在平凡的学习、工作、生活中，说起美文，大家肯定都不陌生吧？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，为了帮助大家更好的了解美文，下面是小编精心整理的英语美文欣赏，供大家参考借鉴，希望
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英语美文欣赏精选[15篇]
在平凡的学习、工作、生活中，说起美文，大家肯定都不陌生吧？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，为了帮助大家更好的了解美文，下面是小编精心整理的英语美文欣赏，供大家参考借鉴，希望可以帮助到有需要的朋友。
在美国西雅图的一所著名教堂里，有一位德高望重的牧师――戴尔·泰勒。有一天，他向教会学校一个班的学生们先讲了下面这个故事。
那年冬天，猎人带着猎狗去打猎。猎人一枪击中了一只兔子的后腿，受伤的兔子拼命地逃生，猎狗在其后穷追不舍。可是追了一阵子，兔子跑得越来越远了。猎狗知道实在是追不上了，只好悻悻地回到猎人身边。猎人气急败坏地说：“你真没用，连一只受伤的兔子都追不到！”
猎狗听了很不服气地辩解道：“我已经尽力而为了呀！”
再说兔子带着枪伤成功地逃生回家了，兄弟们都围过来惊讶地问它：“那只猎狗很凶呀，你又带了伤，是怎么甩掉它的呢？”
兔子说：“它是尽力而为，我是竭尽全力呀！它没追上我，最多挨一顿骂，而我若不竭尽全力地跑，可就没命了呀！”
泰勒牧师讲完故事之后，又向全班郑重其事地承诺：谁要是能背出《圣经·马太福音》中第五章到第七章的全部内容，他就邀请谁去西雅图的“太空针”高塔餐厅参加免费聚餐会。
《圣经·马太福音》中第五章到第七章的全部内容有几万字，而且不押韵，要背诵其全文无疑有相当大的难度。尽管参加免费聚餐会是许多学生梦寐以求的`事情，但是几乎所有的人都浅尝则止，望而却步了。
几天后，班中一个11岁的男孩，胸有成竹地站在泰勒牧师的面前，从头到尾地按要求背诵下来，竟然一字不漏，没出一点差错，而且到了最后，简直成了声情并茂的朗诵。
泰勒牧师比别人更清楚，就是在成年的信徒中，能背诵这些篇幅的人也是罕见的，何况是一个孩子。泰勒牧师在赞叹男孩那惊人记忆力的同时，不禁好奇地问：“你为什么能背下这么长的文字呢？”
这个男孩不假思索地回答道：“我竭尽全力。”
16年后，这个男孩成了世界著名软件公司的老板。他就是比尔·盖茨。
泰勒牧师讲的故事和比尔·盖茨的成功背诵对人很有启示：每个人都有极大的潜能。正如心理学家所指出的，一般人的潜能只开发了2－8左右，像爱因斯坦那样伟大的大科学家，也只开发了12左右。一个人如果开发了50的潜能，就可以背诵400本教科书，可以学完十几所大学的课程，还可以掌握二十来种不同国家的语言。这就是说，我们还有90的潜能还处于沉睡状态。谁要想出类拔萃、创造奇迹，仅仅做到尽力而为还远远不够，必须竭尽全力才行。
In a famous church in Seattle, there is a prestigious clergyman - Dale Taylor. One day, he told the following story to a class of students in the church school.
That winter, the hunter went hunting with a hunting dog. The hind legs of a rabbit hunter shot and injured rabbit tried to escape, the dogs were subsequently pursued. But after a while, the rabbit ran farther and farther. Dogs know it is not catch up, but bitterly hunters return to the side. Hunter said angrily: "you are really useless, even an injured rabbit have not catch!"
The hound defended, "I've done my best to do it!"
Besides, the rabbit came home successfully with gunshot wounds. The brothers came around and asked him in surprise. "The hunting dog is very fierce. How did you take it away?"
The rabbit said, "it is to do our best, I do my best!" It didn't catch me up to get a scolding, and if I don't try to run, but would have died!"
When the Reverend Taylor finished the story to the class, and solemnly promise: if who can recite the "Bible Matthew" in the fifth chapter to the seventh chapter of the entire contents, he was invited to Seattle who "space needle" restaurant tower will attend the free dinner.
There are tens of thousands of words in the fifth and seventh chapters of the gospel of the Bible. There is no doubt that it is difficult to recite the full text of the full text of the gospel. Although many students will attend the free dinner is the dream of things, but almost everyone to check, from.
A few days later, a 11 year old boy in front of the class, standing in the answers to the Reverend Taylor, from A to Z required to recite, even not a word, not a little mistake, but in the end, it became extremely rich recite.
Clergyman Taylor is more aware than others that among adult believers it is also rare to recite these pages, not to be a child. At the same time, while praising the boy's amazing memory, Taylor asked, "why do you have such a long word?"
The boy replied without thinking, "I do my best."
16 years later, the boy became the boss of the world's famous software company. He is Bill Gate.
The story of pastor Taylor and Bill Gate's successful recitation are very inspiring to people: everyone has great potential. As psychologists have pointed out, most people only develop the potential of about 2-8, a great scientist as great as Einstein, also developed only about 12. If a person has developed 50 potential, we can recite 400 textbooks, completion of more than 10 university courses, also can acquire 20 different national languages. That is to say, we have 90 of our potential still in a state of sleep. It is not enough for anyone who wants to be outstanding and miraculous. It is far from enough to do the best.
3．Who First Made Ice Cream
Most Americans think that ice cream is as American as baseball and apple pie．But ice cream was known long before America was discovered．
The Roman emperor Nero may have made a kind of ice cream．He hired hundreds of men to bring snow and ice from the mountains．He used it to make cold drinks．Traveler Marco Polobrought back recipes for chilled and frozen milk from China．
Hundreds of years later，ice cream reached England．It is said that King Charles Ienjoyed that treatvery much．There is a story that he bribed his cook to keep the recipe for ice cream a royal secret．
Today ice cream is known throughout the world．Americans alone eat more than two billion quartsa year．
3．谁是冰淇淋的`首创者
大多数美国人认为，冰淇淋像棒球和苹果饼一样，是属于美国的。但是，早在人们发现美洲大陆之前，冰淇淋就已经问世了。
古罗马国王尼禄可能配制过一种冰淇淋。他曾雇用几百人从山上搬来雪和冰，用以制作冷饮料。旅行家马可波罗也曾从中国带回了冷冻奶和冰奶的配方。
几百年后，冰淇淋传到了英国。据说国王查理一世十分欣赏这种食品，他曾贿赂御厨，要他把制作冰淇淋的配方作为皇家秘密，守口如瓶。
今天全世界都知道冰淇淋了，仅美国人一年的消耗量就超过20亿夸脱。
Tucked away in our subconsciousness is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are travelling by train. Out the windows, we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving on a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.
But the uppermost in our minds is the final destination. On a certain day at a certain hour, we will pull into the station. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we reach there, so many wonderful dreams will come true and the pieces of our lives will be fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes loitering, waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.
"When we reach the station, that will be it", we cry. "When I'm 18", "When I buy a new 450SL Mercedes Benz", "When I put my last kid through collage", "When I have paid off the mortgage", "When I get a promotion", "When I reach the age of the retirement, I shall live happily ever after."
Sooner or later, we must realize that there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us.
"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled withe the Psalm 118:24:"This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it." It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tommorrow. Reget and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.
So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more icecreams, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. Then the station will come soon enough.
我们的潜意识里藏着一派田园诗般的风光!我们仿佛身处一次横贯大陆的漫漫旅程之中!乘着火车,我们领略着窗外流动的景色：附近高速公路上奔驰的汽车、十字路口处招手的孩童、远山上吃草的牛群、源源不断地从电厂排放出的烟尘、一片片的玉米和小麦、平原与山谷、群山与绵延的丘陵、天空映衬下城市的轮廓,以及乡间的庄园宅第!
然而我们心里想得最多的却是最终的.目的地!在某一天的某一时刻,我们将会抵达进站!迎接我们的将是乐队和飘舞的彩旗!一旦到了那儿,多少美梦将成为现实,我们的生活也将变得完整,如同一块理好了的拼图!可是我们现在在过道里不耐烦地踱来踱去,咒骂火车的拖拖拉拉!我们期待着,期待着,期待着火车进站的那一刻!
"当我们到站的时候,一切就都好了!"我们呼喊着!"当我18岁的时候!""当我有了一辆新450SL奔驰的时候!""当我供最小的孩子念完大学的时候!""当我偿清贷款的时候!""当我官升高任的时候!""当我到了退休的时候,就可以从此过上幸福的生活啦!"
可是我们终究会认识到人生的旅途中并没有车站,也没有能够"一到永逸"的地方!生活的真正乐趣在于旅行的过程,而车站不过是个梦,它始终遥遥领先于我们!
真正令人发疯的不是今日的负担,而是对昨日的悔恨及对明日的恐惧!悔恨与恐惧是一对孪生窃贼,将今天从你我身边偷走!
那么就不要在过道里徘徊吧,别老惦记着你离车站还有多远!何不换一种活法,将更多的高山攀爬,多吃点儿冰淇淋甜甜嘴巴,经常光着脚板儿溜达,在更多的河流里畅游,多看看夕阳西下,多点欢笑哈哈,少让泪水滴答!生活得一边过一边瞧!车站就会很快到达!
一封给我儿子的信
Dear Seth,
亲爱的塞斯，
You're only three years old, and at this point in your life you can't read, much less understand what I'm going to try to tell you in this letter.
你现在仅仅3岁，此刻你还不识字，更不用说让你去理解我接下来想在这封信里对你所说的话了。
But I've been thinking a lot about the life that you have ahead of you, about my life so far as I reflect on what I've learned, and about my role as a dad in trying to prepare you for the trials that you will face in the coming years。
但是我已经苦思冥想了好久，关于你即将面临的人生以及我的生活，我反思我所学会的;思考一个父亲的职责，力图让你为未来岁月中即将面临的困难做好充分准备。
You won't be able to understand this letter today, but someday, when you're ready, I hope you will find some wisdom and value in what I share with you。
你今天并不能理解这封信的含义，但是某一天，当时机成熟，我希望你能在我与你分享的内容当中找寻到些许的智慧和价值。
You are young, and life has yet to take its toll on you, to throw disappointments and heartaches and loneliness and struggles and pain into your path. You have not been worn down yet by long hours of thankless work, by the slings and arrows of everyday life。
你还很年轻，生命还尚未开始摧残你，没有在你的人生道路上布置失望，伤心，孤独，挣扎和苦痛。你还没有被漫长的乏味工作，被日常生活的打击搞得筋疲力尽。
For this, be thankful. You are at a wonderful stage of life. You have many wonderful stages of life still to come, but they are not without their costs and perils。
因此，谢天谢地吧。你正处在人生一个美妙的阶段。还有很多美妙的阶段会来到你面前，但是都不是唾手可得的，你都得付出代价，经历风险。
I hope to help you along your path by sharing some of the best of what I've learned. As with any advice, take it with a grain of salt. What works for me might not work for you。
我希望通过分享一些我所学到的最好的道理能帮助你走好人生路。至于任何建议，且把它当作佐料，因为适合我的并不一定适用于你。
Life Can Be Cruel
生活会很残酷
There will be people in your life who won't be very nice. They'll tease you because you're different, or for no good reason. They might try to bully you or hurt you。
你的生活中一定会有并不友好的人。他们耻笑你因为你不同，而在没有更好的理由。他们可能会欺负你或者伤害你。
There's not much you can do about these people except to learn to deal with them, and learn to choose friends who are kind to you, who actually care about you, who make you feel good about yourself.
对这种人你除了学会和其接触无计可施，同时你也要学会择友，选择那些对你友善的，那些真正关心你的，那些令你对自己感到很好的人做朋友。
When you find friends like this, hold on to them, treasure them, spend time with them, be kind to them, love them。
当你寻找到像这样的朋友，就一定要坚守这份友谊，珍惜他们，花些时间和他们在一起，友善的对待他们并爱他们。
There will be times when you are met with disappointment instead of success. Life won't always turn out the way you want. This is just another thing you'll have to learn to deal with. But instead of letting these things get you down, push on. Accept disappointment and learn to persevere, to pursue your dreams despite pitfalls. Learn to turn negatives into positives, and you'll do much better in life。
有时你会遭遇挫折而非成功。生活并不总会如你所愿。这是另一件你需要学会处理的事情。但你要挺住向前，而不是让这些事让你陷入低谷。接受挫败并学会坚持，不畏风险地追求你的梦想。学会把消极转化为积极，之后你就能做的好得多。
You will also face heartbreak and abandonment by those you love. I hope you don't have to face this too much, but it happens.
你同样会面临心碎时刻以及你深爱的人的抛弃。我希望你无须经历太多此类事件，但如果不幸发生了
Again, not much you can do but to heal, and to move on with your life. Let these pains become stepping stones to better things in life, and learn to use them to make you stronger。
再一次，除了慢慢愈合心中的创伤并继续下去你的生活，你别无选择。让这些痛苦成为你通向更美好生活的垫脚石，并学会利用它们让自己更坚强。
But Be Open to life Anyway
但无论如何，都要张开双臂拥抱生活
Yes, you'll find cruelty and suffering in your journey through life … but don't let that close you to new things. Don't retreat from life, don't hide or wall yourself off. Be open to new things, new experiences, new people。
是的，在你的生命历程中你会遇到残酷，煎熬……但不要让这些让你拒绝接受新鲜事物。不要逃避生活，不要躲藏，抑或封闭自己。拥抱新鲜事物，经历全新体验，接触新的人。
You might get your heart broken 10 times, but find the most wonderful woman the 11th time. If you shut yourself off from love, you'll miss out on that woman, and the happiest times of your life。
你或许心碎了10次，但是在第十一次找到至爱。如果你把自己关在爱的门外，你就会错过这个女子，和你生命中最快乐的时光。
You might get teased and bullied and hurt by people you meet … and then after meeting dozens of jerks, find a true friend. If you close yourself off to new people, and don't open your heart to them, you'll avoid pain … but also lose out on meeting some incredible people, who will be there during the toughest times of your life and create some of the best times of your life。
你可能会被你遇到的人耻笑欺负伤害…而在见了一打这种稀奇古怪的人后，你会找到一个真正的朋友。如果你拒绝接触新人群，并不向他们敞开心扉，你会避免受伤……但是同时也失去了认识这些不可思议的人的机会，他们会在你生命最困难的时刻陪伴着你，并带给你人生当中最美好的时光。
You will fail many times but if you allow that to stop you from trying, you will miss out on the amazing feeling of success once you reach new heights with your accomplishments. Failure is a stepping stone to success。
你会失败多次但是如果你让失败打到了你，不再努力，你就会错过那种当你达到成就新高度的难以言喻的成就感。失败是成功之母。
Love Should Be Your Rule
爱应该成为你的生活准则
If there's a single word you should live your life by, it should be this: Love. It might sound corny, I know … but trust me, there's no better rule in life。
如果让一个词成为你的生活支撑的话，那它应该是爱。也许这听来已是老生常谈，我也清楚… 但是请信任我，再没有更好的生活准则了。
Some would live by the rule of success. Their lives will be stressful, unhappy and shallow。
一些人以成功作为生活准则。他们的生活会很紧张，不开心并且很浅薄。
Others would live by the rule of selfishness — putting their needs above those of others. They will live lonely lives, and will also be unhappy。
另一些人的生活准则是个人利益---他们将个人需要置于他人需要之上。他们孤独一生，终究也不会快乐。
Still others will live by the rule of righteousness — trying to show the right path, and admonishing anyone who doesn't live by that path. They are concerned with others, but in a negative way, and in the end will only have their own righteousness to live with, and that's a horrible companion。
还有一些人他们为正义而生---努力展示其道路的正确性，并试图劝服任何一个不以正义为生活准则的人。他们关心他人，却以一种消极的`方式，最终怀抱追寻一生的正义而终，而正却是一个糟糕的伴侣。
Live your life by the rule of love. Love your spouse, your children, your parents, your friends, with all of your heart. Give to them what they need, and show them not cruelty nor disapproval nor coldness nor disappointment, but only love. Open your soul to them。
用爱支撑你的生命。爱你的妻子，你的孩子，你的父母亲，你的朋友，全心全意地去爱。给与他们你所需要的，不要流露出任何残忍，不赞同，冷漠或者失望，只有爱。向他们敞开灵魂。
Love not only your loved ones, but your neighbors … your coworkers … strangers … your brothers and sisters in humanity. Offer anyone you meet a smile, a kind word, a kind gesture, a helping hand。
不仅仅爱你深爱的人，也要爱你的邻居.。。你的同事…甚至陌生人…他们是你广义上的兄弟姐妹。给你遇到的任何一个人一个微笑，一句善语。一个友好的姿势，一只援助之手。
Love not only neighbors and strangers … but your enemy. The person who is cruelest to you, who has been unkind to you … love him. He is a tortured soul, and most in need of your love。
不仅仅爱邻居和陌生人…也要爱你的敌人。对你最残酷的人，对曾经对你不善的人…爱他。他是一个备受折磨的灵魂，最需要你的爱。
And most of all, love yourself. While others may criticize you, learn not to be so hard on yourself, to think that you’re ugly or dumb or unworthy of love … but to think instead that you are a wonderful human being, worthy of Happiness and love … and learn to love yourself for who you are。
最重要的是爱你自己。当别人批评你时，学着不要强加自己，去认为自己丑，笨或者不值得去爱…而要想着自己是一个很完美的人，值得拥有幸福和真爱…并学会爱现在的自己。
Finally, know that I love you and always will. You are starting out on a weird, scary, daunting, but ultimately incredibly wonderful journey, and I will be there for you when I can. Godspeed.
最后，要知道我爱你并且永远都会，你即将开启一段有点奇怪，令人害怕，令人心悸但最终很不可思议的巧妙旅程，我永远会支持你。祝万事如意。
after the rain, a spider hard to climb to the top of the wall has been fragmented network, due to damp walls, it climbed to a certain height it will fall down, it up again and again, again and again and fall down ……
the first man saw, he sighed to himself ：“my life is not as this spider? busy and no income. ”so he increasingly depressed.
the second man saw, he said: this spider really stupid, why not from beside a dry place around the climb? I later can't like it that stupid. so he become more intelligent. the third man saw, he immediately touched by the spirit of the spider often hurt often war. then, he has become strong.
tip: successful mentality is everywhere can fine the power of success.
We’re like the cream. When the cream rises to the top, it separates itself from the milk. Perhaps that is what the New Age Movement is really all about.We find ourselves lonely at the top. Yes, it is.
我们就像奶油。当奶油浮到顶部的时候，它会和牛奶分离。也许这种现象正像是新世纪运动的写照。我们发现自己飞得越高，就会越感孤独。是的，这就是现实。
It is no different with political enlightenment, spiritual enlightenment, or even becoming enlightened about relating to each other. The more mentally healthy you become, the more spiritual, the more balanced, the wealthier, the more global you become… the more alone you may feel.
不论是政治或精神修养的造诣有多深，或者甚至是与他人之间有一种默契的关系，就孤独这一点而言，是没有区别的。你越是拥有健康有理智，精神修养的造诣越深，生活越平衡，越富有，或你的名气传播得越广，你也会感觉越孤独。
Often, we find ourselves unable to find those other rare inpiduals who are choosing the same path as ours. The path of sloppy and lazy is full of other people to meet and talk to. The path of whiners is full. The path of being safe, generic, and boring is so crowded you almost cannot even move forward. Isn’t that why you left that path? You had a need to move forward, a need for some elbowroom, a need to spread your arms wide, a need to be seen as special, unique, different. The masses may admire you, but they are not going to be able to really relate to you. You will be alone much of the time.
经常，我们很难找到那些选择我们和我们同路的人们。那条潮湿，慵懒的道路挤满了可以相遇并聊天的.人。那条满是牢骚者的道路上也拥挤不堪。那条所谓安全，普通以及枯燥的道路是如此拥挤以至于你无法向前挪步。难道这不正是你离开那条道路的原因吗？你需要
向前挪步，需要活动的空间，需要展开你的双臂，需要被认知为特别，有个性，与众不同。万千大众仰慕你，但他们却不可能真正地融入你。大部分的时间里，你将是孤独的。
Do not be afraid of the loneliness of enlightenment. Do not force others to agree with you. Simply give your heart and know that you are growing and that they are free to grow or not. It is the nature of the game. We are all free to choose our paths.
不要害怕因造诣深而产生的孤独感。不必要勉强别人赞识你。做你自己，坚定着你自己的成长，别人是否愿意成长就由他们自己去决定吧。这就是自然界的规则。我们都有选择自己道路的自由。
英语美文阅读读后感悟：
请不要害怕孤独，孤独是成功者必备的要素之一，毕竟成功者是少数的；请不要在意别人的眼光，坚持自己的理想，只要是对的，那么请勇敢的选择自己要走的路。前路或许曲折，但不要气馁，相信自己，相信自己的选择。实现梦想的路总有一天会变笔直。
A crazy age, a sad past. Together, it's a picture of youth, and we're going to arrange them one by one.
We live under the warmth of the wings, happiness, and no contentment. Be light of heart from care。 An unruly little fart child. No one really grows up or matured. It's all some of my own subjective ideas. In the eyes of the grown-up, I'm just a child, a bunch of ridiculous children.
Sometimes, I despise myself in this generation of people, including me, we are too self all immersed in their own third of an acre. The land on the ground is a huge melon and fruit! Only after the incision is hollow. And intoxicated, do not consider the outside world, in the intoxication of the fruit in addition to the seeds. There is also the inner restlessness. Sensitivity and absurdity. We are also praiseworthy, and we have our own ideals. Is not everyone like this? Maybe it's a lot of ideal! When those unrealistic ideals are replaced, we disagree. It is ridiculous that it is regarded as the appreciation of his own interest. The last thing was frustration. Low. Self mockery.
And what makes me nauseous what "non mainstream", I really think it even I scolded. I have even sought it. Try to imitate. God, I know now what I regret. I think I scolded myself if I scolded the non mainstream. No harm! I don't care who call, that is once. Those are dark. Decadent。 Fancy. What is the concealment of the blurred picture? It's vanity and kitsch! The curtain of smoked make-up is self abased! I don't want to mention this, but one more thing, the result of some things often leaks out of its original form. The original form of "non mainstream" is pornographic and bloody, and I am afraid it implies the heart of the pursuer.
Some people will generally thought, this text is from my third of an acre "!
I would say, "because I have my own youth, too!"
Youth has a multi layer coat, one of which is called cruelty. To me and to my friends who have finished reading this chapter.
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。”
I was for all intensive purposes addicted to the game I was playing. This addiction nearly ruined me mood wise, I was miserable to be around when I was even able to force myself to go to class or go out and socialize.
我完全沉溺在所玩的游戏之中，中毒很深，这甚至完全左右着我的情绪。当我强迫自己去上课或者社交的'时候，我会把事情搞砸。
We’re Just Beginning
“We are reading the first 1)verse of the first chapter of a book whose pages are 2)infinite...”
I do not know who wrote those words, but I have always liked them as a 3)reminder that the future can be anything we want to make it. We can take the mysterious, 4)hazy future and carve out of it anything that we can imagine, just as a 5)sculptor carves a statue from a shapeless stone.
We are all in the position of the farmer. If we plant a good seed, we reap a good harvest. If our seed is poor and full of 6)weeds, we reap a useless crop. If we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.
I want the future to be better than the past. I don’t want it 7)contaminated by the mistakes and errors with which history is filled. We should all be concerned about the future because that is where we will spend the remainder of our lives.
The past is gone and 8)static. Nothing we can do will change it. The future is before us and 9)dynamic. Everything we do will affect it. Each day brings with it new 10)frontiers, in our homes and in our business, if we only recognize them. We are just at the beginning of the progress in every field of human endeavor.
“我们正在读一本书的第一章第一行，这本书的页数是无限的……”
我不知道是谁写的，可我很喜欢这句话，它提醒我们未来是由自己创造的。我们可以把神秘、不可知的未来塑造成我们想象中的任何模样，犹如雕刻家将未成形的石头刻成雕像。
我们每个人都像是农夫。洒下良种将有丰收，播下劣种或生满野草便将毁去收成。没有耕耘则会一无所获。
我希望未来比过去更加美好，希望未来不会沾染历史的错误与过失。我们都应举目向前，因我们的.余生要用未来书写。
往昔已逝，静如止水;我们无法再作改变。而前方的未来正生机勃勃;我们所做的每一件事都将会影响着它。只要我们认识到这些，无论是在家中还是在工作上，每天我们的面前都会展现出新的天地。在人类致力开拓的每一片领域上，我们正站在进步的起跑点。
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.
I recently lost my best friend Arnold in an automobile accident while moving my family to our new home in Arizona. Arnold was an 8-month-old pot belly who taught me so much about love, devotion and companionship. I am devastated by his loss, but thank God daily for blessing me with the joy of having Arnold for his short life.
Anyone contemplating a pot belly as a pet should know that if you are a true pet lover and devote yourself to them, a pot belly will make the most wonderful friend. You will be assured of endless hours of fascination and entertainment as you both grow together in understanding the human/pot belly relationship. Words cannot describe this relationship and it can only be fully understood by experiencing it.
Arnold didn’t know he was a pig 8212; he thought he was just another member of our family 8212; modeling his behavior through observing me, my wife, my two daughters and our beagles. He was convinced he was loved by all; and he was, even when he was ornery trying to just get our attention. He learned his name, how to sit and how to use the litter box all in the first week we had him (at 7 weeks old!).
He loved to sleep on your lap as you sat on the couch watching TV. He didn’t care if he grew to weigh 45lbs, he still expected you to hoist him onto your lap at precisely 8:00 pm every evening where he would fall fast asleep within seconds after snuggling his wet nose between your neck and shoulder. If you didn’t respond to his initial 8220;honks 8221; letting you know it was his nap time, he would bump your legs with his nose until you picked him up. With his weight as it was, you couldn’t hold him all evening as he preferred, so you had to slide him off onto the couch next to you where he would sleep for hours with all four legs and his nose sticking straight up in the air. He would snore as long as he could feel you next to him but would immediately wake up if you tried to leave the couch. We had hours of fun balancing objects like a salt shaker on his flat nose while he slept soundly.
Arnold helped me in all my chores around our five acres in the country. Just being there at my feet, interested in what I was doing made even the most mundane tasks enjoyable. When he was out roaming and foraging and you would call out his name, he would come running at top speed, honking the whole way until he got close to you where he would dodge you, zigzagging around with a few victory roles turning in circles before settling down and calmly walking up to you with his tail wagging as if to say (winking) 8220;hah, got-cha. 8221;
He even helped me build a kit aircraft and a customized trailer to haul it around in. I was planning on taking him flying with me some day. He loved to play with my sockets and rolled them around on the shop floor. Just as I would struggle and get frustrated with some difficult task, Arnold would show up underneath the trailer, with his wet nose in my ear and honking 8212; seeming to say, 8220;take a break and laugh with me for a while, that should make it all better. 8221; And it did, every time. God’s marvelous creations minister to us in the most special ways if we can just stop for a few moments and observe them. God used Arnold to teach us this very important lesson in life which we will never forget.
My wife and two daughters began to say that Arnold and I were so close that he had become the son that I never had in our family. It seemed that we could no longer have any kind of conversation in our family or with our friends without Arnold being a main topic. The neighborhood kids would make appointments to come visit Arnold and couldn’t wait to come over and play with him.
Arnold went most everywhere with us 8211;Pet’s Mart, Wal-Mart, birthday parties, Christmas vacation to Grandma’s. He loved riding in the car/shopping basket and was a big hit everywhere he went. Arnold had become such an important part of our life that when we found out that our family would have to move to another state, we insisted that the contract on our new house be contingent on the homeowners’ association approval of Arnold in writing before we would agree to purchasing in our prestigious neighborhood.
On the day we left our old home town, we had a going away lunch with our friends from church. Everyone there just had to go out to the truck where Arnold and all our other pet were and say goodbye. Arnold trusted me to take care of him and get him to his new home. Tragically, along the way, the wind blast from a semi knocked our trailers out of control and pushed our truck off a 40’ bridge. We lost a big part of our family that day when our pets Arnold, Sweeti and Leanna were killed. I feel terrible for not being able to protect Arnold the way he trusted me to. However, I will be forever grateful for the fond memories of him which I will cherish forever.
Thank you for reading this and allowing me to share some of Arnold’s life with you. If you decide that a pot belly is the right choice for you both, I pray that you will be rewarded in the same way my family was with Arnold.
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I thought like a child; when I became and adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
就算我能说万人的方言和天使的话语，但如果没有爱，我不过就如鸣锣一般；就算我有预知未来的能力，就算我精通各种知识和奥秘，就算我有坚定的信念，但如果没有爱，我就什么都算不上；就算我拿所有的财物周济穷人，就算我能做出舍己为人的.壮举，但如果没有爱，我仍将一无所有。
爱是一种忍耐，爱是一种友善；爱不是嫉妒，不是自大，不是鲁莽，不是固执己见，不是轻易发怒。爱意味着憎恶不义，赞赏真理；爱意味着包容一切，相信一切，对生活充满希望，并能忍受生活中的一切。
爱是永无止境的，但又是有尽头的；就像知识一样，必将归于乌有。我们现在搜掌握的知识很有限，当我们掌握了完整的知识时，有限的知识必将归于乌有。当我还是一个孩子的时候，我像孩子一样说话，像孩子一样思考问题，像孩子一样推理；但我一旦成年，就不再像孩子一样了。现阶段，我们很多时候好像是从镜子里观看事物，对很多事物都看不清，但有朝一日我们会直面这些事物。现阶段，我知道的东西很有限，但有朝一日我会懂得一切。
如今，常存在人们心中的东西有三样：信念、希望和爱，而其中爱是最重要的！
“Oh, May I Have a Bottle of Coca cola?” ----Optimism: another kind of spirit in the
Sichuan earthquake
“May I have a bottle of coca cola, I’m thirsty?” such a remark appears to be commonplace in our daily life. However, it was of great significance when it was produced on a special occasion by a special person. A little girl made the above remark the minute she was rescued from the ruins of
Sichuan earthquake. Suddenly, I was greatly buoyed up, because several days’ grief had taken me away.
I, a sentimental girl, simply forgot there was a kind of spirit called optimism. Yes, optimism is needed in such a life-death battle, and it is also needed in our post-disaster reconstruction. Optimism: a belief in the darkness Optimism can help one to be happier, stronger and more confident. Pessimism leads, by contrast, to hopelessness, sickness and failure. In the context of the great earthquake, what else can be more helpful and effective than teaching those in trap a spirit named optimism? The belief that you can get through decide whether or not you will. An old man, for instance, living through more than one crisis: the Chinese War against
Japan’ Invasion, Chinese War of Liberation, showed his sense of humor and optimism by saying “hey, I thought the shake had brought me aboard!” when he was saved by a contingent of foreign rescue members. Noticeably, the earthquake just like the one of the wars he has experienced, in his eyes, which was destined to be defeated in the end. It was the old man’s belief that he would survive that brought him a second life. A miracle, isn’t it? Optimism: a guide on the way forward An optimistic attitude is not a luxury; but it’s a necessity. The way you look at life will determine how you feel, and how you perform. It has been two months since the
Sichuan earthquake took place, facing the fact that our beloved ones have lost and our homeland has been seriously destroyed, how will we view the road ahead? Will we look up in hope or down in despair? I believe in the upward look, and I’m confident that our mother nation will choose the former, too. Take education as an example. In order to secure the normal education for the students in disaster-affected areas, local and central governments pooled their efforts to provide necessary educational facilities and materials at the first minute, thus making studying a reality instead of a dream, thus turning a sea of ruins into a promising land on which students are playing, learning and growing.
As the leader of the nation, CPC set us an example of optimism, therefore, there’s a good reason to believe that under the leadership of CPC,
Sichuan province will usher a new round of development and prosperity. Optimism perts our attention away from negativism and channels it into positive, upward thinking. The earthquake is by no means a fate for us but a trial that entails concerted wisdom, efforts of one mind and one heart, and above all, a spirit of optimism.
On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.
The infinite sky is motionless overhead
And the restless water is boisterous.
On the seashore of endless worlds
The children meet with shouts and dances.
They build their houses with sand,
And they play with empty shells.
With withered leaves they weave
Their boats and smilingly float them
On the vast deep.
Children have their play on the
Seashore of worlds.
They know not how to swim,
They know not how to cast nets.
Pearl-fishers pe for pearls,
Merchants sail in their ships,
While children gather pebbles
And scatter them again.
They seek not for hidden treasures,
They know not how to cast nets.
The sea surges up with laughter,
And pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach.
Death-dealing waves sing
Meaningless ballads to the children,
Even like a mother while rocking her baby's cradle.
The sea plays with children,
And pale gleams the smile of the sea-beach.
On the seashore of endless worlds children meet.
Tempest roams in the pathless sky,
Ships are wrecked in the trackless water,
Death is abroad and children play.
On the seashore of endless worlds is the
Great meeting of children.
在无尽世界的海滨，孩子们相聚。
头上无垠的天空静止，不息的海水狂暴。
在无尽世界的海滨，
孩子们相聚、叫着、跳着。
他们以沙筑屋，他们戏耍着空贝壳，
他们用凋萎的枯叶编制它们的船只，
然后微笑地让他们在深海中飘浮。
孩子们有自己的游戏，在世界的海滨。
他们不知如何游泳，他们不知如何撒网。
采珠者潜水寻觅珍珠，商人们乘船航行，
而孩子们将鹅卵石拾起又抛散。
他们不寻找宝藏，他们不知该如何撒网。
海洋带着笑声涌起大浪，
苍白闪烁着的是海滩的笑容。
凶险波涛对这孩子们唱着舞意义的歌，
经四母亲推动婴儿摇篮时的哼唱。
大海与孩子们戏耍，
苍白闪烁着的是海滩的笑容。
在无尽世界的.海滨孩子们相聚。
暴风雨在无径的空中怒吼，
船只在无踪的水里崩解。
死神处处皆在，而孩子们在戏耍。
在无尽世界的海滨是孩子们盛大的聚会。
--选自《新月集》-- 泰戈尔