美文欣賞：TheRoadtoSuccess

　　英語閱讀：TheRoadtoSuccess

　　Andrew Carnegie

　　It is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom, and spent the first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors and jamtresses now in offices, and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of a business education. But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy who has the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. The other day a fond fashionable mother in Michigan asked a young man whether he had even seen a young lady sweep in a room so grandly as her Priscilla. He said so, he never had, and the mother was gratified beyond measure, but then said he, after a pause, "What I should like to see her do is sweep out a room." It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.

　　Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started, my advice to you is "aim high". I would not give a fig for the young man who has not already seen himself the partner or the head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk, or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself, "My place is at the top." Be king in your dreams.

　　And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively upon the business in which your are engaged. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it.

　　The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital, which means that they have scattered their brains also. They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here, there, and everywhere. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" is all wrong. I tell you "put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket". Look round you and take notice; men who do that do not often fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too many baskets, that breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head, which is apt to tumble and trip him up. One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.

　　To summarize what I have said: Aim for the highest, never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor, or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make the firm's interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly be not impatient, for, as Emerson says, "no one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourselves." )

　　英語閱讀：LoveIsJustaThread

　　Sometimes I really doubt whether there is love between my parents. Every day they are very busy trying to earn money in order to pay the high tuition for my brother and me. They don’t act in the romantic ways that I read in books or I see on TV. In their opinion, “I love you” is too luxurious for them to say. Sending flowers to each other on Valentine’s Day is even more out of the question. Finally my father has a bad temper. When he’s very tired from the hard work, it is easy for him to lose his temper.

　　One day, my mother was sewing a quilt. I silently sat down beside her and looked at her.

　　“Mom, I have a question to ask you,” I said after a while.

　　“What?” she replied, still doing her work.

　　“Is there love between you and Dad?” I asked her in a very low voice.

　　My mother stopped her work and raised her head with surprise in her eyes. She didn’t answer immediately. Then she bowed her head and continued to sew the quilt.

　　I was very worried because I thought I had hurt her. I was in a great embarrassment and I didn’t know what I should do. But at last I heard my mother say the following words:

　　“Susan,” she said thoughtfully, “Look at this thread. Sometimes it appears, but most of it disappears in the quilt. The thread really makes the quilt strong and durable. If life is a quilt, then love should be a thread. It can hardly be seen anywhere or anytime, but it’s really there. Love is inside.”

　　I listened carefully but I couldn’t understand her until the next spring. At that time, my father suddenly got sick seriously. My mother had to stay with him in the hospital for a month. When they returned from the hospital, they both looked very pale. It seemed both of them had had a serious illness.

　　After they were back, every day in the morning and dusk, my mother helped my father walk slowly on the country road. My father had never been so gentle. It seemed they were the most harmonious couple. Along the country road, there were many beautiful flowers, green grass and trees. The sun gently glistened through the leaves. All of these made up the most beautiful picture in the world.

　　The doctor had said my father would recover in two months. But after two months he still couldn’t walk by himself. All of us were worried about him.

　　“Dad, how are you feeling now?” I asked him one day.

　　“Susan, don’t worry about me.” he said gently. “To tell you the truth, I just like walking with your mom. I like this kind of life.” Reading his eyes, I know he loves my mother deeply.

　　Once I thought love meant flowers, gifts and sweet kisses. But from this experience, I understand that love is just a thread in the quilt of our life. Love is inside, making life strong and warm..

　　英語閱讀：CompanionshipofBooks

　　Companionship of Books (Samuel Smiles-- The political reformer and moralist was born)

　　A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company(playmates) he keeps;(Birds of a feather flock together)for there is a companionship (friendship) of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men. --- the author has contrast of books and friends.

　　A good book may be among the best of friends.(a good book is like our best friend) It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us (abandon) in times of adversity or distress.(in times of misfortunes or poverty) It always receives us with the same kindness，amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.(in old age)

　　一本好書就像是一個最好的朋友。它始終不渝，過去如此，現在仍然如此，將來也永遠不變。它是最有耐心、最令人愉快的伴侶。在我們窮愁潦倒、臨危遭難的時候，它也不會拋棄我們，對我們總是一往情深。在我們年輕時，好書陶冶我們的性情，增長我們的知識;到我們年老時，它又給我們以安慰和勉勵。

　　Men often discover their affinity (close relationship) to each other by the love they have each for a book --- just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both have for a third. There is an old proverb, “Love me, and love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. (uniting force) Men can think, feel, and sympathize (share the feelings or ideas of another) with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he (lives) in them. ---they can find their opinions from books, in reverse, the ideas of the author influence them too.

　　人們常常因為同愛一本書而結為知己，就像有時兩個人因為敬慕同一個人而交為朋友一樣。古諺說：“愛屋及烏”。但是，“愛我及書”這句話卻有更深的哲理。書是更為堅實而高尚的情誼紐帶。人們可以通過共同愛好的作家溝通思想感情，彼此息息相通。他們的思想共同在作者的著述里得到體現，而作者的思想反過來又化為他們的思想。

　　“Books,” said Hazlitt,“Wind into the heart; the poet's verse slides in the current of our blood. We read them when young, we remember them when old. We feel that it has happened to ourselves. They are to be very cheap and good. We breathe but the air of books.”

　　哈茲利特曾經說過：“書潛移默化人們的內心，詩歌熏陶人們的氣質品性。少小所習，老大不忘，恍如身歷其事。書籍價廉物美，不啻我們呼吸的空氣。”

　　A good book is often the best urn (a vase with foot and round body, especially as anciently for storing ashes of the dead. 有腳之圓形缸，古時以此缸盛人屍體之骨殖。) of a life enshrining (inclosing or preserving as in shrine. 保而藏之(如帝王駕崩，高僧圓寂之後，藏其遺骸於神龕中).) the best that life could think out; for the world of a man's life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries (a place where valuable things are kept. ) of good words, the golden (precious, excellent) thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters (a thing that gives comfort). “They are never alone,” said Sir Philip Sidney, “that are accompanied by noble thoughts.”

　　七夕教你“親愛的”不同說法

　　Dear

　　Dear可以用來稱呼朋友，也可以用來稱呼親密愛人，也有可能是長輩稱呼小輩。

　　Dear使用的范圍比較廣。可以用來稱呼朋友，也可以用來稱呼親密愛人，也有可能是長輩稱呼小輩。另外英語日記通常會用dear 開頭。寫信時通常的稱呼也是Dear XX。

　　經典美劇老友記第一季第8集中，Ross和Monica的'奶奶去世后，Ross在家里收拾東西，他和他媽媽有這么一段對話，Ross就被媽媽叫做dear：

　　Ross: Oh my God...

　　Mrs. Geller: Is everything all right, dear?

　　Ross: Yeah, just... just Nana stuff.

　　Honey, Darling和Baby都是“親愛的”比較常見的表達。

　　例句：

　　I love you, honey.

　　Darling, would you please wait a second.

　　When my girlfriend started calling my best friend "baby", I knew it was over.

　　Honey也會寫成hunny或者hunnie，表示的都是“親愛的”。

　　說到這里就想到去年的《海角七號》的插曲《愛你愛到不怕死》：“Honey darling baby，或是叫我的小親親，只要哄我高興，冥王星都陪你去。”

　　Sweetheart

　　親愛的可愛的喜歡的都可以成為sweetheart，另外口語上表示友善的稱呼也可以用sweetheart。就像現在很多女生之間喜歡互稱“親愛的”。

　　例句：

　　"I like Joaquin, he's a real sweetheart."“我喜歡杰昆，他真是個甜心。”

　　"What can I get you, sweetheart?"“甜心，我能為你拿點什么?”

　　《老友記》第一季感恩節篇：

　　Terry: Rachel, Rachel, sweetheart. You're a terrible, terrible waitress. Really, really awful.

　　Sweetie

　　sweetie可以稱呼親密愛人也可以稱呼親密友人，也可用于長輩稱呼晚輩的情況。

　　例句：

　　Goodnight now sweetie, I'll miss you so much but I'll see you next week!

　　親愛的，晚安了，我會非常想你的不過要到下周才能見到你!

　　美劇《識骨尋蹤》中，Angela經常叫女主角Brennan Sweetie。

　　Sweetums

　　I love talking to my sweetums. He rocks my face off.

　　我喜歡和親愛的他聊天，他讓我開心極了。

　　《哈利波特與密室》：

　　"I want more bacon."

　　"There's more in the frying pan, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.

　　Pumpkin

　　老外好像對南瓜有種特別的感情，這個詞也可以表示親愛的，寶貝兒這樣的含義。

　　《成長的煩惱》第三季第10集：

　　Maggie: Pumpkin, you just had your tonsils out!

　　New Ben: But...

　　Maggie: For me?

　　Pumpkin在口語里也可以說成Pumkin。

　　Me and my Pumkin are heading to a movie, wanna come?

　　我和我男(女)朋友要去看電影，一起來嗎?

　　Boo

　　據說是黑人圈的俚語用法，可以用做男朋友或者女朋友的稱呼，也可以表示親愛的。

　　Can you handle me? If you can't you ain't gonna be my boo.

　　你能搞定我嗎?如果你行你可當不了我男朋友。

　　除了這些稱呼之外，看過《緋聞女孩》的朋友們一定知道，寫信的時候表示親密，可以在后面加個“XOXO”，表示抱抱親親。你還知道其它表示親密的詞嗎?

　　英語閱讀：BeHappy

　　Be Happy!

　　"The days that make us happy make us wise."_ John Masefield

　　When I first read this line by England's Poet Laureate, it startled me. What did Masefield mean? Without thinking about it much. I had always assumed that the opposite was true. But his sober assurance was arresting. I could not forget it.

　　Finally, I seemed to grasp his meaning and realized that here was a profound observation. The wisdom that happiness makes possible lies in clear perception, not fogged by anxiety nor dimmed by despair and boredom, and without the blind spots caused by fear.

　　Active happiness not mere satisfaction or contentment_ Often comes suddenly, like an April shower or the unfolding of a bud. Then you discover what kind of wisdom has accompanied it. The grass is greener, bird songs are sweeter, the shortcomings of your friends are more understandable and more forgivable. Happiness is like a pair of eyeglasses correcting your spiritual vision.

　　Nor are the insights of happiness limited to what is near around you. Unhappy, with your thoughts turned in upon your emotional woes, your vision is cut short as though by a wall. Happy, the wall crumbles.

　　The long vista is there for the seeing. The ground at your feet, the world about you _people, thoughts, emotions, pressures_ are now fitted into the larger scene. Every thing assumes a fairer proportion. And here is the beginning of wisdom.

　　快樂吧!

　　作者介紹：勞埃德莫里斯(1613-1680)，英國著名作家，作品富于機智幽默。著有《格言集》等。本文以演繹的手法論述快樂對人的影響。作者先籍梅斯菲爾德的詩引出“ 快樂和智慧”的關系，接著以人在快樂時的種種心理反應，點出快樂無處不在。最后再給予肯定的結論：快樂是智慧的開端。“快樂的日子，使我們聰明。”--約翰.梅斯菲爾德

　　第一次讀到英國桂冠詩人梅斯菲爾德這行詩的時候，我非常驚訝，它真正的寓意是什么呢?不仔細考慮的話，我一直認為這句詩倒過來才對。不過他的冷靜與自信卻俘獲了我，所以我一直無法忘記這句詩。

　　終于，我好象領會了他的意思，意識到其中蘊含著深刻的觀察思考。快樂帶來的智慧存在與清晰的心靈感覺中，不因憂慮擔心而困惑，不因絕望、厭煩而遲鈍，不因惶恐而出現盲點。

　　跳動的快樂——不僅是滿足或愜意——會突然到來，就像四月的春雨或是花蕾的綻放。然后你發覺智慧已隨快樂而來。草兒更綠，鳥兒的歌聲更加美妙，朋友的缺點也變得更加可以理解、原諒。快樂就像一副眼鏡，可以修正你精神的視力。

　　快樂的視野并不受你周圍事物的局限。只不過當你不快樂的時候，思想便轉向你感情上的苦惱，眼界也就被心靈之墻隔斷了。而當你快樂的時候，這道墻便崩塌了。

　　英語閱讀：ToBeth’sFirst-GradeTeacher

　　I didn't know the man in front of me that morning. But I did notice that we both walked a little straighter, a little more proudly, as our daughters held our hands. We were proud but apprehensive on that important day. Our girls were beginning first grade. We were about to give them up, for a while at least, to the institution we call school. As we entered the building, he looked at me. Our eyes met just for a minute, but that was enough. Our love for our daughters, our hopes for their future, our concern for their well-being welled up in our eyes.

　　You, their teacher, met us at the door. You introduced yourself and showed the girls to their seats. We gave them each a good-bye kiss, and then we walked out the door. We didn't talk to each other on the way back to the parking lot and on to our respective jobs. We were too involved thinking about you.

　　There were so many things we wanted to tell you, Teacher. Too many things were left unsaid. So I'm writing to you. I'd like to tell you the things we didn't have time for that first morning.

　　I hope you noticed Beth's dress. She looked beautiful in it. Now I know you might think that's a father's prejudice, but she thinks she looks beautiful in it, and that's what's really important. Did you know we spent a full week searching the shopping malls for just the right dress for that special occasion? She wouldn't show you, but I'm sure she'd like you to know that she picked that dress because of the way it unfurled as she danced in front of the mirrors in the clothing store. The minute she tried it on, she knew she'd found her special dress. I wonder if you noticed. Just a word from you would make that dress all the more wondrous.

　　Her shoes tell a lot about Beth and a lot about her family. At least they're worth a minute of your time. Yes, they're blue shoes with one strap. Solid, well-made shoes, not too stylish, you know the kind. What you don't know is how we argued about getting the kind of shoes she said all the girls would be wearing. We said no to plastic shoes in purple or pink or orange.

　　Beth was worried that the other kids would laugh at her baby shoes. In the end she tried the solid blue ones on and, with a smile, told us she always did like strap shoes. That's the first-born, eager to please. She's like the shoes – solid and reliable. How she'd love it if you mentioned those straps.

　　I hope you quickly notice that Beth is shy. She'll talk her head off when she gets to know you, but you'll have to make the first move. Don't mistake her quietness for lack of intelligence. Beth can read any children's book you put in front of her. She learned reading the way it should be taught. She learned it naturally, snuggled up in her bed with her mother and me reading her stories at naptime, at bedtime and at cuddling times throughout the day. To Beth, books are synonymous with good times and loving family. Please don't change her love of reading by making the learning of it a burdensome chore. It has taken us all her life to instill in her the joy of books and learning.

【美文欣賞：TheRoadtoSuccess】相關文章：

經典美文欣賞03-11

經典美文精選欣賞03-22

經典美文欣賞07-24

美文欣賞為愛點蚊香美文欣賞06-14

欣賞自己美文欣賞04-08

江南美文美文欣賞03-16

感覺美文欣賞06-14

蝴蝶美文欣賞06-14

財富美文欣賞06-14