英語勵志散文4篇
英語勵志美文，不僅要激活一個人的財富慾望，更要激活一個人的生命能量，勵志，並不是讓弱者取代另一個人成爲強者，而是讓一個弱者能與強者比肩，擁有實力相當的生命力和創造力。勵志，即是喚醒一個人的內在創造力。惟有從內心深處展開的力量，用心靈體驗總結出的精華，纔是一個人真正獲得尊嚴和自信的途徑。
1.A New Look from Borrowed Time
By Ralph Richmond
Just ten years ago, I sat across the desk from a doctor with a stethoscope. “Yes,” he said, “there is a lesion in the left, upper lobe. You have a moderately advanced case…” I listened, stunned, as he continued, “You’ll have to give up work at once and go to bed. Later on, we’ll see.” He gave no assurances.
Feeling like a man who in mid-career has suddenly been placed under sentence of death with an indefinite reprieve, I left the doctor’s office, walked over to the park, and sat down on a bench, perhaps, as I then told myself, for the last time. I needed to think. In the next three days, I cleared up my affairs; then I went home, got into bed, and set my watch to tick off not the minutes, but the months. 2 ½ years and many dashed hopes later, I left my bed and began the long climb back. It was another year before I made it.
I speak of this experience because these years that past so slowly taught me what to value and what to believe. They said to me: Take time, before time takes you. I realize now that this world I’m living in is not my oyster to be opened but my opportunity to be grasped. Each day, to me, is a precious entity. The sun comes up and presents me with 24 brand new, wonderful hours—not to pass, but to fill.
I’ve learned to appreciate those little, all-important things I never thought I had the time to notice before: the play of light on running water, the music of the wind in my favorite pine tree. I seem now to see and hear and feel with some of the recovered freshness of childhood. How well, for instance, I recall the touch of the springy earth under my feet the day I first stepped upon it after the years in bed. It was almost more than I could bear. It was like regaining one’s citizenship in a world one had nearly lost.
Frequently, I sit back and say to myself, Let me make note of this moment I’m living right now, because in it I’m well, happy, hard at work doing what I like best to do. It won’t always be like this, so while it is I’ll make the most of it—and afterwards, I remember—and be grateful. All this, I owe to that long time spent on the sidelines of life. Wiser people come to this awareness without having to acquire it the hard way. But I wasn’t wise enough. I’m wiser now, a little, and happier.
“Look thy last on all things lovely, every hour.” With these words, Walter de la Mare sums up for me my philosophy and my belief. God made this world—in spite of what man now and then tries to do to unmake it—a dwelling place of beauty and wonder, and He filled it with more goodness than most of us suspect. And so I say to myself, Should I not pretty often take time to absorb the beauty and the wonder, to contribute a least a little to the goodness? And should I not then, in my heart, give thanks? Truly, I do. This I believe.
第二次生命的啓示
拉爾夫.里士滿
十年前的一天，我坐在一名手持聽診器的醫生對面。“你的左肺葉上部確實有一處壞損，而且病情正在惡化”——聽到這裏，我整個人一下懵了。“你必須停止工作臥牀休息，有待觀察。”醫生對我的病情也是不置可否。
就這樣，事業方面方興未艾的我彷彿突然被人判了死刑，卻說不準何時執刑。我離開醫生的辦公室，來到公園的長椅上坐下。這也許是最後一次來這兒了，我對自己說。我真得好好整理一下思緒。
接下來的三天我把手頭的事務全部處理完畢。我回到家，躺到牀上，然後把手錶從顯示分鐘改爲顯示月份。
兩年半的時間過去了，在無數次的失望之後，我終於可以離開病牀，艱難地向從前的生活狀態迴歸。一年之後，我做到了。
我之所以談起這段經歷，是因爲那段度日如年的歲月讓我懂得應該珍惜什麼，信仰什麼。那段歲月讓我明白一個道理：牢牢抓住時間，而不是讓時間將你套牢。
現在我終於明白，我生活着的這個世界不是等待我去打開的一扇牡蠣，而是需要我去抓住的一個機會。每一天我都視若珍寶，每一輪太陽帶給我的嶄新的二十四小時都鮮活而精彩，我絕不可將其虛度。
從前，我終日忙碌，無暇顧及生活中某些重要的細節，諸如水波上的光影，松林間的風吟——現在，我終於學會去欣賞它們的美好。
如今，我彷彿重返童年，又覺得自己所見所聞所感的一切都那麼新鮮。當我臥牀數年後重新將雙腳踏在大地上的那一刻，腳下那久違了的鬆軟土壤讓我激動得情難自抑，彷彿重新擁有我差一點就失去的世界。
我現在時常舒舒服服地坐着，提醒自己要記住當下的每分每秒，因爲現在的我健康、快樂，能努力做自己最愛做的工作。這一切如此美好，卻終將消逝，在如此美好的生活消逝之前，我一定要倍加珍惜。在它逝去之後，我會記得曾經擁有的美好，並心存感激。
這一切改變都得益於我在生命邊緣徘徊的那幾年。智者無需被逼到如此境地也能明白這些道理——可惜我從前太愚鈍。現在的我比從前多了幾分睿智，我也因此更加快樂。
英國詩人沃爾特·德拉·梅爾曾說過：“時刻記住，最後看一眼所有美好的事物!”這句詩正好總結了我的人生哲學與信仰。上帝創造的這個世界——這個人類時常試圖毀滅的世界——是個美麗奇妙的家園。這裏充滿了上帝所賜予的美好事物，超過我們大多數人的想象。我於是常常自問，難道自己不應該去細細品味這些美麗與奇蹟，盡綿薄之力去創造世間的美好嗎?難道我不應心存感激嗎?我確實應該——這就是我的信仰。
2.I Wish I Could believe
#e#
by C. Day Lewis
"The best lack all conviction,
While the worst are full of passionate intesity."
Those two lines of Yeats for me sum up the matter as it stands today when the very currency of belief seems debased. I was brought up in the Christian church. Later I believed for a while that communism offered the best hope for this world. I acknowledge the need for belief, but I cannot forget how through the ages great faiths have been vitiated by fanaticism and dogmatism, by intolerance and cruelty, by the intellectual dishonesty, the folly, the crankiness or the opportunism of their adherents.
Have I no faith at all, then? Faith is the thing at the core of you, the sediment that's left when hopes and illusions are drained away. The thing for which you make any sacrifice because without it you would be nothing - a mere walking shadow. I know what my own core is. I would in the last resort sacrifice any human relationship, any way of living to the search for truth which produces my poem. I know there are heavy odds against any poem I write surviving after my death. I realize that writing poetry may seem the most preposterously useless thing a man can be doing today. Yet it is just at such times of crisis that each man discovers or rediscovers what he values most. My poet's instinct to make something comes out most strongly then, enabling me to use fear, doubt, even despair as creative stimuli. In doing so, I feel my kinship with humanity, with the common man who carries on doing his job till the bomb falls or the sea closes over him. Carries on because of his belief, however inarticulate, that this is the best thing he can do.
But the poet is luckier than the layman, for his job is always a vacation. Indeed, it's so like a religious vacation that he may feel little need for a religious faith, but because it is always trying to get past the trivial and the transient or to reveal these as images of the essential and the permanent, poetry is at least a kind of spiritual activity.
Men need a religious belief to make sense out of life. I wish I had such a belief myself, but any creed of mine would be honeycombed with confusions and reservations. Yet when I write a poem I am trying to make sense out of life. And just now and then my experience composes and transmutes itself into a poem which tells me something I didn't know I knew.
So for me the compulsion of poetry is the sign of a belief, not the less real for being unformulated ... a belief that men must enjoy life, explore life, enhance life. Each as best he can. And that I shall do these things best through the practice of poetry.
我希望我能相信
塞(西爾)·戴·劉易斯
“優秀的人們信心盡失，
壞蛋們則充滿了熾烈的狂熱。”
對我來說，葉芝的這兩行詩概括了今天的現實，信仰的貨幣似乎已經貶值了。我是在__的薰陶下長大的。後來有一段時間我相信共產主義給這個世界帶來了最大的希望。我承認信仰的必要性，但我無法忘記歷代的偉大信仰是如何因其擁護者的狂熱、教條、褊狹、殘忍、學術欺詐、愚蠢、偏執或機會主義而遭到損害的。
那麼，難道我就沒有信仰嗎?信仰存在於你的心靈深處，當希望和幻想漸漸枯竭，沉澱下來的就是信仰。爲了它，你甘願做出任何犧牲，因爲沒有它，你的存在就毫無意義——你只不過是一個會行走的影子。我知道我的內心深處有什麼。在別無選擇的情況下，我願意犧牲任何人際關係、任何生活方式去尋找使我能創作詩歌的真理。我知道很有可能我寫的每一首詩在我死後都不能流傳。我也明白詩歌創作在今天或許是一個人所能做的最荒謬、最無用的事情。然而，正是在這樣的危難之時，每一個人才能發現或重新發現他最珍視的東西。於是我那詩人渴望創作的本能在胸中涌動，使我能讓恐懼、懷疑，甚至絕望激發自己創作。在詩歌創作中，我覺得我和人類，和平凡的人緊密相連，他們堅守着自己的崗位，直到炸彈落下或是海浪席捲而來將他們淹沒。堅守是因爲他相信這是他最能做的事情，儘管這信仰難以用語言傳達。但詩人比普通人幸運，因爲他的工作始終是他的天職。他就像肩負着一種宗教使命一樣，或許並不需要有宗教信仰，但因爲詩歌或是不涉及瑣事和瞬息即逝的事物，或是將它們作爲本質和永恆的意象，詩歌至少是一種精神活動。
人需要有一種宗教信仰使他的生活有意義。我希望我也能有這樣的信仰，但我的任何信念總會充滿困惑和保留看法。然而，我寫詩就是努力發掘生活的意義。偶爾，我用詩歌表現自己的經歷和感受，從中也明白了我不曾意識到自己已經懂得的道理。因此，對我來說，詩歌創作的衝動表現出來的，不是因爲不繫統而不太真實的東西……而是一種信仰，那就是，人必須享受生活，探索生活的真諦，提高生活的品質。人可各盡其能，而我則通過寫詩盡善盡美地完成我的使命。
n of Love
#e#
"How do you account for your remarkable accomplishment in life?" Queen Victoria of Englandasked Helen Keller. "How do you explain the fact that even though you were both blind anddeaf, you were able to accomplish so much?"
Ms. Keller's answer is a tribute to her dedicated teacher. "If it had not been for Anne Sullivan,the name of Helen Keller would have remained unknown."
According to speaker Zig Ziglar, "Little Annie" Sullivan, as she was called when she was young,was no stranger to hardship. She was almost sightless herself (due to a childhood fever) andwas, at one time, diagnosed as hopelessly "insane" by her by caregivers. She was locked in thebasement of a mental institution outside of Boston. On occasion, Little Annie wouldviolently attack anyone who came near. Most of the time she generally ignored everyone in herpresence.
An elderly nurse believed there was hope, however, and she made it her mission to show love tothe child. Every day she visited Little Annie. For the most part, the child did not acknowledgethe nurse's presence, but she still continued to visit. The kindly woman left cookies for her andspoke words of love and encouragement. She believed Little Annie could recover, if only shewere shown love.
Eventually, doctors noticed a change in the girl. Where they once witnessed anger andhostility, they now noted an emerging gentleness and love. They moved her upstairs whereshe continued to improve. Then the day finally came when this seemingly "hopeless" child wasreleased.
Anne Sullivan grew into a young woman with a desire to help others as she, herself, was helpedby the kindly nurse. It was she who saw the great potential in Helen Keller. She loved her,disciplined her, played with her, pushed her and worked with her until the flickering candlethat was her life became a beacon of light to the world. Anne Sullivan worked wonders inHelen's life; but it was a loving nurse who first believed in Little Annie and lovinglytransformed an uncommunicative child into a compassionate teacher.
"If it had not been for Anne Sullivan, the name of Helen Keller would have remainedunknown." But if it had not been for a kind and dedicated nurse, the name of Anne Sullivanwould have remained unknown. And so it goes. Just how far back does the chain ofredemption extend? And how for forward will it lead?
Those you have sought to reach, whether they be in your family or elsewhere, are part of achain of love that can extend through the generations. Your influence on their lives, whether ornot you see results, is immeasurable. Your legacy of dedicated kindness and caring cantransform lost and hopeless lives for years to come.
愛的漣漪
英國維多利女王曾問海倫·凱勒：“ 你一生中獲得如此卓越成就的原因是什麼?你又聾又盲，你是如何取得如此巨大的成就的?”
凱勒女士將這一切歸功於她那賦予奉獻精神的老師。“如果沒有安妮·沙利文, 海倫凱勒的名字也許永遠不會爲人所知。”
據金克·金克拉說，小安妮——沙利文幼時的名字——可是沒少經歷苦難。她自己因爲兒時發高燒而幾乎雙目失明，且一度被看護者們診斷爲精神失常，無法醫治。她被所在波士頓城外一個精神醫院的地下室裏。有時，小安妮惠狂暴的攻擊每一個靠近她的人,但多數時候她則對身邊的每一個人不理不睬。
儘管如此，一位上了年紀的護士認爲仍有希望。她把愛護這個孩子作爲自己的職責，每天都去看小安妮。大多數時候，這孩子都意識不到護士的存在，但她仍舊不斷地去看她。這位好心的女士給孩子留下餅乾，對她說鼓勵和慈愛的話語。她堅信，只要有愛，小安妮就一定能恢復正常。
終於，醫生髮現了小姑娘身上的變化。以往他們看到的是憤怒和敵意，但現在看到的確是逐漸顯現的溫順和愛意。他們把她搬到了樓上，在那裏，她的情況繼續好轉。終於有一天，這個看來無藥可救的孩子出院了。
安妮·沙利文長成了一個大姑娘。她熱切地渴望去幫助別人，就像她自己被那位好心的護士幫助一樣。正是她看到了身上的潛質。她愛護她，教育她，和她一起玩耍，該她鼓勵，和她一起工作，直到她生命微弱的燭光變成了照亮世界的一束強光。安妮·沙利文創造了海倫生命的奇蹟，但首先是一位好心的護士相信小安妮，並慈愛的絳一個無法交流的孩子變成了一個有愛心的老師。
“如果沒有安妮·沙利文，海倫·凱勒的名字也許永遠不爲人知。”但是如果沒有那個好心且賦予奉獻精神的護士，安妮·沙利文的名字也會遠不爲人所知。這樣推下去，這條救助的鏈條會綿延到哪裏?它又會向前延伸多遠?
那些你所想到的人，不管他們在你的家裏或是其他什麼地方，都是這條在幾代人間延續的愛的鏈條上的一環。你對他們生命的影響，不管你是否看到結果，都是無法估量的。你所奉獻的愛心與關懷將會在未來的歲月中轉變那些處於迷失和絕望之中的生命。
, free to soar
#e#
by Wayne
One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their icolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting anddancing. As the strong winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check.
Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights. Theyshook and pulled, but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow,facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and kept them in tow, facingupward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the string, theyseemed to say,” Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!” they soared beautifully even as theyfought the restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose. “Freeat last,” it seemed to say. “Free to fly with the wind.”
Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze. Itfluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string againsta dead bush. ”Free at last”, free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along theground, and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.
How much like kites we sometimes are. The heaven gives us adversity and restrictions, rules tofollow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to thewinds of opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach theheights we might have obtained. We keep part of the commandment and never rise highenough to get our tails off the ground.
Let us each rise to the great heights, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafeunder are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.
自由的代價
在一個有風的春日，我看到一羣年輕人正在迎風放風箏玩樂，各種顏色、各種形狀和大小的風箏就好像美麗的鳥兒在空中飛舞。當強風把風箏吹起，牽引線就能夠控制它們。
風箏迎風飄向更高的地方，而不是隨風而去。它們搖擺着、拉扯着，但牽引線以及笨重的尾巴使它們處於控制之中，並且迎風而上。它們掙扎着、抖動着想要掙脫線的束縛，彷彿在說：“放開我!放開我!我想要自由!”即使與牽引線奮爭着，它們依然在美麗地飛翔。終於，一隻風箏成功掙脫了。“終於自由了，”它好像在說，“終於可以隨風自由飛翔了!”
然而，脫離束縛的自由使它完全處於無情微風的擺佈下。它毫無風度地震顫着向地面墜落，落在一堆亂草之中，線纏繞在一顆死灌木上。“終於自由”使它自由到無力地躺在塵土中，無助地任風沿着地面將其吹走，碰到第一個障礙物便毫無生命地滯留在那裏了。
有時我們真像這風箏啊!上蒼賦予我們困境和約束，賦予我們成長和增強實力所要遵從的規則。約束是逆風的必要匹配物。我們中有些人是如此強硬地抵制規則，以至我們從來無法飛到本來能夠達到的高度。我們只遵從部分戒律，因此永遠不會飛得足夠高，使尾巴遠離地面。
讓我們每個人都飛到高處吧，並且認識到這一點：有些可能會令我們生氣的約束，實際上是幫助我們攀升和實現願望的平衡。
