书城外语当英语成为时尚:生活全由你创造
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第35章 Love Your Life 热爱生活

Henry David Thoreau

心灵寄语

对真正的成功者来说,不论他的生存条件如何,都不会自我磨灭自身潜藏的智能,不会自贬可能达到的人生高度。他会锲而不舍地去克服一切困难,发掘自身才能的最佳生长点,扬长避短、踏踏实实地朝着人生的最高目标坚定地前进!

However mean your life is, meet it and live it;do not shun1 it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest.

The fault-finder2 will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious3 hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house4 as brightly as from the rich man"s abode5;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The town"s poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving6. Most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means. Which should be more disreputable7?Cultivate poverty like a garden herb8,like sage9. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends, turn the old, return to them. Things do not change;we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

亨利·大卫·梭罗

不论你的生活如何卑贱,你要面对它,不要躲避它,更不要用恶言恶语去咒骂它。它不像你那么坏。当你最富有的时候,生活反而最贫困。喜欢吹毛求疵的人即使到了天堂也能挑出毛病。你要热爱自己的生活,尽管它贫穷。即使在一个济贫院里,你也有可能会度过愉快、惊喜或是光荣的时刻。反射在济贫院的窗上的夕阳,和富人家的豪宅窗上的夕阳是一样的明亮;济贫院门前的积雪和豪宅前的一样,同在早春融化。我只看到,一个从容的人,在哪里也像在皇宫中一样,带着愉快的心情,生活得心满意足。镇上的穷人,在我看来,倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们本身就很伟大,所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的,不靠城镇来支援他们;可是事实上他们往往是利用了不正当的手段来对付生活。那样就是臭名昭著的吗?视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样供奉着它吧!不要花心思去寻找新事物、新朋友或新衣服了。我们应该怀旧,回归到过去吧!万物不变,唯一改变的是我们自己。你的衣服可以卖掉,但你的思想需要保留。

词汇空间 ocabulary

1.shun v. 避开,避免

2.fault-finder n. 吹毛求疵的人

3.glorious adj. 荣誉的,辉煌的

4.alms-house n. 济贫院

5.abode n. 住所,公寓

6.misgiving n. 疑虑,担心

7.disreputable adj. 名誉不好的

8.herb n. 草本植物

9.sage n. 圣人,贤明

文化链接 Culture Background

英国济贫院

1601年,英国政府颁布《伊丽莎白济贫法》,以缓解贫困者的生存危机,授权教区摊派“济贫税”用以建立贫民习艺所,1869年,再率先建立“慈善机构联合会”,在1844年伦敦教育条件极差的地区成立托因比服务所,开展社会服务工作。

英国的民间公益组织有着悠久的历史。早在12-13世纪,英国就出现了约500多家民间志愿性的公益慈善组织。1601年,英国颁布了世界上第一个有关民间公益组织的法规——《慈善法》,该项法规不仅划定了公益慈善组织的范畴,强调了这类组织所具有的公益性、慈善性和民间性等原则,而且提出了政府鼓励和支持民间慈善事业的法定框架,给出了进行各种形式社会募捐以筹措公益资源的法律依据。这项法规对于英国民间公益事业的发展起到重要的作用。

妙语拾珠

1.However mean your life is, meet it and live it;do not shun it and call it hard names.

不论你的生活如何卑贱,你要面对它,不要躲避它,更不要用恶言恶语地咒骂它。

2.Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends, turn the old, return to them.

视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样供奉着它吧!不要花心思去寻找新事物、新朋友或新衣服了。我们应该怀旧,回归到过去吧!