美文欣賞六篇

Love Is Just a Thread 愛只是一根線

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.

有時候，我真的懷疑父母之間是否有真愛。他們天天忙於賺錢，為我和弟弟支付學費

。他們從未像我在書中讀到，或在電視中看到的那樣互訴衷腸。他們認為”我愛你”太奢

侈，很難説出口。更不用説在情人節送花這樣的事了。我父親的脾氣非常壞。經過一天的

勞累之後，他經常會發脾氣。

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

一天，母親正在縫被子，我靜靜地坐在她旁邊看着她。

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

過了一會，我説：”媽媽，我想問你一個問題。”

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

“什麼問題?”她一邊繼續縫着，一邊回答道。

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

我低聲地問道：”你和爸爸之間有沒有愛情啊?”

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.

母親突然停下了手中的活，滿眼詫異地抬起頭。她沒有立即作答。然後低下頭，繼續縫被

子。

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:

我擔心傷害了她。我非常尷尬，不知道該怎麼辦。不過，後來我聽見母親説：

“Susan,” she said thoughtfully, “Look at this times 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.”

“蘇珊，看看這些線。有時候，你能看得見，但是大多數都隱藏在被子裏。這些線使被子

堅固耐用。如果生活就像一牀被子，那麼愛就是其中的線。你不可能隨時隨地看到它，但

是它卻實實在在地存在着。愛是內在的。

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.

我仔細地聽着，卻無法明白她的話，直到來年的春天。那時候，我父親得了重病。母親在

醫院裏待了一個月。當他們從醫院回來的時候，都顯得非常蒼白。就像他們都得了一場重

病一樣。

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.

他們回來之後，每天的清晨或黃昏，母親都會攙扶着父親在鄉村的小路上漫步。父親從未

如此温和過。他們就像是天作之合。在小路旁邊，有許多美麗的野花、綠草和樹木。陽光

穿過樹葉的縫隙，温柔地照射在地面上。這一切形成了一幅世間最美好的畫面。

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.

醫生説父親將在兩個月後康復。但是兩個月之後，他仍然無法獨立行走。我們都很為他擔

心。

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

有一天，我問他：“爸爸，你感覺怎麼樣?”

“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.

他温和地説：“蘇珊，不用為我擔心。跟你説吧，我喜歡與你媽媽一塊散步的感覺。我喜

歡這種生活。”從他的眼神裏，我看得出他對母親的愛之深刻。

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..

我曾經認為愛情就是鮮花、禮物和甜蜜的親吻。但是從那一刻起，我明白了，愛情就像是

生活中被子裏的一根線。愛情就在裏面，使生活變得堅固而温暖。

The Missed Blessings 錯過的祝福

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.

從前，有位年輕人即將大學生畢業。數月來，他一直渴望得到某汽車商產品陳列室中的一輛跑車。他知道，他那富有的父親肯定買得起這輛車，於是，他便跟父親説他很想得到那輛漂亮的跑車。

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

在畢業典禮即將來臨的日子裏，年輕人等待着父親買下跑車的消息。終於，在畢業典禮那天上午，父親將他叫到自己的書房，並告訴他，有他這麼出色的兒子自己感到非常自豪而且非常愛他這個兒子。接着，父親遞給兒子一個包裝精美的禮品盒。年輕人感到好奇，但帶着些許失望地打開禮品盒，卻發現裏面是一本精美的精裝本《聖經》，上面以金子凸印着年輕人的名字。看罷，年輕人怒氣衝衝地向父親大喊道：“你有那麼多錢，卻只給我一本《聖經》？”説完，便丟下《聖經》，憤怒地衝出房子。

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

多年以後，年輕人已事業有成。他擁有一所漂亮的房子，一個温馨的家庭。但當得知父親年事已高，他想，或許應該去看看他。自從畢業那天起他就一直不見父親。就在起程時，他收到一封電報——父親已逝世，並已立下遺囑將其所有財產轉給兒子。他要立即回父親家處理後事。

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words... "PAID IN FULL".

在父親的房子裏，他突然內心感到一陣悲傷與懊悔。他開始仔細搜尋父親的重要文件，突然發現了那本《聖經》——還跟幾年前一樣嶄新。他噙着淚水打開《聖經》並一頁一頁地閲讀着。忽然，從書的背面掉出一把鑰匙。鑰匙上掛着一個標籤，上面寫着一個汽車經銷商的名字——正是他曾渴望的那輛跑車的經銷商。標籤上還有他的畢業日期及“款已付清”的字樣。

How many times do we miss blessings because they are not packaged as we expected? Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.

我們多少次地與祝福擦肩而過，僅僅因為他們沒有按我們想象中的樣子包裝好？不要在渴望得到沒有的東西時損壞你已經擁有的東西，但要記住一點：你現在所擁有的恰恰正是你曾經一心渴望得到的。

Sometimes we don't realize the good fortune we have or we could have because we expect "the packaging" to be different. What may appear as bad fortune may in fact be the door that is just waiting to be opened.

有時，我們並沒有意識到我們已經擁有或本該擁有的好運，僅僅因為它的外表與我們想象中的有所不同。其實，表面上看起來像是壞運氣的東西或許正是等待開啟的幸運之門。

The Scars of Love 愛的傷疤

傷疤，聽起來總有點令人心寒，但你可曾想過有些傷口是一些不想放棄你的人造成的。在你掙扎的過程中，那些愛你的人為了拉住你，才在你身上留下了的傷疤。

The Scars of Love 愛的傷疤

Some years ago on a hot summer day in south Florida a little boy decided togo for a swim in the old swimming hole behind his house.

幾年前的一個炎炎夏日，在美國佛羅里達州南部，有個小男孩為貪圖涼快，決定去自家房子後面一個形成已久的深水潭中游泳。

In a hurry to dive into the cool water,he ran out the back door,leavingbehind shoes,socks,and shirt as he went. He flew into the water,notrealizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake,an alligator wasswimming toward the shore. His mother - in the house was looking out thewindow - saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utterfear,she ran toward the water,yelling to her son as loudly as she could.

因為迫不及待地想投入到清涼的水中，他飛快地從後門跑了出去，邊跑邊脱掉鞋子、襪子和襯衣，把它們隨手拋在了身後。他一頭扎進了水裏，絲毫沒有意識到自己遊往潭中心的同時，一隻美洲鱷也正在朝岸邊游來。小男孩的母親當時在屋子裏透過窗子向外看着，發現那隻美洲鱷正向她的孩子步步逼近。她極度驚恐起來，一邊迅速奔向水潭，一邊聲嘶力竭地朝自己的孩子呼喊着。

Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed and made a return to swimto his mother. It was too late. Just as he reached her,the alligatorreached him.

聽到她的呼喊，小男孩才猛然意識到了危險，立即掉頭向岸邊的母親游去。可這時已經無濟於事。他的手勉強剛夠到他的母親，鱷魚也已經接觸到了他。

From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms just as thealligator snatched his legs. That began an incredible tug-of-war betweenthe two. The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the motherwas much too passionate to let go. A farmer happened to drive by, heard herscreams, raced from his truck, took aim and shot the alligator.

母親在岸上拼命地拽緊兒子的手臂，而此時美洲鱷也死死地咬住孩子的腿不放。為了爭奪小男孩，母親和鱷魚之間儼然展開了一場讓人難以置信的拔河較量。美洲鱷的力氣顯然要比母親強大得多，但是母親挽救兒子的堅定信念讓她無論如何也絕不放手。就在這萬分危急的關頭，一位農夫恰巧駕車經過，一聽到孩子母親的尖叫便飛速從卡車上跳下，瞄準鱷魚並開槍將其射殺。

Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy survived. His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal and, on his arms, were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his flesh in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.

值得慶幸的是，經過在醫院數週的搶救治療，小男孩居然存活了下來。鱷魚兇殘的襲擊在他的腿上刻下了觸目驚心的傷痕。不僅如此，他的雙臂上也留下了深深的抓痕，那是在生死關頭母親為了牢牢抓住摯愛的兒子，以至於手指甲都掐入了兒子的肉中所留下的。

The newspaper reporter who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked if he would show him his scars. The boy lifted his pant legs. And then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter. But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my mom wouldn't let go.

事後，這位死裏逃生的小男孩接受了一位報社記者的採訪。當記者問他是否願意讓大家看看他身上的傷疤時，小男孩挽起了自己的褲腿，腿上深深的疤痕暴露無遺。緊接着，他滿臉自豪地告訴記者，“大家還是看看我的手臂吧，我的手臂上也有好多傷疤呢。這是媽媽不放開我，在救我的時候留下的。”

You and I can identify with that little boy. We have scars, too. No, not from an alligator, or anything quite so dramatic. But, the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly and have caused us deep regret.

看了這個小男孩的故事後，人們都能感同身受。其實我們每個人身上都有傷疤。只不過並不是被鱷魚咬的，或任何如此戲劇性事件所造成，而是過往的痛苦經歷所留下的。那些傷疤是如此難看，讓人深感懊悔。

But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been there holding on to you.

但是，我的朋友，你可曾想過有些傷口是一些不想放棄你的人造成的。在你掙扎的過程中，那些愛你的人為了拉住你，才在你身上留下了這些傷疤。

愛自己 love oneself

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

Love yourself. Love the things that make you values and talents and memories.

If you love yourself, you can jump into your life from a springboard of self-confidence.

If you love yourself, you can say what you want to say, go where you want togo.

The world can be a tough place, and some of the billions of people out there will try to knock you down. Don’t join them. Do things that make you proud, then take pride in what you do. And in who are you anyway? What makes you you? How are you like your siblings and neighbors and friends?

If you were your own secret admirer, what would you most admire?

“My great mistake, the fault for which I can’t forgive myself,” Oscar Wildewrote, “is that one day I ceased my obstinate pursuit of my ownindividuality.”

Keep pursuing your individuality. Keep being yourself. Becoming yourself. It can be comforting to dress and act like everyone it is grander to be different, to be unique, to be you.

I’m the only me in the whole wide world.

There is always one true inner voice. Trust it. Sometimes it’s hard to know who you are and what you want and whom you likeand why you like that answers change because you’re changing.

deep inside, you are were you as a baby, you were you as a kid,and you are you right now.“Let me listen to me and not to them,” wroteGertrude makes sense to consider the advice and opinions of other people. But don’t let their noise drown out your inner voice.

愛自己是一場畢生浪漫的開始。

愛自己。熱愛一切使你之所以成為你自己的事物。你的價值，你的才能，你的回憶。

你的服飾，你的鼻子，你的悲傷。如果你愛自己，你就能在自信的跳板上躍入生活。

如果你愛自己，你能暢所欲言，所向披靡。

世界是冷酷的，成萬上億的人試圖在競爭中超越你。別和他們一樣。

做能讓你自豪的事情，然後為你所做的事情自豪，為你自身感到驕傲。那麼你究竟是誰呢？

是什麼使你成為你自己呢？你和你的兄弟姐妹、左鄰右舍又有着怎樣的相似點呢？

如果你讚賞自己的祕密，哪個部分又是你最為欣賞的？

“我最大的錯誤，我無法原諒自己的錯誤，”奧斯卡?王爾德寫道：“就是某天我停止追逐自己的個性。”

追求你的個性。做你自己。成為你自己。同旁人一樣地穿衣、舉止是件容易的事情。

但更偉大的事情在於做到與眾不同，獨特如你自己。

廣闊世界，唯我是我。

總有一個真實的內在的聲音。聽從它。

有時很難想明白你到底是誰，你想要什麼，你喜歡誰，你為什麼喜歡這些人。你在變，在成長，答案也在變。

但在內心深處，你就是你。從嬰兒到孩童，到現在，你就是你。“讓我聽從自己的，而不是他們的意見。”葛楚德?史坦如是寫道。

你可以參考別人的建議和觀點。但是不要讓他們的意見蓋過你內心的想法。

Love of Life 熱愛生命

That day he decreased the distance between him and the ship by three miles; the next day by two－for he was crawling now as Bill had crawled; and the end of the day found the ship still seven mailes away and him unable to make even a mile a day. Still the indian summer held on, and he continued to crawl and faint ,turn and turn about; and ever the sick wolf coughed and wheezed at his heels. His knees had become raw meat like his feet, and though he paddled them with the shirt from his back it was a red track he left behind him on the moss and stones. Once , glancing back, he saw the wolf licking hungrily his bleeding trail, and he saw sharply what his own end might be－unless－unless he could get the wolf. Then began as grim a tragedy of existence as was ever played－a sick man that crawled, a sick wolf that limped, two creatures dragging their dying carcasses across the desolation and hunting each other’s lives.

這一天，他和那條船之間的距離又縮短了三英里，到了第二天，他又繼續縮短了兩英里－因為他現在就和比爾先生先前一樣在地上匍匐前進，到了第五天晚上的時候，他發現那條船依然離他還有七英里的距離，而他每天的進程還不到一英里。幸好深秋的天氣依然晴朗，他繼續爬，一次又一次地暈死過去，可是醒來他又繼續地往前爬，不停地回頭張望着；而那頭病狼也在不停地咳嗽着，發出艱難的.喘息聲，可依然緊緊尾隨其後。他的膝蓋－就和他的雙腳一樣－早給磨得血肉模糊，其實他一早就脱下了身上的襯衣裹住了膝蓋，可都沒有用，他一路爬下來，他身後的苔蘚和巖石上也就留下了一道觸目驚心的血漬。有一次他回頭的時候，他看見那頭餓狼正貪婪地舔着他的血漬，一時間他清楚地意識到自己的結局－除非－除非他把那頭狼解決掉。就這樣，一幕從來沒有上演的求生悲劇開始了－病人在前面爬，瘸腿的病狼尾隨其後，兩個生靈就這樣在荒漠裏拖着垂死的軀殼，隨時準備獵取對方的生命。

Had it been a well wolf, it would not have mattered so much to the man; but the thought of going to feed the maw of that loathsome and all but dead thing was repugnant to him. He was finicky. His mind had begun to wander again, and to be perplexed by hallucinations, while his lucid intervals grew rarer and shorter.

如果這是頭健康的狼，他也覺得沒什麼；可是一想到自己要葬身狼腹，尤其是眼前這頭令人作惡、病怏怏的餓狼，他就覺得非常厭惡。要知道他可是一個非常講究的人。他又開始胡思亂想起來，人也因幻覺影響而變得迷糊。他神智清醒的時間越來越少，越來越短。

He was awaken once from a faint by a wheeze close in his wolf leaped lamely back, losing its footing and falling in its weakness. It was ludicrous, but he was not amused. Nor was he even afraid. He was too far gone for that. But his mind was for the moment clear, and he lay and considered.

有一次他從昏迷中被耳邊傳來的喘息聲驚醒；那隻狼很快一跛一跛地跳開，由於身體虛弱，那頭狼還失足摔了一跤，那樣子可笑極了，可是他卻笑不出來。倒不是因為他害怕，事情到了這田地他早就不害怕了。不過，在這瞬間他的腦子很清醒，他躺在地上仔細地思考起來。

The ship was more than four miles away. He could see it quite distinctly when he rubbed the mists out of his eyes. But he could never crawl those four miles. He knew that, and was very calm in the knowledge. He knew that he could not crawl half a mile. And yet he wanted to live. It was unreasonable that he should die after all he had undergone. Fate asked too much of him. And , dying, he declined to die. It was stark madness, perhaps, but in the very grip of Death he defied Death and refused to die.

那艘船就在離他還不到四英里的地方。他使勁揉了揉眼睛，那艘船清晰的出現在他眼前。可是，他再也爬不完這四英里的路程了，這點他很清楚，因為就算是半英里的路程他也爬不了。可同時他也非常鎮靜，因為他想活下去。他已經經歷了千辛萬苦，他不想就這樣死掉。命運對他實在太苛刻了，可他就是不願俯身受死。這是一種近乎瘋狂的想法，可就算他無法逃脱死神的魔掌，他仍然要抗爭下去，要讓自己活下去。

He closed his eyes and composed himself with infinite precaution. He steeled himself to keep above the suffocating languor that lapped like a rising tide through all the wells of his being. It was very like a sea, this deadly languor, that rose and rose and drowned his consciousness bit by bit. Sometimes he was all but submerged, swimming through oblivion with a faltering stroke;and again, by some strange alchemy of soul, he would find another shred of will and strike out more strongly.

他閉上眼睛，設法使自己平靜下來，不敢有絲毫的鬆懈。令人窒息的疲倦像漲潮一樣，從他的身體各處湧來，他還是頑強地打醒精神，不讓自己被疲倦淹沒。這種要命的疲倦，就像大海一樣，一浪又一浪地漲過來，一點一點地吞噬着他的意識。有時候，他被完全淹沒其中，就這樣默默地漂游；而有時候，憑藉一種奇異的心靈作用，他又找回了些許精神力量，更加堅毅地前進。

一切剛開始We're Just Beginning

"We are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book whose pages are infinite…”

“我們正在讀一本書的第一章第一行，這本書的頁數是無限的……”

I do not know who wrote those words, but I have always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want to make it. We can take the mysterious, hazy future and carve out of it anything that we can imagine, just as a sculptor carves a statue from a shapeless stone.

我不知道是誰寫的，可我很喜歡這句話，它提醒我們未來是由自己創造的。我們可以把神祕、不可知的未來塑造成我們想象中的任何模樣，猶如雕刻家將未成形的石頭刻成雕像。

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 weeds, we reap a useless crop. If we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.

我們每個人都像是農夫。灑下良種將有豐收，播下劣種或生滿野草便將毀去收成。沒有耕耘則會一無所獲。

I want the future to be better than the past. I don't want it 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.

我希望未來比過去更加美好，希望未來不會沾染歷史的錯誤與過失。我們都應舉目向前，因我們的餘生要用未來書寫。

The past is gone and static. Nothing we can do will change it. The future is before us and dynamic. Everything we do will affect it. Each day brings with it new 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.

往昔已逝，靜如止水；我們無法再作改變。而前方的未來正生機勃勃；我們所做的每一件事都將會影響着它。只要我們認識到這些，無論是在家中還是在工作上，每天我們的面前都會展現出新的天地。在人類致力開拓的每一片領域上，我們正站在進步的起跑點。