高中课外阅读--英语美文欣赏31(中英双语)

英语美文欣赏31

没能将你杀死的，终将使你更强大

A man’s favorite donkey falls into a deep precipice; He can’t pull it out no matter how hard he tries; He therefore decides to bury it alive.

一名男子心爱的毛驴落入深崖中。无论他怎么努力，他都无法把它拉出来，因此他决定把毛驴活埋。

Soil is poured onto the donkey from above. The donkey feels the load, shakes it off, and steps on it; More soil is poured.

泥土从毛驴上方倾泻而下。毛驴感受到了负重，于是把泥土抖掉，然后踩了上去。

The more the load was poured, the higher it rose; By noon, the donkey was grazing in green pastures.

落下的泥土越多，毛驴就升的越高。到中午的时候，它就已经回到牧场上吃草了。

After shaking off (of problems) and stepping up (learning from them), one will graze in GREEN PASTURES.

摆脱（问题）之后，更上一步（并从中吸取教训），你将得到自己想要的结果。

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

没能杀死你的，终将使你更强大。

如果无法看清现状，能力没有价值During a research experiment a marine biologist placed a shark into a large holding tank and then released several small bait fish into the tank.

在一个研究实验中，一个海洋生物学家把一条鲨鱼放进一个大的水箱中，然后投放了一些小的诱饵鱼进去。

As you would expect, the shark quickly swam around the tank, attacked and ate the smaller fish.

你可能已经预料到了，鲨鱼快速地在水箱里四处游动，攻击并吃掉了那些较小的鱼。

The marine biologist then inserted a strong piece of clear fiberglass into the tank, creating two separate partitions. She then put the shark on one side of the fiberglass and a new set of bait fish on the other.

然后海洋生物学家将一面强韧的透明纤维玻璃插入到容器中，创建了两个单独的分区。然后，她把鲨鱼放在纤维玻璃的一边，另一边是一组新的诱饵鱼。

Again, the shark quickly attacked. This time, however, the shark slammed into the fiberglass divider and bounced off. Undeterred, the shark kept repeating this behavior every few minutes to no avail. Meanwhile, the bait fish swam around unharmed in the second partition. Eventually, about an hour into the experiment, the shark gave up.

再次，鲨鱼迅速攻击。然而，这一次，鲨鱼撞上了玻璃纤维隔板并被弹了回来。每隔几分钟，鲨鱼就不信邪地重复这徒劳的行为。同时，那些作为诱饵的鱼在另一个区域里毫发无伤地游来游去。最后，经过大约一个小时的实验，鲨鱼放弃了。

This experiment was repeated several dozen times over the next few weeks. Each time, the shark got less aggressive and made fewer attempts to attack the bait fish, until eventually the shark got tired of hitting the fiberglass divider and simply stopped attacking altogether.

在接下来的几个星期里，这个实验重复了几十次。每一次，鲨鱼的攻击性都变得更弱，并较少尝试攻击诱饵鱼，直到最终鲨鱼厌倦了冲击纤维玻璃隔板，并完全停止攻击。

The marine biologist then removed the fiberglass divider, but the shark didn’t attack. The shark was trained to believe a barrier existed between it and the bait fish, so the bait fish swam wherever they wished, free from harm.

海洋生物学家然后拿走了纤维玻璃隔板，但鲨鱼没有攻击。鲨鱼被训练得相信了它和诱饵之间存在一道屏障，所以鱼儿游到任何地方，都不会受伤害。

The moral: Many of us, after experiencing setbacks and failures, emotionally give up and stop trying. Like the shark in the story, we believe that because we were unsuccessful in the past, we will always be unsuccessful. In other words, we continue to see a barrier in our heads, even when no ‘real’ barrier exists between where we are and where we want to go.

寓意：我们中的许多人，在经历挫折和失败后，会从情感上选择放弃，并停止尝试。好比这个故事中的鲨鱼，因为过去失败过，所以就觉得永远不会成功。换句话说，我们经常会在我们的脑中看到一个障碍，即使我们所在的位置和我们想要达到的位置之间并没有“真正的”障碍。

早晨五分钟，开启美好的一天If you feel a twinge of jealousy each time you read about another successful person who wakes up at 4 a.m. to meditate, jog, read a novel, and eat two grapefruits, take heart. You don't have to add three leisurely hours to your morning routine to be happy or productive. In fact, plenty of the habits that can help you start your day take five minutes or less. Several of those habits are listed under the Quora thread, "What can I do in 5 minutes in the morning to make my whole day

better?"

是否在你每次读到关于某位成功人士早晨四点起床、冥想、慢跑、读小说、吃两瓣葡萄柚时，就会十分嫉妒呢？那就请你振作起来吧。你不必再花三个宝贵的钟头来做早晨那些琐事，就为开心或者效率更高些。事实上，很多习惯可以帮您开启新的一天，而且只需五分钟的时间或者连五分钟都用不了。有很多习惯在Quora thread网站上都有列出，“早晨用五分钟来做些什么可以让我整个一天都不一样呢？”

Below, find some of the simplest routines to tackle your day feeling refreshed and ready to tackle whatever challenges come your way.

下面，就是一些最简单的小事，这些小事可以让你一天都感觉精神抖擞并且能帮你拥有时刻做好应对挑战的积极状态。

1. Write down three things you're grateful for

1.写下三件你感恩的事情

Quora user Nela Canovic suggests writing down three things you're grateful for every morning. "Think about what you already have in your life," she writes. "Don't focus only on material things (such as a car or computer), but rather think in more simple or basic terms." For example, you might express gratitude for friends, family, or your education. This strategy is similar to the "three good things" exercise recommended by Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and one of the founders of the positive psychology movement. Seligman and colleagues advise people to take time each night to write down three positive developments that happened that day, along with an explanation for why they did. You can, however, easily adapt this exercise for the morning and think about three things you're grateful for in general.

Quora用户Nela Canovic建议每天早晨写下三件你所感恩的事情。“想想你所拥有的，”她写道。“不要只集中在物质方面（如车或者电脑），而是要想那些更简单的或者更基本的名目。比如，你可以对你所拥有的朋友，家人或者所受的教育表示一下感恩。这一策略跟“三件好事”运动很相似，这一活动是由宾夕法尼亚大学的心理学教授以及积极心理学运动创始人之一Martin Seligman提倡的。Seligman和他的同事们建议人们每晚花点时间写下当日发生的三件积极发展的事情，并且要附上理由说明。然而，你也可以在早晨借鉴一下这项运动并且总体思考一下你所心怀感恩的三件事情。

2. Think about what would make today great

2.想象一下什么事情可以让这一天变得很棒

Canovic recommends another, more prospective exercise: "Write one sentence about something that, if it were to happen, would make you feel like today will be a positive, productive, unique day." It can be something as simple as going to bed before midnight or spending an hour doing something you love, she says. Once you figure out exactly what would make you feel happy and accomplished, you can go

about making it happen.

Canovic提倡另一个更有前景的运动：“用一个句子描述一件事情，这件事情如果发生就会让你感觉今天是个积极向上的、高效率的、独特的一天。这可能简单如午夜之前就寝或者花个把小时做自己喜爱做的事情，她说。一旦你弄明白到底是什么会让你感觉开心且有成就感，你就可以将它付诸实施。

3. Meditate

3.冥想

Science suggests meditation has myriad benefits, from helping you deal with stress and negative emotions, to boosting your memory, to strengthening your immune system. But meditation doesn't necessarily mean sitting in silence for hours on end. As Ariel Banayan points out, "sitting for five minutes to detach from the thoughts of your mind will have a profound impact on your day." If you're unsure how to get started, the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center offers some free guided meditations, some of them five minutes or shorter.

科学显示冥想有很多好处，可以帮你减轻压力，舒缓消极情绪，提高记忆力还可以增强你的免疫系统。但冥想不等于默默地坐上几个小时。如Ariel Banayan指示，坐上五分钟，并且让思维游离开去会给你的一天带来深远的影响。如果你还不确定如何开始，加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校思想意识研究中心提供了一些免费的指导，其中有一些只需要五分钟或者更短。

4. Exercise

4.锻炼

Minh Killy Le recommends five minutes of exercise right after you wake up. His favorite is planking, which is similar to a push-up. Research suggests that working out before you eat breakfast can help you lose weight and boost your energy levels — though the workouts in these studies lasted about an hour, or until the participants had burned 400 calories. Regardless of how long you choose to exercise, be sure to warm up beforehand, since your muscles will likely be stiff from sleep.

Minh Killy Le建议醒来后锻炼五分钟。他最喜爱的锻炼是平板支撑，类似于俯卧撑。研究显示早餐之前锻炼一下可以帮你减肥，并且可以提高你的能量水平，尽管这些研究中，锻炼持续时间大概是一个小时，或者直到参与者们燃烧了400卡路里的能量。不管你选择运动多久，事先一定要热身，因为你的肌肉还未从睡眠的僵硬中舒缓开来。

5. Make your bed

5.铺床

Raviteja Chirala says he loves coming home to a neatly made bed. Meanwhile, journalist Charles Duhigg writes in his book "The Power of Habit" that making your bed can help increase your productivity for the rest of the day. That's because it's a "keystone habit" that can "spark chain reactions that help other good habits

take hold."

Raviteja Chirala说他喜欢回到家就躺在一张收拾整洁的床上。与此同时，记者Charles Duhigg在他的书中写道“铺床这种习惯的力量可以提高你一天的效率。那是因为铺床就是一个关键的，可以引发连锁反应的习惯，它能帮你抓住其他的好习惯。”

6. Prioritize

6.优先选择

Chirala also suggests writing a list of things you want to accomplish that day. That way, you'll have a clear set of priorities to guide your work for the next few hours. Psychologist Travis Bradberry says this kind of careful planning boosts your chances of achieving your goals. He personally likes to set his daily goals after his mindfulness practice.

Chirala还建议列一张你要完成的事情的清单。那样的话，你将有一个明确的优先安排，指导你接下来几个小时的工作。心理学家Travis Bradberry说这样精心的计划安排可以提高你达成目标的效率。他个人喜欢在正念练习后设定一天的目标。

7. Visualize the rest of the day

7.预想一下其余时光

Harrison Thorne recommends a morning visualization routine: "Simply picture your short- and long-term goals, and affirm your abilities to complete these goals." In his second book, "Smarter Faster Better," Duhigg outlines a similar technique: Tell yourself stories about how the day will unfold. Duhigg writes about researchers at MIT who studied the most productive people at a recruiting firm and found that they were "obsessive, in fact, about trying to explain the world to themselves and their colleagues as they went about their days." For example, they might ask colleagues to help them imagine how a future conversation or a pitch meeting might go, so that they were more prepared when the events actually happened. He recommends making a habit of this strategy by spending your morning commute telling yourself a detailed story about the rest of the day.

Harrison Thorne提倡早晨设想活动：“简单设想一下你短期或者长期的目标，并确定你能完成它们。在他的第二本书《更聪明、更快、更好》中，Duhigg 概述了一个简单技巧，即，告诉自己这一天将怎么进行。Duhigg写道那些麻省理工学院的研究人员，他们研究那些招聘公司最有效率的人们，发现他们很具强迫性，事实上，他们试图向他们自己以及他们的同事们解释这个世界，如他们所经历的那样。他们也许会要求同事们帮他们想象一下将来的某次谈话将怎样进行，或者推销会将如何进展，所以他们在事情发生时，往往会更有准备。他建议养成一个这样的习惯，就是利用早晨通勤的时间来思考一下接下来的一天会发生什么。

如何在逆境中交到亲密的朋友？

How To Make Friends And Connect With People In Challenging Times

在逆境中如何与人交朋友并建立牢固的关系。

It can be difficult to make friends living in a big city, especially when you don’t know many people.

生活在一个大城市里是很难交到朋友的，尤其是当你还不认识很多人的时候。

Over years of experience and studying social skills, I discovered that it’s possible to make friends without even trying. There are just a few strategies that you have to use on a consistent basis.

根据多年的经验以及对社交技能的研究，我发现其实你甚至能毫不费力地交到朋友。这里有一些你一直可以用得上的策略。

That’s what I’ll outline a few simple steps.

在这里我将列出几个简单的步骤。

1. Be seen without trying to get attention.

不刻意地引人注意也能获得他人的注意。

You don’t have to say anything witty or interesting to get people’s attention, all you have to do is place yourself in environments where people will see you.

你不必说诙谐或有趣的事情来吸引人们的注意，你所要做的只是将你自己置于人们能注意到的地方。

This can be done anywhere you go, such as the supermarket or your yoga studio.

这可以在你去的任何地方奏效，比如超市或是瑜伽馆。

2. Use the power of listening.

使用倾听的力量。

There’s an interesting phenomenon that occurs when you listen to other people, they’ll keep tal king. Just keep giving them good eye contact and show with your body language that you care.

有一个有趣的现象，当你听别人说话时，他们会一直说话。只要和他们保持良好的眼神接触，并用你的身体语言显示出你对他们的关心。

Listening is a mechanism to build trust and likeability.

倾听是一种建立信任和魅力的途径。

3. Think about what you can give to the other people.

想想你能给别人什么。

So often we think about what we can get out of others when we try to make friends, but that thinking needs to be flipped around.

当我们试图交朋友的时候，我们经常会考虑我们能从别人那里得到什么，

但是我们需要扭转这种想法。

Try offering a piece of helpful advice or invite someone you just met to grab coffee or lunch with you the following week.

试着提供一个有用的建议或邀请你刚才遇到的人来喝杯咖啡或者邀请他在接下来的一周和你一起共进午餐。

4. Always have 3 good stories to tell other people.

总是有3个好故事来告诉别人。

When you have at least a few stories to share with others, you’ll never run out of things to talk about.

当你至少有几个故事与他人分享时，你将永远有谈不尽的话题。

5. Smile like there’s no tomorrow.

尽情微笑。

It may not be natural for some of us to smile, but a smile is one of the most attractive things that someone can display when they’re meeting n ew people.

对有些人来说，微笑可能是件不自然的事情，但是微笑是最有吸引力的事情之一。当结识新人时，人们可以传递他们的微笑。

Think about these 5 strategies as tools. They’re always available if you want to connect with people instantly and develop true lasting friendships.

我们可以把这5种策略作为工具。如果你想与人立即建立关系，并且发展成真正长久的友谊，它们总是有用的。

土豆、鸡蛋与咖啡豆的哲理Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

从前，女儿向父亲抱怨道，她的人生苦不堪言，她不知道如何继续生活下去。她厌倦了一直奋斗挣扎。仿佛解决了一个问题，立刻就会出现另一个问题。

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.

做厨师的父亲把她带到厨房里。他分别往三口锅里添上了水，并放到高火上煮。当三口锅里的水沸腾的时候，他把土豆放到一口锅里，把鸡蛋放到第二口锅里，最后把研磨过的咖啡豆放到第三口锅里。

He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.

然后他把它们放好，继续在沸水中煮，一句话都不跟女儿说。女儿抱怨着，不耐烦地等待着，想知道他在做什么。

After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.

二十分钟后，他关掉炉灶，从锅里拿出土豆，放进一个碗里；拿出鸡蛋，也放进一个碗里。

He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”

然后，他用勺子盛出咖啡，放进一个杯子里。他转向女儿，问道，“孩子，你看到了什么？”

“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“土豆、鸡蛋和咖啡，”她急躁地回答道。

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“仔细看看，”他说，“摸摸这些土豆。”她照做了，注意到土豆很软。然后父亲让她拿一个鸡蛋，并把它敲碎。她把蛋壳剥下后，观察了一下这个煮老了的蛋。最后，父亲让她喝一口咖啡。咖啡浓郁的香气让笑容重新回到她的脸上。

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

“爸爸，这是什么意思？”她问道。

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.

然后父亲解释道，土豆、鸡蛋和咖啡豆都分别经历过相同的逆境——沸水。

However, each one reacted differently.

然而，它们的反应却各不相同。

The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

土豆一开始强壮、坚硬、不屈不挠，但是在沸水中，它却变得软弱。

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

鸡蛋易碎，只有外面那层薄壳保护着里面的蛋液。当鸡蛋被放进沸水之后，鸡蛋内部就变硬了。

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

然而，研磨过的咖啡豆却很独特。把它们放进沸水中之后，它们改变了水，创造了新的事物。

“Which are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? ““你是哪一种呢？”他问女儿。“当不幸降临时，你该如何应对？你是一

枚土豆、一颗鸡蛋还是一粒咖啡豆？”

Moral: In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

寓意：生活中，事情发生在我们身边，发生在我们身上，不过他们的好坏则完全取决于我们自身。

Which one are you?

你是哪一种呢？

别把过去的失败当成未来的常态As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

当一名男子经过象群的时候，他突然停了下来。这群庞大生物被一根系在他们前腿的小绳子拴住了，他对此十分困惑。没有锁链，没有笼子。显然，任何时候大象们都可以挣脱束缚，然而，由于某种原因，她们并没有挣脱。

英语美文:别把过去的失败当成未来的常态

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

他看到附近的训练员，问道，为什么这些动物只是站在那儿，却不尝试逃脱。“咳，”训练员说，“在它们很小的时候，我们用同样尺寸的绳子拴着它们，那个时候，这条绳子足够拴住它们了。随着它们渐渐长大，它们习惯性地认为自己无法挣脱。它们以为这条绳子依然可以束缚住自己，所以它们从不会尝试挣脱。”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

这名男子十分惊讶。这些动物本来随时都可以挣脱束缚，然而因为它们认为自己无法挣脱，所以它们就被困在了那里。

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

就像这些大象，我们之中有多少人在生活中固守着一个观念，自己办不到某件事情，只是因为曾经失败过一次？

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

失败是学习的一部分，生活中，我们永远都不应该放弃努力。

你不了解别人的人生，不要妄断

A 24 year old boy seeing out from the train’s window shouted…

一个24岁的男孩子望着车窗外，大声说……

-“Dad, look the trees are going behind!”

-“爸爸，看，那些树在后退！”

Dad smiled and a young couple sitting nearby, looked at the 24 year old’s childish behavior with pity, suddenl y he again exclaimed…

爸爸笑了。一对坐在附近的年轻夫妇看着这个24岁的男孩子，为他的幼稚行为感到可惜。突然，男孩子再次呼喊道……

-“Dad, look the clouds are running with us!”

-“爸爸，看，云朵在跟着我们一起跑！”

The couple couldn’t resist and said to the old man…

那对夫妇忍不住对这位老先生说……

-“Why don’t you take your son to a good doctor?” The old man smiled and said…“I did and we are just coming from the hospital, my son was blind from birth, he just got his eyes today.”

-“您为什么不带儿子去看医生呢？”老先生笑着说……“我带他看过医生了，我们刚从医院回来，我的儿子一出生就失明了，他今天才重获光明。”

Every single person on the planet has a story. Don’t judge people before you truly know them. The truth might surprise you.

在这个世界上，每个人都有一个故事。不要在你真正了解别人之前就去评判他们。真相可能会让你大吃一惊。