下面是范文网小编分享的英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树12篇 一棵树英语作文，以供参考。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树1
英语短篇美文励志：你可以过自己想过的生活
Occasionally, life can be undeniably, impossibly difficult. We are faced with challenges and events that can seem overwhelming, life-destroying to the point where it may be hard to decide whether to keep going. But you always have a choice. Jessica Heslop shares her powerful, inspiring journey from the worst times in her life to the new life she has created for herself:
生活有时候困难得难以置信，但又不容置疑。我们面临的挑战与困境似乎无法抵御，试图毁灭我们生活，甚至使你犹疑是否继续走下去。但是你总有选择的余地。从人生低谷走向新生活的杰西卡·赫斯乐普，在这里与我们分享她启迪心灵、充满震撼力的生活之旅。
In I had the worst year of my life.
是我生活中最艰难的一年。
I worked in a finance job that I hated and I lived in a concrete jungle city with little greenery. I occupied my time with meaningless relationships and spent copious quantities of money on superficialities. I was searching for happiness and had no idea where to find it.
我做着讨厌的财务工作，住在难寻绿色的高楼林立的城市。我忙于无意义的交往，在一些肤浅表面的东西上大笔开销。我寻找快乐，却又不知道它在哪里。
Then I fell ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and became virtually bed bound. I had to quit my job and subsequently was left with no income. I lived with my boyfriend of then only 3 months who financially supported me and our relationship was put under great pressure. I eventually regained my physical health, but not long after that I got a call from my family at home to say that my father’s cancer had fiercely progressed and that he had been admitted to a hospice.
然后我患上了慢性疲劳综合症，几乎到了卧床不起的地步。我不得不辞掉工作，同时也就断了财源。我和那时仅相处了3个月的男友住在一起，经济上完全依赖于他，我们的关系承受着巨大压力。终于我恢复健康，但不久，我接到家里的电话，父亲的癌症急剧恶化，已经住进了临终关怀中心。
I left the city and I went home to be with him.
我离开了城市，回家陪父亲。
He died 6 months later.
6个月之后，他去世了。
My father was a complete inspiration to me. He was always so strong that, for a minute after he drew his last breath, I honestly thought he would come back to life. I couldn’t believe I would never again cuddle into his big warm chest and feel safe no matter what.
父亲的事让我彻底清醒。他一直很强壮，在他咽气之后一分钟里，我真的认为，他会活过来。我不能相信，我再也不能依偎在他温暖的怀抱里，享受他宽大的胸怀带给我的安全感。
The grief that followed was intense for all of us 5 children and our mother, but we had each other.
母亲和我们5个兄弟姐妹极为难过，但至少我们还拥有彼此。
But my oldest sister at that time complained of a bad back. It got so bad after 2 months that she too was admitted to hospital.
但是，那时我大姐开始抱怨着背痛，2个月后，因疼痛加剧也住进了医院。
They discovered that she had highly advanced cancer in her bones and that there was nothing that they could do.
医生们检查发现，她已是骨癌晚期，对此他们已无能为力。
She died 1 month later.
1个月之后，她也走了。
I could never put into words the loss of my sister in my life.
大姐的逝去让我陷入难以形容的痛苦之中。
She was a walking, talking angel and my favourite person in the whole world. If someone could have asked me the worst thing that could ever happen, it would have been losing her.
在这个世界上，她是一个能走路、会说话的天使，我最喜欢的人。如果有人问我，世界上发生的最坏的事情是什么，那就是失去她。
She was my soul-mate and I never thought I would journey this lifetime without her.
她是我的灵魂伴侣，我从来没有想过，我会走过没有她陪伴的生命旅程。
英语短篇美文励志：The Moment Of Deliberate Choice
抉择时刻
The shock and extreme heart break brought me to my knees. The pain was so great and my world just looked desolate. I had no real home, no money, no job, and no friends that cared. Not one person had even sent me a sympathy card for my loss.
我被打击和极度的心痛击挎了。强烈的痛苦使世界在我眼中变得如此凄凉。我没有真正意义上的家，没有钱，没有工作，也没有关心我的朋友。没有一个人因我失去亲人而寄给我慰问卡。
I made an attempt of my own life and I ended up in hospital.
我尝试着活下去，结果住进了医院。
I remember lying in the hospital bed, looking up at the ceiling and seeing my sister’s beautiful face. She stayed with me all night long.
我记得，躺在病床上，看着天花板，看到姐姐美丽的面庞。她整夜守候着我。
I realised during that night that I had a choice. I could choose to end my life or I could choose to live it.
那天晚上，我意识到我可以选择。要么结束生命，要么活下去。
I looked in my sister’s eyes and I made a decision not to go with her just yet. That I would stay and complete my journey here.
望着姐姐的眼睛，我决定不跟她走。我要留下来，走完我的生命旅程。
I also made the decision that, I wouldn’t just live any life. I would live the life that I absolutely LOVE and nothing less.
同时，我还决定，不只为生活而生活，我要完全以自己想要的方式生活。
In that moment, the clarity that descended around me was like a light shining in a dark room for the first time. As if the earth’s plates had shifted under my feet and everything suddenly looked real for the first time.
在那一刻，这一想法第一次清晰得如同一盏在黑暗闪烁的明灯。好像脚下的地球版块变换了，每一样东西在我眼前都真实得前所未有。
英语短篇美文励志：《Today I begin a new life》
Today I shed my old skin which hath, too long, suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediority.
Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.
Today I will pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and fullest vines in the vineyard,for these were planted by the wisest of my profession who have come before me,generation upon generation.
Today I will savor the taste of grapes from these vines and verily I will swallow the seed of success buried in each and new life will sprout within me.
The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet it is fraught with heartbreak and despair and the bodies of those who have failed, were they piled one atop another, would cast a shadow down upon all the pyramids of the earth.
Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts which will guide through perilous waters to shores which only yesterday seemed but a dream.
Failure no longer will be my payment for struggle. Just as nature made no provision for my body to tolerate pain neither has it made any provision for my life to suffer failure. Failure, like pain, is alien to my life. In the past I accepted it as I accepted pain. Now I reject it and I am prepared for wisdom and principles which will guide me out of the shadows into the sunlight of wealth, position, and happiness far beyond my most extravagant dreams until even the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides will seem no more than my just reward.
Time teaches all things to him who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity. Yet within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste. To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesman.
And how will this be accomplished? For I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to achieve the greatness and already I have stumbled in ignorance and fallen into pools of self-pity. The answer is simple. I will commence my journey unencumbered with either the weight of unnecessary knowledge or the handicap of meaningless experience. Nature already has supplied me with knowledge and instinct far greater than any beast in the forest and the value of experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.
In truth, experience teaches thoroughly yet her course of instruction devours men's years so the value of her lessons diminishes with the time necessary to acquire her special wisdom. The end finds it wasted on dead men. Furthermore, experience is comparable to fashion; an action that proved successful today will be unworkable and impractical tomorrow.
Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls. What they will teach me is more to prevent failure than to gain success, for what is success other than a state of mind? Which two, among a thouand wise men, will define success in the same words; yet failure is always described but one way. Failure is man's inability to reach his goals in life, whatever they may be.
In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have successed lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which precedeth all others is --I will form good habits and become their slave.
As a child I was slave to my impulses; now I am slave to my habits, as are all grown men. I have surrendered my free will to the years of accumulated habits and the past deeds of my life have already marked out a path which threatens to imprison my future. My actions are ruled by appetite, passion, prejudice, greed, love, fear, environment, habit, and the worst of these tyrants is habit. Therefore, if I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits. My bad habits must be destroyed and new furrows prepared for good seed.
I will form good habits and become their slave.
And how will I accomplish this difficult feat? Through these scrolls, it will be done, for each scroll contains a principle which will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which will bring me closer to success. For it is another of nature's laws that only a habit can subdue another habit. So, in order for these written words to perform their chosen task, I must discipline myself with the first of my new habits which is as follows:
I will read each scroll for thirty days in this prescribed manner, before I proceed to the next scroll.
First, I will read the words in silence when I arise. Then, I will read the words in silence after I have partaken of my midday meal. Last, I will read the words again just before I retire at day's end, and most important, on this occasion I will read the words aloud.
On the next day I will repeat this procedure, and I will continue in like manner for thirty days. Then, I will turn to the next scroll and repeat this procedure for another thirty days. I will continue in this manner until I have lived with each scroll for thirty days and my reading has become habit.
And what will be accomplished with this habit? Herein lies the hidden secret of all man's accomplishments. As I repeat the words daily they will soon become a part of my active mind, but more important, they will also seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.
As the words of these scrolls are consumed by my mysterious mind I will begin to awake, each morning, with a vitality I have never known before. My vigor will increase, my enthusiasm will rise, my desire to meet the world will overcome every fear I once knew at sunrise, and I will be happier than I ever believed it possible to be in this world of strife and sorrow.
Eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I was commanded in the scrolls to react, and soon these actions and reactions will become easy to perform, for any act with practice becomes easy.
Thus a new and good habit is born, for when an act becomes easy through constant repetiton it becomes a pleasure to perform and if it is a pleasure to perform it is man's nature to perform it often. When I perform it often it becomes a habit and I become its slave and since it is a good habit this is my will.
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.
《今天，我天始新的生活》
今天，我爬出满是失败创伤的老茧。
今天，我重新来到这个世上，我出生在葡萄园中，国内的葡萄任人享用。
今天，我要从最高最密的藤上摘下智慧的果实，这葡萄藤是好几代前的智者种下的。
今天，我要品尝葡萄的美味，还要吞下每一位成功的种子，让新生命在我心里萌牙。
我选择的道路充满机遇，也有辛酸与绝望.失败的同伴数不胜数，叠在一起，比金字塔还高。
然而，我不会像他们一样失败，因为我手中持有航海图，可以领我越过汹涌的大海，抵达梦中的彼岸.
失败不再是我奋斗的代价.它和痛苦都将从我的生命中消失。失败和我，就像水火一样，互不相容。我不再像过去一样接受它们。我要在智慧的指引下，走出失败的阴影，步入富足、健康、快乐的乐园，这些都超出了我以往的梦想. 我要是能长生不老，就可以学到一切，但我不能永生，所以，在有限的人生里，我必须学会忍耐的艺术，因为大自然的行为一向是从容不迫的.造物主创造树中之王橄摊树需要一百年的时间，而洋葱经过短短的九个星期就会枯老.我不留恋从前那种洋葱式的生活，我要成为万树之王——橄榄树，成为现实生活中最伟大的推销员.
怎么可能?我既没有渊博的知识，又没有丰富的经验，况且，我曾一度跌入愚昧与自怜的深渊.答案很简单。我不会让所谓的知识或者经验妨碍我的行程.造物生已经赐予我足够的知识和本能，这份天赋是其它生物望尘莫及的。经验的价值往往被高估了，人老的时候开口讲的多是糊涂话.说实在的，经验确实能教给我们很多东西，只是这需要花费太长的时间.等到人们获得智慧的时候，其价值已随着时间的消逝而减少了.结果往往是这样，经验丰富了，人也余生无多.经验和时尚有关，适合某一时代的行为,并不寻味着在今天仍然行得通。
只有原则是持久的，而我现在正拥有了这些原则.这些可以指引我走向成功的原则全写在这几张羊皮卷里.它教我如何避免失败，而不只是获得成功，因为成功更是一种精神状态.人们对于成功的定义，见仁见智，而失败却往往只有一种解释:失败就是一个人没能达到他的人生目标，不论这些目标是什么。
事实上，成功与失败的最大分野，来自不同的习惯。好习惯是开启成员的钥匙，坏习惯则是一扇向失败敞开的门。因此，我首先要做的便是养成良好的习惯，全心全意去实行。
小时候.我常会感情用事，长大成人了，我要用良好的习惯代替一时的冲动。我的自由意志屈服于多年养成的恶习，它们威胁着我的前途。我的行为受到品味、情感、偏见、欲望、爱、恐惧、环境和习惯的影响，其中最厉害的就是习惯。因此.如果我必须受习惯支配的话，那就让我受好习惯的支配。那些坏习惯必须戒除，我要在新的田地里播种好的种子。 我要养成良好的习惯，全心全意去实行。
这不是轻而易举的事情，要怎样才能做到呢，靠这些羊皮卷就能做到。因为每～卷里都写着一个原则，可以摒除—项坏习惯，换取一个好习惯，使人进步，走向成功。这也是自然法则之一，只有一种习惯才能抑制另一种习惯。所以，为了走好我选择的道路，我必须养成的第一个习惯
每张羊皮卷用三十天的时间阅读，然后再进人下一卷。 清晨即起，默默诵读;午饭之后，再次默读;夜晚睡前，高声朗读。
第二天的情形完全一样。这样重复三十天后，就可以打开下一卷了。每一卷都依照同样的方法读上三十天，久而久之，它们就成为一种习惯了。
这些习惯有什么好处呢?这里隐含着人类成功的秘诀。当我每天重复这些话的时候，它何成了我精神活动的一部分，更重要的是，它们渗入我的心灵。拥是个神秘的世界，永不静止，创造梦境，在不知不觉中影响我的行为。
当这些羊皮卷上的文字，被我奇妙的心灵完全吸收之后，我每天都会充满活力地醒来。我从来没有这样精力充沛过。我更有活力，更有热情，要向世界挑战的欲望克服了一切恐惧与不安。在这个充满争斗和悲伤的世界里，我竟然比以前更快活。 最后，我会发现自己有了应付一切情况的办法。不久，这些办法就能运用自如.因为，任何方法，只要多练习，就会变得简单易行。
经过多次重复，一种看似复杂的行为就变得轻而易举，实行起来，就会有无限的乐趣，有了乐趣，出于人之天性，我就更乐意常去实行。于是，一种好的习惯便诞生了.习惯成为自然。既是一种好的习惯，也就是我的意原。
今天，我天始新的生活.
我郑重地发誓，绝不让任何事情妨碍我新生命的成长。在阅读这些羊卷的时候，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。 当我阅读羊皮卷中的字句时，绝不能出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。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树2
never give up hope 永不放弃希望
life doesn't always give us the joys we want. we don't always get our hopes and dreams, and we don't always get our own way. but don't give up hope, because you can make a difference one situation and one person at a time.
生活并非总是如你所愿。希望有时会落空，梦想有时会破灭，我们不能一切随心所愿。但别放弃希望，因为事物并非一成不变；不同时间，不同场合，你会呈现不同的面貌。
look for the beauty around you--in nature, in others, in yourself--and believe in the love of friends, family, and humankind. you can find love in a smile or a helping hand, in a thoughtful gesture or a kind word. it is all around, if you just look for it.
处处留心你身边的美丽：自然中的美，他人的美，你自己的美。请相信，美来自朋友、家庭乃至全人类的融融爱意。一个微笑，一双援助之手，一个关心的举止，一句友善的话语，无不传达着爱。如果你有心去寻找，爱无所不在。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树3
生命在时间的土壤里(托马斯.曼)
life grows in the soil of time
What I believe, what I value most, is transitoriness.
But is not transitoriness - the perishableness of life - something very sad? No! It is the verysoul of existence. It imparts value, dignity, interest to life. Transitoriness creates time - and“time is the essence.” Potentially at least, time is the supreme, most useful gift.
Time is related to - yes, identical with - everything creative and active, every process towarda higher goal.
Without transitoriness, without beginning or end, birth or death, there is no time, either.Timelessness - in the sense of time never ending, never beginning - is a stagnant nothing. It isabsolutely uninteresting.
life is possessed by tremendous tenacity. Even so its presence remains conditional, and asit had a beginning, so it will have an end. I believe that life, just for this reason, is exceedinglyenhanced in value, in charm.
One of the most important characteristics distinguishing man from all other forms of nature ishis knowledge of transitoriness, of beginning and end, and therefore of the gift of time.
In man transitory life attains its peak of animation, of soul power, so to speak. This does notmean alone would have a soul. Soul quality pervades all beings. But man's soul is most awakein his knowledge of the interchangeability of the term “existence” and “transitoriness”.
To man time is given like a piece of land, as it were, entrusted to him for faithful tilling; a spacein which to strive incessantly, achieve self-realization, more onward and upward. Yes, with theaid of time, man becomes capable of wresting the immortal from the mortal.
Deep down, I believe - and deem such belief natural to every human soul - that in the universityprime significance must be attributed to this earth of ours. Deep down I believe that creation ofthe universe out of nothingness and of life out of inorganic state ultimately aimed at thecreation of man. I believe that man is meant as a great experiment whose possible failure ofman's own guilt would be paramount to the failure of creation itself.
Whether this belief be true or not, man would be well advised if he behaved as though it were.
没有短暂，没有开始与结束、生与死，时间也就不复存在。永恒是毫无意义的停滞，它意味着时间永远没有结束，也永远没有开始，绝对令人乏味。
短暂是我的信仰，也是我认为最重要的东西。
然而短暂，如生命的消逝，不是非常哀伤的事情吗?不!它正是生命存在的精髓。它赋予了生命价值、尊严和情趣。短暂创造了时间——而“时间正是其本质”。至少，时间是至高的，是最有用的礼物。
时间与所有富有创造力和活力的事物，及每一个达到更高目标的进步息息相关——是的，它甚至等同于这一切。
没有短暂，没有开始与结束、生与死，时间也就不复存在。永恒是毫无意义的停滞，它意味着时间永远没有结束，也永远没有开始，绝对令人乏味。
生命顽强无比。即便如此，它的存在也依赖于一定的条件，正如它有始亦有终。也因如此，我坚信，生命的价值与魅力将会不断地增长。
人同自然界其他事物之间最重要的区别之一就是，人懂得短暂、始与终，所以也了解时间是一种恩赐。
可以这么说，在人身上，短暂的生命达到了其活力与精神力量的巅峰。这并不是说只有人拥有灵魂。万物皆有灵性。但是对于“存在”与“短暂”的可互换性，只有人的大脑才能最清楚地意识到。
对于人类来说，时间就如赐予的一片土地，等待他去辛勤耕种;是一个让他不断奋斗进取，实现自我价值，不断前进向上的空间。是的，在时间的帮助下，人可以从有限的生命中获得永恒。
在内心深处，我相信宇宙中最为重要的当属我们的地球，并认为这样的信念存在于每一个人的心中。从内心深处，我相信混沌中宇宙的创造，无机中生命的萌芽，最终都是为了创造人类。我相信人类本身便是一项伟大的实验，它可能会因人类自身的罪恶而失败，但这也成为创造本身最主要的失败。
无论这个信仰是否真实，人类如果能依此行事，将会获得更为有益的忠告。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树4
It seems to me a very difficult thing to put into words the beliefs we hold and what they make you do in your life。 I think I was fortunate because I grew up in a family where there was a very deep religious feeling。 I don’t think it was spoken of a great deal。 It was more or less taken for granted that everybody held certain beliefs and needed certain reinforcements of their own strength and that that came through your belief in God and your knowledge of prayer。
But as I grew older I questioned a great many of the things that I knew very well my grandmother who had brought me up had taken for granted。 And I think I might have been a quite difficult person to live with if it hadn’t been for the fact that my husband once said it didn’t do you any harm to learn those things， so why not let your children learn them？ When they grow up they’ll think things out for themselves。
And that gave me a feeling that perhaps that’s what we all must do—think out for ourselves what we could believe and how we could live by it。 And so I came to the conclusion that you had to use this life to develop the very best that you could develop。
I don’t know whether I believe in a future life。 I believe that all that you go through here must have some value， therefore there must be some reason。 And there must be some “going on。” How exactly that happens I’ve never been able to decide。 There is a future—that I’m sure of。 But how， that I don’t know。 And I came to feel that it didn’t really matter very much because whatever the future held you’d have to face it when you came to it， just as whatever life holds you have to face it exactly the same way。 And the important thing was that you never let down doing the best that you were able to do—it might be poor because you might not have very much within you to give， or to help other people with， or to live your life with。 But as long as you did the very best that you were able to do， then that was what you were put here to do and that was what you were accomplishing by being here。
And so I have tried to follow that out—and not to worry about the future or what was going to happen。 I think I am pretty much of a fatalist。 You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树5
拉尔夫.里士满
A New Look from Borrowed Time By Ralph Richmond
Just ten years ago, I sat across the desk from a doctor with a stethoscope. “Yes,” he said, “there is a lesion in the left, upper lobe. You have a moderately advanced case…” I listened, stunned, as he continued, “You’ll have to give up work at once and go to bed. Later on, we’ll see.” He gave me no assurances.
十年前的一天，我坐在一名手持听诊器的医生对面。“你的左肺叶上部确实有一处坏损，而且病情正在恶化”——听到这里，我整个人一下懵了。“你必须停止工作卧床休息，有待观察。”医生对我的病情也是不置可否。
Feeling like a man who in mid-career has suddenly been placed under sentence of death with an indefinite reprieve, I left the doctor’s office, walked over to the park, and sat down on a bench, perhaps, as I then told myself, for the last time. I needed to think. In the next three days, I cleared up my affairs; then I went home, got into bed, and set my watch to tick off not the minutes, but the months. two and a half years and many dashed hopes later, I left my bed and began the long climb back. It was another year before I made it.
就这样，事业方面方兴未艾的我仿佛突然被人判了死刑，却说不准何时执刑。我离开医生的办公室，来到公园的长椅上坐下。这也许是最后一次来这儿了，我对自己说。我真得好好整理一下思绪。接下来的三天我把手头的事务全部处理完毕。我回到家，躺到床上，然后把手表从显示分钟改为显示月份。两年半的时间过去了，在无数次的失望之后，我终于可以离开病床，艰难地向从前的生活状态回归。一年之后，我做到了。
I speak to this experience because these years that past so slowly taught me what to value and what to believe. They said to me: Take time, before time takes you. I realize now that this world I’m living in is not my oyster to be opened but my opportunity to be grasped. Each day, to me, is a precious entity. The sun comes up and presents me with 24 brand new, wonderful hours—not to pass, but to fill.
我之所以谈起这段经历，是因为那段度日如年的岁月让我懂得应该珍惜什么，信仰什么。那段岁月让我明白一个道理：牢牢抓住时间，而不是让时间将你套牢。现在我终于明白，我生活着的这个世界不是等待我去打开的一扇牡蛎，而是需要我去抓住的一个机会。每一天我都视若珍宝，每一轮太阳带给我的崭新的二十四小时都鲜活而精彩，我绝不可将其虚度。
I’ve learned to appreciate those little, all-important things I never thought I had the time to notice before: the play of light on running water, the music of the wind in my favorite pine tree. I seem now to see and hear and feel with some of the recovered freshness of childhood. How well, for instance, I recall the touch of the springy earth under my feet the day I first stepped upon it after the years in bed. It was almost more than I could bear. It was like regaining one’s citizenship in a world one had nearly lost.
从前，我终日忙碌，无暇顾及生活中某些重要的细节，诸如水波上的光影，松林间的风吟——现在，我终于学会去欣赏它们的美好。如今，我仿佛重返童年，又觉得自己所见所闻所感的一切都那么新鲜。当我卧床数年后重新将双脚踏在大地上的那一刻，脚下那久违了的松软土壤让我激动得情难自抑，仿佛重新拥有我差一点就失去的世界。
Frequently, I sit back and say to myself, Let me make note of this moment I’m living right now, because in it I’m well, happy, hard at work doing what I like best to do. It won’t always be like this, so while it is I’ll make the most of it—and afterwards, I remember—and be grateful. All this, I owe to that long time spent on the sidelines of life. Wiser people come to this awareness without having to acquire it the hard way. But I wasn’t wise enough. I’m wiser now, a little, and happier.
我现在时常舒舒服服地坐着，提醒自己要记住当下的每分每秒，因为现在的我健康、快乐，能努力做自己最爱做的工作。这一切如此美好，却终将消逝，在如此美好的生活消逝之前，我一定要倍加珍惜。在它逝去之后，我会记得曾经拥有的美好，并心存感激。这一切改变都得益于我在生命边缘徘徊的那几年。智者无需被逼到如此境地也能明白这些道理——可惜我从前太愚钝。现在的我比从前多了几分睿智，我也因此更加快乐。
“Look thy last on all things lovely, every hour.” With these words, Walter de la Mare sums up for me my philosophy and my belief. God made this world—in spite of what man now and then tries to do to unmake it—a dwelling place of beauty and wonder, and He filled it with more goodness than most of us suspect. And so I say to myself, Should I not pretty often take time to absorb the beauty and the wonder, to contribute a least a little to the goodness? And should I not then, in my heart, give thanks? Truly, I do. This I believe.
英国诗人沃尔特.德拉.梅尔曾说过：“时刻记住，最后看一眼所有美好的事物!”这句诗正好总结了我的人生哲学与信仰。上帝创造的这个世界——这个人类时常试图毁灭的世界——是个美丽奇妙的家园。这里充满了上帝所赐予的美好事物，超过我们大多数人的想象。我于是常常自问，难道自己不应该去细细品味这些美丽与奇迹，尽绵薄之力去创造世间的美好吗?难道我不应心存感激吗?我确实应该——这就是我的信仰。
英语励志美文：奉献是支付租金
李·黑斯廷斯·布里斯托尔
Paying the Rent of Service By Lee Bristol
In a complex society and a complex civilization, the individual is inevitably confused much of the time. But I believe that the basic solution of all world and group problems must first be solved by the individual himself. Each one of us, whether we publicly admit it or not, has a deeply spiritual side. Not one of us can conceal it—scratch the surface and it’s always there. So first of all—and underlying all my credo—I believe in God and in an orderly universe.
人类生活在复杂的社会和文明中，总会不可避免地感到困惑。然而，我相信：人类自身才是解决全世界和群体问题的根本，无论是否公开承认，每个人的内心深处都藏着一个精神家园。揭开覆盖在它表层的东西，它永远在那里，没有人能够将其隐藏。我相信上帝和有序的宇宙，这是我所有信条中的第一个。
As a mortal, passing through this life for just a limited period of time, I believe that happiness is a truly basic objective—happiness for one’s self and, hopefully, happiness for others. It hasn’t taken too much living on my part to discover that real happiness, which sounds so selfish and so self-centered, is never achieved merely by selfish materialism—it can only have depth and real satisfaction if it is bound up with unselfishness—with a consideration for others. Service is the very essence of it. It has been said that “service is the rent we pay for our place on earth.” That kind of service brings the true happiness that we all seek.
生命是有限的，我相信，人类应该为自己追求幸福，同时也为他人带去幸福，这才是人类真正要追求的最基本的生活目标。回顾自己丰富的生活阅历，我明白了，真正的幸福似乎是自私和以自我为中心。但是，那些牟取私利、满足个人物质需要的人永远不会拥有真正的幸福。只有当幸福与无私、体谅他人联系在一起时，这种幸福才会是有深度、真正令人满意的幸福。幸福的本质是奉献，这种奉献带来了我们所有人所追求的真正幸福。曾经有人说过这样的话：“幸福是我们为在地球上占据的空间而支付的租金。”
The antithesis of all this is selfishness, which is outstandingly the greatest world-wide vice. It seems though all the world had the “gimmies,” selfishly grasping for power, and more and more, at national levels, with individuals selfishly struggling for material things at their own level.
自私自利是世界上最令人憎恶的恶行，它是一切幸福的对立面。世界的每一个角落似乎都存在着这种恶行，国家之间对于权利的贪婪追求，人与人之间为了物质财富而进行的斗争。
Each one of us needs a sense of humor with its balancing factor of a sense of proportion. I believe a sense of humor brings poise and a start towards understanding.
每个人都需要一种幽默感和分寸感，我相信幽默感是理解的开端，能够使人类沉着、冷静。
My credo embraces a joyous approach for me toward my fellow man and for collective groups towards each other. I want none of that grim hellfire-and-brimstone stuff that flourished in the early days of our country—a religion of frightening fear of the hereafter. Why, even their old church pews were as uncomfortable as straitjackets! A joyous approach towards living even cheers you yourself—to say nothing of its warmth that eases the burdens of others.
我的信条是：同胞之间、群体之间应该快乐地相处。我反对我国早期曾盛行的宣扬残酷的地狱之火及战火这样的谬论，这让人类对来世的信仰产生了巨大恐惧。为什么连教堂里靠背椅的椅背都像件瘦小的外套，令人很不舒服!快乐地面对生活不但使自己感到高兴，还能温暖他人，减轻他人的生活负担。
I believe that brotherhood can grow from this to help destroy forever the seeds of friction and injustice that stem from group minority prejudices.
我相信，幸福能够产生兄弟情谊，有助于消除小群体偏见产生的冲突和不公平的苗头。
If only each one of us can develop a sound philosophy and work out a course of conduct as individuals, then I believe we can solve our world problems at the international level. Thomas Mann once gave this challenging definition: “War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace.” With faith and good will in our hearts and with peace in our souls and minds, surely we can leave this world the better for our having lived in it.
只要每个人都能确立一个正确的哲学观，制定出一套个人行为规范，我相信我们能够解决国际问题。托马斯·曼曾经提出了这样一条富有挑战性的定义：“战争只是对和平解决问题方式的逃避。”只要心中有信仰，有良好的愿望，只要思想和灵魂追求和平，我们就一定能够在有生之年让世界变得更加美好。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树6
new challenges require new ways of thinking
面对新挑战，要有新思路
Part car, part jet fighter, part spaceship, Bloodhound SSC aims to be the first land vehicle to break the 1,000mph barrier. One of the key challenges has been to design the wheels. How do you create the fastest wheels in history, make them stable and reliable at supersonic speeds, and with limited resources?
部分汽车、部分喷气式飞机、部分宇宙飞船，猎犬号超级汽车的目标是做世界上第一辆时速突破1000英里的汽车。而这面临的一项关键挑战是车轮的设计。如果换做是你，你会如何在有限的资源下发明出超音速汽车上用的轮子呢?
After much deliberation, and devising ideas that pushed the boundaries of material technology, Mark Chapman, chief engineer of the Bloodhound project said the team decided to take a step back and change the way they were trying to solve problems. “There’s very little we’ve actually developed that’s new,” he says, “what’s unique is how we apply technologies.”
猎犬号项目的总工程师马克·查普曼思来想去，觉得材料还是不够好。最后他和他的团队决定退回一步、换个角度看有没有别的办法。“我们实际创新的东西并不多”，马克说：“我们的独特之处在于应用技术的方式别具一格。”
They adopted an approach called the design of experiments – a mathematical technique of problem solving through doing lots of little experiments and then looking at the statistics all glued together. “All of a sudden, where we’d been knocking our head against the wall for maybe two, three, four months, we came up with a wheel design that would hold together and was strong enough,” he says.
他们采用实验设计的方法做了很多的小实验，综合所得的数据再得出精确设计。“花了三四个月绞尽脑汁做尽各种实验之后，很突然地我们做出了一个大胆的设计：把各种可用的(飞机、飞船所用的)技术都融合在一辆车上，从而使它足够强大。”马克说。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树7
There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real! Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go；be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.
生活中，有时强烈的思念使我们恨不得一把将所爱的人从梦中带走，实实在在地拥抱他们。做自己想做的梦吧，生命只有一次，机会只有一回。
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trails to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy. Always keep yourself in other’s shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the other person, too.
愿你有足够的欢乐，使自己甜蜜；有足够的考验，使自己坚强；有足够的悲伤，使自己富有人情；有足够的希望；使自己幸福。要经常换位思维一件事，要是你感到对自己有伤害，就可能对他人也有伤害。
The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss and ends with a tear. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can’t go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
最幸福的人并不是那些拥有最好的东西的人，他们只是能够将得到的东西变得最好。幸福属于那些会哭泣的人，那些受过伤害的人，那些探索的人，以及那些尝试过的人。只有他们才懂得对自己生活有影响的人们的重要。爱以微笑开始，在亲吻中成长，以泪水终结。光明灿烂的`明天建立在忘却的过去之上。只有让以往的失败和伤心随风而去，你才能过得更好。
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you’re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.
出生的时候，哭啼的是你，周围的人却在微笑。珍视生活，好好地活着，这样当你死去时，周围的人在哭泣，而你却在微笑。
Please send this message to those people who mean something to you, to those who have touched your life in one way or another, to those who make you smile when you really need it, to those that make you see the brighter side of things when you really down, to those who you want to let them know that you appreciate their friendship. And if you don’t, don’t worry, nothing bad will happen to you, you will just miss out on the opportunity to brighten someone’s day with this message.
请把这些语言送给那些你所关心的人，那些在生活中这样或那样同自己打交道的人，那些需要时能给你带来微笑的人，那些在逆境中依然能使你看到光明的人，那些你珍视与他们之间的友谊的人。即使你没有这样做，也不要紧。没有什么大不了的事情，你只是错过了用这些言语照亮他人日子的机会。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树8
英语励志经典美文
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树
Once, while taking my boat down the inland waterway to Florida, I decided to tie up at Georgetown, South Carolina, for the night and visit with an old friend. As we approached the Esso dock, I saw him through my binoculars standing there awaiting us. Tall and straight as an arrow he stood, facing a cold, penetrating wind - truly a picture of a sturdy man, even though in his eighties. Yes, the man was our elder statesman, Bernard Baruch.
有一次，我沿着内河独自驾船前往佛罗里达州。到达南卡洛来纳的乔治敦时，我决定靠岸过夜，顺便去拜访一位老朋友。船一进埃松港，我就从望远镜中看到他站在那里等我们。朋友高而挺拔的身影像一支箭一样，站立在刺骨的寒风中，简直一幅健壮男子汉的画面，虽然画面中人已年过八旬。没错，他就是我们的老一辈政治家，伯纳德.巴鲁克。He loaded us into his station wagon and we were off to his famous Hobcaw Barony for dinner. We sat and talked in the great living room where many notables and statesmen, including Roosevelt and Churchill, have sat and taken their cues. In his eighty-second year, still a human dynamo, Mr. Baruch talked not of the past but of present problems and the future, deploring our ignorance of history, economics and psychology. His only reference to the past was to tell me, with the wonderful sparkle in his eyes, that he was only able to get eight quail out of the ten shots the day before. What is the secret of this great man's value to the world? The answer is his insatiable desire to keep being productive.
伯纳德.巴鲁克的旅行轿车载着我们，径直驶向他那著名的霍布考大庄园用餐。我们就座谈话的大客厅，曾有包括罗斯福和丘吉尔在内的许多贵客与政治家光临，与他交谈，倾听他的意见。如今，巴鲁克先生虽已82岁，却依然活力充沛。他对过去缄口不提，只谈论现在与将来的问题，并为我们对历史学、经济学和心理学知识的匮乏而深表遗憾。他告诉我，昨天他只用10发子弹就射中了8只鹌鹑，这也是他提到的唯一一件“往事”。说话时，他的双眼闪烁着令人愉快的光芒。这位伟大的人物对世界充满价值的奥秘何在？答案就是他对成就一如既往的追求。Another friend of mine, the head of one of our largest corporations, a great steel company, is approaching his middle seventies, and he is still a great leader. He, too, never talks of the past. Instead, he tackles the problems of each day in his stride, brims with plans for the future and, incidentally, shoots in the low seventies on any golf course. He is a happy man because he is productive.
我的另一位朋友领导着一家最大的公司——一个大钢铁公司。年近75岁的他，依然是位优秀的领导者。他也从不谈及往昔，而是游刃有余地处理着每天的问题，头脑中想的满是对未来的计划。并且值得一提的是，70多岁的他，还会不时打打高尔夫球。他是个幸福的人，因为他有所成就。Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently, I walked into the locker room of a rather well-known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables, talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community. If material prosperity were the chief requisites for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through Scotch and soda. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased. When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.
人生在世最难完成的两件事就是：用诚实的努力获得财富，以及拥有财富后，学会如何正确地运用。最近，在一个相当知名的高尔夫俱乐部，我打完一轮球后走进衣帽间。当时已近黄昏，多数俱乐部成员都已经回家。然而，六七位年过中旬的人依然坐在桌边，漫无目的地闲聊着，喝得烂醉如泥。他们每天都是如此。令我无比惊奇的'是，他们个个都曾是家财万贯，事业成功，在圈内备受尊敬的人。如果幸福的首要因素是物质财富，那么他们每个人都应该很幸福。+但是，我想，对他们来说，某种非常重要的东西已经失去了，不然他们又怎会逃避现实，每天用苏打水和苏格兰威士忌将自己灌得烂醉如泥？他们明白，自己已经无法突破现有的成就。一棵果树若不再结果便会枯死，人也如此。What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book of Genesis which caught my eyes while I was thumbing through my Bible. The words were few but they became indelibly impressed on my mind: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.”
如何才能幸福长寿地生活在世上呢？我想，很早之前在翻阅《圣经》时，我就找到了答案。《创世纪》中有一段话引起了我的注意，它虽然简短，却在我脑海中留下了深刻的印象：“要想糊口，必要汗流满面。”To me that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections. In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight - have finished the course - I have kept the faith.
对我而言，它是最初的记忆，也是始终的挑战。实际上，对每个人来说，人生之役，生存之役，都是一种挑战。圣.保罗不朽的教诲，也一直并将永远鼓舞着我。但愿，在到达生命之途的终点时
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树9
Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast。 He constantly advertised for hired hands。 Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic。 They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic， wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops。 As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job， he received a steady stream of refusals。
Finally， a short， thin man， well past middle age， approached the farmer。 “Are you a good farmhand？” the farmer asked him。
“Well， I can sleep when the wind blows，” answered the little man。
Although puzzled by this answer， the farmer， desperate for help， hired him。 The little man worked well around the farm， busy from dawn to dusk， and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work。
Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore。 Jumping out of bed， the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters。 He shook the little man and yelled， “Get up！ A storm is coming！ Tie things down before they blow away！”
The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly， “No sir。 I told you， I can sleep when the wind blows。”
Enraged by the response， the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot。 Instead， he hurried outside to prepare for the storm。 To his amazement， he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins。 The cows were in the barn， the chickens were in the coops， and the doors were barred。 The shutters were tightly secured。 Everything was tied down。 Nothing could blow away。
The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant， so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树10
悼念一棵树美文
村头那棵大枫树，在繁茂了近一个世纪之后，终于开始慢慢枯竭。
每到萧瑟的冬天，老枫树叶儿落尽，仅剩下一树光秃秃的枝条，被无情地裸露在广袤的蓝天下，显得无比凄冷而苍凉。
可是，当春天再次来临，所有树木争相吐绿时，这棵垂死的老树，也同样不甘寂寞，愣是从那些近乎干枯的枝头挤出了一缕缕绿意，一小撮一小撮绿叶从这儿那儿争先冒出，让人禁不住要满怀惊喜地期待：看吧，再过些日子，等到盛夏，这棵树，或许又会像往年那样，再次焕发出勃勃生机吧。 ?
然而，老树终究是枯木逢春，无法与岁月抗衡了。它已经一点点耗尽了自己的生命，再也回不到之前那个绿叶成荫的年代。春去秋来，整棵树上，仍只有最初那几撮树叶在徒然地生长，由绿变黄、变红，孤零零地散落在几根枯枝上，远远望去，甚是滑稽，却又让人无比心酸。 ?
最后，就连这唯一的一点生机，也终于消失殆尽。又一年春天如期而至，老枫树却再也没能长出一片新的叶子来，一年三百六十五个日日夜夜，只剩下那几根黑黢黢的、空洞的枝桠僵直地、无力地探向空中…… ?
老枫树已经彻底枯竭了。
留在我脑海中的关于老枫树的记忆却依然那样鲜活。
从我记事起，二十多年来，除了一年四季季节的`更替，村头这棵老枫树，年复一年，几乎没有过多少变化。它似乎一直都是那样：枝繁叶茂、郁郁葱葱。它那笔直的、粗大的树干直插云霄，好几个人都合抱不过来。它的根深深地扎入土层，朝着四面八方肆意伸展。有几处树根暴露在土层外面，远远看去，宛如一条蜿蜒盘旋的巨蟒，甚是奇特。另有一处从路旁悬空伸出，恰似一条天然小木桥，淘气的孩子每次经过，总会舍弃大路，冒险从这“独木桥”上晃晃悠悠地踩过去。
儿时，对于这棵连根都比平常的树要粗大得多的古树，我的心里充满了好奇。我曾一次又一次地缠着奶奶问，这树究竟有多大了，是谁栽种的？奶奶总是神秘地笑答，这树呀，是你爷爷的爷爷的爷爷种的吧，你说它有多大呢？我肯定是算不出来的，只是心中立即对这树添了几分敬畏。
老枫树曾遭过雷击。尽管村里没有一个人知道这事究竟发生在哪一年。但那次雷击，却在老枫树的根部留下了一个骇人的黑洞。这树洞黑黢黢的，胆小的我们只敢挨着树干，凑过去匆匆看一眼就跑，谁也不敢钻进去探个究竟。多年以后，我还一直对大人的告诫和哄骗深信不疑，总觉得那树洞里是真住着一个树精的。
老枫树也曾闹过虫害。那几年，不知怎的，这枫树上突然爬满了一些颜色鲜艳的毛虫，风一吹，直往下掉。人们从树下经过时一个个提心吊胆，生怕这些可恶的虫子落到脖颈里。
可这些都妨碍不了我们对枫树的喜爱。
老枫树是孩子们的乐园。即便是它闹虫害的那些日子，我们也照样能从中找出无穷的乐趣：我们理直气壮地从家里讨来雨伞或斗笠，然后神气十足地在树下穿来穿去。有时干脆扔掉这些遮蔽物，一个个抱住头飞快地从树下跑过，看谁运气最好，不被毛虫击中。更多时候，我们在它的浓荫下追赶嬉闹，或是从厚厚的落叶中翻找干树枝、枫球，可别小看了这些小小的枫球，它还是个极有用的民间偏方，据说对治疗风疹子有着独特疗效。
老枫树一度是鸟的天堂。每当清晨或黄昏的时候，总有各种鸟儿从它那异常浓密的绿叶间悠闲自得地飞进飞出，愉快地嬉戏、繁衍后代。
老枫树由此被族人敬为神灵。村里谁也不敢轻易去冒犯老枫树，逢年过节，还经常有人在树下插上几柱香拜拜。据说，前些年二叔公家建了新房，家里却无论如何也通不上电。最后，他才突然想起，搭电线时曾在老枫树上扎过一颗钉子。于是赶紧把钉子给拔了，这才通上了电。故事大概是不可信的，然而母亲说起这事时却是一脸的郑重其事、一幅完全不容置疑的神态。
如今，已然枯死的老枫树，还是那样寂寥、执拗地挺立在村头。而在它身旁，昔日那株弱不禁风的小树苗，也已渐渐长成一棵强壮挺拔的大树，一如当年的老枫树，静静地为大地洒下一片浓荫。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树11
Every life coheres around certain fundamental core ideas whether we realize it or not。 If I were asked to state the ideas around which my life and my life's work have been built it would seem that they were very simple ideas。
无论我们能否认识到这点，每个人的人生都与某种基础的核心思想密切相连的。
An old professor of mine used to say that “effort counts。” “The surest thing in the world，” he would say， “next to death is that effort counts。” This I believe with all my heart。
倘若有人问我，我的生命与工作基于何种观念？我觉得它们非常简单。“一分耕耘，一分收获。”这是我的一位老教授过去常说的话。他说：“除了死亡之外，世界上最确切的事就是‘一分耕耘，一分收获’。”我对此深信不疑。
We seldom realize the sense of glow， the sense of growing self—esteem， the sense of achievement， which can come from doing a job well。 Just working at a thing with enthusiasm and with a belief that the job may be accomplished， however uncertain the outcome， lends zest to life。
我们很少能意识到工作带给我们的乐趣，对我们自尊心的培养，以及给予我们的成就感。只要带着热情去做一件事情，并坚信一定可以完成，无论最终会有怎样的结果，它都会为我们的生活带来激情。
If I were to start life again， I think I would do just what I have done in the past—this past having been done by mere chance。 I would start at some task which very much needed to be done。 I would start in a place which was run down and I would believe with all my heart that if the thing needed to be done and if effort were put into it， results would come for human good。
如果再给我一次生命，我想我仍会做过去所做的事——虽然过去所做的一切纯属偶然。我会从急需去做的事情做起，从破损之处做起;我会由衷地相信，只要是必须做的事，只要付出努力，就一定会获得对人类有益的结果。
Too， from the outset， my wife and I have had the feeling that no matter what else we did in life， we had to devote our best thinking and our best living to our children。
并且，我和妻子从一开始就认为，无论生活中还有任何什么别的事等待我们去做，我们都必须全身心为孩子们提供最好的生活。
now that they are all grown， we have sincere satisfaction in the fact that trying to do ajob and trying to earn a living did not take away from us this urgency to be and do so that our children could have a feeling of the importance of integrity， honesty and straightforwardness in life。
如今，他们都已长大成人。我们感到无比满足，我们为生计奔波，努力工作，但都不曾忽略孩子，这样孩子们才能真正明白生活中正直、诚实和坦率的重要性。而我觉得，人们通常都忽略了这些。为了在社会中生存，人们不得不去工作，于是忽略了自己的孩子。
It seems to me far too often this is overlooked。 We people in public life do the jobs we have to do and fail to save our own children。 This second thing is important— doing the task you have to do but beginning at home to bring peace， love， happiness and contentment to those whom God has given you。
然而，后者更为重要——做你必须做的`事，但先要把和平、爱心、幸福和满足感带给家中的那些上帝恩赐与你的孩子们。
The third idea， around which I have tried to live and work， is that there is an overshadowing Providence that cares for one。 Ofttimes struggles are too intense， too “eager beaverish” when， as a matter of fact， time and God can solve many problems。
上天始终眷顾着我，这是维系我的生活与工作的第三个观念。有时，我们会过于积极，过于“急功近利”，而事实上，上帝和时间会解决很多问题。
never in my life have I gotten away from the idea that God cares and that He provides that the forces of good in the world are greater than the forces of evil and that if we will lend ourselves to those forces， in the long run we have greater joy and happiness in the thing which we try to achieve。
上帝眷顾着我们，他让我们懂得世界上善的力量总大于恶的力量，只要我们追随着善，就一定会从我们努力成就的事业中获得更多的快乐与幸福，这正是我在一生中都不曾背离的一种观念。它们是我儿时时从母亲那里学到的。
This I learned from my mother as a boy。 Although she was ill and although we were poor—as poor as people can be—I do not now recall a moment of discouragement in her presence。 There was always an overpowering belief that God was in His heaven and that， as Joe Louis said， “God is on our side。”
虽然母亲染病在身，虽然我们的生活一贫如洗，但是在我的记忆中，母亲从未有过一刻的气馁。她始终坚信，正如乔路易斯所说：“上帝与我们同在。”上帝就在天堂。
These things I believe with all my heart。
对于这些观念，我是由衷地相信的。
英语励志经典美文：人像一棵树12
《Today I begin a new life》
Today I shed my old skin which hath, too long, suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediority.
Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.
Today I will pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and fullest vines in the vineyard,for these were planted by the wisest of my profession who have come before me,generation upon generation.
Today I will savor the taste of grapes from these vines and verily I will swallow the seed of success buried in each and new life will sprout within me.
The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet it is fraught with heartbreak and despair and the bodies of those who have failed, were they piled one atop another, would cast a shadow down upon all the pyramids of the earth.
Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts which will guide through perilous waters to shores which only yesterday seemed but a dream.
Failure no longer will be my payment for struggle.
Just as nature made no provision for my body to tolerate pain neither has it made any provision for my life to suffer failure.
Failure, like pain, is alien to my life.
In the past I accepted it as I accepted pain.
now I reject it and I am prepared for wisdom and principles which will guide me out of the shadows into the sunlight of wealth, position, and happiness far beyond my most extravagant dreams until even the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides will seem no more than my just reward.
Time teaches all things to him who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity.
Yet within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste.
To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required.
An onion plant is old in nine weeks.
I have lived as an onion plant.
It has not pleased me.
now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesman.
And how will this be accomplished? For I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to achieve the greatness and already I have stumbled in ignorance and fallen into pools of self-pity.
The answer is simple.
I will commence my journey unencumbered with either the weight of unnecessary knowledge or the handicap of meaningless experience.
nature already has supplied me with knowledge and instinct far greater than any beast in the forest and the value of experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.
In truth, experience teaches thoroughly yet her course of instruction devours men's years so the value of her lessons diminishes with the time necessary to acquire her special wisdom.
The end finds it wasted on dead men.
Furthermore, experience is comparable to fashion; an action that proved successful today will be unworkable and impractical tomorrow.
Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls.
What they will teach me is more to prevent failure than to gain success, for what is success other than a state of mind? Which two, among a thouand wise men, will define success in the same words; yet failure is always described but one way.
Failure is man's inability to reach his goals in life, whatever they may be.
In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have successed lies in the difference of their habits.
Good habits are the key to all success.
Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure.
Thus, the first law I will obey, which precedeth all others is --I will form good habits and become their slave.
As a child I was slave to my impulses; now I am slave to my habits, as are all grown men.
I have surrendered my free will to the years of accumulated habits and the past deeds of my life have already marked out a path which threatens to imprison my future.
My actions are ruled by appetite, passion, prejudice, greed, love, fear, environment, habit, and the worst of these tyrants is habit.
Therefore, if I must be a slave to habit let me be a slave to good habits.
My bad habits must be destroyed and new furrows prepared for good seed.
I will form good habits and become their slave.
And how will I accomplish this difficult feat? Through these scrolls, it will be done, for each scroll contains a principle which will drive a bad habit from my life and replace it with one which will bring me closer to success.
For it is another of nature's laws that only a habit can subdue another habit.
So, in order for these written words to perform their chosen task, I must discipline myself with the first of my new habits which is as follows:
I will read each scroll for thirty days in this prescribed manner, before I proceed to the next scroll.
First, I will read the words in silence when I arise.
Then, I will read the words in silence after I have partaken of my midday meal.
last, I will read the words again just before I retire at day's end, and most important, on this occasion I will read the words aloud.
On the next day I will repeat this procedure, and I will continue in like manner for thirty days.
Then, I will turn to the next scroll and repeat this procedure for another thirty days.
I will continue in this manner until I have lived with each scroll for thirty days and my reading has become habit.
And what will be accomplished with this habit? Herein lies the hidden secret of all man's accomplishments.
As I repeat the words daily they will soon become a part of my active mind, but more important, they will also seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend.
As the words of these scrolls are consumed by my mysterious mind I will begin to awake, each morning, with a vitality I have never known before.
My vigor will increase, my enthusiasm will rise, my desire to meet the world will overcome every fear I once knew at sunrise, and I will be happier than I ever believed it possible to be in this world of strife and sorrow.
Eventually I will find myself reacting to all situations which confront me as I was commanded in the scrolls to react, and soon these actions and reactions will become easy to perform, for any act with practice becomes easy.
Thus a new and good habit is born, for when an act becomes easy through constant repetiton it becomes a pleasure to perform and if it is a pleasure to perform it is man's nature to perform it often.
When I perform it often it becomes a habit and I become its slave and since it is a good habit this is my will.
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.