第一篇： A Grain of Sand

 

William Blake/ 威廉 . 布莱克

 

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild fllower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

 

 

第二篇： Love Your Life

 

Henry David Thoreau/ 享利 . 大卫 . 梭罗

 

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 faultfinder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. 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. May be 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 the old, return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.

 

第三篇： These Things Shall Never Die

 

Charles Dickens/ 查尔斯 . 狄更斯

 

The pure. the bright, the beautiful,

That stirred our hearts in youth,

The impulses to wordless prayer,

The dreams of love and truth;

The longing after something's lost,

The spirit's yearning cry,

The striving after better hopes-

These things can never die.

 

The timid hand stretched forth to aid 

A brother in his need,

A kindly word in grief's dark hour

That proves a friend indeed ; 

The plea for mercy softly breathed,

When justice threatens nigh,

The sorrow of a contrite heart-

These things shall never die.

 

Let nothing pass for every hand

Must find some work to do ;

Lose not a chance to waken love-

 

Be firm, and just ,and true; 

So shall a light that cannot fade

Beam on thee from on high.

And angel voices say to thee---

These things shall never die.

 

第四篇： Think it over ……

 

Today we have higher buildings and wider highways, but shorter temperaments and narrower points of view;

 

We spend more, but enjoy less;

 

We have bigger houses, but smaller families;

 

We have more compromises, but less time;

 

We have more knowledge, but less judgment;

 

We have more medicines, but less health;

 

We have multiplied out possessions, but reduced out values;

 

We talk much, we love only a little, and we hate too much;

 

We reached the Moon and came back, but we find it troublesome to cross our own street and meet our neighbors;

 

We have conquered the uter space, but not our inner space;

 

We have higher income, but less morals;

 

These are times with more liberty, but less joy;

 

We have much more food, but less nutrition;

 

These are the days in which it takes two salaries for each home, but divorces increase;

 

These are times of finer houses, but more broken homes;

 

That's why I propose, that as of today;

 

You do not keep anything for a special occasion because every day that you live is a SPECIAL OCCASION.

 

Search for knowledge, read more, sit on your porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs;

 

Spend more time with your family and friends, eat your favorite foods, visit the places you love;

 

Life is a chain of moments of enjoyment; not only about survival ;

 

Use your crystal goblets. Do not save your best perfume, and use it every time you feel you want it.

 

Remove from your vocabulary phrases like” one of these days” or "someday";

 

Let's write that letter we thought of writing "one of these days"!

 

Let's tell our families and friends how much we love them;

 

Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life;

 

Every day, every hour, and every minute is special;

 

And you don't know if it will be your last.

 

 

第五篇： The life I desired

 

威廉 . 萨姆塞特 . 毛姆 /William Somerset Maugham

 

That must be the story of innumerable couples, and the pattern of life of life it offers has a homely grace. It reminds you of a placid rivulet, meandering smoothly through green pastures and shaded by pleasant trees, till at last it falls into the vastly sea; but the sea is so calm, so silent, so indifferent, that you are troubled suddenly by a vague uneasiness. Perhaps it is only by a kink in my nature, strong in me even in those days, that I felt in such an existence, the share of the great majority, something amiss. I recognized its social value. I saw its ordered happiness, but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course. There seemed to me something alarming in such easy delights. In my heart was desire to live more dangerously. I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous, shoals it I could only have change-change and the excitement of unforeseen.

 

 

第六篇 : Virtue

G.Herbert/ 赫伯特

 

Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright!

The bridal of the earth and sky-

The dew shall weep thy fall to-night;

For thou must die.

Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave,

Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye,

Thy root is ever in its grave,

And thou must die.

Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,

A box where sweets compacted lie,

My music shows ye have your closes,

And all must die,

Only a sweet and virtuous soul,

Like season’s timber, never gives; 

But though the whole world turn to coal,

Then chiefly lives. 

 

第七篇 : The country Maid and Her Milk Can

 

 

A country maid was walking along with a can of milk upon her head, when she fell into the following train of reflections.” The money for which I shall sell this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred, These eggs, allowing for what may prove addle, and what may be destroyed by vermin, will produce at least two hundred and fifty chickens. The chickens will be fit to carry to market just at the time when poultry is always dear; so that by the New Year I cannot fail of having money enough to purchase a new gown. Green-let me consider-yes, green becomes my complexion best. And green it shall be, in this dress I will go to the fair, where all young fellows will strive to have me for a partner; but no-I shall refuse every one of them, and with a disdainful toss turn from them."

 

Transported with this idea, she could not forbear acting with her head the thought that passed in her mind, when down came the can of milk! And all her imaginary happiness vanished in a moment.

 

 

第八篇 : The Rainy Day

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 亨利 . 沃兹渥斯 . 朗费罗

 

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains, and the wind is never weary;

The vine still clings to the moldering wall,

But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold and dark and dreary;

It rains and the wind is never weary;

My though still cling to the moldering past,

But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! And cease repining;

Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.   

 

第九篇： Love

 

I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you.

 

No man or woman is worth your tears, and the one who is ,won't make you cry.

 

The worst way to miss someone is to be sitting right beside them knowing you can't have them.

 

Never frown, even when you are sad, because you never know who is falling in love with your smile.

 

To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world.

 

Don't waste your time on a man/woman, who isn't willing to waste their time on you.

 

Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they don't love you with all they have.

 

Don't try to hard, the best things come when you least expect them to.

 

Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one, so that when we finally meet the person, we will know how to be grateful.

 

Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened.

 

第十篇： On the Feeling of Immortality in youth

 

William Hazlitt / 威廉 . 赫兹里特

 

No young man believes he shall ever die. It was a saying of my brother’s, and a fine one. There is a feeling of Eternity in youth, which makes us amend for everything. To be young is to be as one of the Immortal Gods. One half of time indeed is flown-the other half remains in store for us with all its countless treasures; for there is no line drawn, and we see no limit to our hopes and wishes. We make the coming age our own-

 

The vast, the unbounded prospect lies before us.

 

Death. old age. are words without a meaning. that pass by us like the idea air which we regard not. Others may have undergone, or may still be liable to them-we "bear a charmed life”, which laughs to scorn all such sickly fancies. As in setting out on delightful journey, we strain our eager gaze forward-

 

Bidding the lovely scenes at distance hail!

 

-and see no end to the landscape, new objects presenting themselves as we advance; so, in the commencement of life, we set no bounds to our inclinations. nor to the unrestricted opportunities of gratifying them. we have as yet found no obstacle, no disposition to flag; and it seems that we can go on so forever. We look round in a new world, full of life, and motion, and ceaseless progress; and feel in ourselves all the vigor and spirit to keep pace with it, and do not foresee from any present symptoms how we shall be left behind in the natural course of things, decline into old age, and drop into the grave. It is the simplicity, and as it were abstractedness of our feelings in youth, that (so to speak) identifies us with nature, and (our experience being slight and our passions strong) deludes us into a belief of being immortal like it. Our short-lives connection with existence we fondly flatter ourselves, is an indissoluble and lasting union-a honeymoon that knows neither coldness, jar, nor separation. As infants smile and sleep, we are rocked in the cradle of our wayward fancies, and lulled into security by the roar of the universe around us0we quaff the cup of life with eager haste without draining it, instead of which it only overflows the more-objects press around us, filling the mind with their magnitude and with the strong of desires that wait upon them, so that we have no room for the thoughts of death.

 

 

第十一篇： A Forever Friend

 

"A friend walk in when the rest of the world walks out."

 

Sometimes in life, You find a special friend;

 

Someone who changes your life just by being part of it.

 

Someone who makes you laugh until you can't stop;

 

Someone who makes you believe that there really is good in the world.

 

Someone who convinces you that there really is an unlocked door just waiting for you to open it.

 

This is Forever Friendship.

 

when you're down,

 

and the world seems dark and empty,

 

Your forever friend lifts you up in spirits and makes that dark and empty world suddenly seem bright and full.

 

Your forever friend gets you through the hard times, the sad times, and the confused times.

 

 

If you turn and walk away, Your forever friend follows,

 

If you lose you way, Your forever friend guides you and cheers you on.

 

Your forever friend holds your hand and tells you that everything is going to be okay.

 

And if you find such a friend,

 

You feel happy and complete,

 

Because you need not worry,

 

Your have a forever friend for life,

 

And forever has no end.

 

 

第十二篇： The Cobbler and the banker

 

La Fontaine / 拉 . 封丹

 

A cobbler passed his time in singing from morning till night; it was wonderful to see, wonderful to hear more contented in shoes, than was any of the seven sages. His neighbor, on the contrary, who was rolling in but little and slept less. He was a banker; when by chance he fell into a doze at day-break, the cobbler awoke him with his song. The banker complained sadly that Providence had not made sleep a saleable commodity, like edibles or drinkables. Having at length sent for the songster, he said to him,” How much a year do you earn, Master Gregory?"

"How much a year, sir?” said the merry cobbler laughing,” I have reckon in that way, living as I do from one day to another; somehow I manage to reach the end of the year; each day brings its meal."

"Well then! How much a day do you earn, my friend?"

"Sometimes more, sometimes less; but the worst of it is,-and, without that our earnings would be very tolerable,-a number of days occur in the year on which we are forbidden to work; and the curate, moreover, is constantly adding some new saint to the list."

The banker, laughing at his simplicity, said,” In the future I shall place you above want. Take this hundred crowns, preserve them carefully, and make use of them in time of need."

The cobbler fancied he beheld all the wealth, which the earth had produced in the past century for the use of mankind. Returning home, he buried his money and his happiness at the same time, No more signing; he lost his voice, the moment he acquired that which is the source of so much grief. Sleep quitted his dwelling; and cares, suspicions, and false alarms took its place, All day, his eye wandered in the direction of his treasure; and at night, if some stray cat made a noise, the cat was robbing him. At length the poor man ran to the house of his rich neighbor;” Give my back." said he,” sleep and my voice, and take your hundred crowns."   

 

第十三篇： A Greek to Remember

 

 

Diogenes was a famous Greek philosopher of the fourth century B.C., who established the philosophy of cynicism. He often walked about in the daytime holding a lighted lantern, peering around as if he were looking for something. When questioned about his odd behavior, he would reply,” I am searching for an honest man."

Diogenes held that the good man was self-sufficient and did not require material comforts or wealth. He believed that wealth and possessions constrained humanity's natural state of freedom. In keeping with his philosophy, he was perfectly satisfied with making his home in a large tub discarded from the temple of Cybele, the goddess of nature.

This earthen tub, called a pithos, and formerly been used for holding wine or oil for the sacrifices at the temple.

One day, Alexander the Great, conqueror of half the civilized world, saw Diogenes sitting in this tub in the sunshine. So the king, surrounded by his countries, approached Diogenes and said,” I am Alexander the Great.” The philosopher replied rather contemptuously,” I am Diogenes, the Cynic.” Alexander then asked him if he could help him in any way." Yes,” shot back Diogenes," don't stand between me and the sun.” A surprised Alexander then replied quickly,” If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."

    

   

第十四篇： Friends

 

A true friend is someone who reaches for your hand and touches your heart.

 

There's always going to be people that hurt you, so what you have to do is keep on trusting and just be more careful about who you trust next time around.

 

Make yourself a better person and know who you are before you try and know someone else and expect t hem to know you.

 

Remember: Whatever happens, happens for a reason.

 

How many people actually have 8 true friends? Hardly anyone I know. But some of us have all right friends and good friends.

 

 

第十五篇： The More Loving One

 

W.H.Auden/W.H. 奥登

 

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well

That, for all they care, I can go to hell,

But on earth indifference is the least

We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn

With a passion for us we could not return?

If equal affection cannot be,

Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am 

Of stars that do not give a damn, 

I cannot, now I see them ,say

I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die 

I should learn to look at an empty sky

And feel its total dark sublime,

Though this might take me a little time.

 

第十六篇： If I were a Boy Again

 

Anonymous/ 无名氏

 

If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance more often, and never give up a thing because it was or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness. Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. “There are only two creatures,” says a proverb, “who can surmount the pyramids—the eagle and the snail.”

If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let nothing come

between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once.

The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown up

people say “ I could not fix my attention on the sermon or book, although I wished to do so” , and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.

If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possible occasion. It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power.

 

If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage. “Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice,” says a wise author.

We too often borrow trouble, and anticipate that may never appear.” The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear.” Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be feared.

If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, I smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.

Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it. “ who shuts love out ,in turn shall be shut out from love.”

If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say no more often. I might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy.

If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.

Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, I would still try harder to make others happy.

 

 

第十七篇： Words To Live By

生活的忠告 Anonymous/ 无名氏

 

I’ll give you some advice about life.

 

Eat more roughage;

 

Do more than others expect you to do and do it pains;

 

Remember what life tells you;

 

Don’t take to heart every thing you hear.

Don’t spend all that you have.

Don’t sleep as long as you want;

 

Whenever you say” I love you”, please say it honestly;

 

Whenever you say” I’m sorry”, please look into the other person’s eyes;

 

Fall in love at first sight;

 

Don’t neglect dreams;

 

Love deeply and ardently, even if there is pain, but this is the way to make your life complete;

 

Find a way to settle, not to dispute;

 

Never judge people by their appearance;

 

Speak slowly, but think quickly;

 

When someone asks you a question you don’t want to answer, smile and say, “Why do you want to know?”

 

Remember that the man who can shoulder the most risk will gain the deepest love and the supreme accomplishment;

 

Call you mother on the phone. If you can’t, you may think of her in your heart;

 

When someone sneezes say, “God bless you”;

 

If you fail, don’t forget to learn your lesson;

 

Remember the three “ respects” .Respect yourself, respect others, stand on dignity and pay attention to your behavior;

 

Don’t let a little dispute break up a great friendship;

 

Whenever you find your wrongdoing, be quick with reparation!

 

Whenever you make a phone call smile when you pick up the phone, because someone feel it!

 

Marry a person who likes talking; because when you get old, you’ll find that chatting to be a great advantage;

 

Find time for yourself.

 

Life will change what you are but not who you are;

 

Remember that silence is golden;

 

Read more books and watch less television;

 

Live a noble and honest life. Reviving past times in your old age will help you to enjoy your life again;

 

Trust God, but don’t forget to lock the door;

 

The harmonizing atmosphere of a family is valuable;

 

Try your best to let family harmony flow smoothly;

 

When you quarrel with a close friend, talk about the main dish, don’t quibble over the appetizers;

 

You cannot hold onto yesterday;

 

Figure out the meaning of someone’s words;

 

Share your knowledge to continue a timeless tradition;

 

Treat our earth in a friendly way,don’t fool around with mother nature;

 

Do the thing you should do;

 

Don’t trust a lover who kisses you without closing their eyes;

 

Go to a place you’ve never been to every year.

 

If you earn much money, the best way to spend it is on charitable deeds while you are alive;

 

Remember, not all the best harvest is luck;

 

Understand rules completely and change them reasonably;

 

Remember, the best love is to love others unconditionally rather than make demands on them;

 

Comment on the success you have attained by looking in the past at the target you wanted to achieve most;

 

In love and cooking, you must give 100% effort……but expect little appreciation;

 

 

第十八篇： A psalm of life

 

Herry Wadsworth Longfellow/ 享利 . 沃兹渥斯 . 朗费罗

 

 

Tell me not in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers

And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art , to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul. 

Not enjoyment , and not sorrow,

Is our destined and our way;

But to act,

That much to morrow.

Find us farther than today.

Art is long, and time is fleeting.

And our hearts, though stout and brave. 

Still , like muffled drums , are beating

Funeral marches to the grave 。

In the world’s broad field of battle,

In the bivouac of Life,

Be not like dumb, driven cattle!

Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no future. Howe ’ er pleasant! 

Let the dead Past bury its dead! 

Act, act in the living Present!

Heart within, and God O ’ erhead! 

Lives of great men all remind us

We can make our lives sublime, 

And departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time; 

Footprints that perhaps another, 

Sailing o ’ er life solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

Seeing, shall take heart again,

Let us, then, be up and doing, 

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing

Learn to labor and to wait. 

 

第十九篇： Self-Awareness

Virginia Woolf/ 弗吉尼亚 . 吴尔夫

 

The man who is aware of himself is henceforth independent; and he is never bored, and life is only too short, and he is steeped through and through with profound yet temperate happiness. He alone lives, while other people, slaves of ceremony, let life slip past time in a kind of dream. Once conform, once do what other people do finer than they do it, and a lethargy steals over all the finer nerves and faculties of the soul, He becomes all outer show and inward emptiness; dull, callous, and indifferent.

 

 

第二十篇： The Flight of youth

Richard Henry Stoddard/ 理查德 . 亨利 . 斯托达德

 

There are gains for all our losses.

There are balms for all our pain;

But when youth, the dream, departs 

It takes something from our hearts,

And it never comes again.

We are stronger, and are better,

Under manhood ’ s sterner reign; 

Still we feel that something sweet

Following youth, with flying feet, 

And will never come again.

Something beautiful is vanished, 

And we sigh for it in vain; 

We behold it everywhere,

On the earth, and in the air,

But it never comes again! 

 

第二十一篇： Discovery

Diane Ackerman/ 迪安 . 阿克曼

 

 

The word “discovery” literally means, uncovering something that’s hidden from view. But what really happens is a change in the viewer. The familiar offers comfort few can resist, and fewer still want to disturb. But as relatively recent inventions such as the telescope and microscope have taught us, the unknown has many layers. Every truth has geological strata, and you can’t have orthodoxy without a heresy.

The moment a newborn opens its eyes, discovery begins. I learned this with a laugh one morning after delivering a calf. When it lifted up its fluffy head and looked at me, its eyes held the absolute bewilderment of the newly born. A moment before it had the even black nowhere of the womb, and suddenly its world was full of color, movement and noise. I’ve never seen anything so shocked to be alive.

    

第二十二篇： To all my friends and loved ones

 

Love from me

Useful Perspective

 

If the world were a Village of 100 People

 

David J.Smith/ 大卫 . 史密斯 Shelath Armstrory ／谢拉 . 阿姆斯壮

 

  If we could shrink the earth’s population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all the exsting

human ratios remaining the same, it would look something like the following:

 

There would be:

57 Asians

21 Europeans

10 from the Western Hemisphere, both north and south

8 Africans

52 would be female

48 would be male

70 would be non-while

30 would be white

70 would be non-Christian

30 would be Christian

89 would be heterosexual

11 would be homosexual

6 people would possess 59% of the entire world’s wealth

and all 6 would be from the United States.

80 would live in substandard housing

70 would be unable to read

50 would suffer from malnutrition

1 would be near death; 1 would be near birth   

1(yes, only 1) would have a college education
１ would own a computer

When one considers our world from such a compressed perspective, the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes glaringly apparent.

 

The following is also something to ponder……

 

If you woke pup this morning with more health than illness……you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week. <