英語勵志小故事
For man is man and master of his fate.人就是人，是自己命運的主人。以下是小編為大家精心準備的：，歡迎參考閱讀!
一
When Henry ford decided to produce his famous v-8 motor, he chose to build an engine with the entire eight cylinders cast in one block, and instructed his engineers to produce a design in one for the engine. The design was placed on paper, but the engineers agreed, to a man, that it was simply impossible to cast an eight-cylinder engine-block in one piece.
Ford said, “Produce it anyway.”
“But,” they replied, “It’s impossible!”
“Go ahead.” Ford commanded, “And stay on the job until you succeed, no matter how much time is required.”
The engineers went ahead. There was nothing else for them to do, if they were to remain on the ford staff. Six months passed and nothing happened. Another six months passed, and still nothing happened. The engineers tried every conceivable plan to carry out the orders, but the thing seemed out of the question:“impossible!”
At the end of the year ford checked with his engineers, and again they informed him they had found no way to carry out his orders.
“go right head,” said ford, “I want it, and I’ll have it.”
They went ahead, and then, as if by a stroke of magic, the secret was discovered.
The ford determination had won once more!
This story may not be described with minute accuracy, but the sum and substance of it is correct. Deduce from it, you who wish to think and grow rich, the secret of the ford millions, if you can. You’ll not have to look very far.
Henry ford was successful, because he understood and applied the principles of success. One of these is desire: knowing out the lines in which the secret of his stupendous achievement have been described. If you can do this, if you can lay your finger on the particular group of principles which made Henry ford rich, you can equal his achievements in almost any calling for which you are suited.
亨利福特在要製造有名的v8汽缸引擎汽車時，曾指示他手下的工程師著手設計一種引擎，要把八個汽缸全放在一起。設計的紙上作業完成了，但是工程師們都異口同聲地跟福特說，“要把八個汽缸全放在一起，壓根是不可能。”
福特說：“無論如何都要做出來。”
他們又回答：“但是，那不可能啊!”
“動手做。”福特一聲令下， “不論花多少時間，做到交差為止!”
工程師只得著手去做。如果他們還想呆在福特的公司裡討生活，就別無他途可行，值得去做。過了半年，沒有動靜。又過了半年，一樣沒有半點進展。工程師們試過了所有想得出來的計劃去執行命令，結果仍然是：“不可能!”
過了一年，福特的工程師們都沒有進展，他們再次告訴他，他們想不出有什麼辦法可以做到的指示。
“繼續做，”福特說。“我要八汽缸引擎，就一定要做到!”
他們繼續努力，然後彷彿如有神助似的，做法出籠了。
福特的決心又打贏了一仗。
這個故事也許說的不夠詳盡，但是故事的內容卻都是“如假包換”的。要想致富的你，從這個故事可以推算出福特百萬家財的祕密何在。務須捨近求遠，就在眼前。
亨利福特瞭解成功的原則，也運用了這些原則，所以他成功了。這些原則中，有一項就是渴望：知道自己要做的是什麼。閱讀這篇文章時，請牢記這則福特的故事，時時在字裡行間尋找他了不起的原因。只要你能做到，能正確無誤地指認出福特所運用的原則，就幾乎可以在適合自己的任何行業裡，和他一樣地出類拔萃。
二
An old man in a high-speed trains， accidentally bought the new shoes out from a window， surrounded by people who feel sorry But the elderly immediately second shoe from the window go away. This move is even more surprised. Explained that the elderly： "This shoe， no matter how expensive， for me has been useless， if there is who can pick up a pair of shoes， maybe he can wear it!"
一個老人在高速行駛的火車上，不小心把剛買的新鞋從視窗掉了一隻，周圍的人倍感惋惜，不料老人立即把第二隻鞋也從視窗扔了下去。這舉動更讓人大吃一驚。老人解釋說：“這一隻鞋無論多麼昂貴，對我而言已經沒有用了，如果有誰能撿到一雙鞋子，說不定他還能穿呢!”
Tip ： Successful at giving up， good to see from the loss of value.
祕訣：成功者善於放棄，善於從損失中看到價值。
三
A boy found an eagle's egg and he put it in the nest of a prairie chicken. The eagle hatched and thought he was a chicken. He grew up doing what prairie chicken do-scratching at the dirt for food and flying short distances with a noisy fluttering of wings. It was a dreary life. Gradually the eagle grew older and bitter. One day he and his prairie chicken friend saw a beautiful bird soaring on the currents of air, high above the mountains.
"Oh, I wish I could fly like that!" said the eagle. The chicken replied, "Don't give it another thought. That's the mighty eagle, the king of all birds-you could never be like him!" And the eagle didn't give it another thought. He went on cackling and complaining about life. He died thinking he was a prairie chicken. My friends, you too were born an eagle. The Creator intended you to be an eagle, so don’t listen to the prairie chickens!
一個小男孩發現了一隻老鷹下的蛋，把它放進了一隻山雞的窩裡。鷹被孵出來了，但他以為自己是一隻山雞。漸漸的他長大了，卻做著山雞所做的事---從泥土裡尋找食物，做短距離的飛翔，翅膀還啪啪作響。生活非常沉悶，漸漸地鷹長大了，也越來越苦惱。有一天，他和他的山雞朋友看見一隻美麗的鳥在天空翱翔，飛的比山還高。
“哦，我要能飛的那麼高該多好啊!”鷹說。山雞回答說，“不要想了，那是凶猛無比的鷹，鳥中之王---你不可能像他一樣!”於是鷹放棄了那個念頭。他繼續咯咯地叫，不停的抱怨生活。最後他死了，依然認為自己是一隻山雞。朋友們，你們天生就是雄鷹。造物主有意把你造就成一隻雄鷹，所以不要聽信山雞的話!
四
Our tolerating ability is indeed way beyond our imagination. But not until the very critical moment will we realize our potential tolerating ability.
人的承受能力，其實遠遠超過我們的想象，就像不到關鍵時刻，我們很少能認識到自己的潛力有多大。
There was a woman in the countryside who got married at the age of 18 and had to escape with her two daughters and a son wherever she could at the age of 26 due to the Japanese army’s invasion. Many people in the village at that time could not bear the suffering of being a fugitive and wanted to commit suicide. After she knew about it, she would come to those people and soothed them by saying, “Don’t do that silly thing. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome. The Japanese armies are bound to be foiled one day!”
有這樣一位農村婦女，她18歲的時候結婚，26歲趕上日本人侵略中國，在農村進行大掃蕩，她不得不經常帶著兩個女兒一個兒子東躲西藏。村裡很多人受不了這種暗無天日的折磨，想到了自盡，她得知後就會去勸：“別這樣啊，沒有過不去的坎，日本鬼子不會總這麼猖狂的。”
Finally she insisted until the day when all the Japanese armies were kicked out of China. Nonetheless, her son died of disease without sufficient medicine and nutrition in those days of hardships. Her husband, after knowing the death of his son, lay in bed for two days without eating and drinking anything. She teared to her husband and said, “We have a tough destiny, but however tough our lives will be, we should also persist. Though our son has passed away, we can have another. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome.”
她終於熬到了把鬼子趕出中國的那一天，可是她的兒子卻在那炮火連天的歲月裡，由於缺醫少藥，又極度缺乏營養，因病夭折了。丈夫不吃不喝在床上躺了兩天兩夜，她流著淚對丈夫說：“咱們的命苦啊，不過再苦咱也得過啊，兒子沒了，咱再生一個，人生沒有過不去的坎。”
After giving birth to the second son, her husband died of edema, which almost blew her away. But eventually, she recovered and cuddled the three young children, saying, “My sweet hearts, don’t feel scared. You still have me, your dear mum!”
剛剛生了兒子，丈夫因患水腫病離開了人世。在這個打擊下，她很長時間都沒回過神來，但最後還是挺過來了，她把三個未成年的孩子攬到自己懷裡，說：“娘還在呢，有娘在，你們就別怕。”
It took her painstaking efforts to raise her children up and the life of her family was getting better and better. Two daughters were married and so was his son finally. She said to everyone she met, “Look! What I said is absolutely right. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome! My life is so happy now!” She was aging gradually and could not do the farm work any more. So she stayed at home and did some stitching work.
她含辛茹苦地把孩子一個個拉扯大了，生活也慢慢好轉起來。兩個女兒嫁了人，兒子也結了婚。她逢人便樂呵呵地說：“我說吧，沒有過不去的坎，現在生活多好啊。”她年紀大了，不能下地幹活，就在家納鞋底，做衣服，縫縫補補。
Nevertheless, the Heaven seemed to show no affection to her who had undergone a rough life. She got her leg broken accidentally when she was nursing her grandson. Due to her old age that posed a great risk to her operation, she did not receive operation and had to lie in bed all day long. Her children all cried heavily, while she merely said, “Why do you cry? I am still living.”
可是，上蒼似乎並不眷顧這位一生坎坷的婦女，她在照看孫子時不小心摔斷了腿，由於年紀太大做手術危險，就一直沒有做手術，她每天只能躺在床上。兒女們都哭了，她卻說：“哭什麼，我還活著呢。”
Even though she could not rise from bed, she did not complain about anything and anybody. Instead, she sat on the bed and did some stitching work. She had learnt scarves-weaving, broidery, crafts-making, etc. All her neighbors spoke highly of her skills and came to learn from her.
即便下不了床，她也沒有怨天尤人，而是坐在床上做針線活。她會織圍巾，會繡花，會編手工藝品，左鄰右舍的人都誇她手藝好，還來跟她學藝。
She lived until 86. Before she went to Heaven, she said to her children, “You all should live to your best. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome!”
她活到86歲，臨終前，她對自己兒女們說：“都要好好過啊，沒有過不去的坎。”
We will only get to realize our own iron will and strong tolerating ability after getting stricken heavily. Therefore, no matter what you are suffering from now, do not merely complain about the unfairness of our destiny and maintain low-spirited all the time. There are no such setbacks that we could not overcome. Only those who have no confidence and courage to overcome setbacks will be defeated at last!
人總是在遭遇一次重創之後，才會幡然醒悟，重新認識自己的堅強和堅忍。所以，無論你正在遭遇什麼磨難，都不要一味抱怨上蒼不公平，甚至從此一蹶不振。人生沒有過不去的坎，只有過不去的人。