英語經典勵志短片文章
英語勵志短片文章中有很多經典文章都是值得一讀的，那麼都有哪些呢?一起來看看吧。
：知識與美德
Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility, nor is largeness and justness of view faith. Philosophy, however enlightened, however profound, gives no command over the passions, no influential motives, no vivifying principles.
Liberal Education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman. It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind, a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of life--these are the connatural qualities of a large knowledge; they are the objects of a University; I am advocating, I shall illustrate and insist upon them; but still, I repeat, they are no guarantee for sanctity or even for conscientiousness, they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate, to the heartless, pleasant, alas, and attractive as he shows when decked out in them. Taken by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not; they look like virtue at a distance, but they are detected by close observers, and on the long run; and hence it is that they are popularly accused of pretense and hypocrisy, not, I repeat, from their own fault, but because their professors and their admirers persist in taking them for what they are not, and are officious in arrogating for them a praise to which they have no claim. Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk, then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man.
[參考譯文]
知識是一回事，美德是另一回事。好意並非良心，優雅並非謙讓，廣博與公正的觀點也並非信仰。哲學，無論多麼富有啟迪和深奧莫測，都無法駕馭情感，不具備有影響力的動機，不具有導致生動活潑的原理。
文科教育並不造就基督教徒抑或天主教徒，而是造就了紳士。造就一個紳士誠為美事。有教養的才智，優雅的情趣，正直、公正而冷靜的頭腦，高貴而彬彬有禮的舉止--這些是與淵博的學識生來固有的品質, 它也是大學教育的目的。對此我提倡之，並將加以闡釋和堅持。然而我要說的是，它們仍然不能確保聖潔，或甚至不能保證誠實。它們可以附庸於世故的俗人，附庸於玩世不恭的浪子。唉，當他們用它偽裝起來時，就更增加了他們外表上的冷靜、快活和魅力。就其本身而言，它們似乎已遠非其本來面目，它們似乎一遠看的美德，經久久細察方可探知。因此它們受到廣泛的責難，指責其虛飾與偽善。我要強調，這絕非是因為其自身有什麼過錯，而是因為教授們和讚美者們一味地把它們弄得面目全非，並且還要殷勤地獻上其本身並不希冀的讚頌。如若用剃刀就可以開採出花崗岩，用絲線即能繫泊位船隻，那麼，也許你才能希望用人的知識和理性這樣美妙而優雅的東西去與人類的情感與高傲那樣的龐然大物進行抗爭。
：重新振作的藝術
The Art of Bouncing Back by Joyce Grenfell
I think the center of my faith is an absolute certainty of good. Like everyone else, I get low and there are times when I feel as if I have my fins backwards and am swimming upstream in heavy boots. But even in these dark times, even though I feel cut off, perhaps, and alone, I am aware - even if distantly - that I am part of a whole and that the whole is true and real and good.
I have never had any difficultly in believing in God. I don't believe in a personal God and I don't quite see how it is possible to believe in a God who knows both good and evil and yet to trust in Him. I believe in God, Good, in One Mind, and I believe we are all subject to and part of this oneness.
It's taken me time to understand words like "tolerance" and "understandind." I have given lip service to "tolerance" and to "understanding" for years but only now do I think I begin to understand a little what they mean. If we are all one of another, and this, though uncomfortably, is probably the case, then sooner or later we have got to come to terms with each other. I believe in the individuality of man, and it is only by individual experience that we can, any of us, make a contribution to understanding.
I've always been a bit confused about self and egotism because I instinctively felt both were barriers to understanding. And so in a sense they are.
I used to worry a lot about personality and that sort of egotism. I noticed that certain artists - musicians, for instance - would allow their personalities to get between the music and the listener. But others, greater and therefore humbler, became clear channels through which the music was heard unimpeded. And it occurred to me, not very originally, that the good we know in man is from God so it is a good thing to try to keep oneself as clear as possible from the wrong sort of self. And it's not very easy, particularly if you are on the stage!
I am one of those naturally happy people even when they get low soon bounce back. In minor things like housekeeping and keeping in sight of letters to be answered I am a Planny-Annie. That is to say I get through the chores in order to enjoy the space beyond. But I do find that, believing in the operation of good as I do, I cannot make plans - important ones, I mean - but I must prepare the ground and then leave the way free as far as possible. This, of course, means being fearless and isn't fatalistic, because you see I believe that when I am faithful enough to be still and to allow things to happen serenely, they do. And this being still isn't a negative state but an awareness of one's true position.
Friends are the most important things in my life - that and the wonder of being necessary to someone. But these things pass and in end one is alone with God. I'm not nearly ready for that yet, but I do see it with my heart's eye.
I don't understand it entirely, but I believe there is only now and our job is to recognize and rejoice in this now. Now... Not, of course, the man-measured now of Monday, Friday, or whenever, but the now of certain truth. That doesn't change. Surely everything has been done - is done. Our little problem is to reveal and enjoy.
[參考譯文]
重新振作的藝術
喬伊絲.格倫費爾
我認為，對人性本善的絕對信仰便是我信仰的核心。同其他人一樣，我也有遇到挫折、情緒低落的時候，那感覺就像是穿著沉重的靴子向上遊，卻被腳蹼拖著後腿一樣。然而，就算是在那些黑暗的日子裡，即使我有一種被孤立或者孤獨的感覺，我依然會隱隱意識到自己是真實、正確且善良的整體的一部分。
我對上帝的信仰從未改變過。但我不相信肉身上帝，也難以明白怎麼有可能去信仰一個善惡共存的神。我信仰上帝、善良、還有一神論，我也相信我們皆屬於這個唯一，是它的一部分。
為了理解“容忍”及“理解”這樣的詞，我花了好些時間。幾年來，我一直口頭信奉著“容忍”與“理解”，但我覺得，直到今天我才開始對他們的含義有了些許的瞭解。如果我們都能夠成為對方，雖然這很難但也許是有可能的，那麼遲早我們都能學會互相謙讓。我相信每個人都有自己的個性，也只有親身經歷，我們才會真正理解別人。
對於自我及自負，我總是有些迷惑，因為我直覺上認為它們都會妨礙理解。而且從某種意義上來說，的確如此。
我過去常為個性以及那種自負擔憂不已。我發現，某些藝術家，比如音樂家，總會讓聽眾從音樂中瞭解他的個性。而其他更偉大、也因此更謙遜的音樂家，則成為了使人們輕鬆瞭解音樂全貌的暢通渠道。我們知道人性的善良來源上帝，因此最明智的做法就是，努力使自己遠離自身不道德因素的玷汙。我並非第一個有此想法的人，這實為難事，尤其是當你身在舞臺上的時候。
我是一個生性樂觀的人，就算情緒低落，也會很快振作起來。我總會按計劃來做一些小事，例如操持家務、檢視需回覆的信件。這就是說我會做完這些事以便享受以後的空間。然而我發現，在對行善的信仰及實踐上，我卻無法做出任何計劃，我的意思是重要的計劃，但我必須為之預留空間，並儘可能保持通道暢通無阻。這自然就是說，要無所畏懼而不是聽天由命。因為你明白，我相信當我滿懷誠意，靜靜等待事情發生時，它們便會發生。這並不是一種消極的狀態，而是對自己真正處境的瞭解。
在我的生命中，朋友最為重要，為人所需時的驚奇也同樣重要。但是這一切都會消逝，最終只會留下你與上帝單獨在一起。對此，我還沒有做好準備，但我已在心中看到了那一幕。
這一點我並沒有徹底明白，但我相信唯有的只是現在，我們必須認識並享受現在。此刻……當然不是指人們規定的所謂的週一、週五或任何時候，而是確確實實的現在。這是不會改變的。所有的一切的確都已完成。發現與享受便是我們需要解決的小問題。
：什麼是你攀升的方向標
What is your direction indicator of ascended
One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing. As the strong winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check.
Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow, facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the string, they seemed to say, “Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!” They soared beautifully even as they fought the restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose. “Free at last,” it seemed to say. “Free to fly with the wind.”
Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze. It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush. “Free at last” free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along the ground, and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.
How much like kites we sometimes are. The Heaven gives us adversity and restrictions, rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the commandment and never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.
Let us each rise to the great heights, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.
[參考譯文]
什麼是你攀升的方向標
在一個有風的春日，我看到一群年輕人正在迎風放風箏玩樂，各種顏色、各種形狀和大小的風箏就好像美麗的鳥兒在空中飛舞。當強風把風箏吹起，牽引線就能夠控制它們。
風箏迎風飄向更高的地方，而不是隨風而去。它們搖擺著、拉扯著，但牽引線以及笨重的尾巴使它們處於控制之中，並且迎風而上。它們掙扎著、抖動著想要掙脫線的束縛，彷彿在說：“放開我!放開我!我想要自由!”即使與牽引線奮爭著，它們依然在美麗地飛翔。終於，一隻風箏成功掙脫了。“終於自由了，”它好像在說，“終於可以隨風自由飛翔了!”
然而，脫離束縛的自由使它完全處於無情微風的擺佈下。它毫無風度地震顫著向地面墜落，落在一堆亂草之中，線纏繞在一顆死灌木上。“終於自由”使它自由到無力地躺在塵土中，無助地任風沿著地面將其吹走，碰到第一個障礙物便毫無生命地滯留在那裡了。
有時我們真像這風箏啊!上蒼賦予我們困境和約束，賦予我們成長和增強實力所要遵從的規則。約束是逆風的必要匹配物。我們中有些人是如此強硬地抵制規則，以至我們從來無法飛到本來能夠達到的高度。我們只遵從部分戒律，因此永遠不會飛得足夠高，使尾巴遠離地面。
讓我們每個人都飛到高處吧，並且認識到這一點：有些可能會令我們生氣的約束，實際上是幫助我們攀升和實現願望的平衡力。