在平日的学习、工作和生活里，大家都看过一些经典的美文吧？美文是指不带实用目的专供直觉欣赏的作品，带有实用目的去写作，那么，你会写美文吗？以下是小编收集整理的英语美文欣赏，欢迎阅读与收藏。英语美文欣赏1
英语美文欣赏15篇（推荐）
在平日的学习、工作和生活里，大家都看过一些经典的美文吧？美文是指不带实用目的专供直觉欣赏的作品，带有实用目的去写作，那么，你会写美文吗？以下是小编收集整理的英语美文欣赏，欢迎阅读与收藏。
家中只有一个画家了Only one artist in the family When Pable Picasso was a little boy, he lived in a small town in Spain. His mother liked to call him “Piz”. It is the Spanish word for pencil. As a baby, he liked pencils and chalks better than any of his toys. 巴勃罗.毕加索小时候住在西班牙的一个小镇上。他母亲喜欢叫他“皮兹”。这是“铅笔”的西班牙语单词。他从小就喜欢铅笔和粉笔胜过任何的玩具。
Picasso’s father was an artist, He spent a lot of time teaching the little boy how to draw. 毕加索的父亲是个画家。他花了大量时间教他儿子怎样绘画。
Drawing was Picasso’s great pleasure. He usually sat by the windows and drew pictures of pigeons. 绘画成了毕加索很大的乐趣。他通常坐在窗户旁边画鸽子。
One day his father came back, He stood for a long time looking at Picasso’s picture. The pigeons in the picture looked quite real. 有一天，他父亲回来了。他站了很长时间观察毕加索画的画。画中的`鸽子看上去十分逼真。
His father gave all his brushes and paint to Picasso. He told his son that from then on there would be only one artist in the family. 毕加索的父亲把所有的画笔和颜料全给了他。他对他儿子说，从那个时候起家中只有一个画家。
Written by: Babydoll
"I will take you out for dinner!" Said him.
Is it a date? To be honest, I don't really know. But, yes, I considered it as our first date, since we had a more than friend situation, having a dinner together would be in term of a Date.
Gals are always keen on what to wear. Me, too. I always spend long time on picking clothes and shoes, and doing my makeup and hair. That's what a mature woman do, my gay friend used to say that to me. None exception for this day, I spent more than a hour to prepare myself for going out.
Dress? Too formal for the bar where we might go after the dinner...
Skirt? I never really like to wear skirt, beside it is kind chill at night...
Jeans?? Isn't it too informal for that kind elegant restaurant??
... Hmm... never mind, I finally picked jeans and kind classical black top. I like to wear simple stuffs. Hey, simple doesnt mean cheap! Elegant is an expression, an elegant lady would look tiptop all the time even in some simple stuffs.
I pulled my hair back to send the hair bun and a wooden hairpin, simple and classical Asian style, one of my favorite hair styles. Asian women with the hairbun and hairpin are so sexy, my friends always say that. But hairpins are dangerous, it can be very sharp!
Makeup wouldn't be too hard for me, maybe I am very artistic, or maybe I am just plastic... I don't like to follow the fashion, but my own style. I like to wear different colors of eyeshadows and lipsticks in order to fit my clothes and my mood. Hmmm... this evening, I felt classical and sexy! Silver, gold, and rouge would be perfect. Makeups are women's magic! No wonder nowadays no matter how bleak the economy is, those stuffs have still been hot in the market! We women are the best consumers in this modern world!
Look into your own life. If you scrub away the make-up of illusion and impurities of jealousy — can you see the clarity of grace? Can you understand how treasuring what's right in front of you is worth your time?
仔细看看自己的生活吧。如果把幻想和嫉妒扫出脑海，你清楚地看到生活的'恩赐了吗?你明白你眼前的一切是多么珍贵、多么值得你花时间品味了吗?
I believe in the 50-percent theory. Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe life is a pendulum swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future. Let’s benchmark the parameters: Yes, I will die. I’ve dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale. Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad things like coaching my son’s baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he’s swimming with the dogs; discovering his compassion so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered pile of Legos. But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and the good flip-flop acrobatically. This is what convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory. One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone that neighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal—the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioner died, the well went dry, the marriage ended, the job lost, the money gone. I was living lyrics from a country tune—music I loathed. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed my spirits. Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the bad. Worse than normal wouldn’t last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. They reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that I can thrive. The 50-percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals’ recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.
Recently, one of my best friends, whom I‘ve shared just about[几乎] everything with since the first day of kindergarten[幼儿园], spent the weekend with me. Since I moved to a new town several years ago, we‘ve both always looked forward to the few times a year when we can see each other.
Over the weekend, we spent hours and hours, staying up late[迟迟不睡] into the night, talking about the people she was hanging around with[交往]. She started telling me stories about her new boyfriend, about how he experimented[尝试] with drugs and was into other self-destructive[自毁] behavior[行为]. I was blown away[震惊]! She told me how she had been lying to her parents about where she was going and even sneaking out[偷跑] to see this guy because they didn‘t want her around him. No matter how hard I tried to tell her that she deserved better, she didn‘t believe me. Her self-respect seemed to have disappeared.
I tried to convince her that she was ruining her future and heading for big trouble. I felt like I was getting nowhere[毫无进展]. I just couldn‘t believe that she really thought it was acceptable to hang with a bunch of losers, especially her boyfriend.
By the time she left, I was really worried about her and exhausted[疲惫] by the experience. It had been so frustrating[灰心的], I had come close to telling her several times during the weekend that maybe we had just grown too far apart to continue our friendship - but I didn‘t. I put the power of friendship to the ultimate[最后的] test. We‘d been friends for far too long. I had to hope that she valued me enough to know that I was trying to save her from hurting herself. I wanted to believe that our friendship could conquer[克服] anything.
A few days later, she called to say that she had thought long and hard about our conversation, and then she told me that she had broken up with her boyfriend. I just listened on the other end of the phone with tears of joy running down my face. It was one of the truly rewarding[值得的`] moments in my life. Never had I been so proud of a friend.(by Danielle Fishel)
Living standards have soared during the twentieth century, and economists expect them to continue rising in the decades ahead. Does that mean that we humans can look forward to increasing happiness?
Not necessarily, warns Richard A. Easterlin, an economist at the University of Southern California, in his new book, Growth Triumphant: The Twenty-first Century in Historical Perspective. Easterlin concedes that richer people are more likely to report themselves as being happy than poorer people are. But steady improvements in the American economy
have not been accompanied by steady increases in people‘s self-assessments of their own happiness. "There has been not improvement in average happiness in the United States over almost a half century----a period in which real GDP per capita more than doubled," Easterlin reports.
The explanation for this paradox may be that people become less satisfied over time with a given level of income. In Easterlin‘s word: "As incomes rise, the aspiration level does too, and the effect of this increase in aspirations is to vitiate the expected growth in happiness due to higher income."
Money can buy happiness, Easterlin seems to be saying, but only if one‘s amounts get bigger and other people aren‘t getting more. His analysis helps to explain sociologist Lee Rainwater‘s finding that Americans‘ perception of the income "necessary to get along" rose between 1950 and 1986 in the same proportion as actual per capita income. We feel rich if we have more than our neighbors, poor if we have less, and feeling relatively well off is equated with being happy.
Easterlin‘s findings, challenge psychologist Abraham Maslow‘s "hierarchy of wants" as a reliable guide to future human motivation.
Maslow suggested that as people‘s basic material wants are satisfied they seek to achieve nonmaterial or spiritual goals. But Easterlin‘s evidence points to the persistence of materialism.
"Despite a general level of affluence never before realized in the history of the world." Easterlin observes, "Material concerns in the wealthiest nations today are as pressing as ever and the pursuit of material need as intense." The evidence suggests there is no evolution toward higher order goals. Rather, each step upward on the ladder of economic development merely stimulates new economic desires that lead the chase ever onward. Economists are accustomed to deflating the money value of national income by the average level of prices to obtain "real" income. The process here is similar----real income is being deflated by rising material aspiration, in this case to yield
essentially constant subjective economic well-being. While it would be pleasant to envisage a world free from the pressure of material want, a more realistic projection, based on the evidence, is of a world in which generation after generation thinks it needs only another 10% to 20% more income to be perfectly happy.
Needs are limited, but not greeds. Science has developed no cure for envy, so our wealth boosts our happiness only briefly while shrinking that of our neighbors. Thus the outlook for the future is gloomy in Easterlin‘s view.
"The future, then, to which the epoch of modern economic growth is leading is one of never ending economic growth, a world in which ever growing abundance is matched by ever rising aspirations, a world in which cultural difference is leveled in the constant race to achieve the goods life of material plenty, it is a world founded on belief in science and the power of rational inquiry and in the ultimate capacity
of humanity to shape its own destiny. The irony is that in this last respect the lesson of history appears to be otherwise: that there is no choice. In the end, the triumph of economic growth is not a triumph of humanity over material wants; rather, it is the triumph of material wants over humanity."
人们的生活水平在20世纪飞速提高，经济学家预计在未来的几十年里，人们的生活水平还会进一步提高。这是否意味着我们人类的日子有望越过越幸福呢?
未必如此，南加州大学一位经济学家理查德?A?伊斯特林在其新书《增长的胜利：从历史的视角展望21世纪》中如是告诫世人。他承认，一般来说，富人比穷人更有可能称自己是幸福的。然而，美国人对幸福感的自我评价并未伴随着美国经济稳步发展而有所提高。伊斯特林指出：“过去近半个世纪中，美国的实际人均国内生产总值增加了2倍多，而人们并未感到比以往更幸福。”
对于这种自相矛盾的现象也许可作如下解释，随着时间的推移，人们对一定的收入会越来越不满。用伊斯特林的话来说：“收入增加了，人们的期望值也相应提高了，期望值的提高会抵消收入提高所带来的预期有所增加的幸福感。”
伊斯特林似乎在说，金钱可以买来幸福，但这只有在自己金钱不断增多，而别人收入不变的情况才会如此。他的分析有助于人们理解社会学家李?雷恩沃特的调查结果----从1950年到1986年，在美国持收入“必须维持基本生活”观念的人随着实际人均收入的增加而同比增长。如果收入比邻居多，我们就会感到自己富有;反之，则觉得自己贫穷。由此可见，人们把幸福感与相对富裕程度等同起来。
伊斯特林的调查结果向心理理学家亚伯拉罕?马斯洛的“需要等级体系”理论提出了挑战，该理论为人类未来的动机提供了可靠指南。马斯洛认为：一旦人们的基本物质需求得到满足后，就会转而追求更高层次的精神需求。但伊斯特林的'论证却指出人类的物欲永无止境。
伊斯特林还评述到：“尽管人类历史上从未实现过普遍水平的富裕，但今日最富有的那些国家对物质的关注还是那么迫切，对物质需要的追求还是那样的强烈。”这表明人类并未朝更高层次的精神目标进展。更确切地说，经济发展每上一个台阶只会刺激新的经济需求，进而促进经济持续向前发展。经济学家通常用国民收入的货币价值减去平均物价上涨额度来计算“实际”收入。同样，人们日益增长的物质欲望，在此主要是持续不断对经济富裕的主观要求，削减了实际收入。虽然设想一个没有物欲压力的世界是件惬意的事，但一个基于事实的更为现实的想法是设想在这样一个世界里，世世代代的人们都认为只要将收入再提高10%----20%，就可达到无比幸福的境界。
需求是有极限的，而贪欲却无止境。科学再进步也尚未研制出治疗嫉妒的良药，因此只有当我们的财富让邻居相形见绌的时候，我们才会感到片刻的幸福。
所以在伊斯特林看来，未来的前景不容乐观：“当今经济发展的趋势告诉我们，未来经济会不断发展、永不停歇，未来世界会是一个财富不断增长而欲望节节上升的世界;一个为达到富裕不断角逐而导致文化差异尽失的世界;一个建立在信仰科学和智力并相信人类有最大的能力塑造自己命运的世界。具有讽刺意味的是，在最后一点上，历史的经验教训似乎告诉我们事物的发展并非如此：人类别无选择，并不能掌握自己的命运。最后，经济发展的结果不是人性战胜物欲，而是物欲战胜人性。”
Isn't it amazing how one person, sharing one idea, at the right time and place can change the course of your life's history? This is certainly what happened in my life. When I was 14, I was hitchhiking from Houston, Texas, through El Paso on my way to California. I was following my dream, journeying with the sun. I was a high school dropout with learning disabilities and was set on surfing the biggest waves in the world, first in California and then in Hawaii, where I would later live.
Upon reaching downtown El Paso, I met an old man, a bum, on the street corner. He saw me walking, stopped me and questioned me as I passed by. He asked me if I was running away from home, I suppose because I looked so young. I told him, "Not exactly, sir," since my father had given me a ride to the freeway in Houston and given me his blessings while saying, "It is important to follow your dream and what is in your heart. Son. "
The bum then asked me if he could buy me a cup of coffee. I told him, "No, sir, but a soda would be great." We walked to a corner malt shop and sat down on a couple of swiveling stools while we enjoyed our drinks.
After conversing for a few minutes, the friendly bum told me to follow him. He told me that he had something grand to show me and share with me. We walked a couple of blocks until we came upon the downtown El Paso Public Library.
We walked up its front steps and stopped at a small information stand. Here the bum spoke to a smiling old lady, and asked her if she would be kind enough to watch my things for a moment while he and I entered the library. I left my belongings with this grandmotherly figure and entered into this magnificent hall of learning.
The bum first led me to a table and asked me to sit down and wait for a moment while he looked for something special amongst the shelves. A few moments later, he returned with a couple of old books under his arms and set them on the table. He then sat down beside me and spoke. He started with a few statements that were very special and that changed my life. He said, "There are two things that I want to teach you, young man, and they are these:
"Number one is to never judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you. "He followed with, "I ll bet you think I m a bum, don t you, young man?"
I said, "Well, uh, yes, I guess so, sir. "
"Well, young man, I've got a little surprise for you. I am one of the wealthiest men in the world. I have probably everything any man could ever want. I originally come from the Northeast and have all the things that money can buy. But a year ago, my wife passed away, bless her soul, and since then I have been deeply reflecting upon life. I realized there were certain things I had not yet experienced in life, one of which was what it would be like to live like a bum on the streets. I made a commitment to myself to do exactly that for one year. For the past year I have been going from city to city doing just that. So, you see, don't ever judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you.
"Number two is to learn how to read, my boy. For there is only one thing that people can't take away from you, and that is your wisdom. " At that moment, he reached forward, grabbed my right hand in his and put them upon the books he'd pulled from the shelves. They were the writings of Plato and Aristotle-immortal classics from ancient times.
The bum then led me back past the smiling old woman near the entrance, down the steps and back on the streets near where we first met. His parting request was for me to never forget what he taught me.
I haven't.
如果一个人，在适当的时候和地方因为一句话而改变了他的人生历程，你会感到惊异和不可思议吗？然而这的确是千真万确的，它就发生在我14岁那年。那时，我正在从得克萨斯州的休斯敦，经由爱坡索市前往加利福尼亚州去的旅途中。日出即行，日落即息，痴痴地追寻着我的梦想。我本来在读高中，也许我天生就不是读书的材料，因此我不得不中途辍学。随即我决心要到世界上最大的海浪上去冲浪，先准备到加利福尼亚州，再到夏威夷，然后我准备就在那里住下来。
在刚进入爱坡索市区的时候，我看到有一个老头，一个流浪者，坐在街道的拐角处。他看见了走路的我，当我就要从他的旁边走过去时，他拦住了我，并开口向我发问。他问我是不是偷着从家里跑出来的，我想他这么问我一定是看我太年轻，觉得我太嫩的缘故。“不完全是，先生，"因为是我爸爸开车把我送到休斯敦的高速公路上的，他还一边为我祝福，一边说：‘儿子，追寻你的梦想和心中的憧憬非常重要。’”
然后那个流浪者问我他能请我喝咖啡吗？我回答说：“不，先生，一杯汽水就可以了。”
于是，我们走进街道拐角处的一家酒吧，坐在一双转椅上，喝着饮料。
在闲聊了几分钟后，这个和蔼可亲的老流浪汉要我跟他走。他告诉我说他有一样大东西给我看，要与我分享。我们走过了几个街区，来到了爱坡索市的公立图书馆。
我们沿着它前面的台阶向上走，在一处小小的咨询台前停了下来。老流浪汉向一位笑容可掬的老太太说了几句话，并问她是否愿意在他和我进图书馆时帮忙照看一下我的行李。我把行李放在那位老奶奶般的人那里，走进了那座宏伟的学习殿堂。
老流浪汉先把我带到一张桌子前，让我坐下来稍等片刻，而他则到那些林立的书架中去寻找那个特别重要的东西去了。不一会儿，他腋下夹着几本旧书回来了。他把书放到桌子上，然后他在我的身边坐了下来，打开了话匣子，出口便不凡，其话语非常特别，改变了我一生的命运。他说：“年轻人，我想教你两件事，就是：第一是切记不要从封面来判断一本书的好坏，因为封面有时也会蒙骗你。"他接着说道："我敢打赌，你一定认为我是个老流浪汉，是不是？年轻人。”
我说：“嗯，是的'，先生，我想是的。”
“嗯，年轻人，我要给你一个小惊喜：其实我是这个世界上最富有的人之一，人们梦寐以求的任何东西我几乎都有。我最初从美国东北部来，凡是金钱能买到的东西，我全都有。但是一年前，我妻子死了，愿上帝保祐她的在天之灵，从那以后，我开始深深地反思人生的意义。我意识到，生活中有些东西我还没有体验过，其中之一就是做一个沿街乞讨的流浪汉滋味如何。于是我对自己发誓要像流浪汉一样活一年。在过去的一年里，我从一个城市流浪到另一个城市，就像流浪汉一样生活。所以，你看，切记不要从封面来判断一本书的好坏，因为封面有时也会蒙骗你。”
“第二，我的孩子，是要学会如何读书。因为这个世界上只有一种东西是别人无法从你的身上拿走的，那，就是你的智慧！”说到这，他俯身向着我，抓住我的右手放在他从书架中找到的书上。那是柏拉图和亚里士多德的著作--尚古以降已经流传了几千年的不朽的经典。
The White Envelope
It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.
It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas — oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it — overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma — the gifts given in desperation because you couldn't think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't acknowledge defeat.
Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have a lot of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.”
Mike loved kids — all kids — and he knew them, having coached little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came. That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent the anonymously to the inner-city church.
On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in succeeding years.
For each Christmas, I followed the tradition — one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and on and on.
The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.
As the children grew, the toys gave way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its allure. The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by three more.
Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had placed an envelope on the tree for their dad. The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.
May we all remember the reason for the season, and the true Christmas spirit this year and always. God bless — pass this along to your friends and loved ones.
Happy Holidays！
December is one of my favorite months as it's the month of lights, and the month of giving, and thanking. I received this mail from my friend Debra this evening, and wanted to share it. I really think it touches all of us in many ways. As it is said you can never give or receive too many mizvot (in Jewish it's the act of giving) Maybe it could be your “WHITE ENVELOPE”.
If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage. “Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice,” syas a wise author. We too often borrow trouble, and anticipate that may never appear.” The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear.” Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be freared. If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, I smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return. Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it. “ who shuts love out ,in turn shall be shut out from love.” If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say no more often. I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy. If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable. Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would , if I were a boy again, I would still try harder to make others happy.
假如我又回到了童年，我就要培养勇气。一位明智的作家曾说过：“世上没有东西比勇气更温文尔雅，也没有东西比懦怯更残酷无情。”我们常常过多地自寻烦恼，杞人忧天。“怕祸害比祸害本身更可怕。”凡事都有危险，但镇定沉着往往能克服最严重的危险。对一切祸福做好准备，那么就没有什么灾难可以害怕的了。假如我又回到了童年，我就要事事乐观。生活犹如一面镜子：你朝它笑，它也朝你笑；如果你双眉紧锁，向它投以怀疑的目光，它也将还以你同样的.目光。内心的欢乐不仅温暖了欢乐者自己的心，也温暖了所有与之接触者的心。“谁拒爱于门外，也必将被爱拒诸门外。”假如我又回到了童年，我就要养成经常说“不”字的习惯。一个少年要能挺得起腰，拒绝做不应该做的事，就因为这事不值得做。我可以写上好几页谈谈早年培养这一点的重要性。假如我又回到了童年，我就要要求自己对伙伴和朋友更加礼貌，而且对陌生人也应如此。在坎坷的生活道路上，最细小的礼貌犹如在漫长的冬天为我们歌唱的小鸟，那歌声使冰天雪地的寒冬变得较易忍受。最后，假如我又回到了童年，我不会力图为自己谋幸福，好像这就是人生唯一的目的；与之相反，我要更努力为他人谋幸福。
The Thanksgiving Story
The Pilgrims who sailed to this country aboard the Mayflower were originally members of the English Separatist Church (a Puritan sect). They had earlier fled their home in England and sailed to Holland (The Netherlands) to escape religious persecution. There, they enjoyed more religious tolerance, but they eventually became disenchanted with the Dutch way of life, thinking it ungodly. Seeking a better life, the Separatists negotiated with a London stock company to finance a pilgrimage to America. Most of those making the trip aboard the Mayflower were non-Separatists, but were hired to protect the company's interests. Only about one-third of the original colonists were Separatists.
The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast -- including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.
Governor William Bradford sent "four men fowling" after wild ducks and geese. It is not certain that wild turkey was part of their feast. However, it is certain that they had venison. The term "turkey" was used by the Pilgrims to mean any sort of wild fowl.
Another modern staple at almost every Thanksgiving table is pumpkin pie. But it is unlikely that the first feast included that treat. The supply of flour had been long diminished, so there was no bread or pastries of any kind. However, they did eat boiled pumpkin, and they produced a type of fried bread from their corn crop. There was also no milk, cider, potatoes, or butter. There was no domestic cattle for dairy products, and the newly-discovered potato was still considered by many Europeans to be poisonous. But the feast did include fish, berries, watercress, lobster, dried fruit, clams, venison, and plums.
This "thanksgiving" feast was not repeated the following year. But in 1623, during a severe drought, the pilgrims gathered in a prayer service, praying for rain. When a long, steady rain followed the vernksgiving. Hale wrote many editorials championing her cause in her Boston Ladies' Magazine, and later, in Godey's Lady's Book. Finally, after a 40-year campaign of writing editorials and letters to governors and presidents, Hale's obsession became a reality when, in 1863, President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.
On beauty
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide? And how shall you speak of her except she be the 1)weaver of your speech?
The 2)aggrieved and the 3)injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle. Like a young mother half-shy of her own 4)glory she walks among us."
And the 5)passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of 6)might and 7)dread. Like the 8)tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."
The tired and the 9)weary say, "Beauty is of soft 10)whisperings. She speaks in our spirit. Her voice 11)yields to our silences like a 12)faint light that 13)quivers 14)in fear of the shadow."
But the 15)restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains, and with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the 16)roaring of lions."
At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."
And at 17)noon-time the 18)toilers and the 19)wayfarers say, "We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."
In winter say the 20)snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."
And in the summer heat the 21)reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."
All these things have you said of beauty, yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied, and beauty is not a need but an 22)ecstasy. It is not a mouth 23)thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth, but rather a heart 24)enflamed and a soul 25)enchanted. It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear, but rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears. It is not the 26)sap within the 27)furrowed 28)bark, nor a wing attached to a 29)claw, but rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.
Beauty is life when life 30)unveils her holy face.
1) weaver n. 编织者，织工
2) aggrieved a. 苦恼的，悲伤的 the aggrieved指苦恼的人，悲伤的人
3) injured a. 受伤的，受损害的 the injured指受伤的人，受损害的人
4) glory n. 荣誉，光荣
5) passionate a. 热情的 the passionate指充满热情的人
6) might n. 力量，威力
7) dread n. 惧怕，担心
8) tempest n. 暴风雨
9) weary a. 疲倦的 the weary指疲倦的人
10) whispering n. 耳语
11) yield to 屈服于，屈从于
12) faint a. 微弱的，模糊的
13) quiver v. 颤抖
14) in fear of 对……惧怕，担忧
15) restless a. 不能安静的 the restless指好动的人
16) roaring n. 咆哮，呼喊
17) noon-time n. 正午，白昼
18) toiler n. 辛劳者
19) wayfarer n. 旅人，徒步旅行者
20) snow-bound a. 被大雪困阻的 the snowbound指被大雪困阻的人
21) reaper n. 收割者
22) ecstasy n. 入迷
23) thirsting a. 口渴的
24) enflame v. 燃烧
25) enchant v. 施魔法，使迷惑
26) sap n. 树液
27) furrowed a. 有犁沟的，有皱纹的
28) bark n. 树皮
29) claw n. 爪
30) unveil v. 揭开，除去面纱
美
如果美不以自身为途径，为向导，你们到哪里，又如何能找到她呢？如果她不是你们言语的编织者，你们又如何能谈论她呢？
伤心痛苦者说：“美是善良而温柔的。她像一位因自己的荣耀而半含羞涩的年轻母亲，走在我们的身边。”
热情奔放者说：“不，美是强烈而令人惊畏的。她如暴风雨般震动我们脚下的大地，摇撼我们头上的天空。”
疲惫怠倦者说：“美是温柔的低语，她在我们的心中诉说。她的声音波动在我们的沉默中，犹如一道微弱的光在对阴影的恐惧中颤抖。”
但活泼好动者说：“我们曾听到她在山谷中大声呼叫，随其呐喊而来的是足蹄踏地、翅膀拍击和雄狮怒吼的声音。”
夜晚，城市的守夜人说：“美将与晨光一同从东方升起。”
正午，辛勤劳作者和长途跋涉者说：“我们曾看到她透过黄昏之窗眺望大地。”
严冬，困在风雪中的人说：“她将与春同至，雀跃于山峦之间。”
酷暑，收割庄稼的人说：“我们曾看到她与秋叶共舞，雪花点缀于她的发梢。”
你们谈到关于美的所有这些，实际并非关于她本身，而是关于你们未被满足的需求，但美并不是一种需求，而是心醉神迷的欣喜。她不是焦渴的唇，也不是伸出的空空的'手，而是一颗燃烧的心，一个充满喜悦的灵魂。她不是你们想看到的形象，也不是你们想听到的歌声，而是你们闭上眼睛看到的形象，堵住耳朵听到的歌声。她不是伤残树皮下的树液，也不是悬在利爪下的翅膀。而是一座鲜花永远盛开的花园，一群永远在天空飞翔的天使。
当生命摘去遮盖她圣洁面容的面纱时，美就是生命。
有这样一个故事，爸爸因为三岁的女儿浪费了一卷金色的包装纸而惩罚了她。家里很缺钱，当孩子想要用包装纸装饰一个挂在圣诞树上的盒子时，爸爸生气了。然而，第二天早上小女孩把盒子作为礼物送给了爸爸，“这是给你的，爸爸。”
The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction， but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty。 He yelled at her， stating， "Don't you know， when you give someone a present， there is supposed to be something inside？ The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried， "Oh， Daddy， it's not empty at all。 I blew kisses into the box。 They're all for you， Daddy。"
女儿的这个行为让爸爸感到尴尬。但是当他发现盒子是空的时候，他的怒火再一次燃烧了。他对女儿喊道，“难道你不知道给别人礼物的时候，里面应该放有东西吗？”多女孩抬头看着父亲，眼里含着泪水，“爸爸，盒子不是空的。我把吻放在了盒子里，都是给你的，爸爸。”
The father was crushed。 He put his arms around his little girl， and he begged for her forgiveness。 Only a short time later， an accident took the life of the child。 It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and， whenever he was discouraged， he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there。
爸爸感动极了，他搂住女儿，恳请她的`原谅。之后不久，一场事故夺走了小女孩的生命。据说，父亲便将那个小金盒子放在床头，一直陪伴着他的余生。无论何时他感到气馁或者遇到难办的事情，他就会打开礼盒，取出一个假想的吻，记起漂亮女儿给予了自己特殊的爱。
In a very real sense， each one of us， as humans beings， have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses… from our children， family members， friends， and God。 There is simply no other possession， anyone could hold， more precious than this。
从一个非常真实的意义上说，我们每个人都被赠与过一个无形的金色礼盒，那里面装满了来自子女，家人，朋友及上帝无条件的爱与吻。人们所能拥有的最珍贵的礼物莫过于此了。
What is Love? The eternal question we all carry around deep within our heart. Love is the eternal search. Love is eternal when we find it. But do we really ever find it ? When we define it do we negate it? When we set limits on what we believe to be love do we begin to destroy it by hoping to understand or own it for ourselves? We offer it through all of our relationship we vary our giving, often by what we hope to receive in return. But is this really love?
I recently overheard someone say in a conversation that there is no such thing as “ unconditional love .” I would have to agree, although for different reasons. Love within itself is unconditional. Anything else is only an attempt to love, a learning to get us nearer to the one true knowing of love. It may be honorable, well-intentioned, passionate and desiring, courageous and pure. It may be felt as temporary, but if lost easily it may not have been love at all. Love cannot be thwarted and often fall short of what we hope love will be. This is where we learn we are human.
Love has been experienced as a life of living poetry. Love has been experienced as being the very notes of song, uplifting and generous to the wanting ear. Love has been experienced as the final act of giving one’s life for another in battle. Love has been experienced as an endless passionate over flow of emotion in the arms of waiting lover.
What do you do with the love granted to you each day? How many times do we deny its expression for others because we fear what our own expressions will bring? Are we not denying our creator every time we deny the expression of love?
Lost, empty, alone and searching. As inpiduals who have experienced separation or porce, or even the loss of a loved one to death, the separation can be the most traumatic experience we live through. The heart-wrenching pain that seems to never really go away, the enormous waves that hit us daily, the times we hit the wall right after a strong and uplifting experience reminds us that we are learning. We are learning about strength, passion for our own life, about our own sincerity in our beliefs, about our loyalty to who we are, and certainly about our own genuineness. We search for that day when love will come again. We search everywhere, everyday, almost every hour.
It has been said for centuries that “ love is where the eyes meet with passion, for the eyes cannot hide what the heart feels.” So we have learned to look outward for this eternal love that will fulfill us, forgetting that it must first fill our own hearts. Perhaps that is why we fall into such pain and agony and sorrow when a love affair fails. It is at that moment that we realize we did not fail the other person we expressed love to , but we have somehow not fulfilled ourselves once again. We combat failure with a misunderstood unfulfilled promise. We lade it, not knowing if we will ever find it again. The emotion tides life and fall ,crash and settle, then lift again.
No one else, no matter how much we talk or cry, can pull us through the anxious hours of soul repair and growth. It is our own fire within that needs rekindling, guarding against the winds that would blow it out and leave us dark, cold and helpless. It is at this time that we find the lobe that binds us together with every other being that surrounds us on the planet. Eventually we find the sun still rises to meet in the morning and the stars continue to show us the way each night. The rivers still flow downstream into oceans that will never turn them away. The trees still reach upward every day praising the God that made them. We stand up straight and take a lesson from it all.
What if you woke up one morning and realized that you were the only person left on the face of the earth? Who would you love? Why do we wait so long to start the journey that begins in the same place that it ends？Love, in all its endlessness, unboundedness and failed definitions is this experience.
Love doesn’t ask why. It doesn’t come. It doesn’t go. It just is. It is not only in our hands, it is our hands. It isn’t only in our heart, it is what makes our heart beat every beat. It wraps itself around us so securely that all we need to do to survive against all odds is to recognize it as the very breath we just drew, and the last breath we just let go.
Believing in yourself comes from knowing what you are really capable of doing. When it's your turn to step up to the plate, realize that you won' t hit a home run every time. Baseball superstar Mickey Mantle struck out more than 1,700 times, but it didn’t stop him from excelling at baseball. He believed in himself, and he knew his fans believed in him.
自信源于你能正确地认知自己的能力。要知道，当轮到你走向本垒板时，并不是每次你都能打出本垒打的。棒球超级明星米奇·曼特在成名前曾失败过1700多次，但这丝毫没有妨碍他对成功的追求。他相信自己，同时他也知道他的球迷也相信他。
做事就要做到最好，相信自己，一切皆有可能。自信的力量是非常强大的，它能给人以无限的'信心和勇气，在人们垂头丧气，萎靡不振时，强有力地驱走阴霾。当一个人有了相信自己的勇气和信心后，他将勇往直前，无所畏惧。
爱是什么？
一个精灵坐在碧绿的枝叶间沉思。
风儿若有若无。
一只鸟儿飞过来，停在枝上，望着远处将要成熟的稻田。
精灵取出一束黄澄澄的稻谷问道：“你爱这稻谷吗？”
“爱。”
“为什么？”
“它驱赶我的饥饿。”
鸟儿啄完稻谷，轻轻梳理着光润的'羽毛。
“现在你爱这稻谷吗？”精灵又取出一束黄澄澄的稻谷。
鸟儿抬头望着远处的一湾泉水回答：“现在我爱那一湾泉水，我有点渴了。”
精灵摘下一片树叶，里面盛了一汪泉水。
鸟儿喝完泉水，准备振翅飞去。
“请再回答我一个问题，”精灵伸出指尖，鸟儿停在上面。
“你要去做什么更重要的事吗？我这里又稻谷也有泉水。”
“我要去那片开着风信子的山谷，去看那朵风信子。”
“为什么？它能驱赶你的饥饿？”
“不能。”
“它能滋润你的干渴？”
“不能。”
“那你为什么要去看它呢？”
“我需要它啊。”
“为什么需要？”
“我爱它啊。”
“为什么爱它？”
“我日日夜夜都在思念它。”
“为什么思念它？”
“我爱它。”
精灵沉默了片刻，又提出一个问题：
“你为什么只爱那一朵风信子呢？山谷里有无数朵风信子。”
“因为它是唯一的一朵啊。”
“为什么？它和其他所有的风信子有什么不同的地方吗？”
“有的。”
“哪里不同呢？”
“只有它才是我爱的那一朵啊。”
精灵忽然轻轻笑了起来，鸟儿振翅而去。
What is love?
An elf sits between the green branches and leaves.
The wind not much, if any.
A bird flew over and stopped on the branch, looking at the rice field that was going to mature in the distance.
Asked the spirit took out a bunch of glistening rice: "do you love this rice?"
"Love."
"Why?"
"It drives me out of hunger."
The bird pecked the rice, gently comb its feathers.
"Do you love this rice now?" The elves took out a bunch of glistening rice.
The bird looked up at a fountain in the distance and answered, "now I love the Bay spring, and I'm a little thirsty."
The elves took off a leaf, and there was a fountain of water in it.
The bird finished the spring and was ready to fly away.
"Please answer me one more question," the elves put out their fingertips, and the birds stopped on it.
"What more important things are you going to do?" I also have spring in the rice. "
"I'm going to the valleys with the hyacinth to see the hyacinth."
"Why?" Can it drive away your hunger? "
"No,"
"Can it moisturize your thirst?"
"No,"
"Then why are you going to see it?"
"I need it."
"Why do you need it?"
"I love it."
"Why do you love it?"
"I miss it all day and night."
"Why do you miss it?"
"I love it."
The elves have been silent for a moment and put forward a question.
"Why do you only love that one of the hyacinth? There are numerous hyacinth in the valley. "
"Because it's the only one."
"Why?" Is it different from all the other hyacinth? "
"Yes."
"Where is the difference?"
"Only it is the one I love."
The elves suddenly laughed and the birds fluttered away.
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