英语励志美文欣赏
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英语励志美文欣赏：永恒之脉
The thread of permanence
By William Zorach
It is strange how certain things make a great impression on us in childhood. I rememberthese verses by Longfellow:
"Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the graves is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul."
And again:
"Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time."
Of course, my generation was much more sentimental than today's youth but whether thiswas great poetry, it communicated in simple language a message, and made a lastingimpression on a small boy.
When I was fifteen I had an imaginary guardian angel and when I went to the country tosketch on Sundays, I asked for guidance, praying that someday I would be a fine artist andpaint nature as beautiful as she really is. What this little ceremony brought me was faith in theworld and a belief in myself.
My faiths and beliefs have been badly strained. The Atomic Age has caught us in a web of fear.Our lives seem so impermanent and uncertain. There is such a waste of human potential, ofthings worth while in people which never find expression. I sometimes think it's a miracle thatanything survives. Yet I believe that a thread of permanence runs through everything from thebeginning of time, and the most valuable residue will survive.
I believe everybody has an urge to somehow spin his own life into a thread of permanence. Itis the impulse of life. Some would call it the drive to immortality. Whatever it is, I think it isgood because it gives purpose to existence. But purpose is not enough. Artists are supposedto be notoriously impractical, but for myself, I found I had to make decisions and plans if Iwere to try to create anything. I realized that I must approach life not only with a sensitivity,a perception of beauty, but with a feeling of humility and reverence.
My creed as an artist is to love life and liberty and the world of people. A man who works andloves his work is often a man dreaming, and the spirit of his dreams will find forms andsymbols to express that dream. It is a wonderful feeling to create something. But today, Ithink there is a lack of power of communication. If people, not just artists, but all kinds ofpeople, could only open their hearts and express their sorrow, their happiness, their fears andhopes, they would discover they had an identity with the main stream of life which they neversaw before.
sometimes fear and cynicism so grip our minds that we lose heart. Then I try to rememberhow the great artists of the ages had the power of expressiveness. Theirs was the power tocommunicate, to exalt, to move the observer to joy or tears, to strike terror and awe in thehearts of men; not just to decorate or merely entertain.
If we can expand the boundaries of men's thoughts and beliefs, we will discover we all havecreative possibilities - talents to make ourselves real identities as individuals, with a hold on thethread of immortality. If we can awaken ourselves to it, I am convinced we shall find that thisis an alive and exciting age of adventure and experimentation from which a new beauty and afiner world will emerge.
永恒之脉
■威廉·佐拉奇
说来也怪，儿时的某些事情常会给我们留下极深刻的印象，像我就一直记得浪费罗的这几首诗：
“人生皆真实!人生非虚无!
最终的归宿绝不是荒坟。
你本是尘土，必归于尘土，
这是指躯壳，不是指灵魂。”
诗中还说：
“伟人的生平提醒我们：
我们能让生活很高尚，
也能在告别人世的时候，
留下脚印在时间沙滩上。”
诚然，我们这代人远比现在的年轻人诗情洋溢，但不管这首诗是不是佳作，它都用朴实的语言传达了一个道理，在一个小小少年心中刻下了永久的印记。
我十五岁时心中有位假想的守护天使。每当我周日去乡间写生时，都会请其为我指引方向，祈求自己有朝一日能成为一名伟大的艺术家，用画笔传神逼真地描绘出大自然的美景。这一次次的祈祷赋予我对世界的信念和对自己的信心。
但我的信念和信心却面临着严峻的挑战。核武时代使我们陷入恐慌，我们的生命几近朝不保夕。人类的潜力、人性的华彩无彰显之机，这无异于浪费。我有时候想，万物能存活简直是奇迹。即使如此，我仍然相信天地万物间存在一种一脉相传的永恒，最有价值的遗产将亘古不灭。
我想每个人都渴望以某种方式让自己的生命也汇入这永恒之脉。这就是生命的冲动，有人称之为永生的动力。不管是什么，我都认为它是一种积极的想法，赋予我们生存的目的。但只有目的是不够的。
人们常认为艺术家一点也不实际，但就我自己而言，在进行任何艺术创造之前，我一定要作出决定和计划。我认识到面对生活，我不仅要敏感，能感知美好的事物，还有有一颗谦和恭敬的心。
作为一名艺术家，我热爱生活、热爱自由、热爱世界人民——这就是我的人生信条。一个热爱自己工作的人往往是一个有梦想的人，而他的梦想也总会通过某种方式和某些符号传达出来。创作的感觉是非常美妙的，但现在我觉得人与人之间缺乏沟通的能力。如果所有人，不只是艺术家，都能敞开胸怀，表达自己的忧愁与快乐、恐惧与希望，就一定会发现他们已融入生活的主流，这是他们从前看不到的。
有时候，恐惧与嘲讽也会让人心灰意冷。这是我就会努力回想那些古往今来伟大的艺术家如何拥有表现力。他们的表现力不仅仅是为了装点生活或是供人消遣，而是一种与人沟通、提升人的品格的力量，是让观者产生或悲或喜或惧或敬的共鸣的力量。
如果我们能扩大视野、拓宽思路，就会发现每个人身上都有创在的天分。正是这种创造力让每个生命的个体独具个性，在永恒之脉上有一席之地。如果我们能认识到这一点，我相信我会发现自己生活在一个激情澎湃、充满奇遇与革新的时代，它将带领我们走向一个更美更好的世界。
英语励志美文欣赏：生命的精神支撑
Spiritual Handholds on Life
by Dr. Fred Dow Fagg, JR
The view of the high Sierra Lake, nestled in the snow and rock slightly below the timber line,was beautiful from my vantage point some five hundred feet above its shimmering surface. Iwas anxious to rejoin my companions and try the fishing before are afternoon shadow -edging out from the surrounding array of peaks - entirely covered the lake. Just a shortdistance beyond the intervening shale, the trail zigzagged down to the valley. I disliked thethought of returning by the long, tedious trail I had ascended, and decided to chance the shale- even though part of it lay above a sheer drop-off of several hundred feet.
I started working my way over the loose rock with considerable caution and had covered abouthalf the distance when I became aware of a slight but persistent yielding of the shale undermy feet. Desperately, I looked for something that would offer support and lurched forward tograsp a light outcropping of solid rock just as the surface shale underfoot - loosened from itsfoundation by the warm noonday sun - cascaded downward and disappeared over the cliff.Several seconds passed before I heard it rattle into the lake.
Finally - after due consideration of the folly of short cuts - I managed to move from handholdto handhold and, at last, pulled myself to the trail by the aid of a dwarf juniper root. I haveforgotten how many trout I caught that afternoon, but I have not forgotten the value ofhandhold.
Handholds are needed also during the course of everyday life. They provide security when thethings we depend upon seem to be slipping out from under us. What are the spiritualhandholds I have found to be most value?
First, the teachings of the humble carpenter of Nazareth - for their insistence on thesupreme worth of the individual, for their stressing of the significance of sympatheticunderstanding, and for their unsurpassed evidence of dauntless faith.
Second, the conviction that, while every person should delight in making a courageous andself-reliant effort to live up to his capabilities, there are well-springs of power outside himselfthat can be tapped - if he will avail himself of them.
Third, that the nature of this world and of the people in it is determined more by our individualvision, understanding and conduct than by any material environmental factors, and that - inother words - nothing will produce the good world but the good man.
These are the principal spiritual handholds I have found to possess enduring value. Theyoffer both an exciting challenge and a calm assurance. They are the things I believe.
小弗雷德.道.法格博士
坐落在高山上的谢拉湖，依偎在积雪与岩石的怀抱中，岩层往上是一片森林。从高出湖面约500英尺的观景点看下去，湖面微波荡漾，美不胜收。我着急与同伴再次会合，准备在午后周围群山的阴影尚未笼罩全湖之前，一起钓鱼。离错层的页岩不远，便是一条通往山谷的蜿蜒小路。我不想再走上山时所走的那条漫长而乏味的小道，便决定试着走上页岩——虽然这其中一段路的下面是几百英尺的垂直峭壁。
我小心翼翼地走在松动的页岩上。大约走到一半时，我发现脚下的页岩正一点点地不断下滑。我急忙寻找可以抓住的东西。我向前一扑，抓住了一块露出地表的坚硬岩石。就在这时，脚下被午后阳光照射的发热的页岩表层开始松动，从山上滑了下去，消失在峭壁上。几秒钟后，我听到它落进湖中的声音。
稍微考虑了一下抄近路这愚蠢行为的后果后，我想办法从一个支撑点挪到另一个支撑点，最终借助一棵矮松的根将自己拉到小路上。那天下午钓了多少鲑鱼，我已经不记得了，但我绝对忘不了支撑点的重要性。
在日常生活中，支撑点也是非常重要的。当我们的依靠即将从脚下溜走时，支撑点会带给我们安全的保障。我发现的最有价值的精神支撑是什么呢?
首先，是拿撒勒卑微的木匠的教诲——他坚决主张个人价值至上，强调同情与理解的重要性，并为坚定的信仰提供了无可厚非的证明。
其次，尽管我们每个人都应该乐于勇敢、独立地发挥自己的能力，但也要相信，只要我们愿意，我们也能从外界获得力量之源。
再次，除了物质环境因素外，世界和人类的本质更多的是取决于我们个人的视野、理解和行为。也就是说，唯有出色的人才能创造出美好的世界。
这些便是我所发现的精神支撑点，它们具有永恒的价值。它们给予我们的不仅是刺激的挑战，还有令人安心的承诺。这就是我信仰的一切。
英语励志美文欣赏：你知道自己的特殊才能吗?
Do you know your special talent?
Anne Heywood
What I am about to say may appear to be plugging my own business, but it’s what I know best—and I believe it deeply and sincerely. I believe that every human being has a talent—something that he can do better than anyone else. And I believe that the distinction between so-called “creative” talents and ordinary run-of-the-mill talents is an unnecessary and a man-made distinction. I have known exterminators and typists, waitresses and machinists whose creative joy and self-fulfillment in their work could not be surpassed by Shakespeare’s or Einstein’s.
When I was in my teens, I read a quotation from Thomas Carlyle: “Blessed is he who has found his work. Let him ask no other blessedness.” At the time I thought that was a pretty grim remark, but I know now that Mr. Carlyle was right. When you find the thing that you can do better than anything else in the world, then all the wonderful byproducts fall in line: financial security, happy personal relationships, peace of mind. I believe that until you find it, your search for the byproducts will be in vain.
I also believe that in the process of searching, no experience is ever wasted, unless we allow ourselves to run out of hope. In my own case, I had 34 different jobs before I found the right one. Many of those jobs were heartbreakingly difficult. A few of them involved working with unscrupulous and horribly unpleasant people. Yet, in looking back, I can see that the most unpleasant of those jobs, in many cases, gave me the biggest dividends—the most valuable preparation for my proper life work.
And I have seen this happen in the destinies of hundreds of people. Periods which they thought were hopeless, dark, and of no possible practical value have turned out to be the most priceless experience they ever had. I know a girl who is a famous package designer for American industry. She was just given a promotion for which she competed with six well-qualified designers. Her past, like all of ours, had its good times and its bad times. One of the worst of the bad times was a period when she lost her husband and was left with two small children to support. She took a clerking job in a grocery store because her apartment was on the floor above it and between customers she could run up and keep an eye on the babies.
It was a two-year period of great despair, during which she was constantly on the verge of suicide. Yet the other day when she told me of her promotion to the top package design job, she exclaimed in astonishment, “And do you know that the single factor which swung it in my favor was that I alone had over-the-counter experience with the customers who buy our packaged foods!”
When people talk about the sweet uses of adversity, I think they unduly stress a grim and kind of hopeless resignation, a conviction that, like unpleasant medicine, it’s somehow “good for us.” But I think it’s much more than that. I know that the unhappy periods of our lives offer us concrete and useful plus-values, chief among them a heightened understanding and compassion for others. We may not see it at the time, we may consider the experience entirely wasted, but, as Emerson says, “The years teach much which the days never know.”
我相信，所谓“创造性”才能与普通才能间的差距不过是一种人为的不必要的区别。除非我们允许自己放弃希望，否则任何经历都会在找寻的过程中发挥作用。
也许我要说的这些话看起来像是为自己的生意做宣传，然而这却是我最了解的东西……我对它的信仰真诚而深切。
我相信，每个人都是天才——相比别人而言，有些事他可能做得更好。我相信，所谓“创造性”才能与普通才能间的差距不过是一种人为的不必要的区别。我认识的一些杀虫员、打字员、女侍者和机械工，他们在工作中所创造的快乐与实现的自我价值，也许是莎士比亚或爱因斯坦也无法超越的。
我在年少时曾读过托马斯.卡莱尔的一句话：“一个人若是找到适合自己的工作，他便是幸福的，请让他别再祈求其他的幸福了。”当时，我觉得这句话过于残酷沉闷，而如今才知道卡莱尔先生是正确的。当你找到世上你能做得最好的事情时，稳定的收入、快乐的人际关系以及平静的心情等所有奇妙的“副产品”都会接踵而来。我相信，除非你找到它，否则你对一切“副产品”的追求也不过是徒劳而已。
我也相信，除非我们允许自己放弃希望，否则任何经历都会在找寻的过程中发挥作用。就我而言，在找到合适的工作前，我曾尝试过34种不同的工作。其中有很多工作的艰难程度简直令人难耐。在有些工作中，还会与一些不道德且令人讨厌的人相处。但是，回过头来才领悟到，在很多情况下，我从那些最令人头疼的工作中得到了最丰厚的报酬，它们成为我正确事业生涯的最有价值的准备。
在成百上千人的命运中，我也看到了这一点。他们拥有的最宝贵的经历，正是那些曾经被认为绝望、黑暗、不可能有实用价值的时期。我的一位朋友现在是美国著名工业包装设计师。最近，在与6位高水平设计师的竞争中，她脱颖而出，得到了提升。像我们所有人一样，她的过去也有巅峰与低谷。她失去了丈夫，还得抚养两个孩子，那是她最艰难痛苦的时期。她在自家楼下找了一份杂货店营业员的工作，这样一来，在没有顾客时她就可以抽空跑上楼看看孩子。那是她最绝望的两年，期间她几度想要自杀。但是，在她告诉我她被提升为首席包装设计师的那天，她惊叹道：“你知道吗?只有我与购买我们包装食品的顾客有过直接的接触，而这正是我获得这份工作的唯一原因。”
我认为，人们在谈论逆境的益处时，过度强调了一种冷酷与绝望的顺从，一种良药苦口般的信仰——逆境或多或少都有益于我们。然而，我觉得它的益处远不止此。我知道，生活中的不幸会带给我们具体而有用的附加值，其中最主要的就是对人们更深切的理解与同情。也许，我们当时并未意识到这一点，也许会认为这些经历毫无价值，但是，正如爱默生所言：“年复一年所积累的学问，是每日每天所无法了解的。”
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