双语美文:人生最艰难的一课就是学会相信自己
摘要:我必须学会的最艰难的一课就是相信自己,这是基本条件。如做不到这一点,我的精神就会崩溃,只能坐在前门廊的摇椅中度过余生。相信自己并不仅仅指支持我独自走下陌生的楼梯的那种自信,那是一部分。我指的是大事:是坚信自己虽然有缺陷,却是一个真正的有进取心的人;
4岁那年在大西洋城,我从货场一辆火车上摔下来,头先着地,于是双目失明。现在我已经32岁了。我还模糊地记得阳光是多么灿烂,红色是多么鲜艳。能恢复视觉固然好,但灾难也能对人产生奇妙的作用。
I lost my sight when I was four years old by falling off a box car in a freight yard in Atlantic Cityand landing on my head. Now I am thirty-two. I can vaguely remember the brightness ofsunshine and what red color is. It would be wonderful to see again, but a calamity can dostrange things to people.
It occurred to me the other day that I might not have come to love life as I do if I hadn’t beenblind. I believe in life now. I am not so sure that I would have believed in it so deeply, otherwise.I don’t mean that I would prefer to go without my eyes. I simply mean that the loss of themmade me appreciate the more what I had left.
有一天我突然想到,倘若我不是盲人,我或许不会变得像现在这样热爱生活。现在我相信生活,但我不能肯定如果自己是明眼人,会不会像现在这样深深地相信生活。这并不意味着我宁愿成为盲人,而只是意味着失去视力使我更加珍惜自己其他的能力。
Life, I believe, asks a continuous series of adjustments to reality. The more readily a person isable to make these adjustments, the more meaningful his own private world becomes. Theadjustment is never easy. I was bewildered and afraid. But I was lucky. My parents and myteachers saw something in me —a potential to live, you might call it ——which I didn’t see, andthey made me want to fight it out with blindness.
我认为,生活要求人不断地自我调整以适应现实。人愈能及时地进行调整,他的个人世界便愈有意义。调整决非易事。我曾感到茫然害怕,但我很幸运,父母和老师在我身上发现了某种东西——可以称之为活下去的潜力吧——而我自己却没有发现。他们激励我誓与失明拼搏到底。
The hardest lesson I had to learn was to believe in myself. That was basic. If I hadn’t been ableto do that, I would have collapsed and become a chair rocker on the front porch for the rest ofmy life. When I say belief in myself I am not talking about simply the kind of self-confidencethat helps me down an unfamiliar staircase alone. That is part of it. But I mean somethingbigger than that: an assurance that I am, despite imperfections, a real, positive person thatsomewhere in the sweeping, intricate pattern of people there is a special place where I canmake myself fit.
我必须学会的最艰难的一课就是相信自己,这是基本条件。如做不到这一点,我的精神就会崩溃,只能坐在前门廊的摇椅中度过余生。相信自己并不仅仅指支持我独自走下陌生的楼梯的那种自信,那是一部分。我指的是大事:是坚信自己虽然有缺陷,却是一个真正的有进取心的人;坚信在芸芸众生错综复杂的格局当中,自有我可以安身立命的一席之地。
It took me years to discover and strengthen this assurance. It had to start with the mostelementary things. Once a man gave me an indoor baseball, I thought he was mocking meand I was hurt. “I can’t use this,” I said. “Take it with you,” he urged me,” and roll it around. “The words stuck in my head.” Roll it around!” By rolling the ball I could hear where it went. Thisgave me an idea how to achieve a goal I had thought impossible: playing baseball. AtPhiladelphia’s Overbrook School for the Blind I invented a successful variation of baseball. Wecalled it ground ball.
我花了很长时间才树立并不断加强这一信念。这要从最简单的事做起。有一次一个人给我一个室内玩的棒球,我以为他在嘲笑我,心里很难受。“我不能使这个。”我说。“你拿去,”他竭力劝我,“在地上滚。”他的话在我脑子里生了根。“在地上滚!” 滚球使我听见它朝哪儿滚动。我马上想到一个我曾认为不可能达到的目标:打棒球。在费城的奥弗布鲁克盲人学校,我发明了一种很受人欢迎的棒球游戏,我们称它为地面球。
All my life I have set ahead of is a series of goals and then tried to reach them, one at a time. Ihad to learn my limitations. It was no good to try for something I knew at the start was wildlyout of reach because that only invited the bitterness of failure. I would fail sometimes anywaybut on the average I made progress.
我这一辈子给自己树立了一系列目标,然后努力去达到,一次一个。我必须了解自己能力有限,若开始就知道某个目标根本达不到却硬要去实现,那不会有任何好处,因为那只会带来失败的苦果。我有时也失败过,但一般来说总有进步。
-
关于安全管理的英语美文
最大的节约是安全、最大的浪费是事故;最大的隐患是麻痹、最大的祸根是失职。本站小编整理了关于安全管理的英语美文,欢迎阅读!关于安全管理的英语美文篇一TheObamacampaignwebsitewashackedonTuesdayandinvitedsupporterstotwofakeanti-governmenteventshostedb...
-
How could you英语美文阅读
本文选自美国作家JimWillis的畅销书《PiecesOfMyHeart-----WritingsInspiredbyAnimalsandNature》,该书以自述的形式讲述了一只家犬对昔日主人的真情告白。当年作者用七千美元以全版广告的形式在报纸上刊登了该文章,以一篇文章感动了所有的读者。WhenIwasapuppy,...
-
双语励志美文:你终将找到自己的节奏
摘录:这些都是工作的头几天里,脑海中会浮现出的想法。你小心翼翼地在公司里走着,恨不得踮起脚尖,生怕自己的一举一动会引起周围人的注意,生怕自己搞砸一切。然而,你终究还是受到了关注,但你并没有搞砸,并且你很快就找到了自己的节奏。Weallrememberourfirstdaysofhigh-...
-
Beautiful Smile and Love
Thepoorareverywonderfulpeople.Oneeveningwewentoutandwepickedupfourpeoplefromthestreet.Andoneofthemwasinamostterriblecondition,andItoldthesisters:Youtakecareoftheotherthree.Itakecareofthisonewholookedworse.SoIdidforherallthatmylovecando.Iputh...