英文文章經典美文勵志摘抄
勵志的“十不”:得意不忘形,失意不喪志;失敗不灰心,挫折不氣餒;低潮不退潮,休息不停頓;果
斷不草率,臨危不慌亂;自強不欺人,功成不自居。下面小編整理了英文文章經典勵志美文,希望大家喜歡!
英文文章經典勵志美文摘抄
Taxi Drivers Are People, Too
出租司機也是人
By John Hughes
約翰·休斯
I believe honesty is one of the greatest gifts there is. I know they call it a lot of fancy names these days, like integrity and forthrightness. But it doesn’t make any difference what they call it; it’s still what makes a man a good citizen. This is my code, and I try to live by it.
我相信誠實是一件最棒的禮物。我知道如今他們給它取了許多好聽的名字,像正直和直率。但是怎麼稱呼並不重要,關鍵還在於怎樣才算一個好公民。這就是我的準則,我努力按這一準則生活。
I’ve been in the taxicab business for thirty-five years, and I know there is a lot about it that is not so good. Taxicab drivers have to be rough and tumble fellows to be able to take it in New York. You’ve got to be tough to fight the New York traffic eight hours a day, these days.
我入計程車這一行已經三十五個年頭,知道這一行有很多不好的地方。的士司機得凶狠粗暴才能在紐約幹這一行。這年頭你得有副好身板兒才頂得住紐約一天八小時的交通戰。
Because taxi drivers are tough, people get the wrong impression that they are bad. Taxi drivers are just like other people. Most of them will shake down as honest fellows. You read in the papers almost every week where a taxi driver turns in money or jewels or bonds, stuff like that, that people leave in their cabs.
由於態度粗暴,人們誤認為出租司機不是好人,其實,他們和其他人就沒啥區別。他們大多誠實,與人和睦相處。你幾乎每個星期都可以從報紙上知道某的士司機歸還了乘客掉在車裡的錢或珠寶或票據之類的東西。
If they weren’t honest, you wouldn’t be reading those stories in the papers.One time in Brooklyn, I found an emerald ring in my cab. I remembered helping a lady with a lot of bundles that day, so I went back to where I had dropped her off. It took me almost two days to trace her down in order to return her ring to her. I didn’t get as much as “thank you.” Still, I felt good because I had done what was right. I think I felt better than she did.
要不是他們誠實,你沒法在報紙上讀到那些新聞。一次在布魯克林,我發現車裡有一枚祖母綠鑽戒,我記得那天幫一位女士拉了很多捆行李,所以我開回到她下車的地方,幾乎花了兩天時間才找到她,把戒指還給了她。我連個謝字也沒得到,還是感到很高興,因為我做了件好事。我想我比她更高興。
I was born and raised in Ireland and lived there until I was nineteen years old. I came to this country in 1913 where I held several jobs to earn a few dollars before enlisting in World War Number I. After being discharged, I bought my own cab and have owned one ever since. It hasn’t been too easy at times, but my wife takes care of our money and we have a good bit put away for a rainy day.
我生長在愛爾蘭,在那兒呆到十九歲。1913年來到這個國家,為了掙幾個錢幹了不少工作,一戰時當了兵,退伍之後自己買了輛出租,從此有了自己的車。有時日子不太容易,可我老婆精打細算,我們還存了些錢,以防有個什麼難處。
When I first started driving a cab, Park Avenue was mostly a bunch of coal yards. Hoofer’s Brewery was right next to where the Waldorf-Astoria is now. I did pretty well, even in those days.
剛開始開出租的時候,有錢人呆的派克大街幾乎全是一片煤場,胡弗啤酒廠正靠近現在的沃爾多夫·阿斯托里亞。就是在那些年頭我幹得也挺不錯。
In all my years of driving a taxicab, I have never had any trouble with the public, not even with drunks. Even if they get a little headstrong once in a while, I just agree with them and then they behave themselves.
開出租的這些年,我從沒和乘客有過糾紛,連給醉鬼開車也沒出過麻煩。就是他們偶爾有點轉不過彎,我也不和他們爭執,他們接下來就規規矩矩了。
People ask me about tips. As far as I know, practically everyone will give you something. Come to think of it, most Americans are pretty generous. I always try to be nice to everyone, whether they tip or not.I believe in God and try to be a good member of my parish. I try to act toward others like I think God wants me to act. I have been trying this for a long time, and the longer I try, the easier it gets.
有人問我小費的事。據我所知,實際上每個人都會給一點。想想吧,大多數美國人是很大方的。不管給不給小費,我都盡力好好為每位乘客服務。我信仰上帝,努力成為教區的好教民。我想上帝希望我怎麼對待別人,我就儘量怎麼對待別人。我堅持這樣做很長時間了,時間越久,這樣做就越容易。
作者簡介:
John Hughes was born in Ireland, orphaned at the age of two, came to America when he was 19, and served in World War I. As a New York City cab driver for more than 35 years, Hughes often drove Edward R. Murrow to the airport.
英文文章經典勵志美文鑑賞
Learning to Get Out of the Way
學會擺脫自負
In every one of the higher religions there is a strain of infinite optimism on the one hand,and on the other,of a profound pessimism.In the depths of our being,they all teach,there is an inner high--but an inner Light which our egotism keeps,for most of the time,in a state of more of less eclipse.
在每種高階宗教的信仰中既包含無窮的樂觀精神,又有一種深奧的悲觀論。它們都告誡我們,在我們生命深處有一道內在的光芒——而這道光芒大多時候多多少少被我們自負的陰影所遮蓋。
If,however,it so desires,the ego can get out of the way,so to speak,can dis--eclipse the Light and become identified wiht its divine source.Hence the unlimited optimmism of the traditional religions.There pessinism springs from the observed fact that,though all are called,few are chosen--for the sufficient reason that few choose to be chosen.
然而,如果願意,自負可以離開,或者說可以讓這道光芒重新閃耀,並與創造它的神相融合,於是產生了傳統宗教無盡的樂觀主義,而其悲觀論源於人們觀察到的事實,即儘管人人皆受到召喚,卻只有極少數人受到垂青——全因幾乎無人願受到垂青。
To me,this older conception of man's nature and destiny seems more realistic,more nearly in accord with the given facts,than any form of modern utopianism.
在我看來,這種關於人性及命運的更老的觀念似乎比任何形式的現代烏托邦主義更現實,更符合既成事實。
In the Lord's Prayer we are taught to ask for the blessing which consists in not being led into temptation.The reason is only too obvious.Whe temptations are very great or unduly prolonged,most persons succumb on them.To devise a perfect social order is probably beyond our powers,but I believe that it is perfectly possible for us to reduce the number of dangerous temptations to a level far below that which is tolerated at the present time.
主禱文教導我們要乞求上帝保佑,不被誘惑引入歧途,原因非常清楚,如果誘惑太大或延續太久,大多數人就會屈服。也許我們無力設計一種完美的社會秩序,但我相信我們完全可以將危險的誘惑減少到遠遠低於目前可忍受的程度。
A society so arranged that there shall be a minimum of dangerous temptations--this is the end towards which,as a citizen,I have to strive.In my efforts to that end,I can make use of a great variety of means.Do good ends justify the use of intrinsically bad means?
構建一個能將危險的誘惑最小化的社會是我作為一個公民奮鬥的目標。在為之奮鬥的過程中,我可以採用各種方式,然而目標正確就可以採用實質上不正當的手段開脫嗎?
On the level of theory,the point can be argued indefinitely.In practice,meanwhile,I find that the means employed invariably determine the nature of the end achieved.Indeed,as Mahatma Gandhi was never tired of insisting,the means are the end in its preliminary stages.
在理論層面上,這一點可以廣泛討論;在實踐中,我同時發現,採用的手段決定目標的性質,無一例外。確實正如馬哈特瑪·甘地不厭其煩地堅持的那樣,手段是目標的初始階段。
Men have put forth enoumous efforts to make their world a better place to live in;but except in regard to gadgets,plumbing and hygiene,their sussess has been pathetically small."hell,"as the proverb has it,"is paved with good intentions."And so long as we go on trying to realize our ideals by bad or merely inappropriate means,our good intentions will come to the same bad ends.In this consists the tragedy and the irony of history.
人們千方百計將這個世界建成更美好的家園,但除了小器械,管道安裝和衛生之外,他們的成就少得可憐。“地獄”正如一句諺語所說“是由善意鋪就的”。只要我們繼續試圖以卑劣或僅僅不當的手段實現理想,我們的善意將同樣釀出惡果,構成歷史的悲劇和諷刺。
Can I,as an individual,do anything to make future history a little less tragic and less ironic than history past and present?
作為個人,我能盡全力使未來不像過去和現在那麼富有悲劇和諷刺意味嗎?
I believe I can.As a citizen,I can use all my intelligence and all my good will to develop political means that shall be of the same kind and quality as the ideal ends which I am trying to achieve.And as a person,as a psychophysical roganism,I can learn how to get out of the way,so that the divine source of my life and consciousness can come out of eclipse and shine through me.
我相信,我能。作為公民,我能以我全部的智慧和全部的善意,運用與我為之奮鬥的理想同種同質的政治手段。作為一個人,一種具備身心的有機體,我能學會如何擺脫自負,這樣賦予我生命和意識的神的光芒就能驅散陰影,照亮我全身。
作者簡介:
奧爾德斯·赫胥黎:是偉大的科學家托馬斯·赫胥黎的孫子,生於英格蘭的薩里郡,現住在洛杉磯,是一名多產作家。
英文文章經典勵志美文賞析
The Soundest Investment of All
最成功的投資
by C. Jared Ingersoll
C.賈裡德.英格索爾
I feel very presumptuous and uncomfortable about trying to explain out loud the things I believe in. But I do think that all human problems are in some way related to each other, so perhaps if people compare their experiences they may discover something in common in hunting the answers.
我想,若是大聲解釋我的信仰,不僅會給人一種自大的感覺,也會使我感到不安。但是我認為,從某種程度上來說,人類所有的問題都是息息相關的。因此,倘若人們比較一下他們的經歷,也許就能在尋找答案的過程中發現某些共同之處。
I am a very fortunate man for I lead a full and what is for me a happy life. I say this even though I happen to have had, in the course of it, a couple of severe personal blows.
我是一個幸運的人,因為我的生活充實而幸福。不管怎樣,我依然會這麼說,即使曾經的多次不幸給我帶來了沉重的打擊。
My first wife collapsed and died one day while she and I were ice skating, after eighteen years of a most happy existence together. My only son, a sergeant in the army combat engineers, was killed in Italy in the last war. Nevertheless, these tragedies did not throw me completely and I have been able to fill my life anew with happiness.
我與第一個妻子共同度過了18年幸福的婚姻生活,然而在我們去滑冰的那天,她突然倒下,撒手人寰。我唯一的兒子是一名工兵軍士,二戰期間,在義大利陣亡。然而,我並沒有被這些不幸徹底打倒,而是再次讓我的生活充滿幸福。
I do not mean to sound calloused. Those blows hurt me deeply. I guess that two basically important things helped me most to recover.
我並不是想讓大家覺得我冷酷無情。這些不幸確實對我造成了很大的傷害。
One is the fact that I have come to see life as a gamble. The other is a belief in what some people call the hereafter. I try to live fully so that when and if my luck changes there will be little room for regret or recrimination over time lost or misspent.
我想我之所以能夠重新振作起來,其中有兩個重要的原因:一是我認為生活其實就是一場賭博,二是我對人們所說的來世深信不疑。為了在晦運時,不至於因虛度時光而後悔或自責,我努力讓自己充實地生活。
My belief in the hereafter is wrapped in the intangible but stubborn thoughts of a layman. Very likely I would get lost in trying to describe or defend, by cold logic, my belief in God but nobody could argue me out of it.
作為一個普通訊徒,無形而堅定的思想正是我信仰來世的來源。我信仰上帝,也許我難以用冷冰冰的邏輯來描述這個信仰或為它辯護,但誰也無法說服我放棄它。
I have come to believe that I owe life as much as it owes me, and I suppose that explains this fine satisfaction I get out of endeavoring to do a job to the best of what ability I have, and out of helping somebody else.
我相信,我對生活付出多少,就會得到多少。因此,我認為,我最大的滿足正是來源於儘自己最大的努力去做一份工作或是幫助別人。
As a kid I used to ride a rake in the hayfields. I got a tremendous kick out of trying to sweep every field clean as a whistle. Here I made a surprising and happy discovery: that there could be actual enjoyment in the exercise of thoroughness and responsibility, and that duty didn’t have to be a drudge.
孩提時,我常會在乾草地上開耙草機。在將每片草地耙乾淨的過程中,我總會獲得極大的成就感,並驚奇地發現:盡心而盡責地完成一件事會為你帶來真正的快樂,而盡責也並不一定是做苦工。
I don’t know exactly why, but I like to do things for other people. Not only family responsibilities, work on a hospital board, and various church organizations but also the most inconsequential things that might hardly seem worth the time.
我很喜歡為人服務。我不僅為家庭負責,在一家醫院的理事會及各種教會組織中工作,我還會去做一些看似浪費時間的最無關緊要的瑣事。
My office happens to be on Independence Square and now and then I have occasion to direct a tourist to the Liberty Bell or fill him in on a little of the history of Philadelphia. The tourist doesn’t seem to mind and it makes me feel good. I’m afraid
我的辦公室正好在獨立廣場,因此我偶爾會為去獨立鐘的遊客帶路,一路上給他講一些費城的歷史。雖然遊客並不在乎這些,但我卻樂此不疲。
I’m not very profound. that I have found it a good investment. It has paid me a very high return, undoubtedly more than I deserve.I have tried to comprehend why something so simple and so sound as the Golden Rule is so often forgotten or held in disrepute. I can only say—and I say this quite selfishly—
我自己並非知識淵博之人。我常常想弄明白,像黃金定律那樣簡單而合理的箴言為何總被人們遺忘或不屑一顧。我只能說,也自私地說,我發現為人服務是一項最成功的投資。毫無疑問,它給予我的回報遠遠高於我的應得。