英語經典勵志短文章

　　相信很多年輕朋友都會對那些感興趣，那麼都有哪些呢?一起來看看吧。

　　：失敗是件好事Failure Is a Good Thing

　　Last week, my granddaughter started kindergarten, and, as is conventional, I wished her success. I was lying. What I actually wish for her is failure. I believe in the power of failure.

　　Success is boring. Success is proving that you can do something that you already know you can do, or doing something correctly the first time, which can often be a problematical victory. First-time success is usually a fluke. First-time failure, by contrast, is expected; it is the natural order of things.

　　Failure is how we learn. I have been told of an African phrase describing a good cook as "she who has broken many pots." If you've spent enough time in the kitchen to have broken a lot of pots, probably you know a fair amount about cooking. I once had a late dinner with a group of chefs, and they spent time comparing knife wounds and burn scars. They knew how much credibility their failures gave them.

　　I earn my living by writing a daily newspaper column. Each week I am aware that one column is going to be the worst column of the week. I don't set out to write it; I try my best every day. Still, every week, one column is inferior to the others, sometimes spectacularly so.

　　I have learned to cherish that column. A successful column usually means that I am treading on familiar ground, going with the tricks that work, preaching to the choir or dressing up popular sentiments in fancy words. Often in my inferior columns, I am trying to pull off something I've never done before, something I'm not even sure can be done.

　　My younger daughter is a trapeze artist. She spent three years putting together an act. She did it successfully for years with the Cirque du Soleil. There was no reason for her to change the act—but she did anyway. She said she was no longer learning anything new and she was bored; and if she was bored, there was no point in subjecting her body to all that stress. So she changed the act. She risked failure and profound public embarrassment in order to feed her soul. And if she can do that 15 feet in the air, we all should be able to do it.

　　My granddaughter is a perfectionist, probably too much of one. She will feel her failures, and I will want to comfort her. But I will also, I hope, remind her of what she learned, and how she can do whatever it is better next time. I probably won't tell her that failure is a good thing, because that's not a lesson you can learn when you're five. I hope I can tell her, though, that it's not the end of the world. Indeed, with luck, it is the beginning.

　　[參考譯文]

　　上週，孫女開辦了一個幼兒園。按常理，我預祝她成功。實際上我撒了慌，我真正對她的希望是失敗，因為我相信失敗的力量。

　　成功是令人厭煩的。成功只是證明你能夠做你已經知道自己會做的事情，或是第一次就能正確地做某件事情，而這通常是一次有問題的成功。第一次的成功通常都是僥倖的成功，相反的，第一次的失敗恰恰是值得期待的。這是事物的自然法則。

　　失敗是學習的過程。我聽說過一個在非洲用來形容大廚的詞語， “那個炒壞了很多鍋的”。如果你花了足夠時間在廚房，炒壞了無數鍋，那你也就掌握了大量烹飪方面的知識。有次我和廚師們共進晚餐，他們一直在比較刀傷和燙傷疤痕的多少，因為他們知道曾經的失敗帶來了無上的信譽。

　　我以為日報專欄寫作謀生。每週我都會意識到會有其中一個成為本週最差專欄。我並不刻意去這樣寫，而是每天都盡我最大的努力，但每週都還是會有一個專欄比其他的差，有時候差距還挺大。

　　我現在學會了去珍惜那個較差的專欄。一個成功的專欄通常也就意味著我循規蹈矩，採用一些有效的寫作技巧，向唱詩班佈道或者用絢麗的語言修飾表達大眾的觀點。而在那些較差的專欄，我時常會去嘗試一些之前沒做過的事情，一些甚至都不確定能否完成的事情。

　　我小女兒是一名吊槓演員。她用三年的時間編排了一段表演，跟Cirque du Soleil太陽馬戲團一起多年來都非常成功。應該說沒有理由換掉這段表演—但是她最終還是換了。她說，她沒有再學到新東西，膩煩了。既然她已經膩煩了，繼續讓她的軀體承受那些壓力也就不再有任何意義。因此她更換了那段表演。為了滿足自己的靈魂，她甘願承受失敗的風險，甘願承受不被觀眾接受的尷尬處境。但如果她在15英尺的高空中能完成嘗試的話，那我們每個人也都會有能力去嘗試新事物。

　　孫女是個完美主義者，可能還會有些極端。她會遇到挫折失敗，我會想著去安慰她，但也會提醒，並且希望她從中所學到的東西和她下次可以如何更好去完成一件事情。我可能不會直接跟她說失敗是件好事，因為它不是一個年輕人容易吸取的教訓。然而，我希望我可以告訴她，這不是世界末日，實際上非常幸運，這才是開端。

　　：徘徊的歲月The Year of Wandering

　　Between the preparation and the work,the apprenticeship and the actual dealing with a task or an art,there comes, in the experience of many young men,a period of uncertainty and wandering which is often misunderstood and counted as time wasted,when it is, in fact, a period rich in full and free development.

　　It is as natural for ardent and courageous youth to wish to know what is in life, what it means, and what it holds for its children,as for a child to reach for and search the things that surround and attract it.Behind every real worker in the world is a real man, and a man has a right to know the conditions under which he must live,and the choices of knowledge, power, and activity which are offered him.In the education of many men and women, therefore, there comes the year of wandering;the experience of traveling from knowledge to knowledge and from occupation to occupation.

　　The forces which go to the making of a powerful man can rarely be adjusted and blended without some disturbance of relations and conditions.This disturbance is sometimes injurious, because it affects the moral foundations upon which character rests;and for this reason the significance of the experience in its relation to development ought to be sympathetically studied.The birth of the imagination and of the passions, the perception of the richness of life,and the consciousness of the possession of the power to master and use that wealth, create a critical moment in the history of youth,—a moment richer in possibilities of all kinds than comes at any later period.

　　Agitation and ferment of soul are inevitable in that wonderful moment.There are times when agitation is as normal as is self-control at other and less critical times.The year of wandering is not a manifestation of aimlessness, but of aspiration,and that in its ferment and uncertainty youth is often guided to and finally prepared for its task.

　　[參考譯文]

　　從準備到投身工作，從學徒到某一項技能或藝術的真正的實踐過程之間，很多你年輕人都要經歷一段充滿疑惑徘徊的時期。這段時期經常遭到誤解，被認為是浪費時間，事實上這段時間正是年輕人得到充分自由發展的時期。

　　要一樣。這個世界上，每個工作者的背後都是個實實在在的個人，每個人都有權瞭解他得在什麼樣的條件下生存，他能接觸到什麼樣的知識，他的權利範圍有多大以及他能從事什麼活動。因此，很多人都要面臨這段猶豫徘徊的時期，從這個知識領域轉到那個知識領域，從一個崗位跳到另一個崗位。

　　將一個人塑造成強者各種力量，沒有經過與他人和環境之間的摩擦，是很難整合在一起的。這種摩擦會影響人的道德信念，即個性形成的基礎，所以有時候他可能造成某種傷害。鑑於此，這段經歷對後期發展所造成的影響重要性應該得到高度的重視。想象力和激情的萌芽，對富足生活的感悟，以及對擁有掌握和利用這筆財富的能力的覺醒，都使這段時期成為整個青年時期最重要的一刻。這一時期擁有的種種機遇是此後任何時候都無法提供的。在這一青春爛漫的季節，精神上的焦慮騷動不可避免。生命中某些不太關鍵的時候，自我控制是正常表現，但有時焦慮也是正常的。

　　徘徊時期不是胸無大志的表現，而恰恰是雄心壯志的表現。年輕人正是在這一時期的騷動不安中明確人生的方向併為人生使命的實現做好了最後的準備。

　　：孩子的守護天使The child's guardian

　　Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. So one day he asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”

　　God replied, “Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”

　　But the child wasn't sure he really wanted to go. “But tell me, here in Heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and smile, that's enough for me to be happy.”

　　“Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. And you will feel your angel's love and be happy.”

　　“And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me,” the child continued, “if I don't know the language that men talk?”

　　God patted him on the head and said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.”

　　“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?”

　　But God had an answer for that question too. “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.”

　　“I've heard that on earth there are bad men, who will protect me?”

　　“Your angel will defend you even if it means risking her life!”

　　“But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore,” the child continued warily.

　　God smiled on the young one. “Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you.”

　　At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard. The child knew he had to start on his journey very soon. He asked God one more question, softly, “Oh God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.”

　　God touched the child on the shoulder and answered, “Your angel's name is not hard to remember. You will simply call her Mommy.”

　　[參考譯文]

　　從前有一個孩子準備出生。所以有一天他問上帝， "他們告訴我，你送我到地球的明天，但我應該如何去生活，有那麼小和無助" ?

　　上帝回答說： "在眾多的天使，我選擇了一個給你。她會等著你，並會照顧你" 。

　　但孩子不知道他是否真的想去。 " ，但告訴我，這裡的天堂，我什麼都不做，否則，但唱歌和微笑，那足夠我快樂" 。

　　"你的天使會唱歌，你也將微笑為你的每一天。你會覺得你的天使的愛與快樂" 。

　　"我應該如何去完成可以理解的時候，人們都說，我說： "孩子繼續說： "如果我不知道的語言，男人談" ?

　　上帝拍拍他的頭說： "你的天使會告訴你最美麗的，並說漂亮話，你將永遠聽到的，並給予很多的耐心和關懷，你的天使將教導您如何發言" 。

　　"有什麼我會做的時候，我想你談談" ?

　　但是上帝在回答這個問題太大。 "你的天使將雙手放在一起，並會教你如何祈禱" 。

　　"我聽說地球上有壞男人，他們會保護我" ?

　　"你的天使將會保衛你，即使這意味著冒她的生命" !