英語閲讀美文大綱

1、Three Days to See(Excerpts)假如給我三天光明(節選)

All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year, sometimes as short as 24 hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.

Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings, what regrets?

Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with gentleness, vigor and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of “Eat, drink, and be merry”. But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.

In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.

Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.

The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.

I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.

譯文：

假如給我三天光明(節選)

我們都讀過震撼人心的故事，故事中的主人公只能再活一段很有限的時光，有時長達一年，有時卻短至一日。但我們總是想要知道，註定要離世人的會選擇如何度過自己最後的時光。當然，我説的是那些有選擇權利的自由人，而不是那些活動範圍受到嚴格限定的死囚。

這樣的故事讓我們思考，在類似的處境下，我們該做些什麼?作為終有一死的人，在臨終前的幾個小時內我們應該做什麼事，經歷些什麼或做哪些聯想?回憶往昔，什麼使我們開心快樂?什麼又使我們悔恨不已?

有時我想，把每天都當作生命中的最後一天來邊，也不失為一個極好的生活法則。這種態度會使人格外重視生命的價值。我們每天都應該以優雅的姿態，充沛的精力，抱着感恩之心來生活。但當時間以無休止的日，月和年在我們面前流逝時，我們卻常常沒有了這種子感覺。當然，也有人奉行“吃，喝，享受”的享樂主義信條，但絕大多數人還是會受到即將到來的死亡的懲罰。

在故事中，將死的主人公通常都在最後一刻因突降的幸運而獲救，但他的價值觀通常都會改變，他變得更加理解生命的意義及其永恆的精神價值。我們常常注意到，那些生活在或曾經生活在死亡陰影下的人無論做什麼都會感到幸福。

然而，我們中的大多數人都把生命看成是理所當然的。我們知道有一天我們必將面對死亡，但總認為那一天還在遙遠的將來。當我們身強體健之時，死亡簡直不可想象，我們很少考慮到它。日子多得好像沒有盡頭。因此我們一味忙於瑣事，幾乎意識不到我們對待生活的冷漠態度。

我擔心同樣的冷漠也存在於我們對自己官能和意識的運用上。只有聾子才理解聽力的重要，只有盲人才明白視覺的可貴，這尤其適用於那些成年後才失去視力或聽力之苦的人很少充分利用這些寶貴的能力。他們的眼睛和耳朵模糊地感受着周圍的景物與聲音，心不在焉，也無所感激。這正好我們只有在失去後才懂得珍惜一樣，我們只有在生病後才意識到健康的可貴。

我經常想，如果每個人在年輕的時候都有幾天失時失聰，也不失為一件幸事。黑暗將使他更加感激光明，寂靜將告訴他聲音的美妙。

2、What I have Lived for 我為何而生

Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy---ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness---that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what---at last---I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always it brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

譯文：

我為何而生

我的一生被三種簡單卻又無比強烈的激情所控制：對愛的渴望，對知識的探索和對人類苦難難以抑制的嶼。這些激情像狂風，把我恣情吹向四方，掠過苦痛的大海，迫使我瀕臨絕望的邊緣。

我尋求愛，首先因為它使我心為之着迷，這種難以名狀的美妙迷醉使我願意用所有的餘生去換取哪怕幾個小時這樣的幸福。我尋求愛，還因為它能緩解我心理上的孤獨中，我感覺心靈的戰慄，仿如站在世界的邊緣而面前是冰冷，無底的死亡深淵。我尋求愛，因為在我所目睹的結合中，我彷彿看到了聖賢與詩人們所向往的天堂之景。這就是我所尋找的，雖然對人的一生而言似乎有些遙不可及，但至少是我用盡一生所領悟到的。

我用同樣的激情去尋求知識。我希望能理解人類的心靈，希望能夠知道羣星閃爍的緣由。我試圖領悟畢達哥拉斯所景仰的“數即萬物”的思想。我已經悟出了其中的一點點道理，儘管並不是很多。

愛和知識，用它們的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情卻總把人又拽回到塵世中來。痛苦的呼喊聲迴盪在我的內心。飢餓的孩子，受壓迫的難民，貧窮和痛苦的世界，都是對人類所憧憬的美好生活的無情嘲弄。我渴望能夠減少邪惡，但是我無能為力，我也難逃其折磨。

這就是我的一生。我已經找到它的價值。而且如果有機會，我很願意能再活它一次。

3、The Road to Success 成功之道

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.”

譯文：

成功之道

年輕人創業之初，應該從最底層幹起，這是件好事。匹茲保有很多商業巨頭，在他們創業之初，都肩負過“重任”：他們以掃帚相伴，以打掃辦公室的方式度過了他們商業生涯中最初的時光。我注意到我們現在辦公室裏都有工友，於是年輕人就不幸錯過了商業教育中這個有益的環節。如果碰巧哪天上午專職掃地的工友沒有來，某個具有未來合夥人氣質的年輕人會毫不猶豫地試着拿起掃帚。在必要時新來的員工掃掃地也無妨，不會因為而有什麼損失。我自己就曾經掃過地。

假如你已經被錄用，並且有了一個良好的開端，我對你的建議是：要志存高遠。一個年輕人，如果不把自己想象成一家大公司未來的老闆或者是合夥人，那我會對他不屑一顧。不論職位有多高，你的內心都不要滿足於做一個總管，領班或者總經理。要對自己説：我要邁向頂尖!要做就做你夢想中的國王!

成功的首要條件和最大祕訣就是：把你的精力，思想和資本全都集中在你正從事的事業上。一旦開始從事某種職業，就要下定決心在那一領域闖出一片天地來;做這一行的領導人物，採納每一點改進之心，採用最優良的設備，對專業知識熟稔於心。

一些公司的失敗就在於他們分散了資金，因為這就意味着分散了他們的精力。他們向這方面投資，又向那方面投資;在這裏投資，在那裏投資，到處都投資。“不要把所有的雞蛋放在一個籃子裏”的説法大錯特錯。我要對你説：“把所有的雞蛋都放在一個籃子裏，然後小心地看好那個籃子。”看看你周圍，你會注意到：這麼做的人其實很少失敗。看管和攜帶一個籃子並不太難。人們總是試圖提很多籃子，所以才打破這個國家的大部分雞蛋。提三個籃子的人，必須把一個頂在頭上，而這個籃子很可能倒下來，把他自己絆倒。美國商人的一個缺點就是不夠專注。

把我的話歸納一下：要志存高遠;不要出入酒吧;要滴酒不沾，或要喝也只在用餐時喝少許;不要做投機買賣;不要寅吃卯糧;要把公司的利益當作自己的利益;取消訂貨的目的永遠是為了挽救貨主;要專注;要把所有的雞蛋放在一個籃子裏，然後小心地看好它;要量入為出;最後，要有耐心，正如愛默生所言，“誰都無法阻止你最終成功，除非你自己承認自己失敗。”

4、Human Life a Poem 人生如詩

I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem. It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. It begins with innocent childhood, followed by awkward adolescence trying awkwardly to adapt itself to mature society, with its young passions and follies, its ideals and ambitions; then it reaches a manhood of intense activities, profiting from experience and learning more about society and human nature; at middle age, there is a slight easing of tension, a mellowing of character like the ripening of fruit or the mellowing of good wine, and the gradual acquiring of a more tolerant, more cynical and at the same time a kindlier view of life; then In the sunset of our life, the endocrine glands decrease their activity, and if we have a true philosophy of old age and have ordered our life pattern according to it, it is for us the age of peace and security and leisure and contentment; finally, life flickers out and one goes into eternal sleep, never to wake up again.

One should be able to sense the beauty of this rhythm of life, to appreciate, as we do in grand symphonies, its main theme, its strains of conflict and the final resolution. The movements of these cycles are very much the same in a normal life, but the music must be provided by the individual himself. In some souls, the discordant note becomes harsher and harsher and finally overwhelms or submerges the main melody. Sometimes the discordant note gains so much power that the music can no longer go on, and the individual shoots himself with a pistol or jump into a river. But that is because his original leitmotif has been hopelessly over-showed through the lack of a good self-education. Otherwise the normal human life runs to its normal end in kind of dignified movement and procession. There are sometimes in many of us too many staccatos or impetuosos, and because the tempo is wrong, the music is not pleasing to the ear; we might have more of the grand rhythm and majestic tempo o the Ganges, flowing slowly and eternally into the sea.

No one can say that life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement; the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its seasons, and it is good that it is so. There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season. And if we take this biological view of life and try to live according to the seasons, no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem. Shakespeare has expressed this idea more graphically in his passage about the seven stages of life, and a good many Chinese writers have said about the same thing. It is curious that Shakespeare was never very religious, or very much concerned with religion. I think this was his greatness; he took human life largely as it was, and intruded himself as little upon the general scheme of things as he did upon the characters of his plays. Shakespeare was like Nature itself, and that is the greatest compliment we can pay to a writer or thinker. He merely lived, observed life and went away.

譯文：

人生如詩

我以為，從生物學角度看，人的一生恰如詩歌。人生自有其韻律和節奏，自有內在的生成與衰亡。人生始於無邪的童年，經過少年的青澀，帶着激情與無知，理想與雄心，笨拙而努力地走向成熟;後來人到壯年，經歷漸廣，閲人漸多，涉世漸深，收益也漸大;及至中年，人生的緊張得以舒緩，人的性格日漸成熟，如芳馥之果實，如醇美之佳釀，更具容忍之心，處世雖更悲觀，但對人生的態度趨於和善;再後來就是人生遲暮，內分泌系統活動減少，若此時吾輩已經悟得老年真諦，並據此安排殘年，那生活將和平，寧靜，安詳而知足;終於，生命之燭搖曳而終熄滅，人開始永恆的'長眠，不再醒來。

人們當學會感受生命韻律之美，像聽交響樂一樣，欣賞其主旋律、激昂的高潮和舒緩的尾聲。這些反覆的樂章對於我們的生命都大同小異，但個人的樂曲卻要自己去譜寫。在某些人心中，不和諧音會越來越刺耳，最終竟然能掩蓋主曲;有時不和諧音會積蓄巨大的能量，令樂曲不能繼續，這時人們或舉槍自殺或投河自盡。

這是他最初的主題被無望地遮蔽，只因他缺少自我教育。否則，常人將以體面的運動和進程走向既定的終點。在我們多數人胸中常常會有太多的斷奏或強音，那是因為節奏錯了，生命的樂曲因此而不再悦耳。我們應該如恆河，學她氣勢恢弘而豪邁地緩緩流向大海。

人生有童年、少年和老年，誰也不能否認這是一種美好的安排，一天要有清晨、正午和日落，一年要有四季之分，如此才好。人生本無好壞之分，只是各個季節有各自的好處。如若我們持此種生物學的觀點，並循着季節去生活，除了狂妄自大的傻瓜和無可救藥的理想主義者，誰能説人生不能像詩一般度過呢。莎翁在他的一段話中形象地闡述了人生分七個階段的觀點，很多中國作家也説過類似的話。奇怪的是，莎士比亞並不是虔誠的宗教徒，也不怎麼關心宗教。我想這正是他的偉大之處，他對人生秉着順其自然的態度，他對生活之事的干涉和改動很少，正如他對戲劇人物那樣。莎翁就像自然一樣，這是我們能給作家或思想家的最高褒獎。對人生，他只是一路經歷着，觀察着，離我們遠去了。

5、Born to Win 生而為贏

Each human being is born as something new, something that never existed before. Each is born with the capacity to win at life. Each person has a unique way of seeing, hearing, touching, tasting and thinking. Each has his or her own unique potentials---capabilities and limitations. Each can be a significant, thinking, aware, and creative being---a productive person, a winner.

The word “winner” and “loser” have many meanings. When we refer to a person as a winner, we do not mean one who makes someone else lose. To us, a winner is one who responds authentically by being credible, trustworthy, responsive, and genuine, both as an individual and as a member of a society.

Winners do not dedicated their lives to a concept of what they imagine they should be; rather, they are themselves and as such do not use their energy putting on a performance, maintaining pretence and manipulating others. They are aware that there is a difference between being loving and acting loving, between being stupid and acting stupid, between being knowledgeable and acting knowledgeable. Winners do not need to hide behind a mask.

Winners are not afraid to do their own thinking and to use their own knowledge. They can separate facts from opinions and don’t pretend to have all the answers. They listen to others, evaluate what they say, but come to their own conclusions. Although winners can admire and respect other people, they are not totally defined, demolished, bound, or awed by them.

Winners do not play “helpless”, nor do they play the blaming game. Instead, they assume responsibility for their own lives. They don’t give others a false authority over them. Winners are their own bosses and know it.

A winner’s timing is right. Winners respond appropriately to the situation. Their responses are related to the message sent and preserve the significance, worth, well-being, and dignity of the people involved. Winners know that for everything there is a season and for every activity a time.

Although winners can freely enjoy themselves, they can also postpone enjoyment, can discipline themselves in the present to enhance their enjoyment in the future. Winners are not afraid to go after what he wants, but they do so in proper ways. Winners do not get their security by controlling others. They do not set themselves up to lose.

A winner cares about the world and its peoples. A winner is not isolated from the general problems of society, but is concerned, compassionate, and committed to improving the quality of life. Even in the face of national and international adversity, a winner’s self-image is not one of a powerless individual. A winner works to make the world a better place.

譯文：生而為贏

人皆生而為新，為前所未有之所存在;人皆生而能贏。人皆有其特立獨行之方式去審視，聆聽，觸摸，品味及思考，因而都具備獨特潛質-能力和侷限。人皆能舉足輕重，思慮明達，洞察秋毫，富有創意，成就功業。

“成者”與“敗者”含義頗多。談及成者我們並非指令他人失意之人。對我們而言，成者必為人守信，值得信賴，有求必應，態度誠懇，或為個人，或為社會一員皆能以真誠迴應他人。

成者行事並不拘泥於某種信條，即便是他們認為應為其奉獻一生的理念;而是本色行事，所以並不把精力用來表演，保持偽裝或操控他人。他們明瞭愛與裝家，愚蠢與裝傻，博學與賣弄之間迥然有別。成者無須藏於面具之後。

成者敢於利用所學，獨立思考，區分事實與觀點，且並不佯裝通曉所有答案。他們傾聽，權衡他人意見，但能得出自己的結論。儘管他們尊重，敬佩他們，但並不為他們所侷限，所推翻，所束縛，也不對他人敬若神靈。

成者既不佯裝“無助”，亦不抱怨他人。相反，他們對人生總是獨擔責任，也不以權威姿態凌駕他人之上。他們主宰自己，而且能意識到這點。

成者善於審時度勢，隨機應變。他們對所接受的信息做出迴應，維護當事人的利益，康樂和尊嚴。成者深知成一事要看好時節，行一事要把握時機。

儘管成者可以自由享樂，但他更知如何推遲享樂，適時自律，以期將來樂趣更盛。成者並不忌憚追求所想，但取之有道，也並不靠控制他們而獲取安然之感。他們總是使自己立於不敗。

成者心憂天下，並不孤立塵世弊病之外，而是置身事內，滿腔熱情，致力於改善民生。即使面對民族，國家之危亡，成者亦非無力迴天之個體。他總是努力令世界更好。

6、Companionship of Books 以書為伴(節選)

A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.

A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.

Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.

A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.

Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.

Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see the as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.

The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which on still listens.

譯文：

以書為伴(節選)

通常看一個讀些什麼書就可知道他的為人，就像看他同什麼人交往就可知道他的為人一樣，因為有人以人為伴，也有人以書為伴。無論是書友還是朋友，我們都應該以最好的為伴。

好書就像是你最好的朋友。它始終不渝，過去如此，現在如此，將來也永遠不變。它是最有耐心，最令人愉悦的伴侶。在我們窮愁潦倒，臨危遭難時，它也不會拋棄我們，對我們總是一如既往地親切。在我們年輕時，好書陶冶我們的性情，增長我們的知識;到我們年老時，它又給我們以慰藉和勉勵。

人們常常因為喜歡同一本書而結為知已，就像有時兩個人因為敬慕同一個人而成為朋友一樣。有句古諺説道：“愛屋及屋。”其實“愛我及書”這句話藴涵更多的哲理。書是更為真誠而高尚的情誼紐帶。人們可以通過共同喜愛的作家溝通思想，交流感情，彼此息息相通，並與自己喜歡的作家思想相通，情感相融。

好書常如最精美的寶器，珍藏着人生的思想的精華，因為人生的境界主要就在於其思想的境界。因此，最好的書是金玉良言和崇高思想的寶庫，這些良言和思想若銘記於心並多加珍視，就會成為我們忠實的伴侶和永恆的慰藉。

書籍具有不朽的本質，是為人類努力創造的最為持久的成果。寺廟會倒坍，神像會朽爛，而書卻經久長存。對於偉大的思想來説，時間是無關緊要的。多年前初次閃現於作者腦海的偉大思想今日依然清新如故。時間惟一的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因為只有真正的佳作才能經世長存。

書籍介紹我們與最優秀的人為伍，使我們置身於歷代偉人巨匠之間，如聞其聲，如觀其行，如見其人，同他們情感交融，悲喜與共，感同身受。我們覺得自己彷彿在作者所描繪的舞台上和他們一起粉墨登場。

即使在人世間，偉大傑出的人物也永生不來。他們的精神被載入書冊，傳於四海。書是人生至今仍在聆聽的智慧之聲，永遠充滿着活力。