100篇最美英语晨读美文|英语美文

The intimacy between man and Nature began with the birth of man on the earth, and becomes each century more intelligent and far-reaching. To Nature, therefore, we turn as to the oldest aim most influential teacher of our race; from one point of view once our task-master, now our servant; from another point of view, our constant friend, instructor and inspirer. The very intimacy of this relation robs it of a certain mystery and richness which it would have for all minds if it were the reward of the few instead of being the privilege of the many. To the few it is, in every age, full of wonder and beauty; to the many it is a matterof course. 　

The heavens shine for all, but they have a changing splendor to those only who see in every midnight sky amajesty of creative energy and resource which no repetition of the spectacle can dim. If the stars shone but once in a thousand years, men would gaze, awe struck and worshipful, on a vision which is not less but more wonderful because it shines nightly above the whole earth. In like manner, and for the same reason, we become indifferent to that delicately beautiful or sublimely impressive sky scenery which the clouds form and reform, compose and dissipate, a thousand times on a summer day. The mystery, the terror, and the music of the sea; the secret and subduing charm of the woods, so full of healing for the spent mind or the restless spirit; the majesty of the hills, holding in their recesses the secrets of light and atmosphere; the infinite variety of landscape, never imitative or repetitious, but always appealing to the imagination with some fresh and unsuspected loveliness; who feels the full power of these marvelous resources for the enrichment of life, or takes from them all the health, delight, and enrichment they have to bestow? 　

人与自然

人与自然的亲密关系从地球上人类诞生就开始了，并且每个世纪变得愈发理性和深远。因此，我们求助于自然就好像求助于我们人类最年长最有影响力的老师。从某个观点来看，自然曾是我们的监工，现在却是我们的奴仆。但从另一个观点来看，自然一直是我们的朋友、教导者和启发者。如果自然仅仅是少数人的回馈而不能作为作为大多数人的礼遇，这种亲昵关系就会剥夺去相当一部分它在所有人心中的神秘感和富足感。对于少数人而言，这种关系在每个时代充满奇幻和美妙，对于大多数人也理所当然。　

天空照耀着每一个人，但是只在少数人的心中有一种变化多端的壮美，他们每个半夜都能欣赏到天空创造能力和源泉的庄严之美，这种美没有什么光景可以使之暗淡。如果星辰一千年才闪耀一次，人们将怀着敬畏之心去凝视这种美景，而这种景色每晚在全世界的上空照耀，它的美妙不会减损，反而会更胜。同样，一个道理，我们对夏日天空浮云聚散飘忽所形成的一日之间千变万化或柔美或壮阔的景色也变得熟视无睹。海的神秘、恐怖和乐章；丛林的神秘感和魔幻力可治愈疲惫的心灵和烦躁的精神；群山的奇峻把光与气之玄妙藏于幽深处；变幻无穷的风景从不模仿或重复，永远以一种出乎意料的新鲜美丽来冲击人的想象力——谁能感受到这些奇幻事物给我们生活的富足带来的全部力量，或者得到它们赐予我们的健康、快乐和充实?

Work and Pleasure

To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.” Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human being may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual laborer, tired out with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.

It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune’s favored children belong to the second class.Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday,and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vacation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, isessential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.

工作和娱乐

要想真正生活得幸福和平安，一个人至少应该有两三种业余爱好，而且必须是真正的爱好。到了晚年才开始说“我要培养这个或那个兴趣”是毫无用处的，种这种尝试只会增加精神上的负担。在与自己日常工作无关的领域中，一个人可以获得渊博的知识，但却很难有所收益或得到放松。做自己喜欢的事是无益的，你得喜欢自己所做的事。广而言之，人可以分为三个类别：劳累而死的人，忧虑而死的人和无聊而死的人。对于那些体力劳动者来说，一周辛苦的工作使他们精疾力竭，因此在周六下午给他们提供踢足球或者打棒球的机会是没有意义的。对于政界人士，专业人士或者商人来说，他们已经为棘手的事务操劳或者烦恼了六天，因此在周末请他们为琐事劳神同样毫无意义。

或者可以这么说，理智的，勤奋的，有用的人可以分为两类：对第一类人而言，工作就是工作，娱乐就是娱乐；对于第二类人而言，工作和娱乐是合二为一的。很大一部分人属于前者。他们可以得到相应的补偿。在办公室或工厂里长时间的工作，不仅带给他们维持生计的金钱，还带给他们一种渴求娱乐的强烈欲望，哪怕这种娱乐消遣是以最简单，最淳朴的方式进行的。而第二类人则是命运的宠儿。他们的生活自然而和谐。在他们看来，工作时间永远不够多，每天都是假期；而当正常的假日到来时，他们总会抱怨自己有趣的休假被强行中断。然而，有一些东西对于这两类人来说都十分必要，那就是变换一下视角，改变一下氛围，尝试做点不同的事情。事实上，那些把工作看作娱乐的人可能是需要以某种方式将工作不时地驱赶出自己的大脑。

On Punctuality

A punctual person is in the habit of doing a thing at the proper time and is never late in keeping an appointment. The unpunctual man，on one hand，never does what he has to do at the proper time. He is always ina hurry and in the end loses both time and his good name. There is a proverb that says, "Time flies never to be recalled". This is very true. A lost thing may be found again，but lost time can never be regained. Time is more valuable than material things.

In fact，time is life itself. The unpunctual man is for ever wasting and mismanaging his most valuable assets as well as the assets of others'. The unpunctual person is always complaining that he finds no time toanswer letters or return calls or keep appointments promptly. But the man who really has a great deal to do is very careful with his time and seldom complains because he lacks it. He knows that he can not get through his huge amount of work unless he faithfully attends to every piece of work when it has to be attended to ...

Failure to be punctual in keeping one's appointments is a sign of disrespect towards others. If a person is invited to dinner and arrives later than the appointed time，he keeps all the other guests waiting for him.Usually this will be regarded as a great disrespect to the host and all other guests present. Unpunctuality，moreover，is very harmful when it comes to doing one's duty，whether public or private. Imagine how it would be if those who are put in charge of important tasks failed to be at their proper place at the appointed time.A man who is known to be habitually unpunctual is never trusted by his friends or fellow men.And the unpunctual man is a source of annoyance both to others and to himself.

论守时

一个守时的人养成了按时做事的习惯，这样的人言必信，行必果。 另一方面，不守时的人却从不按时完成他应该做的事情。他总是匆匆忙忙的，到头来却既浪费了时间、又败坏了自己的名誉。 有句谚语说道："光阴一去不复返。" 此话千真万确。 一件东西丢了可能找回来，而弄丢了时间可就永远找不回来了。 时间较之财富更加珍贵。

实际上，时间本身就是生命!因此，那些不守时的人是在不停地浪费自己的宝贵财富，同时也是在浪费他人的珍贵财产。那些不守时的人总是在抱怨，说自己没有时间去写回信、没有时间回电话、或者没有时间按时赴约。 然而那些真正有大量事情要处理的人则会非常仔细地安排时间，很少抱怨说时间不够用。 他们知道，除非自己按时处理好应处理的每一件事情，否则他们是不可能做完这一大堆事情的…… 赴约不守时是对他人极大的不尊重。

如果一个人应邀去参加晚宴，却没有按时出席，就会让其他的客人等他一个人。 这是对主人和其他客人极大的不尊重。 履行义务的时候--无论是公事还是私事--不守时是非常有害的。设想一下，如果把一件重大使命委托给一个不守时的人，结果他没有在恰当的时间和地点完成这项任务，那么结果会怎么样呢? 如果一个人以不守时而"闻名"，他怎么可能得到朋友和同事的信任! 不守时的人既惹别人生气，又弄得自己不快活。

What makes a home? Love and sympathy and confidence.

It is a place where kindly affections exist among all the members of the family. The parents take good care of their children, and the children are interested in the activities of their parents. Thus all of them are bound together by affection, and they find their home to be the cheeriest place in the world.

A home without love is no more a home than a body without a soul is a man. Every civilized person is a social being.No one should live alone. A man may lead a successful and prosperous life,but prosperity alone can by no means insure happiness.

Many great personages in the world history had deep affections for their homes. Your home may be poor and humble, but your duty lies there. You should try to make it cheerful and comfortable. The greater the difficulties, the richer will be your reward. A home is more than a family dwelling. It is a school in which people are trained for citizenship. A man will not render good service to his country if he can do nothing good for his home; for in proportion as he loves his home, will he love his country. The home is the birthplace of true patriotism. It is the secret of social welfare and national greatness. It is the basis and origin of civilization.

家

什么组成了家庭？是爱、同情和信心。

在家里，所有的家庭成员都充满了爱意。父母细心照顾自己的孩子，同时，孩子也全身心地投入到与父母的活动当中。所有的家庭成员因为爱而连接在了一起，他们把家当做是世界上最温馨的地方。

就像没有灵魂的身体，没有爱的家不再称之为家。每一名有文化的人都是社会的一份子。没有人会独自生活。人们或许会拥有成功、富裕的人生，但是只有财富却不能够保证幸福。

世界上的许多名人都对家庭有着深切的感情。你的家可能会很贫穷，但是你却肩负重任。你应该尝试着让它变得更加愉悦，变得更加舒适。困难越大，你的收获也将越多。家庭远远不只是家人栖息的场所。家庭就像是一所学校，在里面的人们接受培训并成为公民。如果一个人不能给家庭带来好处，那么他也将不会尽心尽力地的国家效力，如果他深爱他的家庭，那么他也将深爱他的国家。家庭是爱国主义的诞生地。家庭是社会福利和国家强盛的秘诀。家庭也是文化的源泉。

Life Is to Be Whole 人生，是一个走向完整的过程

Once a circle missed a wedge.The circle wanted to be whole，so it went around looking for its missing piece.But because it was incomplete and therefore could roll only very slowly，it admired the flowers along the way.It chatted with worms.It enjoyed the sunshine.It found lots of different pieces，but none of them fit.So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching.Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly.It was so happy.Now it could be whole，with nothing missing.It incorporated the missingpiece into itself and began to roll.Now that it was a perfect circle，it could roll very fast，too fast tonotice the flowers or talking to the worms.When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly，it stopped，left its found piece by the side of the road and rolled slowly away.

The lesson of the story，I suggested，was that in some strange sense we are more whole when we are missingsomething.The man who has everything is in some ways a poor man.He will never know what it feels like to yearn，to hope，to nourish his soul with the dream of something better.He will never know the experience ofhaving someone who loves him give him something he has always wanted or never had.

There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations，who has been brave enough to let go of his unrealistic dreams and not feel like a failure for doing so.There is a wholeness about the man or woman who has learned that he or she is strong enough to go through a tragedy and survive，who can lose someone and still feel like a complete person.

Life is not a trap set for us by God so that he can condemn us for failing.Life is not a spelling bee，where no matter how many words you've gotten right，you're disqualified if you make one mistake.Life ismore like a baseball season，where even the best team loses one－third of its games and even the worst team has its days of brilliance.Our goal is to win more games than we lose.

When we accept that imperfection is part of being human，and when we can continue rolling through life andappreciate it，we will have achieved a wholeness that others can only aspire to.That，I believe，is what God asks of us not "Be perfect"，not "Don't even make a mistake"，but "Be whole."

If we are brave enough to love，strong enough to forgive，generous enough to rejoice in another's happiness，and wise enough to know there is enough love to go around for us all，then we can achieve a fulfillmentthat no other living creature will ever know.

从前有一只圆圈缺了一块楔子。圆圈想保持完整，便四处寻找失去的那块楔子。由于它不完整，所以只能滚动很慢。一路上，它对花儿露出羡慕之色。它与蠕虫谈天侃地。它还欣赏到了阳光之美。圆圈找到了许许多多不同的配件，但是没有一件能完美地与它相配。所以，它将它们统统弃置路旁，继续寻觅。终于有一天，它找到了一个完美的配件。圆圈是那样地高兴，现在它可以说是完美无缺了。它装好配件，然后滚动起来。既然它已成了一个完整的圆圈，所以滚动得非常快，快得以至于无暇观赏花儿，也无暇与蠕虫倾诉心声。圆圈快奔急骋，发现眼中的世界变得如此不同，于是，它不禁停了下来，将找到的那个配件留在路旁，又开始了慢慢地滚动。

我觉得这个故事告诉我们，从某种奇妙意义上讲，当我们失去了一些东西时反而感到更加完整。一个拥有一切的人其实在某些方面是个穷人。他永远也体会不到什么是渴望、期待以及对美好梦想的感悟。他也永远不会有这样一种体验：一个爱他的人送给他某种他梦寐以求的或者从未拥有过的东西意味什么。

人生的完整性在于一个人知道如何面对他的缺陷，如何勇敢地摒弃那些不现实的幻想而又不以此为缺憾。人生的完整性还在于一个男人或女人懂得这样一个道理：他（她）发现自己能勇敢面对人生悲剧而继续生存，能够在失去亲人后依然表现出一个完整的人的风范。

人生不是上帝为谴责我们的缺陷而给我们布下的陷阱。人生也不是一场拼字游戏比赛。不管你拼出多少单词，一旦出现了一个错误，你便前功尽弃。人生更像是一个棒球赛季。即使最好的球队比赛也会输掉1／3，而最差的球队也有春风得意的日子。我们的目标就是多赢球，少输球。

我们接受了不完整性是人类本性的一部分，我们不断地进行人生滚动并能意识到其价值，我们就会完成完整人生的过程。而对于别人来讲，这只能是一个梦想。我相信这就是上帝对我们的要求：不求"完美"，也不求"永不犯错误"，而是求得人生的"完整".

如果我们勇敢得能够去爱，坚强得能够去宽容，大度得能够去分享他人的幸福，明智得能够理解身边充满爱，那么我们就能取得别的生物所不能取得的成就。

成功之道 An avenue to success

It is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom, and spent the first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors and janitresses now in offices, and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of business education. But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy who has the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.

Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started, my advice to you is “aim high”. I would not give a fig for the young man who does not already see himself the partner or the head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk, or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself, “My place is at the top.” Be king in your dreams.

And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it.

The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital, which means that they have scattered their brains also. They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here there, and everywhere. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” is all wrong. I tell you to “put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.” Look round you and take notice, men who do that not often fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too many baskets that breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head, which is apt to tumble and trip him up. One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.

To summarize what I have said: aim for the highest; never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor, or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make the firm’s interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly, be not impatient, for as Emerson says, “no one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourselves."

成功之道
年轻人创业之初，应该从最底层干起，这是件好事。匹兹保有很多商业巨头，在他们创业之初，都肩负过“重任”：他们以扫帚相伴，以打扫办公室的方式度过了他们商业生涯中最初的时光。我注意到我们现在办公室里都有工友，于是年轻人就不幸错过了商业教育中这个有益的环节。如果碰巧哪天上午专职扫地的工友没有来，某个具有未来合伙人气质的年轻人会毫不犹豫地试着拿起扫帚。在必要时新来的员工扫扫地也无妨，不会因为而有什么损失。我自己就曾经扫过地。

假如你已经被录用，并且有了一个良好的开端，我对你的建议是：要志存高远。一个年轻人，如果不把自己想象成一家大公司未来的老板或者是合伙人，那我会对他不屑一顾。不论职位有多高，你的内心都不要满足于做一个总管，领班或者总经理。要对自己说：我要迈向顶尖！要做就做你梦想中的国王！

成功的首要条件和最大秘诀就是：把你的精力，思想和资本全都集中在你正从事的事业上。一旦开始从事某种职业，就要下定决心在那一领域闯出一片天地来；做这一行的领导人物，采纳每一点改进之心，采用最优良的设备，对专业知识熟稔于心。

一些公司的失败就在于他们分散了资金，因为这就意味着分散了他们的精力。他们向这方面投资，又向那方面投资；在这里投资，在那里投资，到处都投资。“不要把所有的鸡蛋放在一个篮子里”的说法大错特错。我要对你说：“把所有的鸡蛋都放在一个篮子里，然后小心地看好那个篮子。”看看你周围，你会注意到：这么做的人其实很少失败。看管和携带一个篮子并不太难。人们总是试图提很多篮子，所以才打破这个国家的大部分鸡蛋。提三个篮子的人，必须把一个顶在头上，而这个篮子很可能倒下来，把他自己绊倒。美国商人的一个缺点就是不够专注。

把我的话归纳一下：要志存高远；不要出入酒吧；要滴酒不沾，或要喝也只在用餐时喝少许；不要做投机买卖；不要寅吃卯粮；要把公司的利益当作自己的利益；取消订货的目的永远是为了挽救货主；要专注；要把所有的鸡蛋放在一个篮子里，然后小心地看好它；要量入为出；最后，要有耐心，正如爱默生所言，“谁都无法阻止你最终成功，除非你自己承认自己失败。”

It was New Year's night.An aged man was standing at a window. He raised his mournful eyes towards the deep blue sky, where the stars were floating like white lilies on the surface of a clear calm lake.When he cast them on the earth, where few more hopeless people than himself now moved towards their certain goal--the tomb.He had already passed sixty of the stages leading to it, and he had brought from his journey nothing but errors and remorse. Now his health was poor, his mind vacant, his heart sorrowful, and his old age short of comforts.　　

The days of his youth appeared like dreams before him, and he recalled the serious moment when his father placed him at the entrance of the two roads--one leading to a peaceful,sunny place, covered with flowers,fruits and resounding with soft,sweet songs;the other leading to a deep , dark cave, which was endless, where poison flowed instead of water and where devils and poisonous snakes hissed and crawled.　

He looked towards the sky and cried painfully,"O, youth, return! O, my father,place me once more at the entrance to life,and I'll choose the better way!" But both his father and the days of his youth had passed away.　　

He saw the lights flowing away in the darkness.These were the days of his wasted life;he saw a star fall from the sky and disappeared,and this was the symbol of himself.His remorse,which was like a sharp sorrow,struck deeply into his heart.Then he remember his friends in his childhood,which entered life together with him.But they had made their way to success and were now honored and happy on this New Year's night.　　

The clock in the high church tower struck and the sound made him remember his parents' early love for him. They had taught him and prayed to God for his good.But he chose the wrong way.With shame and grief he dared no longer to look towards the heaven where his father lived.His darkened eyes were full of tears, and with a despairing effort, he burst out a cry:"Come back, my early days!Come back!"

And his youth did return,for all this was only a dream, which he had on New Year's night. He was still young though his faults were real; he had not yet entered the deep, dark cave, and he was still free to walk on the road which leads to the peaceful and sunny land.　　

Those who still linger on the entrance of life, hesitating to choose the bright road, remember that when years are passed and your feet stumble on the dark mountains, you will cry bitterly, but in vain."O youth, return!Oh give me back my early days!"

人生的两条路　　
这是新年的夜晚。一位老人站在窗边，忧伤的眼睛眺望着深蓝的天空。空中的繁星犹如漂浮在清澈如镜的湖面上的朵朵百合。他慢慢将目光投向地面，此刻，没有什么人比他还绝望，迈向他最终的归宿--坟墓。他已走过通向坟墓的六十级台阶，除了错误和悔恨，他一无所获。现在，他体弱多病，精神空虚，心哀神伤，人到晚年无慰藉。　
年轻岁月，如梦般展现在他面前，老人想起父亲把他带到岔路口的那个庄严时刻--一条路通向安宁，快乐的世界，鲜花遍布，果实丰硕，甜美轻柔的歌声在空中回荡；另一条路则通向幽深黑暗，没有尽头的洞穴，洞内流淌着的不是水而是毒液，群魔乱舞，毒蛇嘶嘶爬动。　　
他仰望星空，痛苦的大喊：”啊，青春，回来吧！啊，父亲，再一次带我到人生的岔路口吧，我会选一条更好的道路。“但是，他的父亲和青春岁月都已经一去不复返了。　　
他看到亮色在黑暗中流逝，就像他挥霍掉的往昔；他看到一颗流星自天边坠落，消失不见，就像是他的化身。无尽的悔恨，像一支利箭，深刺心间。他又记起和自己一同迈入人生之途的儿时玩伴。但他们已功成名就，在这个新年之夜，倍受尊崇，幸福快乐。　　
高高的教堂钟楼传来敲钟声，这声音使他记起父母早年对他的疼爱。他们教育他，为他祈祷。然而，他却选择了错误的道路。羞愧和悲哀使他再也没有勇气仰望父亲所在的天堂。黯淡的双眼噙满了泪水，他绝望地嘶声大呼：”回来吧，我的往昔！回来吧！“　　
他的青春真的回来了，所有这些只是一个梦，一个他在新年之夜所做的梦。他仍然年轻，虽然他犯的错误是真实的；他尚未走入那幽深黑暗的洞穴，还有自由选择通向安宁，快乐的道路。　　
仍在人生路口徘徊，仍在为是否应当选择光明坦途而犹豫不决的人们啊，请记住：当青春不再，当你的双脚在黑暗的山岭间跌绊时，你会痛苦地呼喊”啊，青春，回来吧！啊，还给我往昔吧！“此时，一切已是徒劳。

Man's youth is a wonderful thing: it is so full of anguish and of magic and he nevr comes to know it as it is, until it has gone from him forever. It is the thing he cannot bear to lose, it is the thing whose passing he watches with infinite sorrow and regret, it is the thing whose loss with a sad and secret joy, the thing he would never willingly relive again, could it be restored to him by any magic.

Why is this? The reason is that the strange and bitter miracle of life is nowhere else so evident as in our youth. And what is the essence of that strange and bitter miracle of life which we feel so poignant , so unutterable, with such a bitter pain and joy, when we are young? It is this: that being rich, we are so poor; that being mighty, we can yet have nothing; that seeing, breathig, smelling, tasting all around us the impossible wealth and glory of this earth, feeling with an intolerable certitude that the whole structure of the enchanted life – the most fortunate, wealthy, good, and happy life that any man has ever known – is ours – is ours at once, immediately and forever, the moment that we choose to take a step, or stretch a hand, or say a word- we yet know that we can reeally keep, hold, take, and possess forever- nothing. All passes; nothing lasts: the moment that we put our hand upon it , it melts away like smoke, is gone forever, and the snake is eating at our heart again; we see then what we are and what our lives must come to.

A young man is so strong, so mad, so certain, and so lost. He has everything and he is able to use nothing. He hurls the great shoulder of his strength forever against phantasmalbarriers, he is a wave whose power explodes in lost mid – oceans under timeless skies, here-aches out to grip a fume of painted smoke, he wants all, feels the thirst and power foreverything, and finally gets nothing. In the end, he is destroyed by his own strength, devoured by his own hunger, impoverished by his own wealth. Thoughtless of money or the accumulation of material possessions, he is none the less defeated in the end by his own greed a greed that makes the avarice of King Midas seem paltry by comparison.

And that is the reason why, when youth is gone, every man will look back upon that period of his life with infinite sorrow and regret. It is the bitter sorrow and regret of a man who knows that once he had a great talent and wasted it , of a man who knows that once he had a great treasure and got nothing from it , of a man who knows that he had strength enough for everything and never used it.

青春奇妙无穷,充满魅力,充满痛楚.青春年少的时候根本不知青春为何物,直到青春一去不复返了才对青春有了真正的认识.谁都想让青春永驻,不忍青春离去;眼睁睁地看着青春流逝,心中会涌起无穷的忧伤和惋惜;青春的失去是人们永远感到悲哀的事;青春的失去是人们真正觉得悲喜交集的事;即便奇迹出现青春复苏,谁都不会心甘情愿重度青春的岁月.

为什么如此?因为在青春时代,生活充满了奇特而辛酸的不可思议的事.我们在青春年少时带着悲喜交集的心情,十分强烈而不可名状地感受到人生的奇特辛酸/不可思议的经历.其实质是什么呢?　其实质是这样的:青春年少的时候,虽然殷实富足,却非常贫穷;虽然力气强大,却一无所有;世间的富贵荣华触目皆是,简直可以呼吸到,闻到嗅到,还可以品尝到,心中的自信按捺不住,深切地感受到整个被陶醉了的生活----人类迄今为止所直到的最幸运/最富有的美好幸福的生活,只要我们决定向前迈步,奋发努力,便立即归我们所有了,并将永远属于我们.然而,我们知道,我们真的永远不能抓到什么,永远不能获得什么,永远不能占有什么.一切匆匆过去,荡然无存.我们一出手它就烟消云散,飘然而去,一去不复返了.于是,心中泛起阵阵隐痛,看到了自己真实的面孔,看到了自己未来生活的必然走向.

青年人非常坚强,狂热自信,但容易迷惘混沌,虽然机缘无数,却把握不住,虽然身强体壮,试图冲破重重虚幻的屏障,却如同一个波浪,最终还是无力地消失在旷远浩淼的大海中央,他伸出手想要抓住斑斓的云烟,他想得到世间的万物,渴望主宰一切,最终却是一无所获.最后,他被自己的力量所毁灭,被自己的饥饿所吞食,被自己的财富弄得贫穷潦倒.他对金钱或财富的积累不以为意漫不经心,然而最终还是被自己的贪欲所吞噬.

青春消逝,蓦然回首,无论是谁,心中都会充满无尽的忧伤,充满无穷的懊悔.曾经才智卓越,却白白浪费了,曾经财富殷实,却一无所有,曾经本事高强,却从未利用.一个认识到自己失落青春的人回忆起来总是充满悲伤和懊悔.

Your letter of the 1st hath this moment reached me. I answer it according to our agreement, which shall be inviolable. Truly did you say that, at our arising in the morning, Nature assumes a different aspect. Who could have conjectured the circumstances of my last letter? Friend of my soul, this is terrible, dismaying: it makes one's heart sink, it withers vital energy ... Dear being, I am thine again; thy happiness shall again predominaute over this fleeting tribute to self-interest. Yet who would not feel now? Oh'twere as reckless a task to endeavour to annihilate perception while sense existed, as to blunt the sixth sense to such impressions as these!--forgive me, dearest friend! I pour out my whole soul to you. I write by fleeting intervals: my pen runs away with my senses. The impassionateness of my sensations grows upon me. Your letter, too, has much affected me. Never, with my consent, shall that intercourse cease which has been the day-dawn of my existence, the sun which has shed warmth on the cold drear length of the anticipated prospect of life. Prejudice might demand the sacrifice, but she is an idol to whom we bow not. The world might demand it; its opinion might require; but the cloud which flees over yon mountain were as important to our happiness, to our usefulness. This must never be, never whilst this existence continues; and when Time has enrolled us in the list of the departed, surely this friendship will survive to bear our identity to heaven. What is love, or friendship? Is it something material--a ball, an apple, a plaything--which must be taken from one to be given to another? Is it capable of no extension, no communication? Lord Kaimes defines love to a particularization of the general passion. But this is the love of sensation, of sentiment--the absurdest of absurd vanities: it is the love of pleasure, not the love of happiness. The one is a love which is self-centered, self-devoted, self-interested: It desires its own interest; it is the parent of jealousy. Its object is the plaything which it desires to monopolize. Selfishness, monopoly, is its very soul, and to communicate to others part of this love were to destroy its essence, to annihilate this chain of straw. But love, the love which we worship,--virtue, heaven, disinterestedness--in a word, Friendship--which has as much to do with the senses as with yonder mountains; that which seeks the good of all--the good of its object first, not because that object is a minister to its pleasures, not merely because it even contributes to its happiness, but because it is really worthy, because it has powers, sensibilities, is capable of abstracting itself, and loving virtue for virtue's own loveliness--desiring the happiness of others not from the obligation of fearing hell or desiring heaven: but for pure, simple, unsophisticated virtue. You will soon hear again. Adieu, my dearest friend. Continue to believe that when I am insensible to your excellence, I shall cease to exist.    

刚才收到你1号的来信，我按我们之前的默契复信。这个默契是不能违背的。我们早上起身时，你确实说过，实际情况已经不一样了。谁能猜得到我上次写信时的境况呢？我心灵的知己，这太可怕，太令人沮丧了。我的心为之一沉，锐气消磨殆尽……亲爱的人儿，我又是你的了，你的幸福又将压倒我这短暂的孤芳自赏。然而在这种时候，谁又不会有同感呢？啊，如果一息尚存而欲其不闻不问岂非与使第六感对这样一些印象变得迟钝同样不顾后果吗？最亲爱的朋友，宽恕我吧，我把整个心都掏给你了。几度提笔，笔不从心。但激情终于涌现，你的信也起了作用。我认为我们之间的交往永远不会终止，这种交往给我带来了生命的曙光，是洒在我冰凉而漫长的人生旅途上的温暖阳光。偏见可能要求人们做出牺牲，但我们不会向这个幽灵屈服。世俗可能要我们做出牺牲，舆论也会提出要求；但遥望漂过远方山岭的云朵也乐在其中，有益于身心。只要一息尚存，决不屈服，决不低头；即使大限到来，人间情侣也要天上相聚。何谓爱情，何谓友情？是球、苹果、玩偶－－可以信手拈来、随意给人的实物？是不能深化、不能交流的吗？凯米斯勋爵把爱情定义为一般激情的特殊体现，但这是肉欲之爱、情欲之爱－－是荒谬绝伦的逢场作戏：是寻欢作乐的爱，不是幸福的爱。这是一种以自我为中心的爱，自私自利的爱：它只求利己，是嫉妒之源，其目的在于垄断追求的玩物，其本质是私心、垄断。这种爱的些许表现也是对爱的亵渎，使脆如纤草的爱泯灭殆尽。但我们崇拜的爱，象征美德、天意和无私，一句话，真情－－它既能感知，又与远方山头的云朵息息相通。它追求大家的幸福－－首先是对方的幸福，不是因为对方给予欢乐，也不仅因为对方使自己幸福，而是因为这种爱真正无愧于心，因为它有力量，有情感，并能无私奉献，因为美德的可爱而爱美德－－不是因为怕下地狱或想升天堂而为他人求得幸福，而是出于纯朴无华的美德。你不久又会收到我的信。再见了，我最亲爱的朋友。请你继续相信这一点：我什么时候对阁下不忠，我便将不复存在。

Yours most sincerely, inviolably, eternally.
你的最诚挚和至死不渝的
Percy S.
珀西•雪莱

My room at home was too small for me. I barely had room for all the little knickknacks I'd collected over the years. There were so many things I had to pack away in boxes and store in closets all over the house. Oftentimes I didn't quite remember exactly where everything was.
我在家里的房间很小，偏偏我平时又喜欢搜集一些可爱的小玩意，几年下来，各种各样小玩意就渐渐摆满了我的房间。对那些摆放不下的东西，我只好忍痛将他们打包放进纸箱里，然后再塞进家里大大小小的储物柜里面，通常情况下我都不记得这些东西的具体存放位置。

There were all the notes my girlfriends and I passed throughout junior high, along with all the goofy poems my first boyfriend paid his friends to write and passed along to me as his originals. I also had a separate box for rose petals collected from past birthdays, Valentine's Days, anniversaries, and proms. I kept all my pictures in neatly organized albums on the bottom shelf of my bookcase. I had jewelry that I never wore but I thought I might someday need stashed away all over my room. I also saved birthday and Christmas cards, leaves that had fallen from the trees the previous fall, and medals I won for participating in piano recitals. On another shelf of my bookcase I even had a brick I found on the playground at my elementary school.
在这些小玩意当中，有我和初三的女伴们互传的小纸片，还有我的第一任男朋友的蹩脚情诗－－还不是他自己写的，是他掏腰包请他的朋友代写的，然后大言不惭地跟我说是他自己写的。我还有一个专门放玫瑰花瓣的箱子，花瓣都是我在历年的生日、情人节、各种周年纪念日和舞会上收集回来的。我还把照片整理成相册，整整齐齐地放在书架的底层上。我还留着一些自己从来都没戴过的首饰，想着哪一天要把它们好好藏在房间的每一个角落。我仍然保存着各式各样的生日卡和圣诞卡，去年秋天的落叶，还有我参加钢琴演奏会时赢回来的奖牌。在书架的另外一层甚至还摆着一块砖头，那还是我上小学的时候在操场上拾回来的。

I'm not exactly sure why I saved everything, but I have some sort of idea. I never wanted to forget the great times I'd had growing up. I always feared I'd become one of those adults who couldn't relate to children because they simply couldn't remember having been children themselves. I wanted to remember the flowers my brother gave me when no other boy would. I wanted to someday look back at pictures of my first trip to Panama City. For some strange reason, I wanted to remember the day my playmates and I found that broken brick on the playground and thought our school was being broken into.
我也不清楚为什么自己要保留这些东西，我只能说一些模糊的理解，我觉得是想让自己铭记成长过程中的美好时光。有些成年人不能理解孩子的想法，因为他们根本不记得自己也曾是一个孩子，而我总是害怕会变成这样的人。当没有其他男孩子送花给我的时候，哥哥送了花给我，我想永远记住那些花儿。我也希望可以通过看照片回想起自己第一次去巴拿马城的情景。我还记得那天我和玩伴在操场上发现那块烂砖头的时候，我们还以为学校遭打劫了呢。我也说不出为什么，我就希望当自己看回这块砖头的时候，我还能回想起当时的想法。

So I kept my life stored away in my bedroom, tucked neatly into boxes, stacked high up in my closet, on display on my bookcases, stashed discreetly away in my underwear drawer in hopes I'd never forget anything. I loved my room because it was all about me. I didn't have to share it with anyone else. My memories didn't have to mingle with a sibling's or roommate's. My room at home was just that ... my room, full of my things.
于是我将我的生活点滴就这样储存在我的卧室里，整整齐齐地叠放在箱子里，高高地堆放在储物柜里，或是陈列在书架里，小心翼翼地藏在存放内衣的抽屉里，惟恐自己遗漏了什么。我很喜欢自己的房间，因为它处处充满了我的气息。我不用与任何人共用房间，我的回忆也不会与兄弟姐妹或室友的相混杂。我在家的房间是我自己私人的世界，到处都是我自己的东西。

Now that I'm away from home, enrolled in college, and sharing ten cubic feet with another girl, my old bedroom doesn't seem so small. I try my hardest to make my half of the room personal to me, but in a space so small, that proves almost impossible. Occasionally her books will find their way to my half of the desk, or her shoes will be near my closet. Sometimes crumbs from the crackers she's eating litter my half of the carpet, and every so often, her hair brush begins to hang around with mine.
后来我考进了大学，也就离开了家，和一个女孩共住一间十立方英尺的宿舍，现在我再也不觉得家里的房间小了。我竭尽全力地维护属于自己的一半领地，可地方实在太窄了，事实证明我的努力都是徒劳的。有时候她的书会很自然地出现在我的半边桌子上，或是我的鞋柜里冒出她的鞋子。有时候，在她吃饼干的时候，饼干屑还会掉落在我的半边地毯上。她的梳子也开始和我的梳子混在了一起。

I don't have room for all the little memories I cherish. I only brought a handful of pictures from home, left behind all my yearbooks, as well as my dried flowers and "who loves who" notes. Perhaps the worst part about the whole ordeal is that I don't have room to start any new collections. The threat is there that I won't have anything to remind me of my college years. That's a really scary thought for me. This place where I sleep and study isn't my room. It's just a room.
由于没有地方摆放所有记载着珍贵记忆片段的物品，我也没有从家里带来年鉴和干花，也没有拿来写着“谁爱谁”的纸条，只带了一叠相片过来。我想开始收集其它东西，却没有地方存放，这可是这段苦难最惨痛的部分啊。而由此造成的危害是：我将没有能让自己记起大学岁月的物品。想到这，我就心慌意乱。我睡觉和学习的这个地方不再是属于我的天地；它只是一个房间而已。

404 South Carrick Hall is just a place to sleep, study, and watch my roommate watch TV. It's filled with textbooks, CD-ROMs, and dishes ... things that aren't supposed to be in a bedroom. There's only room for one stuffed animal and three posters which have a hard time staying on brico-block walls. I hate the fact that there's a microwave and refrigerator in the room where I sleep, and I hate that I'm responsible for filling them.
南卡尔克宿舍404房只是一个睡觉、学习和看着我室友看电视的地方。房间里摆满了课本、光碟和盘子，尽是一些不应该出现在卧室里的东西。剩下的空间只够放一只毛公仔和三张海报，要呆在粗糙的墙壁上，这些海报可真够呛的。我讨厌把微波炉和电冰箱摆在我睡觉的地方，也讨厌自己总要往里面塞放食物。

Maybe even worse than my new room's lack of personality is the lack of privacy it offers. Occasionally, and especially during home-coming, my roommate comes in after I've gone to sleep. She doesn't mean to wake me up, but when she starts her nightly contact-removal ritual, I can't help but hear what seems like thousands of different cleaning solution bottles bumping around the sink. I've been known to bother her too. During the day when I'm trying to study, my typing interferes with her enjoyment of "The Loveboat," "Days of Our Lives," and "Another World."
我的新居没有个性，这已经够糟糕了，但更糟糕的是我老是要受到干扰。有时候，尤其在晚上室友回宿舍的时候她总要把我从梦中吵醒。她也不是故意要吵醒我，可是她每晚睡前例行的“脱隐形眼镜仪式”总让我心烦意乱，我觉得仿佛有上千瓶的隐形眼镜清洗液在洗手盆里摇来晃去。当然了，我也有干扰她的时候。当我集中精神学习的时候，我打字的声音也让她很扫兴，这样她就不能专注地追那些肥皂剧，像《爱之舟》、《我们的生活》和《异度空间》。

My roommate is not the only one who deprives me of privacy and makes 404 a room that is not really my own. The girls next door to me see me as a back-up grammar check when their computers don't catch every mistake. I can't lock them out because it's not my room to lock. I can't say, "Go away," because they've gotten to be really good friends and I can't be rude to people I care about.
我的室友剥夺了我的私人空间，使404室不能真正成为我自己的房间，而她也不是唯一这样做的人。隔壁的女孩们把我当作后备的“语法检测器”，当她们的电脑不能找出文章的每处语法错误时，她们就跑来求救。我不能要她们吃闭门羹，因为这不只是我的房间，我不能把它紧锁。我也不能对她们说：“走开”，因为她们都是我要好的朋友，我不能粗鲁地对待那些我所关心的人。

The lack of privacy thing really bothers me. Not only do I live in a room that acts as a bedroom, study, kitchen, living room, and bathroom, I don't even get to be miserable in it by myself. Sometimes misery does not love company. Rather, it is created by company. If I can't decorate my room to my liking, I should at least be able to suffer in it alone. But dormitories are not for being alone - I've been told - they're about learning to get along with others. (Maybe I'll see the positive results of this nightmare when I'm giving advice to my own children when they begin college, but for the moment, I'm completely oblivious to them.)
没有私人空间真的让我很苦恼。我住的房间既是卧室，也是书房、厨房、起居室和卫生间，而且我还不能一个人在里面痛苦受罪。有时候，一个痛苦的人是不喜欢别人陪伴的。其实痛苦往往就是源于陪伴。如果我不能按照自己的喜好装饰房间，至少也得让我独自呆在里面受苦啊。但已经有人告诉过我了，宿舍不是你独处的地方，而是让你学会和别人相处的地方。（也许到了将来某一天，在我给开始上大学的儿女提建议的时候，我可以意识到住宿舍的好处。可现在在我看来，住宿舍就是一场噩梦，我没有发现其中的任何好处。）

There is some good news, however. Though she annoys me to no end, sometimes my roommate is just the person I want to see. I didn't get to know her habits so well without her taking in a few of mine. She oftentimes knows what I'm going to say even before I do, and most of the time she knows exactly when not to say anything to me at all. She's friend as well as foe, and I'd probably miss her if she left. The same sentiments apply to my neighbors. It's really quite flattering that they, even if somewhat mistakenly, consider me some sort of grammar goddess.
然而，好处还是有的。对于我的室友，虽然我总是不胜其烦，但有时她正是我想见到的人。如果她没有接纳我的一些习惯，我也不会对她的习惯了如指掌。通常，我还没开口她就知道我要说什么了；而且，在我不想和人答腔的时候，她都能感受到，并做到缄口不言。她集朋友和敌人于一身，如果她离开了，我就会挂念她。对于我的隔壁宿舍的邻居们，我也有同样的感觉。她们把我当作－－即使是“误”当作－－语法女神，我还是觉得非常荣幸。

And perhaps most important is the next thought. While I don't live in a room that's completely mine anymore, and probably won't ever again, I do find comfort in the knowledge that somewhere there's a pink, green, and white bedroom with a brick on the bookshelf, a diary in the underwear drawer, and an air of privacy that belongs strictly to me. It may not be my room as often as I'd like, but it will wait for me, just like I sit and wait for it.
也许接下来的想法才是重要的：虽然现在我不住在完全属于我的房间里，也许以后也不会，可是我相信在某个地方有个完全属于我的私人空间－－卧房是粉红色、绿色和白色相间的，书架上放了一块砖头，内衣抽屉里面还放着一本日记本，想到这些我就觉得油然欣慰。这个房间不总是如我所愿，可它会等着我这个主人，正如我现在在宿舍里坐着等它。