书城外语淡定的人生不寂寞
1461200000031

第31章 招待你的灵魂 (5)

2. _______ in moments of great grief the reeling emotions steady themselves by concentrating upon _______physical occupations—the careful tying of a shoelace, the straightening of a crooked picture on the wall, the tidy folding of a napkin—so I _______ , in this heartbreaking world, in tending to the simple familiar chores which lie at _______ .

佳句翻译

1. 然而,母亲的行为就像她所说的一样,“招待招待自己的灵魂”。

2. 现代的社会人都背负着巨大的压力,更不要说招待自己的灵魂,就连给身体休息的时间都抽不出来。

3. 这些也许没有动摇人类的信仰,只是使人类的教义受到了影响。

短语应用

1. Occasionally my mother used to announce that she was going to take time out from the day’s activities“to rest”...

used to:过去常常做某事;过去常常;过去曾经

2. ...that we find little time for rest, physical rest, let alone leisure for spiritual reception.

let alone:更不用说;更别提;不打扰;不惊动

假装的快乐

The Happy Door

米尔德里德?克拉姆 / Mildred Cram

Happiness is like a pebble dropped into a pool to set in motion an ever-widening circle of ripples. As Stevenson has said, being happy is a duty.

There is no exact definition of the word—happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures that are extremely happy.

Being happy is a sort of unexpected dividend. But staying happy is an accomplishment, a triumph of soul and character. It is not selfish to strive for it. It is, indeed, a duty to us and others.

Being unhappy is like an infectious disease; it causes people to shrink away from the sufferer. He soon finds himself alone, miserable and embittered. There is, however, a cure so simple as to seem, at first glance, ridiculous: If you don’t feel happy, pretend to be!

It works. Before long you will find that instead of repelling people, you attract them. You discover how deeply rewarding it is to be the center of wider and wider circles of good will.

Then the make-believe becomes a reality. You possess the secret of peace of mind, and can forget yourself in being of service to others.

Being happy, once it is realized as a duty and established as a habit, opens doors into unimaginable gardens thronged with grateful friends.

快乐就像一枚鹅卵石突然掉入池塘中,激起一圈又一圈的涟漪,并不断向外围扩散。正如史蒂文森说的,快乐是一种责任。

快乐没有确切的定义。快乐的理由成千上万,而关键并不在于行财富或健康。因为我们发现,乞丐、残疾人和所谓的失败者也能过得无比快乐。

快乐会有一种意想不到的收获。而保持快乐的心境是一种成就,是灵魂和性格的升华。事实上,追求快乐并非自私的表现,而是对自己和他人的一种责任。

郁闷就像一种传染病,人们往往对郁闷的人退避三舍。他们很快也会感到孤独、痛苦和难过。但是,有一种看似简单的治疗方法,虽然乍看似乎有些荒谬,如果你觉得不快乐,就假装快乐吧!

这个方法很管用,不久你就会发现,自己会吸引他人,而不是令人反感。你拥有一个以自我为中心的、日趋宽广的友好交际圈。这会是多么有益的事。

于是,假装的快乐就成为事实。你掌握了平和心境的秘诀,并且,在愉悦他人的过程中,自己也变得忘乎所以。

一旦意识到,保持快乐的心境是一种责任,并形成了习惯,它就能开启秘密花园的大门,那里云集着无数满怀感激的朋友。

记忆填空

1. There is no _______definition of the word—happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of _______ . The _______ is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures that are extremely happy.

2. Before long you will_______ that instead of repelling people, you attract them. You discover _______ deeply rewarding it is to be the center of wider and wider circles of good _______.

3. Being_______ , once it is realized as a _______and established as a habit, opens doors into unimaginable gardens thronged with grateful friends.

佳句翻译

1. 快乐的理由成千上万,而关键并不在于财富或健康。

2. 保持快乐的心境是一种成就,是灵魂和性格的升华。

3. 不久你就会发现,自己会吸引他人,而不是令人反感。

短语应用

1. ...it causes people to shrink away from the suffer.

away from:离开;远离;不在

2. Before long you will find that instead of repelling people...

before long:不久以后;很快;不久

快乐不必认真

The Importance of Doing Things Badly

佚名 / Anonymous

I. A. Williams was born in England and educated at Cambridge. After World War I he served as a correspondent for the London Times. Williams wrote several books on eighteenth-century poetry and drama, published widely in journals and magazines, and published collections of his own poetry. The following article first appeared in London’s The Outlook in 1923.

Perhaps the greatest threat to productivity in both work and play is the fear of doing things badly or wrong. This article offers some comfort. Williams points out that there are many things worth doing badly, and that our lives are enriched and our personalities enhanced by these activities. Two central examples, sports and music, are valuable to most people in proportion to how enthusiastically they do them, rather than how well.

Charles Lamb wrote a series of essays upon popular fallacies. I do not, at the moment, carry them very clearly in my memory; but, unless that treacherous servant misleads me more even than she usually does, he did not write of one piece of proverbial so-called wisdom that has always seemed to me to be peculiarly pernicious. And this saw, this scrap of specious advice, this untruth masquerading as logic, is one that I remember to have had hurled at my head at frequent intervals from my earliest youth right up to my present advanced age. How many times have I not been told that “If a thing is worth doing at all, it is worth doing well”?

Never was there a more untruthful word spoken in earnest. For the world is full of things that are worth doing, but certainly not worth doing well. Was it not so great a sage as Herbert Spencer who said to the young man who had just beaten him at billiards, “Moderate skill, sir, is the sign of a good eye and a steady hand, but skill such as yours argues a youth misspent?” Is any game worth playing supremely well, at the price of constant practice and application?