1、Beauty of LifeWhere shall you seek beauty,and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide? And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?The aggrieved and the injured say,“Beauty is kind and gentle.Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she wa
2、lks among us.”And the passionate say,“Nay,beauty is a thing of might and dread.Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us.”The tired and the weary say,“Beauty is soft whisperings.She speaks in our spirit.Her voice yieds to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fe
3、ar lf the shadow.”But the restless say,“We have heard her shouting among the mountains and with her cries came the sound of hoofs ,and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions.”At night the watchmen of the city say,“Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east.”And at noon-time the toilers and
4、 the wayfarers say,“We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset.”In winter say the snow-bound,“She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills.”And in the summer heat the reapers say,“We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves,and we saw a drift of snow in her h
5、air.”All these things have you said of beauty,yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied,and beauty is not a need but an ecstasy.It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand streched forth,but rather a heart enflamed and soul enchanted.It is neither the image you would see nor the s
6、ong you would hear,but rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears.It is not the sap within the furrowed bark,nor a wing attached to a claw,but rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.Beauty is life when life unv
7、eils her holy face.生活之美如果美不以自身为途径，为向导，你们到哪里，又如何能找到她呢？如果她不是你们言语的编织者，你们又如何能谈论她呢？伤心痛苦者说：“美是善良而温柔的。她像一位因自己的荣耀而半含羞涩的年轻母亲，伴在我们左右。 ”热情奔放者说：“不，美是强烈而令人敬畏的。她如暴风雨般震动我们脚下的大地，摇撼我们头顶的天空。 ”疲惫倦怠者说：“美是温柔的低语，她在我们的心中诉说。她的声音屈从于我们的沉默，犹如一道微弱的光在阴影的恐惧中颤抖。 ”但活泼好动者说：“我们曾听到她在山谷中大声呼叫，随其呐喊而来的是足蹄踏地、翅膀拍击和雄狮怒吼的声音。 ”夜晚，城市的守夜人说：“美将与
8、晨光一同从东方升起。 ”正午，辛勤劳作者和长途跋涉者说：“我们曾看到她透过黄昏之窗眺望大地。 ”严冬，饱受风雪之苦的人说：“她将与春同至，雀跃于山峦之间。 ”酷暑，收到庄稼的人说：“我们曾看到她与秋叶共舞，雪花点缀于她的发梢。 ”你们谈到关于美的所有这些，实际并非关于她本身，而是关于你们未被满足的需求，但美并不是一种需求，而是心醉神迷的欣喜。她不是焦渴的唇，也不是伸出的空空的手，而一颗燃烧的心，一个充满喜悦的灵魂。她不是你们用眼睛看到的形象，也不是你们用耳朵听到的歌声，而是你们闭上眼睛看到的形象，堵住耳朵听到的歌声。她不是裂开的树皮下的树液，也不是悬在利爪下的翅膀，而是一座鲜花永远盛开的花园，
9、一群永远在天空飞翔的天使。当生命摘去自己圣洁面纱时，美就是生命。The Best Years of Ones LifeThe ups and downs of life may seem to have no predictable plan.But scientists now know there are very definite patterns that almost all people share. Even if youve passed some of your “prime”,you still have other prime years to experience in
10、 the future.Certain important primes seem to peak later in life.When are you smartest?From 18 to 25,according to IQ scores,but youre wiser and more experienced with increasing age.Youre sharpest in your 20s;around 30,memory begins to decline,particularly your ability to perform mathematical computat
11、ions.But your IQ for other tasks climbs. Your vocabulary at age 45,for example,is three times as great as when you graduated from college.At 60,your brain possesses almost four times as much information as it did at age 21.This trade-off between sharpness and wisdom has led psychologists to suggest
12、that “maturity quotients”(MQ)be adopted for adults.When are you happiest? You have the best physical sense of yourself from 15 to 24;the best professional sense from 40 to 49.Before age 24,we believe that our happiest years are yet to come;over 30,we believe that theyre behind us.A National Health S
13、urvey agrees: After age 30,we “become more realistic and do not view happiness as a goal in itself.If we maintain our health,achieve professional and emotional goals,then happiness,we feel,will follow”.When are you most creative? Generally between 30 and 39,but the peak varies with defferent profess
14、ions.Mozart wrote a symphony and four sonatas by age eight,and Mendelssohn composed his best known work A Midsummer Nights Dream at 17,but most of the great music was written by men between 33 and 39.Though the peak in most fields comes earlymost Nobel prizewinners did their top research in their la
15、te 20s and 30screative people continue to produce quality work throughout their lives.For the “well-conditioned mind”,there is no upper limit.生命的最佳时期人生的起伏似乎没有可以预知的模式，但是科学家现在发现有一些相当明确的模式是绝大多数人都经历过的。即使你度过了一些“最佳时期” ，你仍然会在将来经历另外几个最佳时期。某些最佳时期似乎在生命的后半段才会到来。什么时候的你最聪明？根据智商得分，你在 18 岁至 25 岁间最聪明。然而，随着年龄的增长，你将更
16、明智，更有经验。20 多岁的时候，你的思维最敏捷；30 岁左右，记忆力开始衰退，尤其是你的数学计算能力。然而，你做其他事情的智商提高了。例如 45 岁时你的词汇量是你刚从大学毕业时的 3 倍。 60 岁时你大脑中储存的信息几乎是你 21 岁时的 4 倍。敏锐和智慧之间的交使得心理学家们提出了在成年人中采用“成熟商”这一概念。什么时候你最快乐？15 岁至 24 岁之间你的身体感觉最好；40 岁至 49 岁之间你对自己的职业感觉最佳。24 岁之前，我们相信自己最快乐的日子尚未到来；过了 30 岁，我们就认为最快乐的时光已经逝去。一项全国性的健康调查也揭示了同样的结果：30 岁过后，我们变得更加“实
17、际” ，不把幸福本身当成是一种目标。我们感觉，只要我们保持健康，达到事业上、情感上的目标，那么幸福便会随之而来。什么时候你最富创造力？一般在 30 岁至 39 岁之间。但是职业不同，高峰期也不相同。莫扎特 8 岁时就创作了一部交响曲及四首奏鸣曲；门德尔松 17 岁时就完成了他最著名的作品仲夏夜之梦 ，但是大部分伟大的音乐作品都是人们在 33 岁至 39 岁之间创作出来的。虽然大多数领域中人们的最佳状态来得比较早大多数诺贝尔奖获得者都是在将近 30 岁太 30 多岁时完成他们最出色的研究的但是创造型的人会在生命中不断地完成高质量的工作。对于“状态良好的大脑” ，是不存在时间上限的。Experie
18、nce LifeI have known want and struggle and anxiety and despair.I have always had to work beyond the limits of my strength.As I look back upon my life,I see it as a battlefield strewn with the wrecks of dead dreams and broken hopes and shattered illusionsa battle in which I always fought with the odd
19、s tremendously against me,and which has left me scarred and bruised and maimed and old before my time.Yet,I have no pity for myself;no tears to shed over the past and gone sorrows;no envy for the people who have been spared all I have gone through.For I have lived.They only existed.I have drunk the
20、cup of life down to its very dregs.They have only sipped the bubbles on top of it.I know things they will never know.I see things to which they are blind.I have learned in the great University of Hard Knocks a philosophy that no one who has had an easy life ever acquires.I have learned to live each
21、day as it comes and not to borrow trouble by dreading tomorrow.It is the dark menace of the future that makes cowards of us.I put that dread away from me because experience has taught me that when the time comes that I so fear,the strength and wisdom to meet it will be given to me.Little annoyances
22、no longer have the power to affect me.I have learned not to expect too much of people,and so I can still get happiness out of the friend who isnt quite true to me or the acquaintance who gossips.Above all,I have acquired a sense of humor,because there were so many things over which I had either to c
23、ry or laugh.And when one can joke over her troubles instead of having hysterics,nothing can ever hurt her much again.I do not regret the hardships I have known,because through them I have touched life at every point I have lived.A nd it was worth the price I had to pay.体验人生我体会过希望、挣扎、焦虑与绝望的真正含义。我总是超越
24、身体极限地努力工作着。回首我过去的生活，那就像是一个战场，到处是破碎的梦想、希望与幻想的残骸。这场极不利于我的战争令我遍体鳞伤、提前衰老。然而我并未因此怜悯自己；我没有为过去流泪与伤悲；我丝毫不去嫉妒那些从未经历过的我痛苦的人们。因为我真正地活过一回，而他们，只是生存着而已。我品尝了生命之杯里的每一滴水，而他们仅仅吮到了杯口的泡沫而已。我的所知所见，他们永远不会知晓，不会看到。我在充满艰辛曲折的社会大学中，领悟到了一条哲学真理，它是那些养尊处优的人是无法体会到的。我学会了活在今天，而不去庸人自扰地预支明天的烦恼。正是对未来的担忧使我们怯懦，我之所以不去担忧，是因为经验告诉我，每当我感到特别害怕
25、的时候，上天赐予的力量和智慧就会到来。那些小小的烦恼再也无法左右我。我学会了不对人们期望过高，因此我仍能从那些并不真心对我的朋友或是爱道人长短的熟人那里获得快乐。最重要的是，我已经培养出了一种幽默感，因为以前有太多的事情让我非喜即悲。当一个人能够就自己的困难开个玩笑，而不再歇斯底里时，已经没有什么能够伤害到她了。我对经历过的困难一点也不后悔，正因为有了这些经历，才让我真实地体味到了生活的方方面面。为此，我的付出是值得的。Stress PreventionStress is a normal part of life and usually comes from everyday occurre
26、nces.Here are some ways you can deal with everyday sources of stress.Eliminate as many sources of stress as you can.For example,if crowds bother you,go to the supermarket when you know the lines wont be too long.Try renting videotapes rather than going to crowded movie theaters.If you are always run
27、ning late,sit down with a pencil and paper and see how you are actually allotting your time.You may be able to solve your problem(amd de-stress your life a bit)just by being realistic.If you cant find the time for all the activities that are important to you,maybe you are trying to eo too much.Again
28、,make a list of what you do during the day and how much each activity takes.Then cut back.Avoid predictably stressful situations.If a certain sport or game makes you tense(whether its tennis or bridge),decline the invitation to play.After all,the point of these activities is to have a good time.If y
29、ou know you wont,theresno reason to play.If you cant remove the stress,remove yourself.Slip away once in a while for some private time.These quiet moments may give you a fresh perspective on your problems.Competing with others,whether in accomplishments,appearance,or possessions,is an avoidable sour
30、ce of stress.You might know people who do all they can to provoke envy in others.While it may you seem easy to you to say should be satisfied with what you have,its the truth.Stress from this kind of jealousy is self-inflicted.Laborsaving devices,such as cellular phones or computer hookups,often enc
31、ourage us to cram too many activities into eachday.Before you buy new equipment,be sure that it will really improve your life.Be aware that taking care of equipment and getting it repaired can be stressful.Try doing only one thing at a time.For example,when youre riding yourexercise bike,you dont ha
32、ve to listen to the radio or watch television.Remember,sometimes its okay to do nothing.If you feel stress(or anything else)is getting the better of you,seek professional helpa doctor or therapist.Early signs of excess stress are loss of a sense of well-being and reluctance to get up in the morning
33、to face another day.拒绝压力生活中有压力是常事，压力通常来自日常琐事。下面是一些处理日常压力源头的方法。尽量养活压力的来源。比如说，如果你讨厌拥挤，那就在你知道不用排长队的时候去超市买东西。试着不要去人满为患的电影院，自己去租录像带好了。如果你总是迟到，坐下来，拿出纸和笔，算一算自己是如何分配时间的。只要现实一些，或许你就能解决自己的问题（并且减轻点生活的压力） 。如果你感觉自己的时间不够参加所有的重要活动，问题可能在于你想做的事太多了。解决方法还是：把你一天做的事和每件事所需要的时间列成清单，然后对这些事进行删减。如果预先知道某些场合会给你造成压力，那就避免那些场合。如果
34、你对某种运动或游戏感到紧张（不论是网球还是桥牌） ，谢绝参与该项运动或游戏的邀请。毕竟，这些活动的目的是娱乐身心。如果你知道自己无法乐在其中，那么就没有理由去参与。如果你无法消除压力，那就选择回避它。偶尔溜走，给自己一段私人的时间。这些安静的时光能够使你以全新的角度去看待自己的问题。无论是在成就上、外貌上或财产上与他人竞争所产生的压力都是可以避免的。你可能认识这样的人：他们竭其所能地让别人心生嫉妒。你应该对你所拥有的感到满足，尽管这句话说起来非常容易，但这的确是真理。这种由嫉妒产生的压力是庸人自扰。一些省力装置，比如手机和互联网，经常会促使我们把每一天的时间都塞满各种活动。所以在买新设备之前，一定要确信它真的会改善你的生活。要知道照看和维修这些设备也是一种压力。试着每次只做一件事。比如说，骑健身单车锻炼的时候，不必听收音机或看电视。记住，有时候也可以什么都不做。如果你感到压力或其他任何东西令你不堪重负，那就去求助于专业人员医生或心理压力方面的专家。压力过大的早期症状是失去了健康快乐的感觉，并且早上不想起来面对新的一天。
