)勵(lì)志美文欣賞：永恒之脈
The thread of permanence
By William Zorach
It is strange how certain things make a great impression on us in childhood. I rememberthese verses by Longfellow:
"Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the graves is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul."
And again:
"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time."
Of course, my generation was much more sentimental than today's youth but whether thiswas great poetry, it communicated in simple language a message, and made a lastingimpression on a small boy.
When I was fifteen I had an imaginary guardian angel and when I went to the country tosketch on Sundays, I asked for guidance, praying that someday I would be a fine artist andpaint nature as beautiful as she really is. What this little ceremony brought me was faith in theworld and a belief in myself.
My faiths and beliefs have been badly strained. The Atomic Age has caught us in a web of fear.Our lives seem so impermanent and uncertain. There is such a waste of human potential, ofthings worth while in people which never find expression. I sometimes think it's a miracle thatanything survives. Yet I believe that a thread of permanence runs through everything from thebeginning of time, and the most valuable residue will survive.
I believe everybody has an urge to somehow spin his own life into a thread of permanence. Itis the impulse of life. Some would call it the drive to immortality. Whatever it is, I think it isgood because it gives purpose to existence. But purpose is not enough. Artists are supposedto be notoriously impractical, but for myself, I found I had to make decisions and plans if Iwere to try to create anything. I realized that I must approach life not only with a sensitivity,a perception of beauty, but with a feeling of humility and reverence.
My creed as an artist is to love life and liberty and the world of people. A man who works andloves his work is often a man dreaming, and the spirit of his dreams will find forms andsymbols to express that dream. It is a wonderful feeling to create something. But today, Ithink there is a lack of power of communication. If people, not just artists, but all kinds ofpeople, could only open their hearts and express their sorrow, their happiness, their fears andhopes, they would discover they had an identity with the main stream of life which they neversaw before.
sometimes fear and cynicism so grip our minds that we lose heart. Then I try to rememberhow the great artists of the ages had the power of expressiveness. Theirs was the power tocommunicate, to exalt, to move the observer to joy or tears, to strike terror and awe in thehearts of men; not just to decorate or merely entertain.
If we can expand the boundaries of men's thoughts and beliefs, we will discover we all havecreative possibilities - talents to make ourselves real identities as individuals, with a hold on thethread of immortality. If we can awaken ourselves to it, I am convinced we shall find that thisis an alive and exciting age of adventure and experimentation from which a new beauty and afiner world will emerge.
永恒之脈
■威廉·佐拉奇
說(shuō)來(lái)也怪，兒時(shí)的某些事情常會(huì)給我們留下極深刻的印象，像我就一直記得浪費(fèi)羅的這幾首詩(shī)：
“人生皆真實(shí)!人生非虛無(wú)!
最終的歸宿絕不是荒墳。
你本是塵土，必歸于塵土，
這是指軀殼，不是指靈魂?！?/p>
詩(shī)中還說(shuō)：
“偉人的生平提醒我們：
我們能讓生活很高尚，
也能在告別人世的時(shí)候，
留下腳印在時(shí)間沙灘上?！?/p>
誠(chéng)然，我們這代人遠(yuǎn)比現(xiàn)在的年輕人詩(shī)情洋溢，但不管這首詩(shī)是不是佳作，它都用樸實(shí)的語(yǔ)言傳達(dá)了一個(gè)道理，在一個(gè)小小少年心中刻下了永久的印記。
我十五歲時(shí)心中有位假想的守護(hù)天使。每當(dāng)我周日去鄉(xiāng)間寫(xiě)生時(shí)，都會(huì)請(qǐng)其為我指引方向，祈求自己有朝一日能成為一名偉大的藝術(shù)家，用畫(huà)筆傳神逼真地描繪出大自然的美景。這一次次的祈禱賦予我對(duì)世界的信念和對(duì)自己的信心。
但我的信念和信心卻面臨著嚴(yán)峻的挑戰(zhàn)。核武時(shí)代使我們陷入恐慌，我們的生命幾近朝不保夕。人類(lèi)的潛力、人性的華彩無(wú)彰顯之機(jī)，這無(wú)異于浪費(fèi)。我有時(shí)候想，萬(wàn)物能存活簡(jiǎn)直是奇跡。即使如此，我仍然相信天地萬(wàn)物間存在一種一脈相傳的永恒，最有價(jià)值的遺產(chǎn)將亙古不滅。
我想每個(gè)人都渴望以某種方式讓自己的生命也匯入這永恒之脈。這就是生命的沖動(dòng)，有人稱(chēng)之為永生的動(dòng)力。不管是什么，我都認(rèn)為它是一種積極的想法，賦予我們生存的目的。但只有目的是不夠的。
人們常認(rèn)為藝術(shù)家一點(diǎn)也不實(shí)際，但就我自己而言，在進(jìn)行任何藝術(shù)創(chuàng)造之前，我一定要作出決定和計(jì)劃。我認(rèn)識(shí)到面對(duì)生活，我不僅要敏感，能感知美好的事物，還有有一顆謙和恭敬的心。
作為一名藝術(shù)家，我熱愛(ài)生活、熱愛(ài)自由、熱愛(ài)世界人民——這就是我的人生信條。一個(gè)熱愛(ài)自己工作的人往往是一個(gè)有夢(mèng)想的人，而他的夢(mèng)想也總會(huì)通過(guò)某種方式和某些符號(hào)傳達(dá)出來(lái)。創(chuàng)作的感覺(jué)是非常美妙的，但現(xiàn)在我覺(jué)得人與人之間缺乏溝通的能力。如果所有人，不只是藝術(shù)家，都能敞開(kāi)胸懷，表達(dá)自己的憂愁與快樂(lè)、恐懼與希望，就一定會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)他們已融入生活的主流，這是他們從前看不到的。
有時(shí)候，恐懼與嘲諷也會(huì)讓人心灰意冷。這是我就會(huì)努力回想那些古往今來(lái)偉大的藝術(shù)家如何擁有表現(xiàn)力。他們的表現(xiàn)力不僅僅是為了裝點(diǎn)生活或是供人消遣，而是一種與人溝通、提升人的品格的力量，是讓觀者產(chǎn)生或悲或喜或懼或敬的共鳴的力量。
如果我們能擴(kuò)大視野、拓寬思路，就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)每個(gè)人身上都有創(chuàng)在的天分。正是這種創(chuàng)造力讓每個(gè)生命的個(gè)體獨(dú)具個(gè)性，在永恒之脈上有一席之地。如果我們能認(rèn)識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)，我相信我會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)自己生活在一個(gè)激情澎湃、充滿奇遇與革新的時(shí)代，它將帶領(lǐng)我們走向一個(gè)更美更好的世界。
英語(yǔ)勵(lì)志美文欣賞：生命的精神支撐
Spiritual Handholds on Life
by Dr. Fred Dow Fagg, JR
The view of the high Sierra Lake, nestled in the snow and rock slightly below the timber line,was beautiful from my vantage point some five hundred feet above its shimmering surface. Iwas anxious to rejoin my companions and try the fishing before are afternoon shadow -edging out from the surrounding array of peaks - entirely covered the lake. Just a shortdistance beyond the intervening shale, the trail zigzagged down to the valley. I disliked thethought of returning by the long, tedious trail I had ascended, and decided to chance the shale- even though part of it lay above a sheer drop-off of several hundred feet.
I started working my way over the loose rock with considerable caution and had covered abouthalf the distance when I became aware of a slight but persistent yielding of the shale undermy feet. Desperately, I looked for something that would offer support and lurched forward tograsp a light outcropping of solid rock just as the surface shale underfoot - loosened from itsfoundation by the warm noonday sun - cascaded downward and disappeared over the cliff.Several seconds passed before I heard it rattle into the lake.
Finally - after due consideration of the folly of short cuts - I managed to move from handholdto handhold and, at last, pulled myself to the trail by the aid of a dwarf juniper root. I haveforgotten how many trout I caught that afternoon, but I have not forgotten the value ofhandhold.
Handholds are needed also during the course of everyday life. They provide security when thethings we depend upon seem to be slipping out from under us. What are the spiritualhandholds I have found to be most value?
First, the teachings of the humble carpenter of Nazareth - for their insistence on thesupreme worth of the individual, for their stressing of the significance of sympatheticunderstanding, and for their unsurpassed evidence of dauntless faith.
Second, the conviction that, while every person should delight in making a courageous andself-reliant effort to live up to his capabilities, there are well-springs of power outside himselfthat can be tapped - if he will avail himself of them.
Third, that the nature of this world and of the people in it is determined more by our individualvision, understanding and conduct than by any material environmental factors, and that - inother words - nothing will produce the good world but the good man.
These are the principal spiritual handholds I have found to possess enduring value. Theyoffer both an exciting challenge and a calm assurance. They are the things I believe.
小弗雷德.道.法格博士
坐落在高山上的謝拉湖，依偎在積雪與巖石的懷抱中，巖層往上是一片森林。從高出湖面約500英尺的觀景點(diǎn)看下去，湖面微波蕩漾，美不勝收。我著急與同伴再次會(huì)合，準(zhǔn)備在午后周?chē)荷降年幱吧形椿\罩全湖之前，一起釣魚(yú)。離錯(cuò)層的頁(yè)巖不遠(yuǎn)，便是一條通往山谷的蜿蜒小路。我不想再走上山時(shí)所走的那條漫長(zhǎng)而乏味的小道，便決定試著走上頁(yè)巖——雖然這其中一段路的下面是幾百英尺的垂直峭壁。
我小心翼翼地走在松動(dòng)的頁(yè)巖上。大約走到一半時(shí)，我發(fā)現(xiàn)腳下的頁(yè)巖正一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)地不斷下滑。我急忙尋找可以抓住的東西。我向前一撲，抓住了一塊露出地表的堅(jiān)硬巖石。就在這時(shí)，腳下被午后陽(yáng)光照射的發(fā)熱的頁(yè)巖表層開(kāi)始松動(dòng)，從山上滑了下去，消失在峭壁上。幾秒鐘后，我聽(tīng)到它落進(jìn)湖中的聲音。
稍微考慮了一下抄近路這愚蠢行為的后果后，我想辦法從一個(gè)支撐點(diǎn)挪到另一個(gè)支撐點(diǎn)，最終借助一棵矮松的根將自己拉到小路上。那天下午釣了多少鮭魚(yú)，我已經(jīng)不記得了，但我絕對(duì)忘不了支撐點(diǎn)的重要性。
在日常生活中，支撐點(diǎn)也是非常重要的。當(dāng)我們的依靠即將從腳下溜走時(shí)，支撐點(diǎn)會(huì)帶給我們安全的保障。我發(fā)現(xiàn)的最有價(jià)值的精神支撐是什么呢?
首先，是拿撒勒卑微的木匠的教誨——他堅(jiān)決主張個(gè)人價(jià)值至上，強(qiáng)調(diào)同情與理解的重要性，并為堅(jiān)定的信仰提供了無(wú)可厚非的證明。
其次，盡管我們每個(gè)人都應(yīng)該樂(lè)于勇敢、獨(dú)立地發(fā)揮自己的能力，但也要相信，只要我們?cè)敢?，我們也能從外界獲得力量之源。
再次，除了物質(zhì)環(huán)境因素外，世界和人類(lèi)的本質(zhì)更多的是取決于我們個(gè)人的視野、理解和行為。也就是說(shuō)，唯有出色的人才能創(chuàng)造出美好的世界。
這些便是我所發(fā)現(xiàn)的精神支撐點(diǎn)，它們具有永恒的價(jià)值。它們給予我們的不僅是刺激的挑戰(zhàn)，還有令人安心的承諾。這就是我信仰的一切。
英語(yǔ)勵(lì)志美文欣賞：你知道自己的特殊才能嗎?
Do you know your special talent?
Anne Heywood
What I am about to say may appear to be plugging my own business, but it’s what I know best—and I believe it deeply and sincerely. I believe that every human being has a talent—something that he can do better than anyone else. And I believe that the distinction between so-called “creative” talents and ordinary run-of-the-mill talents is an unnecessary and a man-made distinction. I have known exterminators and typists, waitresses and machinists whose creative joy and self-fulfillment in their work could not be surpassed by Shakespeare’s or Einstein’s.
When I was in my teens, I read a quotation from Thomas Carlyle: “Blessed is he who has found his work. Let him ask no other blessedness.” At the time I thought that was a pretty grim remark, but I know now that Mr. Carlyle was right. When you find the thing that you can do better than anything else in the world, then all the wonderful byproducts fall in line: financial security, happy personal relationships, peace of mind. I believe that until you find it, your search for the byproducts will be in vain.
I also believe that in the process of searching, no experience is ever wasted, unless we allow ourselves to run out of hope. In my own case, I had 34 different jobs before I found the right one. Many of those jobs were heartbreakingly difficult. A few of them involved working with unscrupulous and horribly unpleasant people. Yet, in looking back, I can see that the most unpleasant of those jobs, in many cases, gave me the biggest dividends—the most valuable preparation for my proper life work.
And I have seen this happen in the destinies of hundreds of people. Periods which they thought were hopeless, dark, and of no possible practical value have turned out to be the most priceless experience they ever had. I know a girl who is a famous package designer for American industry. She was just given a promotion for which she competed with six well-qualified designers. Her past, like all of ours, had its good times and its bad times. One of the worst of the bad times was a period when she lost her husband and was left with two small children to support. She took a clerking job in a grocery store because her apartment was on the floor above it and between customers she could run up and keep an eye on the babies.
It was a two-year period of great despair, during which she was constantly on the verge of suicide. Yet the other day when she told me of her promotion to the top package design job, she exclaimed in astonishment, “And do you know that the single factor which swung it in my favor was that I alone had over-the-counter experience with the customers who buy our packaged foods!”
When people talk about the sweet uses of adversity, I think they unduly stress a grim and kind of hopeless resignation, a conviction that, like unpleasant medicine, it’s somehow “good for us.” But I think it’s much more than that. I know that the unhappy periods of our lives offer us concrete and useful plus-values, chief among them a heightened understanding and compassion for others. We may not see it at the time, we may consider the experience entirely wasted, but, as Emerson says, “The years teach much which the days never know.”
我相信，所謂“創(chuàng)造性”才能與普通才能間的差距不過(guò)是一種人為的不必要的區(qū)別。除非我們?cè)试S自己放棄希望，否則任何經(jīng)歷都會(huì)在找尋的過(guò)程中發(fā)揮作用。
也許我要說(shuō)的這些話看起來(lái)像是為自己的生意做宣傳，然而這卻是我最了解的東西……我對(duì)它的信仰真誠(chéng)而深切。
我相信，每個(gè)人都是天才——相比別人而言，有些事他可能做得更好。我相信，所謂“創(chuàng)造性”才能與普通才能間的差距不過(guò)是一種人為的不必要的區(qū)別。我認(rèn)識(shí)的一些殺蟲(chóng)員、打字員、女侍者和機(jī)械工，他們?cè)诠ぷ髦兴鶆?chuàng)造的快樂(lè)與實(shí)現(xiàn)的自我價(jià)值，也許是莎士比亞或愛(ài)因斯坦也無(wú)法超越的。
我在年少時(shí)曾讀過(guò)托馬斯.卡萊爾的一句話：“一個(gè)人若是找到適合自己的工作，他便是幸福的，請(qǐng)讓他別再祈求其他的幸福了。”當(dāng)時(shí)，我覺(jué)得這句話過(guò)于殘酷沉悶，而如今才知道卡萊爾先生是正確的。當(dāng)你找到世上你能做得最好的事情時(shí)，穩(wěn)定的收入、快樂(lè)的人際關(guān)系以及平靜的心情等所有奇妙的“副產(chǎn)品”都會(huì)接踵而來(lái)。我相信，除非你找到它，否則你對(duì)一切“副產(chǎn)品”的追求也不過(guò)是徒勞而已。
我也相信，除非我們?cè)试S自己放棄希望，否則任何經(jīng)歷都會(huì)在找尋的過(guò)程中發(fā)揮作用。就我而言，在找到合適的工作前，我曾嘗試過(guò)34種不同的工作。其中有很多工作的艱難程度簡(jiǎn)直令人難耐。在有些工作中，還會(huì)與一些不道德且令人討厭的人相處。但是，回過(guò)頭來(lái)才領(lǐng)悟到，在很多情況下，我從那些最令人頭疼的工作中得到了最豐厚的報(bào)酬，它們成為我正確事業(yè)生涯的最有價(jià)值的準(zhǔn)備。
在成百上千人的命運(yùn)中，我也看到了這一點(diǎn)。他們擁有的最寶貴的經(jīng)歷，正是那些曾經(jīng)被認(rèn)為絕望、黑暗、不可能有實(shí)用價(jià)值的時(shí)期。我的一位朋友現(xiàn)在是美國(guó)著名工業(yè)包裝設(shè)計(jì)師。最近，在與6位高水平設(shè)計(jì)師的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)中，她脫穎而出，得到了提升。像我們所有人一樣，她的過(guò)去也有巔峰與低谷。她失去了丈夫，還得撫養(yǎng)兩個(gè)孩子，那是她最艱難痛苦的時(shí)期。她在自家樓下找了一份雜貨店?duì)I業(yè)員的工作，這樣一來(lái)，在沒(méi)有顧客時(shí)她就可以抽空跑上樓看看孩子。那是她最絕望的兩年，期間她幾度想要自殺。但是，在她告訴我她被提升為首席包裝設(shè)計(jì)師的那天，她驚嘆道：“你知道嗎?只有我與購(gòu)買(mǎi)我們包裝食品的顧客有過(guò)直接的接觸，而這正是我獲得這份工作的唯一原因?！?/p>
我認(rèn)為，人們?cè)谡務(wù)撃婢车囊嫣帟r(shí)，過(guò)度強(qiáng)調(diào)了一種冷酷與絕望的順從，一種良藥苦口般的信仰——逆境或多或少都有益于我們。然而，我覺(jué)得它的益處遠(yuǎn)不止此。我知道，生活中的不幸會(huì)帶給我們具體而有用的附加值，其中最主要的就是對(duì)人們更深切的理解與同情。也許，我們當(dāng)時(shí)并未意識(shí)到這一點(diǎn)，也許會(huì)認(rèn)為這些經(jīng)歷毫無(wú)價(jià)值，但是，正如愛(ài)默生所言：“年復(fù)一年所積累的學(xué)問(wèn)，是每日每天所無(wú)法了解的。”
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