【篇一】
勤勞的意義
The significant ins c r i p tion found on an old key "If I rest, I rust" would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest taint of idleness. Even the most industrious might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.
在一把舊鑰匙上發(fā)現了一則意義深遠的銘文——如果我休息，我就會生銹。對于那些懶散而煩惱的人來說，這將是至理名言。甚至最為勤勉的人也以此作為警示：如果一個人有才能而不用，就像廢棄鑰匙上的鐵一樣，這些才能就會很快生銹，并最終無法完成安排給自己的工作。
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture --- every department of human endeavor.
有些人想取得偉人所獲得并保持的成就，他們就必須不斷運用自身才能，以便開啟知識的大門，即那些通往人類努力探求的各個領域的大門，這些領域包括各種職業(yè)：科學，藝術，文學，農業(yè)等。
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness. Had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer
勤奮使開啟成功寶庫的鑰匙保持光亮。如果休米勒在采石場勞作一天后，晚上的時光用來休息消遣的話，他就不會成為名垂青史的地質學家。數學家愛德蒙斯通如果閑暇時無所事事，就不會出版數學詞典，也不會發(fā)現開啟數學之門的鑰匙。如果蘇格蘭青年弗格森在山坡上放羊時，讓他那思維活躍的大腦處于休息狀態(tài)，而不是借助一串珠子計算星星的位置，他就不會成為的天文學家。
Labor vanquishes all --- not inconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor, but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.
勞動征服一切。這里所指的勞動不是斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的，間歇性的或方向偏差的勞動，而是堅定的，不懈的，方向正確的每日勞動。正如要想擁有自由就要時刻保持警惕一樣，要想取得偉大的，持久的成功，就必須堅持不懈地努力。
【篇二】
寬容之心
It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them, find it easy to condone them. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
讓人奇怪的是，和別人的過錯比起來，我們自身的過錯往往不是那樣的可惡。我想，其原因應該是我們知曉一切導致自己犯錯的情況，因此能夠設法諒解自己的錯誤，而別人的錯誤卻不能諒解。我們對自己的缺點不甚關注，即便是深陷困境而不得不正視它們的時候，我們也會很容易就寬恕自己。據我所知，我們這樣做是正確的。缺點是我們自身的一部分，我們必須接納自己的好和壞。
But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge hem, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial stance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he has ever told not one, but a hundred?
但是當我們評判別人的時候，情況就不同了。我們不是通過真實的自我來評判別人，而是用一種自我形象來評判，這種自我形象完全摒棄了在任何世人眼中會傷害到自己的虛榮或者體面的東西。舉一個小例子來說：當覺察到別人說謊時，我們是多么地蔑視他��！但是，誰能夠說自從未說過謊？可能還不止一百次呢。
There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and tininess, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness. Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but initially they are the same. For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity. The knowledge that these reveries are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others. It is well also if they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most eminent and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.
人和人之間沒什么大的差別。他們皆是偉大與渺小，善良與邪惡，高尚與低俗的混合體。有的人性格比較堅毅，機會也比較多，因而這個或那個方面，能夠更自由地發(fā)揮自己的稟賦，但是人類的潛能卻都是相同的。至于我自己，我認為自己并不比大多數人更好或者更差，但是我知道，假如我記下我生命中每一次舉動和每一個掠過我腦海的想法的話，世界就會將我視為一個邪惡的怪物。每個人都會有這樣的怪念頭，這樣的認識應當能夠啟發(fā)我們寬容自己，也寬容他人。同時，假如因此我們得以用幽默的態(tài)度看待他人，即使是天下秀最令人尊敬的人，而且假如我們也因此不把自己看得過于重要，那是很有裨益的。
【篇三】
愛的禮物
"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked.
“我可以看看我的寶寶嗎？”初為人母的她開心地問道。
When the bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears.
當裹著的嬰兒放到她臂彎里，她掀開裹著嬰兒的布，在看到他的小臉時，她不禁倒吸了一口氣。醫(yī)生快速地轉過身，透過醫(yī)院的高層窗戶向外看去。嬰兒生下來就沒有耳朵。
Time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. It was only his appearance that was marred. When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself into his mother's arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be a succession of heartbreaks.
時間證明嬰兒的聽力毫無問題，只是有損他的相貌。一天，當他匆匆從學校跑回家，撲向母親的懷抱時，她嘆了口氣，意識到他的生活注定會受到一連串的打擊。
He blurted out the tragedy. "A boy, a big boy...called me a freak."
他脫口訴說遭到的不幸：“一個男孩，一個大個子男孩……他喊我怪胎。”
He grew up, handsome except for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music.
他長大了，雖然不幸但還是長得挺帥。頗受同學的歡迎，要不是有缺陷，他很可能當了班長。他對文學和音樂很有天賦和潛質。
"But you might mingle with other young people," his mother reproved him, but felt a kindness in her heart.
“但你可能會和其他年輕人一樣�！蹦赣H責備地說，但從心底里覺得很欣慰。
The boy's father had a session with the family physician... "Could nothing be done?"
男孩的父親與家庭醫(yī)生商量……“難道真無法補救嗎？”
"I believe I could graft on a pair of outer ears, if they could be procured," the doctor decided. So the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man.
“我認為可以移植一雙外耳，如果能夠找到的話�！贬t(yī)生做了決定，于是他們開始尋求一個愿意為這個年輕人做出犧牲的人。
Two years went by.Then, "You're going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret." said the father.
兩年過去了。對兒子說，“孩子，你要住院了。我和你媽找到愿意為你捐獻耳朵的人了。但要求保密�！�
The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person emerged. His talents blossomed into genius, and school and college became a series of triumphs.
手術獲得了巨大成功，一個新人誕生了。他的潛力發(fā)展成一個天才，在中學和大學都取得了一連串的成功。
Later he married and entered the diplomatic service. "but I must know," he asked his father, "Who gave me the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him."
后來他結婚了，進入外交行業(yè)工作。一天，他問父親：“是誰給我的耳朵？誰給了我那么多？我做多少都無法報答他/她。”
"I do not believe you could," said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know...not yet."
“我也這樣認為，”父親說，“但是協(xié)議上說你不能知道……還不到時候。”
The years kept their profound secret, but the day did come. One of the darkest days that ever pass through a son. He stood with his father over his mother's casket. Slowly, tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal taht the mother had no outer ears.
他們的秘密遵守了很多年，但這天終于來了，這也是兒子度過的最黑暗的日子。他和父親站在母親的棺材前，慢慢地，輕柔地，父親向前伸出一只手，掀開母親濃密的、紅褐色的頭發(fā)：母親竟然沒有耳朵！
"Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," his father whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"
“你母親說過她很高興，她從不理發(fā)，”父親輕柔地低聲說，“但沒人覺得母親沒以前美麗，是吧？”
