(英语美文欣赏

　 [美文欣赏]

　"We are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book whose pages are infinite..."

　I do not know who wrote those words, but I have always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want to make it. We can take the mysterious, hazy future and carve out of it anything that we can imagine, just as a sculptor carves a statue from a shapeless stone.

　We are all in the position of the farmer. If we plant a good seed, we reap a good harvest. If our seed is poor and full of weeds, we reap a useless crop. If we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.

　I want the future to be better than the past. I don’t want it contaminated by the mistakes and errors with which history is filled. We should all be concerned about the future because that is where we will spend the remainder of our lives.

　The past is gone and static. Nothing we can do will change it. The future is before us and dynamic. Everything we do will affect it. Each day brings with it new frontiers, in our homes and in our business, if we only recognize them. We are just at the beginning of the progress in every field of human endeavor.

　[参考译文]

　“我们正在读一本书的第一章第一行，这本书的页数是无限的……”

　我不知道是谁写的，可我很喜欢这句话，它提醒我们未来是由自己创造的。我们可以把神秘、不可知的未来塑造成我们想象中的任何模样，犹如雕刻家将未成形的石头刻成雕像。

　我们每个人都像是农夫。洒下良种将有丰收，播下劣种或生满野草便将毁去收成。没有耕耘则会一无所获。

　我希望未来比过去更加美好，希望未来不会沾染历史的错误与过失。我们都应举目向前，因我们的余生要用未来书写。

　往昔已逝，静如止水；我们无法再作改变。而前方的未来正生机勃勃；我们所做的每一件事都将会影响着它。只要我们认识到这些，无论是在家中还是在工作上，每天我们的面前都会展现出新的天地。在人类致力开拓的每一片领域上，我们正站在进步的起跑点。[美文欣赏]

　To a large degree, the measure of our peace of mind is determined by how much we are able to live on the present moment. Irrespective of what happened yesterday or last year, and what may or may not happen tomorrow, the present moment is where you are -- always!

　Without question, many of us have mastered the neurotic art of spending much of our lives worrying about variety of things -- all at once. We allow past problems and future concerns to dominate your present moments, so much so that we end up anxious, frustrated, depressed, and hopeless. On the flip side, we also postpone our gratification, our stated priorities, and our happiness, often convincing ourselves that "someday" will be much better than today. Unfortunately, the same mental dynamics that tell us to look toward the future will only repeat themselves so that 'someday' never actually arrives. John Lennone once said, "Life is what is happening while we are busy making other plans." When we are busy making 'other plans', our children are busy growing up, the people we love are moving away and dying, our bodies are getting out of shape, and our dreams are slipping away. In short, we miss out on life.

　Many people lives as if life is a dress rehearsal for some later date. It isn't. In fact, no one has a guarantee that he or she will be here tomorrow. Now is the only time we have, and the only time that we have any control over. When our attention is in the present moment, we push fear from our minds. Fear is the concern over events that might happen in the future -- we won't have enoughh money, our children will get into trouble, we will get old and die, whatever.

　To combat fear, the best stradegy is to learn to bring your attention back to the present. Mark Twain said,"I have been through some terrible things in life, some of which actually happened." I don't think I can say it any better. Practice keeping your attention on the here and now. Your effort will pay great dividends.

　[参考译文]

　我们内心是否平和在很大程度上是由我们是否能生活在现实之中所决定的．不管昨天或去年发生了什么，不管明天可能发生或不发生什么，现实才是你时时刻刻所在之处。

　毫无疑问，我们很多人掌握了一种神经兮兮的艺术，即把生活中的大部分时间花在为种种事情担心忧虑上－－而且常常是同时忧虑许多事情．

　我们听凭过去的麻烦和未来的担心控制我们此时此刻的生活，以至我们整日焦虑不安，委靡不振，甚至沮丧绝望．而另一方面我们又推迟我们的满足感，推迟我们应优先考虑的事情，推迟我们的幸福感，常常说服自己“有朝一日”会比今天更好．不幸的是，如此告戒我们朝前看的大脑动力只能重复来重复去，以至“有朝一日”不会真的来临．约翰．列侬曾经说过：“生活就是当我们忙于制定别的计划时发生的事．”当我们忙于指定种种＂别的计划＂时，我们的孩子在忙于长大，我们挚爱的人离去了甚至快去世了，我们的体型变样了，而我们的梦想也在消然溜走了．一句话，我们错过了生活。

　许多人的生活好象是某个未来日子的彩排，并非如此。事实上，没人能保证他或她肯定还活着。现在是我们所拥有的唯一时间，现在也是我们能控制的唯一的时间。当我们将注意力放在此时此刻时，我们就将恐惧置于脑后。恐惧就是我们担忧某些事情会在未来发生－－我们不讳有足够的钱，我们的孩子会惹上麻烦，我们会变老，会死去，诸如此类。

　若要克服恐惧心理，最佳策略是学会将你的注意力拉回此时此刻。马克．吐温说过：“我经历过生活中一些可怕的事情，有些的确发生过。”我想我说不出比这更具内涵的话。经常将注意力集中于此情此景，此时此刻，你的努力终会有丰厚的报偿。[美文欣赏]

　Everybody has blue days.

　These are miserable days when you feel lousy, grumpy, lonely, and utterly exhausted.Days when you feel small and insignificant, when everything seems just out of reach.You can’t rise to the occasion.Just getting started seems impossible.On blue days you can become paranoid that everyone is out to get you.This is not always such a bad thing.You feel frustrated and anxious, which can induce a nail-biting frenzy that can escalate into a triple-chocolate-mud-cake-eating frenzy in a blink of an eye!On blue days you feel like you’re floating in an ocean of sadness.You’re about to burst into tears at any moment and you don’t even know why.Ultimately, you feel like you’re wandering through life without purpose.You’re not sure how much longer you can hang on, and you feel like shouting,“Will someone please shoot me!”It doesn’t take much to bring on a blue day.You might just wake up not feeling or looking your best,find some new wrinkles, put on a little weight, or get a huge pimple on your nose.You could forget your date’s name or have an embarrassing photograph published.You might get dumped,divorced, or fired, make a fool of yourself in public, be afflicted with a demeaning nickname,or just have a plain old bad-hair day.Maybe work is a pain in the butt.You’re under major pressure to fill someone else’s shoes,your boss is picking on you, and everyone in the office is driving you crazy.You might have a splitting headache,or a slipped dish, bad breath, a toothache,chronic gas, dry lips, or a nasty ingrown toenail.Whatever the reason, you’re convinced that someone up there doesn’t like you.Oh what to do, what to do?

　[参考译文]

　每个人都有忧郁的时候。

　那些日子真是惨透了，你觉得心里乱糟糟的、怨气丛生、寂寞、整个人彻底的精疲力竭。那些日子总会让你感到自己的渺小和微不足道，每件事情似乎都够不着边。你根本无法振作起来。

　根本没有力气重新开始。

　在忧郁的日子里，你可能变成偏执狂，觉得每个人都想要吃定你。

　其实情况并不总是那么糟。你感到灰心、焦虑，可能开始神经质地拼命咬指甲，然后不可救药地陷入一眨眼吃掉三大块巧克力蛋糕的疯狂！ 在忧郁的日子里，你会觉得自己在悲伤的海里沉沉浮浮。不论在什么时候，你总有种想哭的冲动，却不知道为了什么。最后，你觉得自己犹如行尸走肉，失去生活目标。你不知道自己还可以撑多久，然后你想大喊一声：“谁来一枪把我打死吧！” 其实一点小事就让你一天都郁闷难当。也许只是一觉醒来，没有感觉到或者看到自己最棒的一面，发现自己又多了几条皱纹，又重了几斤，或是鼻子上冒出了一个大包。你可能忘记了约会对象的名字，或是有张可笑的照片被登出来。你或许被人抛弃、离了婚，或是被开除，当众出丑，被刻薄的绰号弄得心乱如麻，或许只因为你得整天顶着一个其丑无比的发型。

　也许工作让你痛苦得如坐针毡。你在强大的压力下顶替他人的位置，你的老板对你百般挑剔，办公室里的每一个人都让你发疯。你可能会头疼欲裂，或重心不稳跌个正着，口臭、牙痛、不停放屁、口干舌燥，或是指甲长到肉里头了。不管什么原因，你确定上面有人不喜欢你。

　唉，该怎么办，到底该怎么办呢？　[美文欣赏]

　“We are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book whose pages are infinite...”

　I do not know who wrote those words, but I have always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want to make it. We can take the mysterious, hazy future and carve out of it anything that we can imagine, just as a sculptor carves a statue from a shapeless stone.

　We are all in the position of the farmer. If we plant a good seed, we reap a good harvest. If our seed is poor and full of weeds, we reap a useless crop. If we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.

　I want the future to be better than the past. I don’t want it contaminated by the mistakes and errors with which history is filled. We should all be concerned about the future because that is where we will spend the remainder of our lives.

　The past is gone and static. Nothing we can do will change it. The future is before us and dynamic. Everything we do will affect it. Each day brings with it new frontiers, in our homes and in our business, if we only recognize them. We are just at the beginning of the progress in every field of human endeavor.

　[参考译文]

　“我们正在读一本书的第一章第一行，这本书的页数是无限的……”

　我不知道是谁写的，可我很喜欢这句话，它提醒我们未来是由自己创造的。我们可以把神秘、不可知的未来塑造成我们想象中的任何模样，犹如雕刻家将未成形的石头刻成雕像。

　我们每个人都像是农夫。洒下良种将有丰收，播下劣种或生满野草便将毁去收成。没有耕耘则会一无所获。

　我希望未来比过去更加美好，希望未来不会沾染历史的错误与过失。我们都应举目向前，因我们的余生要用未来书写。

　往昔已逝，静如止水；我们无法再作改变。而前方的未来正生机勃勃；我们所做的每一件事都将会影响着它。只要我们认识到这些，无论是在家中还是在工作上，每天我们的面前都会展现出新的天地。在人类致力开拓的每一片领域上，我们正站在进步的起跑点。[美文欣赏]

　Today I begin a new life.

　And I make a solemn oath to myself that nothing will retard my new life's growth. I will lose not a day from these readings for that day cannot be retrieved nor can I substitute another for it. I must not , I will not, break this habit of daily reading from these scrolls and, in truth, the few moments spent each day on this new habit are but a small price to pay for the happiness and success that will be mine.

　As I read and re-read the words in the scrolls to follow, never will I allow the brevity of each scroll nor the simplicity of its words to cause me to treat the scroll's message lightly. Thousands of grapes are pressed to fill one jar with wine, and the grapeskin and pulp are tossed to the birds. So it is with these grapes of wisdom from the ages. Much has been filtered and tossed to the wind.Only the pure truth lies distilled in the words to come. I will drink as instructed and spill not a drop. And the seed of success I will swallow.

　Today my old skin has become as dust. I will walk tall among men and they will know me not , for today I am a new man, with a new life.?

　[参考译文]

　今天，我开始新的生活

　我郑重地发誓，绝不让任何事情妨碍我新生命的成长。在阅读这些读物的时候，我绝不浪费一天的时间，因为时光一去不返，失去的日子是无法弥补的。我也绝不打破每天阅读的习惯。事实上，每天在这些新习惯上花费少许时间，相对于可能获得的愉乐与成功而言，只是微不足道的代价。

　当我阅读书卷中的字句时，绝不能因为文字的精炼而忽视内容的深沉。一瓶葡萄美酒需要千百颗果子酿制而成，果皮和渣子抛给小鸟。葡萄的智慧代代相传，有些被过滤，有些被淘汰，随风飘逝。只有纯正的真理才是永恒的。它们就精炼在我要阅读的文字中。我要依照指示，绝不浪费，饮下成功的种子。

　今天，我的老茧化为尘埃。我在人群中昂首阔步，不会有人认出我来，因为我不再是过去的自己、我已拥有新的生命。