人生箴言

Ambition

作者: Joseph Epstein (美国作家)

We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents.

We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing.

We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of

our death.

But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live,

courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purposeor in drift.

We decide what is important and what is trivial in life.

We decide that what makes us significantis either what we do or what we refuse to do.

But no matter how indifferent the universe is to our choices and decisions, these

choices and decisions are ours to make.

We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed.

In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is about.

译文

抱负

作者: Joseph Epstein (美国作家)

我们无法选择出生，无法选择父母。

我们无法选择出生的历史时期与国家，或是成长的周遭环境。

我们大多数人都无法选择死亡，无法选择死亡的时间或条件。

但是在这些无法选择之中，我们的确可以选择自己的生活方式：是勇敢无畏还是胆小怯懦，是光明磊落还是厚颜无耻，是目标坚定还是随波逐流。

我们决定生活中哪些至关重要，哪些微不足道。

我们决定，用以显示我们自身重要性的，不是我们做了什么，就是我们拒绝做什么。

但是不论世界对我们所做的选择和决定有多么漠不关心，这些选择和决定终究是我们自己做出的。

我们决定，我们选择。而当我们决定和选择时，我们的生活便得以形成。

最终构筑我们命运的就是抱负之所在。

Life on a Journey

作者: Henry Van Dyke

Wherever you are, and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are alike, at this moment, and in all the moments of our existence.

We are not at rest; we are on a journey.

Our life is not a mere fact; it is a movement, a tendency, a steady, ceaseless progress towards an unseen goal.We are gaining something, or losing something, every day.

Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing. For the mere advance of time is a change.

It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July. The season makes the difference.

The limitations that are childlike in the child are childish in the man.

Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another.

Even the failure to do something is in itself a deed. It sets us forward or backward.

The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive

pole.

To decline is to accept — the other alternative.

Are you richer today than you were yesterday? No? Then you are a little poorer.

Are you better today than you were yesterday? No? Then you are a little worse.

Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday? Yes, — you must be a little nearer to some port or other;for since your ship was first launched upon the sea of life you have never been still for a single moment;

the sea is too deep, you could not find an anchorage if you would; there can be no pause until you come into port.

译文

生命的旅程

无论你身处何处，也不管你是谁，然而在一刻抑或是我们生命存在的每一个瞬间，有一件事对我们来说都是一样的：

我们没有停留；我们正在旅途上。

我们的生命不仅仅是一个事实；它是一种运动，一种趋势，是朝着一个看不见的目标稳步、持续的前进。

我们每天都在得到或失去一些东西。

我们在改变，即使我们的状态和角色看上去没有丝毫的变化

因为仅仅时间的推移就是一种改变。

对于一块荒芜的土地，一月和七月是截然不同的。因为季节让他有所区别。

能力的局限在孩子们身上只是一种天真，而在大人的身上却是幼稚。

我们做的所有事情都是向着某个方向迈出了一步。

即使是失败，本身也是一个作为，左右着我们的进退。

磁针负极的作用和正极的作用一样真实。

拒绝就是接受——另一种选择。

你今天比昨天更富有吗？没有？那你就更穷一点了。

你今天比昨天更好吗？没有？那你就更糟一点了。

你今天比昨天更接近你的目标了吗？是的——那你一定是离某个港口更近了一点;

因为自从你的航船在生命的海洋中起航的那一刻起，你就从来没有停泊过。

海水太深了，你寻找不到停泊之处；你永远都停不下来，除非你到达了港口。When Is a Man Old?

"I dread to come to the end of the year," said a friend to me recently, "it makes me realize I am gr owing old."

William James, the great psychologist, said that most men are "old fogies at twenty-five".

He was right. Most men at twenty-five are satisfied with their jobs.

They have accumulated the little stock of prejudices that they call their "principles," and closed their minds to all new ideas; they have ceased to grow.

The minute a man ceases to grow — no matter what his years — that minute he begins to be old. On the other hand, the really great man never grows old.

Goethe passed away at eighty-three, and finished his Faust only a few years earlier;

Gladstone took up a new language when he was seventy.

Laplace, the astronomer, was still at work when death caught up with him at seventy-eight.

He died crying, "What we know is nothing; what we do not know is immense."

And there you have the real answer to the question, "When is a man old?"

Laplace at seventy-eight died young. He was still unsatisfied, still sure that he had alot to learn. As long as a man can keep himself in that attitude of mind, as long as he can look back on every y ear and say, "I grew," he is still young.

The minute he ceases to grow, the minute he says to himself, "I know all that I needto know," that day youth stops.

He may be twenty-five or seventy-five, it makes no difference.

On that day he begins to be old.

译文

人何时会变老

“我很担心，一年又将逝去了，” 最近，一个朋友这样对我说，“这让我觉得自己又老了一岁。”

曾有一位著名的心理学家说过，很多人“在25岁时就已衰老落伍”。

他说对了，很多人在25岁时就对自己的工作感到满足。

他们积累了一些成见，并把它们当成自己的所谓“原则”；他们思想守旧，拒绝新的观点；他们已经停止了成长。

当一个人停止成长的时候——无论他的年龄如何——他就已经开始衰老。

从另一方面来说，真正伟大的人是永不衰老的。

歌德是在83岁逝世的。他在逝世的前几年才完成了《浮士德》。

格拉德斯通在七十岁那年还在学习一门新语言！

天文学家拉普拉斯78岁去世时还在工作。

死神来临时，在弥留的刹那间他还喊道：“我们知道的何其少，而不知道的又何其多！”

从上面的几个例子中你可以得出“人的衰老是在什么时候？”的真正答案了。

当拉普拉斯78岁去世时，他仍然是年轻的，因为他仍然没有满足于现状，仍然觉得自己还有许多东西要学。

只要一个人能保持这种心态，只要他每年回首往事时都能说：“我成长了。”他就依然年轻。当他停止成长的那一刻，当他对自己说：“我已经知道了我需要知道的一切”的那一刻，青春就停止了。

他可能是二十五岁，也可能是七十五岁，这并没有什么区别。

在那一天他就开始变老。

Feel Happiness

作者: 百词斩爱阅读

You are happy. After a long time of ceaseless struggles and hard toils, you are finally happy. However, just as you are about to fully enjoy the happiness, you pause. Questions such as "Is this for real?" start to kick in.You dread that after this temporary feeling of happiness dies down, your life will go back to exactly where it was.

You even fear that you don't deserve the happiness.Fear of happiness is common among many of us. People with poor upbringings might not believe that their lives could take on an entirely different look when they grow up.

People who are currently doing thankless jobs or earning trivial salaries might not believe that they will be able to achieve great deeds in the future. People who were once the subjects of others' prejudices may doubt whether they will be able to shake off those painful experiences.People who used to love hard and ended up being hurt may now hesitate to fall in love again.

The universe is astronomically immense and might look indifferent to whether we will change for the better or not.

Whatever difficulties that hit us ten weeks ago might still hit us again at some point.If our future will be faced with pains and sadness all over again, feeling happiness right now won't protect us from that.

Now, let's take on this issue from an alternative perspective.If hardships and heartbreaks are waiting for us at every stop along the way, so are joyful moments and rewarding progress.

The current feeling of happiness might eventually fade away, but let's not cease looking forward to our next encounter with it.

Fearing future is not cowardice, but running away from our lives simply because of that fear is definitely not the most courageous thing you could pull off.。

After all, how can one say that one has lived a full and beautiful life until one has learned to accumulate both bitterness and sweetness that this vast world has to offer?

译文

感受幸福

你很幸福。经过长时间的不懈的奋斗和辛苦的工作，你终于获得了幸福。

然而，就在你要全身心享受幸福的时候，你迟疑了。类似“这是真的吗？”的问题冒了出来。你害怕在这种暂时的幸福感消失后，你的生活会回到它原来的样子。

你甚至害怕你不值得拥有幸福。

对于幸福的恐惧在我们许多人当中都很常见。

在贫困家庭长大的人可能不会相信，他们长大后的生活会呈现出完全不同的面貌。

那些现在做着受累不讨好的工作的人，或挣着微薄的工资的人，可能不相信他们将来能够成就伟大的事业。

曾经遭受他人偏见的人，可能会怀疑自己是否能够摆脱那些痛苦的经历。

曾经爱得很深却最终受到伤害的人，现在可能会犹豫是否要再次坠入爱河。

宇宙从天文学上来说是浩瀚无边的，它似乎对我们是否会成为更好的人漠不关心。

无论十周前我们遇到了什么困难，在某一时刻，我们仍有可能再次遇到这些困难。

即使我们的未来将再次面临痛苦和悲伤，觉得当下的幸福不会让我们免受这些伤痛。

从现在开始，我们要从另一个角度来看待这个问题。

倘若沿路上每一个站点都有困难和心碎在等待着我们，那么快乐的时刻和有益的进步也在等待着我们。

当下的幸福感最终可能会消失，但我们不能不去期待下一次与它相遇。

惧怕未来不是懦弱，但是仅仅因为惧怕就逃离我们的生活绝对不是你能做的最勇敢的事。毕竟，如果一个人没能学会在这个广阔的世界里积累酸甜苦辣，他怎么能说自己活得充实而美好呢？

Happiness Is a Journey

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that we are frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainlybe happy when they are out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin — real life.

But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid.Then life would begin.

At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with... and remember that time waits for

no one.

So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you loseten pounds, until you gain ten pounds,until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start

work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced,until Friday night, until Sunday morning,until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off,until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you are off welfare, until the first or the fifteenth,

until your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

So, work like you don't need money. Love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one's watching.

幸福是一段旅程

我们总是相信，等我们结了婚，生了孩子生活会更美好。

等有了孩子，我们又因为他们不够大而烦恼，想等他们大些时，我们就会开心了。

可等他们进人青少年时期，我们还是同样地苦恼，于是又相信等他们过了这一阶段，幸福就会到来。

我们总是告诉自己，等夫妻间任一方肯于合作，等我们拥有更好的车，等我们能去度一次美妙的假期，等我们退休后，我们的生活一定会完美的。

而事实的真相是，没有任何时刻比现在更宝贵。倘若不是现在，又会是何时？

我们的生活每时每刻都会有挑战。最好是让自己接受这一事实，无论如何使自己保持快乐的心境。

我很欣赏艾尔弗雷德·苏泽的一段名言。他说：“长期以来，我都觉得生活——真正的生活似乎即将开始。

可是总会遇到某种障碍，如得先完成一些事情。没做完的工作，要奉献的时间，该付的债，等等。之后生活才会开始。

最后我醒悟过来了，这些障碍本身就是我的生活。”

这一观点让我意识到没有什么通往幸福的道路。幸福本身就是路。

所以，珍惜你拥有的每一刻。你要更加珍惜它，因为你和一个特别的人分享，一个足够特别能和你共度时光的人......且记住时不我待。

不要再作所谓的等待——等你上完学，等你再回到学校；等你减了10磅，等你增重10磅，等你有了孩子或孩子长大离开家；等你开始工作或等你退休；等你结婚或离婚，

等周五晚上或周日早上，等你有了新车或新房，等你付清车或房子的钱，

等到春天，等到夏天，等到秋天，等到冬天，等到你不再享受福利，等到第一次或第十五次，

等到你的歌声响起，等到你喝了酒，等到你清醒，等到你死去，等到你重生，你才明白，没有比现在更快乐的时光了。

幸福是一段旅程，而不是终点。

所以，工作吧，就像你不需要钱一样；去爱吧，就像你从未受过伤害一样；去跳舞吧，就像没人注视你一样。

The Magic

When I was younger, I was crazy about stories of magic.

I enjoyed books where wizards and warriors battled the powers of darkness in strange worlds.I was excited when they succeeded in bringing peace and happiness to their lands.I guess like most of the readers of these stories I secretly wished for magical powers for myself.I wanted to be able to magically make my pain disappear, to make my problems go away, and to have power over this world that so often has power over us.

As I got older, however, I realized that there was no such thing as magic due to

the harsh reality of life.

I struggled through a long period of poverty. I had daily pain from a back injury that n ever healed right.

I felt sadness and sorrow when both of my sons were diagnosed with autism.

Then one day I am not sure when I began to discover a different kind of magic. This magic grew stronger in my heart, soul, and mind day by day and year by year.

This magic was called LOVE. It connected me to my own highest self and to all of the other souls in this world.

It didn't remove my poverty but it made every day of my life feel richer.It didn't make my back pain go away but it helped me deal with it so much better.It didn't cure my sons' autism, but it helped me see them as the beautiful, loving, and joyful souls that they truly are.It didn't make me a wizard or a warrior but it helped me to dispel the darkness of this world with my own light.

There is such a thing as magic in this world. There is such a thing as magic in each one of us.

This magic is called LOVE. May you choose it, share it, and live in it every single day of your life.

May you use it to help others and to heal this world.

译文

魔法

当我年轻的时候，我痴迷于魔法故事。

我喜欢看法师和战士在奇异的世界里与黑势力战斗的书。

每当他们取得胜利并为他们生活的这片土地带来了和平和幸福时，我就倍感雀跃。

我想，就像看这些故事的大多数读者一样，我也暗暗希望自己能拥有魔法。

然而，当我逐渐长大，我开始意识到，根本就不存在魔法，生活的残酷现实开始袭来。

我曾在一段漫长又贫苦的岁月中挣扎。我每天都会因为后背上的伤口而疼痛，这个伤口至今都未痊愈。

当我的两个儿子都被诊断为自闭症时，伤感与悲痛从心底涌了出来。

然后有一天，我不知是何时开始发现了一种独特的魔法。这种魔法在我的心中、灵魂和思想里逐日发展壮大。

这种魔法的名字叫爱。这种魔法将我与最高尚的自我联系起来，将我与这世界的其他灵魂联系起来。它没有消除我的贫穷，却让我每一天的生活都很丰富。

它没有使我的背部疼痛消失，但它帮助我更好地面对它。

它没能治愈我儿子的自闭症，但它让我看到了他们美丽，有爱，永恒，和快乐的灵魂，这是他们真实的样子。

它没有使我变成一个法师或战士，但它使我用自己的一点亮光，驱散了这个世界的黑暗。

在这个世界上，的确存在着一种魔法。而且我们每个人都拥有这样一种魔法。

这种魔法就是爱。愿你可以选择爱，分享爱，并在充满爱的生活中度过每一天。

愿你用它来帮助别人，治愈这个世界。

Advice to a Young Man

作者: Robert Jones Burdette

Remember, my son, you have to work.

Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheel-barrow or a set of books, digging ditches or editing a paper, ringing an auction bell or writing funny things, you must work.

If you look around you will see the men who are the most able to live the rest oftheir days without work are the men who work the hardest.

Don't be afraid of killing yourself with overwork. It is beyond your power to do that on the sunny side of thirty.

They die sometimes, but it is because they quit work at six in the evening, and do not

go home until two in the morning. It's the interval that kills, my son.

The work gives you an appetite for your meals; it lends solidity to your slumbers, it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday.

There are young men who do not work, but the world is not proud of them.

It does not know their names even; it simply speaks of them as "old So-and-So's boy".

Nobody likes them; the great, busy world doesn't know that they are there.

So find out what you want to be and do, and take off your coat and make a dust in the world.

The busier you are, the less harm you will be apt to get into, the sweeter will be your sleep, the brighter and happier your holidays, and the better satisfied will the world be with you.

译文

给年轻人的建议

作者: Robert Jones Burdette

记住，我的年轻人，你必须工作。

无论你是用镐还是用笔、推手推车还是编记账簿、挖沟渠还是编辑报纸、敲响拍卖的钟声或者写一些有趣的东西，你都必须工作。

如果你环顾四周，你会发现那些工作最努力的人最有可能安享晚年而无须去工作。

不要害怕超负荷的工作会缩短你的寿命。不足三十岁的年龄，你的承受能力远不止如此.

如果说真的有人过早送命，那完全是因为他们在晚上六点结束工作，却要到凌晨两点才归家。我的年轻人，正是晚上六点到凌晨两点的这段时间的生活毁了他们自己

工作会增加你的食欲，工作会使你安然入睡，工作将会使你心满意足地享受假日。

有些年轻人不工作，但世界并不以他们为傲。

它不知道他们的姓名，甚至简单地将他们概括为“老谁谁的儿子”。

没有人喜欢他们。伟大而繁忙的世界并不知道他们的存在。

所以，去找出哪些你想成为和想做的事，然后脱掉你的外套，在这个世界上扬尘。

你越忙，你就越不容易受到伤害，你的睡眠就越甜蜜，你的假期就会越愉快、越幸福，世界也就会对你越满意。

If I Were a Boy Again

If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance more often, and never give up a thing because it was hard or inconvenient.

If we want light, we must conquer darkness. Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results.

"There are only two creatures," says a proverb, "who can surmount the pyramids —the eagle and the snail."

If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let

nothing come between me and the subject in hand.I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once.

The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough.

I often hear grown up people say, "I could not fix my attention on the sermon or book, although I wished to do so", and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.

If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of th e memory.I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every

possible occasion.

It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a

power.

If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage. "Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice," says a wise author.

We too often borrow trouble, and anticipate that may never appear, "the fear of ill

exceeds the ill we fear."

Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of t hem. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be feared.

If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, it smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owne r, but of all that come in contact with it.

"Who shuts out love, in turn shall be shut out from love."

If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say no more often.

I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unwo rthy.

If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends and indeed towards strangers as well.

The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.

Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life,I wo uld, if I were a boy again, I would still try harder to make others happy.

译文

假如我又回到了童年

假如我又回到了童年，我做事要更有毅力，决不因为事情艰难或者麻烦而放弃。

如果我们想要光明，就必须征服黑暗。毅力在结果上有时能同天才相比。

俗话说：“能登上金字塔的生物，只有两种——鹰和蜗牛。”

假如我又回到了童年，我就要养成专心致志的习惯；我不会让任何事情妨碍我与手头事情。

我要记住：优秀的滑冰手从不试图同时滑向两个不同的方向。

如果及早养成这种专心致志的习惯，它将成为我们生活的一部分。

我常听成年人说：“虽然我希望能集中注意在讲道或读书，但往往做不到。” 而原因就是年轻时没有养成这种习惯。

假如我能重新开始我的生命，我就要更注意记忆力的培养。

我将利用一切可能的手段，在一切可能的场合，加强这种能力。

要准确无误地记住一些东西，在开始阶段的确要作出一番小小的努力；但是记忆很快就自己起作用了，几乎不会带来什么麻烦。只需及早培养，记忆自会成为一种才能。

假如我又回到了童年，我就要培养勇气。一位明智的作家曾说过：“世上没有东西比勇气更温文尔雅，也没有东西比懦怯更残酷无情。”

我们常常自寻烦恼，杞人忧天，“对疾病的恐惧甚至超过疾病本身。”

凡事都有危险，但镇定沉着往往能克服最严重的危险。未雨绸缪，不怕伤害。

假如我又回到了童年，我就要事事乐观。生活就像一面镜子：

如果你对它微笑，我也会对你微笑：但如果你皱眉，用怀疑的目光去看，你也会得到同样的回报。内心的阳光不仅温暖了主人的心，也温暖了所有与之接触的人的心。

“谁拒爱于门外，也必将被爱拒诸门外。”

假如我又回到了童年，我就要训练自己更多的说“不”字。

一个少年要能挺得起腰，拒绝做不值得做的事，就因为这事不值得做。我可以写上好几页谈谈早年学习这一点的重要性。

假如我又回到了童年，我就要要求自己对伙伴和朋友更加礼貌，而且对陌生人也应如此。

在坎坷的生活道路上，最细小的礼貌犹如在漫长的冬天为我们歌唱的小鸟，那歌声使冰天雪地的季节变得较易忍受。

最后，假如我又回到了童年，我不会力图让自己幸福，好像这就是人生唯一的目的；与之相反，我要更努力让他人幸福。