a famous English essay--Samuel Ullman`s Youth
Youth
Samuel Ullman(1840-1920)
塞缪尔·厄尔曼
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonde r, the unfailing childlike appetite of what’s next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.
When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.
Donald L. Paddock
Vice President, Washington Trust Bank Ethics in Business – What went Wrong in 2007
Summary of Presentation
One year ago the United States economy appeared to be quite strong. In just a few short months, the situation changed dramatically in the wrong direction. New words and terms entered our vocabulary, such as sub-prime and collateralized debt obligations, stated income loans to name a few. Other words that we were familiar with but had not heard in a few years also re-surfaced. These include recession, stock market declines, and inflation to name a few. My presentation will show how the first group of words were, to some extent, responsible for the second group. I will also discuss the importance of good business and corporate ethics and what happens when greed enters the picture.
Biography
Donald Paddock was raised in the farming areas of the northeast part of the USA. After receiving a degree in Agricultural Economics from Cornell University he embarked on a 40+ year career that has kept him involved in various aspects of the agriculture industry. At times he has worked as a retail banker, developed the strategy for a major farm machinery company to expand its dealership network throughout the Unite states, and provided both long-term and short-term financing to all sizes of farm operations. During this career, he has been fortunate to be involved in all the significant agricultural production areas of the United States. This has given him a keen insight into the strengths and weaknesses of the various areas, thus enhancing his ability to provide guidance o producers and processors in this industry.
Currently he resides in the Northwest and manages a portfolio of loans to many of the more progressive agricultural operations in the area. His customers consist of farming businesses that are vertically and horizontally integrated, own over 20,000 acres of irrigated farmland, and have sales in the multi-million dollar range. During the course of his career, he was able to meet the requirements for a Masters of Business Administration degree from Syracuse University.
2. What I Have Lived For
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
伯特兰德·罗素
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy —ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the
rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness —that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what —at last — I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a
mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
Oil prices reach a record high
By Sabina Castelfranco
Rome
21 April 2008
Government energy ministers from oil-rich nations and international oil company executives are attending a three-day International Energy Forum in Rome. Sabina Castelfranco reports from Rome the meeting, which ends Tuesday, is being held as crude oil prices reached a record high.
Participants at the oil summit in Rome do not seem to find agreement on what is causing the rise in oil prices. International Energy Agency head Nobuo Tanaka warned that current prices, which hit a record of $117 a barrel, are too high for all consumers and particularly punishing for developing nations.
Speaking at the biennial International Energy Conference, Tanaka said the problem is not underground, but above ground. He added that better infrastructure and more stable policies in producing countries are important to increase capacity and stressed the need for investment.
But OPEC and its member nations maintain that raising capacity is unlikely to have any impact. The Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hussein Nozari said more than enough oil is being supplied. He added that other issues are affecting oil prices like the dollar.
OPEC Secretary-General Abdalla Salem al-Badri has said the group is prepared to raise production if the price pressure is due to a shortage of supply - but also said he doubted the connection.
"There is a common understanding now that [oil prices] has nothing to do with supply and demand," he said.
The OPEC chief said more oil would not solve the high prices. Al-Badri added that OPEC's production levels are just one of many factors, while others included the political situation, market speculation, labor issues and natural catastrophes.
Italy's former prime minister Romano Prodi also spoke of his concern. He says what is taking place is a conflict between food and fuel, with disastrous social consequences. He adds that governments cannot just watch this happen.
In another industry development, Iraq Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani said contracts between the autonomous Northern Iraqi Kurds and foreign companies remain invalid, despite recent talks between the two sides to discuss the country's long-delayed federal oil law.
The Kurds have signed about 25 production-sharing contracts with several small and mid-sized oil companies, but Al-Shahristani said they do not meet the conditions of the draft 2007 law.
The draft law requires an open bidding process and would establish which foreign countries are eligible to work in Iraq. The dispute between the the central government in Baghdad and the Kurds has dragged on for many months, delaying agreement on a final oil law that Iraq badly requires to attract foreign investment and increase oil production.
WAYS OF COMMUNICATION
When you speak, write a letter, or make a telephone call ,your words carry a message. People communicate with words. But do you know people also communicate without words? A smile on your face shows you are happy or friendly. Tears in your eyes tell others that you are sad .When you raise your hand in class ,the teacher knows you want to say something or ask questions. You
know you want to say something or ask questions. You shake your head and people know you are saying "no”. You nod and people know you are saying "yes"
Other things can also carry messages .For example, a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus to take. A sign on the wall of your school helps you to find the library. Signs on the doors tell you where to go in or out .Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that receive messages from them all the time?
People can communicate in many other ways. An artist can use his drawings to tell about beautiful mountains ,the blue seas and many other things. Books are written to tell you about all the wonderful things in the world and what other people are thinking about.
交流方式
当你说话,写信或打电话的时候,你的语言就传递了信息.人们用语言交流.不过,你知道吗？脸上的微笑显示你高兴或友好。眼中的泪水告诉别人你很伤心。课堂上你一举手，教师就知道你有话要说或有问题要问。你摇摇头，人们就知道你在说“不”；你点点头，人们就知道你在说“是”。
其他事物也能传递信息。例如，公共汽车站的站牌帮助你弄清该乘哪一辆车。学校墙上的路牌帮助你找到图书馆。门上的牌子告诉你从哪儿进去或从哪儿出来。你可曾注意到，在你周围有许许多多招牌，而你一直在从这些招牌中获取各种信息？
人们还可以用其他许多方式来互相交流。画家可以用他的绘画来表现壮丽的山脉，湛蓝的大海和其他许多事物。作家撰写书籍给你讲述世界上一切奇妙的事物，告诉你别人正在想些什么。