英语阅读美文

　 Love is action

　"If I never saw this kid again, Lord, I wouldn't be sorry!" I thought. Tears clouded my eyes as I stood in our laundry room（洗衣间） . Clenched（紧握的） in both hands were new jeans and a shirt belonging to my 16-year-old stepson, Brett. The clothing was already destroyed from burn holes and vomit stains（污点） after a drunken binge（狂欢，放纵） .

　Exhausted and defeated, I sank to the floor. The clothes were just one more thing Brett had ruined. He had already kicked a large hole in his bedroom wall; his bedcovers（床罩） were torn. Numerous windows in our house needed repair due to his breaking in to steal money when he chose to live on the street. Yet none of this could compare to the emotional damage Brett had inflicted（遭受，给予） on our once quiet home.

　I knew that Brett's needs were deep, and I had often prayed for wisdom and love. The second greatest commandment, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," had taken on new meaning when Brett came to live with us when he was 12 years old. If I were to love my neighbor, was I not to love my own troubled stepson even more?

　During those four years I had dealt with Brett as patiently as possible, but inside I was churning. "I don't want him in my house another day, Lord," I cried as I knelt on the laundry room floor. "I just can't stand him!"

　Chest heaving, I poured out my despair. Then God tenderly spoke to me in my weakness. Matthew 25:35-40 rose in my thoughts---Jesus' declaration that when we invite a stranger, feed the hungry, clothe the naked or visit those in prison, we are doing it as unto Him. For the first time I saw this story in light of the action words. Jesus was saying, "Act. Meet these people's needs. Through your actions you are loving them and Me."

　God's encouragement to me that day helped me to gather strength and continue parenting Brett. Still, Brett did not change his behavior.

　When Brett was nearly 18, he landed again in Juvenile Hall, this time on suicide watch. Through prayer, my husband, Dave, and I sensed God's leading to send Brett to a boarding school（寄宿学校） with a high success rate for helping troubled teens.

　The psychological training at Brett's school was rigorous（严格的，严酷的） . Out of more than 20 people in his class, Brett was one of only five graduates.

　At the graduation ceremony the graduates stood one by one to thank those who had helped them. Each graduate held a long-stemmed, white rosebud to give to the person who had meant the most to him or her.

　Brett spoke lovingly to his mother and father and for the first time took responsibility for the heartaches he had caused.

　Finally Brett spoke to me. "You did so much," he said. "You were always there, no matter what. My mom and dad, I was their kid. But you just got stuck with me. All the same you always showed me such love. And I want you to know that I love you for it."

　Stunned, I stood as Brett placed the white rosebud in my hand and hugged me hard.

　At that moment I realized the truth in God's words to me. Although I had struggled with silent anger toward my stepson, Brett had seen only my actions.

　Love is action. We may not always have positive feelings about certain people in our lives. But we can love them.

　My love tree

　For years I wanted a flower garden. I'd spend hours thinking of different things I could plant that would look nice together.

　But then we had Matthew. And Marvin. And the twins, Alisa and Alan. And then Helen. Five children. I was too busy raising them to grow a garden.

　Money was tight, as well as time. Often when my children were little, one of them would want something that cost too much, and I'd have to say, "Do you see a money tree outside? Money doesn't grow on trees, you know."

　Finally, all five got through high school and college and were off on their own. I started thinking again about having a garden.

　I wasn't sure, though. I mean, gardens do cost money, and after all these years I was used to living on a pretty lean（贫乏的） , no-frills budget.

　Then, one spring morning, on Mother's Day, I was working in my kitchen. Suddenly, I realized that cars were tooting（吹奏，狂欢） their horns as they drove by. I looked out the window and there was a new tree, planted right in my yard. I thought it must be a weeping willow（垂柳） , because I saw things blowing around on all its branches. Then I put my glasses on - and I couldn't believe what I saw.

　There was a money tree in my yard!

　I went outside to look. It was true! There were dollar bills, one hundred of them, taped all over that tree. Think of all the garden flowers I could buy with one hundred dollars! There was also a note attached: "IOU eight hours of digging time. Love, Marvin."

　Marvin kept his promise, too. He dug up a nice ten-by-fifteen foot bed for me. And my other children bought me tools, ornaments（装饰品） , a trellis（格子，框架） , a sunflower stepping stone and gardening books.

　That was three years ago. My garden's now very pretty, just like I wanted. When I go out and weed（除草，铲除） or tend my flowers, I don't seem to miss my children as much as I once did. It feels like they're right there with me.

　I live up in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, where winters are long and cold, and summers are way too short. But every year now, when winter sets in, I look out my window and think of the flowers I'll see next spring in my little garden. I think about what my children did for me, and I get tears in my eyes - every time.

　I'm still not sure that money grows on trees. But I know love does!

　I love you and I hate you

　It is the true test of how human we really are. How much we can accept in our fellow humans. And really how much we want to accept. If we accept too much does that make us strong. And if we don't accept enough does that make us weak. Or is it the other way around（从相反方向，倒过来） ?

　All these things are a true test of how much you are capable of loving.

　We all are born into this world with one thought - I shall love and be loved.

　I am not afraid of love I am afraid of what too much love for the wrong reasons can do. It can make you into a person that you don't know you have become until it is all-wrong.

　Until the day you look in the mirror and the reflection is not yours.

　We marry our true love and then as time goes by we tend to lose whom we once were. And if we can't find ourselves during this time of marriage then we become a shell that will eventually crack. And your marriage will soon become a divorce statistic（统计数值） .

　Marriage is commitment to the love you have for someone but it should not be the end of your identity. Because if you let it then you will truly Love You But Hate You.

　Kahlil Gibran best said it many years ago in The Prophet on Marriage:

　We need to remember that I will love you but I will not become you. I will not allow us to become one. Love when people are like meet my other half - what? And especially when they throw in the humor meet my better half. It's there way of being all happy and cute. But is it setting yourselves up for a relationship that in time will fail? I guess it all depends on how independent of a person you were prior to（之前，居先） becoming one. And will losing your independence really be an issue.

　So don't be duped（欺骗，愚弄） into the relationship tricks. Be yourself and enjoy your partner as himself or herself not as you want them to be. Because you did fall in love with them knowing who they are.

　Miracle happens

　"There's a new student waiting in your room," my principal announced, hurrying past me on the stairs. "Name's Mary. I need to talk to you about her. Stop in the office later."

　I nodded and glanced down（匆匆阅读） at the packs of pink, red and white paper, and the jars of paste（糊状物） and boxes of scissors I held in my arms. "Fine," I said. "I've just come from the supply room. We're making valentine envelopes this morning. It'll be a good way for her to get acquainted（使了解） ."

　This was my third year of teaching fourth-graders, but I was already aware how much they loved Valentine's Day (now just a week away), and making these bright containers to tape to the fronts of their desks was a favorite activity. Mary would surely be caught up in the excitement and be chatting cheerfully with new friends before the project was finished. Humming to myself, I continued up the stairs.

　I didn't see her at first. She was sitting in the back of the room with her hands folded in her lap. Her head was down and long, light-brown hair fell forward, caressing the softly shadowed cheeks.

　"Welcome, Mary," I said. "I'm so glad you'll be in our room. And this morning you can make an envelope to hold your valentines for our party on Valentine's Day."

　No response. Had she heard me?

　"Mary," I said again, slowly and distinctly.

　She raised her head and looked into my eyes. The smile on my face froze. A chill went through me and I stood motionless. The eyes in that sweet, little-girl face were strangely empty - as if the owner of a house had drawn the blinds and gone away. Once before I had seen such eyes: They had belonged to an inmate of a mental institution, one I'd visited as a college student. "She's found life unendurable（无法忍受的） ," the resident psychiatrist（精神病学家） had explained, "so she's retreated from the world." She had, he went on, killed her husband in a fit of insane jealousy.

　But this child - she could have been my own small, lovable niece except for those blank, desolate（荒凉的） eyes. Dear God, I thought, what horror has entered the life of this innocent little girl?

　I longed to take her in my arms and hug the hurt away. Instead, I pulled books from the shelf behind her and placed them in her lap. "Here are texts you'll be using, Mary. Would you like to look at them?" Mechanically, she opened each book, closed it and resumed her former position.

　The bell rang then, and the children burst in on a wave of cold, snowy air. When they saw the valentine materials on my desk, they bubbled with excitement.

　There was little time to worry about Mary that first hour. I took attendance, settled Mary into her new desk and introduced her. The children seemed subdued（被制服的，减弱的） and confused when she failed to acknowledge the introduction or even raise her head.

　Quickly, in order to divert them, I distributed materials for the envelopes and suggested ways to construct and decorate（装饰，布置） them. I placed materials on Mary's desk, too, and asked Kristie, her nearest neighbor, to offer help.

　With the children happily engrossed（全神贯注的） , I escaped to the office. "Sit down," my principal said, "and I'll fill you in." The child, she said, had been very close to her mother, living alone with her in a Detroit suburb. One night, several weeks ago, someone had broken into their home and shot and killed the mother in Mary's presence. Mary escaped, screaming, to a neighbor's. Then the child went into shock. She hadn't cried or mentioned her mother since.

　The principal sighed and then went on. "Authorities sent her here to live with her only relative - a married sister. The sister enrolled Mary this morning. I'm afraid we'll get little help from her. She's divorced, with three small children to support. Mary is just one more responsibility."

　"But what can I do?" I stammered（口吃，结巴） . "I've never known a child like this before." I felt so inadequate.

　"Give her love," she suggested, "lots and lots of love. She's lost so much. There's prayer, too - and faith, faith that will make her a normal little girl again if you just don't lose hope."

　I returned to my room to discover that the children were already shunning（回避） this "different" child. Not that Mary noticed. Even kindly little Kristie looked affronted（被冒犯的） . "She won't even try," she told me.

　I sent a note to the principal to remove Mary from the room for a short time. I needed to enlist the children's help before recess, before they could taunt（逗弄，奚落） her about being "different."

　"Mary's been hurt badly," I explained gently, "and she's so quiet because she's afraid she'll be hurt again. You see, her mother just died, and there's no one else who loves her. You must be very patient and understanding. It may be a long time before she's ready to laugh and join in your games, but you can do a lot to help her."

　Bless all children. How loving they can be once they understand. On Valentine's Day, Mary's envelope overflowed. She looked at each card without comment and replaced it in her container. She didn't take them home, but at least she looked at them.

　She arrived at school insufficiently dressed for the bitterly cold weather. Her raw, chapped hands - without mittens（手套） - cracked and bled. Although she seemed oblivious to sore hands and the cold, I sewed buttons on her thin coat, and the children brought caps, scarves（围巾） , sweaters and mittens. Kristie, like a little mother, helped Mary bundle up before she went outdoors, and she insisted on walking to and from school with her.

　In spite of our efforts, we seemed to be getting no closer to Mary as the cold, dreary（沉闷的，枯燥的） March days dragged by. Even my faith was wearing thin. My heart ached so desperately, wanting this child to come alive, to be aware of the beauty the wonder, the fun - and, yes - even the pain of living.

　Dear God, I prayed, please let one small miracle happen. She needs it so desperately.

　Then on a late March day, one of the boys excitedly reported a robin（知更鸟） in the schoolyard. We flocked to the window to see it. "Spring's here!" the children cried. "Let's make a flower border for the room!"

　Why not? I thought. Anything to lift our spirits. This time the papers we selected were beautiful pastel（蜡笔，颜料） colors - with brown strips to weave into baskets. I showed the children how to weave the baskets and how to fashion all the flowers we welcome in early spring. Remembering the valentine incident, I expected nothing from Mary; nevertheless, I placed the beautifully colored papers on her desk and encouraged her to try. Then I left the children to do their own creating, and I spent the next half-hour sorting scraps of paper at the back of the room.

　Suddenly, Kristie came hurrying to me, her face aglow（通红的） . "Come see Mary's basket," she exclaimed. "It's so pretty! You'll never believe it!"

　I caught my breath at its beauty. The gently curled petals（花瓣，翼瓣） of hyacinths（风信子） , the daffodils'（水仙花） fluted（有凹槽的） cups, skillfully fashioned crocuses（番红花） and violets - work one would expect from a child much older.

　"Mary," I said. "This is beautiful. How did you ever manage?"

　She looked at me with the shining eyes of any normal little girl. "My mother loved flowers," she said simply. "She had all of these growing in our garden."

　Thank you, God, I said silently. You've given us the miracle. I knelt and put my arms around the child. Then the tears came, slowly at first, but soon she was sobbing her heart out against my shoulder. The other children had tears in their eyes, too, but theirs - like mine - were tears of joy.

　We fastened her basket in the very center of the border at the front of the room. It remained there until school ended in June. On the last day, Mary held it carefully as she carried it out the door. Then she came running back, pulled a crocus from her basket and handed it to me. "This is for you," she said, and she gave me a hug and a Mary moved away that summer. I lost track of her, but I'll never forget her. And I know God is caring for her.

　I've kept the crocus in my desk ever since - just to remind me of Mary and of the enduring power of love and faith.

　Girls of summer 夏日女孩

　We lived on the banks of the Tennessee River, and we owned the summers when we were girls. We ran wild through humid（潮湿的，湿润的） summer days that never ended but only melted one into the other. We floated down rivers of weekdays with no school, no rules , no parents, and no constructs（构图，建筑物） other than our fantasies. We were good girls, my sister and I. We had nothing to rebel against. This was just life as we knew it, and we knew the summers to be long and to be ours.

　The road that ran past our house was a one-lane rural route. Every morning, after our parents had gone to work, I'd wait for the mail lady to pull up to（追上） our box. Some days I would put enough change for a few stamps into a mason jar（玻璃瓶） lid and leave it in the mailbox. I hated bothering mail lady with this transaction（交易，办理） , which made her job take longer. But I liked that she knew that someone in our house sent letters into the outside world.

　I liked walking to the mailbox in my bare feet and leaving footprints on the dewy（带露水的） grass. I imagined that feeling the wetness on the bottom of my feet made me a poet. I had never read poetry, outside of some Emily Dickinson. But I imagined that people who knew of such things would walk to their mailboxes through the morning dew（晨露） in their bare feet.

　We planned our weddings with the help of Barbie dolls and the tiny purple wild flowers growing in our side yard. We became scientists and tested concoctions（调和，混合） of milk, orange juice, and mouthwash（漱口水） . We ate handfuls of bittersweet（苦乐参半的） chocolate chips and licked peanut butter（花生酱） off spoons. When we ran out of sweets to eat, we snitched sugary Flintstones vitamins out of the medicine cabinet. We became masters of the Kraft macaroni（通心面条） and cheese lunch, and we dutifully called our mother at work three times a day to give her updates on our adventures. But don't call too often or speak too loudly or whine too much, we told ourselves, or else they'll get annoyed and she'll get fired and the summers will end.

　We shaped our days the way we chose, far from the prying（爱打听的，窥探的） eyes of adults. We found our dad's Playboys and charged the neighborhood boys money to look at them. We made crank（易怒的） calls around the county, telling people they had won a new car. "What kind?" they'd ask. "Red," we'd always say. We put on our mom's old prom（舞会） dresses, complete with gloves and hats, and sang backup to the C.W. McCall song convoy, " which we'd found on our dad's turntable.

　We went on hikes into the woods behind our house, crawling under barbed wire fences and through tangled undergrowth. Heat and humidity（湿度，湿气） found their way throught he leaves to our flushed faces. We waded in streams that we were always surprised to come across. We walked past cars and auto parts that had been abandoned（抛弃） in the woods, far from any road. We'd reach the tree line and come out unexpectedly into a cow pasture（牧场，牧草） . We'd perch on the gate or stretch out on the large flat limes（边界，界限） tone outcrop that marked the end of the Woods Behind Our House.

　One day a thunderstorm blew up along the Tennessee River. It was one of those storms that make the day go dark and the humidity disappear. First it was still and quiet. There was electricity in the air and then the sharp crispness（易碎，酥脆） of a summer day being blown wide open as the winds rushed in. We threw open all the doors and windows. We found the classical radio station from two towns away and turned up the bass and cranked up（把声音调大，启动） the speakers. We let the wind blow in and churn（搅动，搅拌） our summer day around. We let the music we were only vaguely（暧昧地，含糊地） familiar with roar（吼叫，咆哮） through the house. And we twirled（转动，旋转） . We twirled in the living room in the wind and in the music. We twirled and we imagined that we were poets and dancers and scientists and spring brides.

　We twirled and imagined that if we could let everything --- the thunder, the storm, the wind , the world --- into that house in the banks of the Tennessee River, we could live in our summer dreams forever. When we were girls.

　Shining light in dark corners

　"Dr.Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?"

　The usual laughter followed, and people stirred（激起，惹起） to go.

　Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.

　"I will answer your question."

　Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold（皮夹子） and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.

　And what he said went like this:

　"When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. A German motorcycle had been wrecked（失事） in that place.

　"I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one, and, by scratching（擦伤，刮痕） it on a stone, I made it round. I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine---in deep holes and crevices（裂缝） and dark closets. It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.

　"I kept the little mirror, and, as I went about（四处走动） my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game. As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a metaphor（比喻，暗喻） for what I might do with my life. I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light---truth, understanding, knowledge---is there, and it will shine in many dark places only if I reflect it.

　"I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world---into the black places in the hearts of men---and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."

　Abundance 富足

　Abundance is a life style, a way of living your life. It isn’t something you buy now and then（偶尔，有时） or pull down from the cupboard, dust off（抹去灰尘） and use once or twice, and then return to the cupboard.

　Abundance is a philosophy（哲学，人生观） ; it appears in your physiology（生理学，生理机能） , your value system, and carries its own set of beliefs. You walk with it, sleep with it, bath with it, feel with it, and need to maintain and take care of it as well.

　Abundance doesn’t always require money. Many people live with all that money can buy yet live empty inside. Abundance begins inside with some main self-ingredients（材料） , like love, care, kindness and gentleness, thoughtfulness and compassion. Abundance is a state of being. It radiates（传播，辐射） outward. It shines like the sun among the many moons in the world.

　Being from the brightness of abundance doesn’t allow the darkness to appear or be in the path unless a choice to allow it to. The true state of abundance doesn’t have room for lies or games normally played. The space is too full of abundance. This may be a challenge because we still need to shine for other to see.

　Abundance is seeing people for their gifts and not what they lack or could be. Seeing all things for their gifts and not what they lack.

　Start by knowing what your abundances are, fill that space with you, and be fully present from that state of being. Your profession of choice is telling you of knowing and possibilities. That is their gift. Consultants（咨询顾问） and customer service professionals have the ministrative assistants and virtual assistants have an abundance of coordination and time management. Abundance is all around you, and all within. See what it is; love yourself for what it is, not what you’re missing, or what that can be better, but for what it is at this present moment.

　Learning to trust in your own abundance is required. When you begin to be within your own space of abundance, whatever you need will appear whenever you need it. That’s just the way the higher powers set this universe up to work. Trust the universal energy. The knowing of it all will humble（使谦恭） you to its power yet let the brightness of you shine everywhere it needs to. Just by being from a state of abundance, it is being you.

　Cherish the Present

　"No difference in the past, non-attachment the future, do not play on the now. Anju now, and happy to live the moment", which Buddhist（佛教徒） Feeling deep sentence, which fell heart, the mind immediately let me have far-reaching everywhere cool.

　The moment, how to attract, how temptation（引诱，诱惑） . It is readily available, but fleeting（飞逝的，转瞬的） . Where the snow is like a cold wind plum, frozen ice core incense（香气） , but also lonely and also gorgeous（华丽的，灿烂的） . Also like the warm touch of spring green where it faces the prospect of Tucui also delicate tender again.

　And now, and is now, that is not lost treasure in time, before you regret You quietly walked here and now. To me, it is now a tea, a book, a flower, a song, and even a tiny ladybug（瓢虫） , with their ordinary, but they can give me a heart filled with wonderful, original, I was in such a manner like now, like the Enron itself here and now.

　Yes, everything around arouses love, even if it is a small friction（摩擦） happy with me, here and now, love and hate have become a deeper appreciation, without much deliberate, without too much cover up, just a bit simple, a little wonderful heart, until we slowly this time, spending just right.

　So, ordinary times where it is a good day and day, and obviously have arouses pity. A non-dye heart, a little Zen itself, so that the days wonderful, there are cavity（洞，腔） tune. Life has been so calm and comfortable, so smooth, noisy and impetuous（冲动的，猛烈的） , I am far away from, I just want a quiet clear in jealously guarding its Rin, in the flat to enjoy a mild taste of the joy of a lonely.

　This world is intricate（复杂的，错综的） , and criss-cross, wrapped around wrapped（卷绕的，环绕的） around a bit with little trouble runs through the mind, what little trouble, if not pay attention to it, will gradually disappear, if it has repeatedly missed it, retaining possession of it, it will be more and more intractable（倔强的，棘手的） . Buddhist phrase: "hungry to eat, sleep on sleep." It is simple and it is normal. May ask, how many people dull this world, sleep can not rest .

　If we do not want to hurt I just want peace of mind to live in quiet air, then we must be clued. Avoidance has been much stronger than a mass of bruises, we are only targeted at serious walking, not artificial, not hypocrites（伪君子） , do not behave themselves, but must not be presumptuous（专横的，放肆的） arrogance. We are only targeted optimistic about their own now, it has been exceeded, more exciting.

　My Mother -- The other Woman in My Life

　After 21 years of marriage, I discovered a new way of keeping alive the spark of love.

　A little while ago I had started to go out with another woman. It was really my wife's idea.

　"I know that you love her," she said one day, taking me by surprise.

　The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my mother.

　She had been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally.

　That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie.

　"What's wrong, are you well?" she asked. My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news.

　"I thought that it would be pleasant to pass some time with you,"

　I responded, "just the two of us."

　She thought about it for a moment then said, "I would like that very much."

　That Friday after work as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date.

　She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled（卷曲，环绕） her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary.

　She smiled from a face that was as radiant（容光焕发的，光芒四射的） as an angel's.

　"I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed," she said, as she got into the car. "They can't wait to hear about our meeting."

　We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy（舒适的，惬意的） . My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady.

　After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half way through the entree（主菜） , I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic（怀旧的，乡愁的） smile was on her lips.

　"It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small," she said.

　"Then it's time that you relax and let me return the favor," I responded.

　During the dinner we had an agreeable（令人愉快的） conversation, nothing extraordinary, but catching up on recent events of each other's lives. We talked so much that we missed the movie.

　As we arrived at her house later she said, "I'll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you."

　I agreed.

　 “How was your dinner date?”my wife asked when I got home.

　 “Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined,”I answered.

　A few days later my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn't have a chance to do anything for her.

　Some time later I received an envelope with a copy of a restaurant receipt from the same place mother and I had dined.

　An attached note said: “I paid this bill in a