However mean your life is,meet it and live it ;do not shun it and call it hard names.It is not so bad as you are.It looks poorest when you are richest.The fault-finder will find faults in paradise.Love your life,poor as it is.You may perhaps have some pleasant,thrilling,glorious hours,even in a poor-house.The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man’s abode; 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.Maybe they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.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 disreputable.Cultivate poverty like a garden herb,like sage.Do not trouble yourself much to get new things,whether clothes or friends.Turn to the old,return to them.Things do not change;we change.Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
　　
　　不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它。不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个救济所里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在救济所的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，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，可是事实上他们却往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。

The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.

But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest — in perfect peace.

Which picture do you think won the prize? The king chose the second picture. Do you know why?

“Because,” explained the king, “peace does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. Peace means to be in the midst of all those things and still be calm in your heart. That is the real meaning of peace.”  

　　Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. (Strong)

　　与其诅咒黑暗，不如燃起蜡烛。(斯特郎)

　　A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else. (J. Burroughs)

　　一个人可以失败许多次，但是只要他没有开始责怪别人，他还不是一个失败者。(巴勒斯)

　　Work is the grand cure of all the maladies and miseries that ever beset mankind. (Carlyle)

　　工作是医治人间一切病痛和疾苦的万应良药。(卡莱尔)

        At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment. (B. Franklin)

　　二十岁时起支配作用的是意志，三十岁时是机智，四十岁时是判断。(富兰克林)

　　Choose a life of action, not one of ostentation. ( C. Nepos)

　　要选择行动的一生，而不是炫耀的一生。(内波斯)

　　When the fight begins within himself, a man's worth something. ( R. Browning)

　　当一个人内心开始斗争时，他就有了价值。(布郎宁)

　　There is only one success --- to be able to spend your life in your own way. (C. Morley )

　　只有一种成功，那就是能够用自己的方式度过自己的一生。(莫利)

        We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. ( Martin Luther King, Jr.)

　　我们必须接受失望，因为它是有限的，但千万不可失去希望，因为它是无穷的。(马丁。路德。金)

　　We grow neither better nor worse as we grow old but more like ourselves. ( M. L. Becker )

　　随着年龄的增长，我们并不变得更好也不变得更坏，而是变得更象我们自己。(贝克尔)

　　One thing I know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve. (A. Schweizer)

　　有一点我是知道的：在你们之中，只有那些愿意寻求发现如何为别人服务的人，才是真正幸福的。(施韦策)

　　The important thing in life is to have a great aim, and the determination to attain it. (Goethe)

　　人生重要的在于确立一个伟大的目标，并有决心使其实现。(歌德)   

我们总是处在决定和选择之中，决定一件事情是否该做，是否值得做；选择我们认为重要的，放弃我们认为不重要的。而这个过程往往是艰难的，痛苦的，我们会反复地衡量得与失，理性地分析对与错。也许只有当我们静心独处，仔细倾听内心的声音的时候，才能做出一个不后悔的选择。

Horror gripped the heart of the World War I soldier as he saw his lifelong friend fall in battle. Caught in a trench with continuous gunfire whizzing over his head, the soldier asked his lieutenant if he might go out into the "No Man’s Land" between the trenches to bring his fallen comrade back.

"You can go," said the Lieutenant, "but I don’t think it will be worth it. Your friend is probably dead and you may throw your own life away." The Lieutenant’s words didn’t matter, and the soldier went anyway.

Miraculously he managed to reach his friend, hoisted him onto his shoulder, and brought him back to their company’s trench. As the two of them tumbled in together to the bottom of the trench, the officer checked the wounded soldier, then looked kindly at his friend. "I told you it wouldn’t be worth it," he said. "Your friend is dead, and you are mortally wounded."

"It was worth it, though, sir," the soldier said.

"How do you mean ‘worth it’?" responded the Lieutenant. "Your friend is dead!"

"Yes sir," the private answered. "But it was worth it because when I got to him, he was still alive, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him say, ‘Jim, I knew you’d come.’"

Many a time in life, whether a thing is worth doing or not really depends on how you look at it.

Take up all your courage and do something your heart tells you to do so that you may not regret not doing it later in life.   

When you figure out which it is, you know exactly what to do.

When someone is in your life for a REASON,

it is usually to meet a need

you have expressed outwardly or inwardly.

They have come to assist you through a difficulty,

to provide you with guidance and support,

to aid you physically, emotionally, or spiritually.

They may seem like a godsend, and they are.

They are there for the reason you need them to be.

Then, without any wrong doing on your part

or at an inconvenient time,

this person will say or do something

to bring the relationship to an end.

Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.

Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met,

our desire fulfilled; their work is done.

The prayer you sent up has been answered

and it is now time to move on.

When people come into your life for a SEASON,

it is because your turn has come to share, grow, or learn.

They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.

They may teach you something you have never done.

They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.

Believe it! It is real! But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;

those things you must build upon

in order to have a solid emotional foundation.

Your job is to accept the lesson,

love the person/people (anyway);

and put what you have learned to use in all

other relationships and areas of your life.

It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.  

在下一直认为，选秀应该用来成就普通人的梦想，而不是用来秀皮囊。看看这段视频吧，这种歌手在中国也许都轮不到出场，却成为了全英国选秀的冠军。
一开始朋友发给我这段视频的时候本来不是很在意，因为他说是个选秀片断，我看到半截的时候却莫名的起了一身鸡皮疙瘩。
请用心聆听这让人泪流满面的声音吧，因为有一种精神值得我们为之感动。

Paul Potts，一个貌不惊人的卖手机的胖子，竟然还是个豁牙，感觉好像还有点痴呆似的，唱歌时候手脚不知道怎么搁，当全场起立鼓掌的时候，这位仁兄的表现却还是傻傻的冷静和呲牙傻笑着....

除了长的其貌不扬外，他的人生也可说是相当倒霉。因为这个长相，他小的时候在学校经常被流氓欺负，唯一能够安慰他的是至少自己的声音还不错。但大家看了他的长相也知道，不管再怎么有才华，要用他实在很考验人的忍耐极限。所以他就在业务员和梦想成为职业歌手的选择中打滚了很长的一段时间。他从28岁时就梦想唱歌剧，因此穿的像是帕华洛帝一样唱卡拉OK，也曾经上节目唱歌赢得了八千英镑的奖金，但是他把这些钱都花在去意大利学上专业的歌剧训练课，甚至还有一堂课接受过帕华洛帝的指导，中间也还有必须实际上台和巡回的实习课程。这样总共花了他两万英镑，也因此欠下了一屁股债

之后，一连串的倒霉事件却开始发生了。2003年时这个家伙盲肠破裂住院开刀，开刀完了住院休养，出院之后回诊时还被发现肾上腺长了一个十公分的肿瘤，于是又再开刀一次。就在最后都快要康复的时候，此人又从脚踏车上摔了下来，把锁骨给弄断了。医生劝告他最好尽可能的休息，短时间内都不要再唱歌了。因此，不管他的梦想有多么强烈，有好几年的时间他都只能痛苦的躺在沙发上，根本没办法唱歌。

终于，时间到了2007年，而他也正在考虑如果以他的尊容闯不出名堂来，恐怕就必须放弃歌剧的梦想，专心的当一个手机业务员了。
因此，这场在Cardiff的千禧剧场的「Britain Got Talent」的试演活动，就变成他的最后一次机会了。他必须在三个各司其职的严酷评审和两千名观众面前展现他最好的一面。
终于要上场了，当天他是怎么样的精心打扮来面对自己的最后一次机会呢？
他穿着被描述为「Tesco」大卖场买的西装，根据他自己的说法：我不认为评审对我有多少期待。我又矮又胖，穿着一件便宜的旧西装。发型师用的发胶又太黏，让我看起来好像有点秃头。Simon说我的西装好像太大了，Piers说我看起来糟透了…

就这样，这个看来猥琐、肥胖、顶着一头傻傻发型的手机业务员Paul Potts站上了舞台，点头示意工作人员按下音乐的播放钮，「杜兰朵公主」中的「公主彻夜未眠」前奏流泄而出，三位评审交换了眼神，露出没有任何期待的表情……
然后，一切就进入了历史。

这就是一个青蛙变成王子的真实故事。
http://tv.mofile.com/RDK57GG6/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oxTy7KIAaA
http://tv.mofile.com/79NOHRSF/