1. Life Struggle----生命的拼搏
對強者而言，磨難猶如刀劍，使他愈見鋒芒，誠如孟子所言：“天將降大任于斯人也，必先苦其心志，勞其筋骨……”不經(jīng)過磨難的生活，日子未免過得乏味；不經(jīng)過磨難的命運，人生便顯得蒼白。就生命而言，總是從平坦中獲得的效益少，從磨難中獲得的教益深。
Once upon a time in a land far far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved everything. Animals, spiders, insects...
One day while walking through the woods the nice old man found a cocoon of a butterfly. He took it home.
A few days later, a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.
Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily.
But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature‘s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.
And we could never fly.
從前，在一個非常非常遙遠的國度，有一位心地善良的老人。他喜愛一切東西，動物啦、蜘蛛啦、昆蟲啦。
一天，這位善良的老人在樹林里散步的時候，發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個蝴蝶的繭。他把繭帶回了家。
幾天后，繭裂開了一道小縫。老人幾小時地坐在那里，看著蝴蝶掙扎著讓自己的身體從小縫中擠出來。后來，蝴蝶破繭好象停了下來，沒有什么進展了?？磥砗孟笫菗蔚搅俗詈?，再也不可能前進了。
看到這里，老人決定幫助蝴蝶。于是他找出一把剪刀，把繭剩余的部分剪破了。
這樣，蝴蝶就輕易地從繭中脫出來了。
但是，蝴蝶的身子腫脹著，翅膀又小又皺。老人繼續(xù)觀察著蝴蝶，因為他期望著這樣一個時刻的到來：蝴蝶的翅膀會變大，大到能支持它的身體，而蝴蝶的身體屆時也會縮小?？墒鞘裁匆矝]有發(fā)生。事實上，這只蝴蝶的余生中就只能拖著臃腫的身體和萎縮的翅膀爬來爬去了。
它永遠也不能飛起來了。
在好心和匆忙間，老人并不理解，蝴蝶破繭而出時需要的那種束縛和掙扎其實是大自然用來將蝴蝶的體液擠到翅膀中的方法，這樣，蝴蝶一旦能從繭中脫出，就能準(zhǔn)備好飛翔了。
有時候，掙扎正是我們生活中所需要的。如果我們能得以毫無障礙地走過一生，這會使我們軟弱。我們就不可能變得強壯。
重要的是，我們就不可能騰飛。
2．堅持你的夢想
I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Sedro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.
The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, "I want to tell you why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from farm and ranch-to-ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy‘s high school career was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.
"That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on the 200-acre dream ranch.
"He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, ‘See me after class.‘
"The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive an F?‘
"The teacher said, ‘this is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you‘ll have to pay large stud fees. There‘s no way you could ever do it.‘ Then the teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.‘
"The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this However, I think it is a very important decision for you.‘
"Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, ‘You can keep the F and I‘ll keep my dream.‘"
Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, "I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace." He added, "The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same school-teacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week." When the teacher was leaving, he said, ‘Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids‘ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.‘"
Don‘t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.
Questions:
1.Who told Monty to keep his dream? 2.What‘s Monty‘s dream? Does it come true?
3．人生絮語：愛在心里成長
Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one so that when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.
When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don‘t see the one which has been opened for us.
The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you‘ve ever had.
It‘s true that we don‘t know what we‘ve got until we lose it, but it‘s also true that we don‘t know what we‘ve been missing until it arrives.
Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they‘ll love you back! Don‘t expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart but if it doesn‘t, be content it grew in yours. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone.
Don‘t go for looks; they can deceive. Don‘t go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.
中文：
或許是上帝的安排，在最終找到知音之前，我們總要遇到一些不盡如意的人，只有這樣，我們才能對知音這份禮物充滿感激之情。
一道幸福之門關(guān)閉時，另一扇就會打開。我們經(jīng)常太多太多地只看見關(guān)閉的門，而對開啟的門卻熟視無睹。
也許最好的朋友就是那些你坐在門廊下，看到的來回過往的行人。你與他們一言未語，走開時卻感到好像有過最好的交談。
無疑，一件東西只有失去時，我們才會懂得其真正的價值。同樣，一件東西在得到之前，我們并沒有意識到它的缺少。
將愛全部付出，并不能確保一定會得到回報。別指望愛有什么回報，耐心地等待它在你所愛的人的心里生根發(fā)芽，成長壯大。即使不會那樣，也要感到滿足，相信愛在自己心里成長。迷戀一個人只需要一分鐘，喜歡一個人需要一個小時，愛上一個人需要一天，而忘記一個人則需要一輩子的時間。
不要追求華麗的外表，外表常常具有欺騙性。不要追求萬貫家產(chǎn)，財富也會散盡。尋找那個可以使你微笑的人，只有微笑才能使黑暗的日子變得光明。尋找那個能夠使你的心靈微笑的人。
4．生活中的“磚頭”
A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something.
As his car passed, one child appeared, and a brick smashed into the Jag‘s side door. He slammed on the brakes and spun the Jag back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown.
He jumped out of the car, grabbed some kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, "What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing?" Building up a head of steam, he went on"That‘s a new car and that brick you threw is gonna cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?"Ys
"Please,mister, please,I‘m sorry. I didn‘t know what else to do!"pleaded the youngster.
"It‘s my brother," he said. "He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can‘t lift him up.
Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, "Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He‘s hurt and he‘s too heavy for me."
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be okay.
"Thank you, sir. And God bless you," the grateful child said to him. The man then watched the little boy push his brother to the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long walk backs to his Jaguar... a long, slow walk. He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.
Life whispers in your soul and speaks to your heart. Sometimes, when you don‘t have the time to listen... Life throws a brick at your head.
It‘s your choice: Listen to the whispers of your soul or wait for the brick!
一位年輕的總裁，以有點快的車速，開著他的新Jaguar經(jīng)過住宅區(qū)的巷道。
他必須小心游戲中的孩子突然跑到路中央，所以當(dāng)他覺得小孩子快跑出來時，就要減慢車速。
就在他的車經(jīng)過一群小朋友的時候，一個小朋友丟了一塊磚頭打到了他的車門，他很生氣的踩了煞車并后退到磚頭丟出來的地方。
他跳出車外，抓了那個小孩，把他頂在車門上說：“你為什么這樣做，你知道你剛剛做了什么嗎？”
接著又吼道：“你知不知道你要賠多少錢來修理這臺新車，你到底為什么要這樣做？”
小孩子求著說：“先生，對不起，我不知道我還能怎么辦？”
他接著說：“因為我哥哥從輪椅上掉下來，我沒辦法把他抬回去。”
那男孩啜泣著說：“你可以幫我把他抬回去嗎？他受傷了，而且他太重了我抱不動。”
這些話讓這位年輕的總裁深受感動，他抱起男孩受傷的哥哥，幫他坐回輪椅上。并拿出手帕擦拭他哥哥的傷口，以確定他哥哥沒有什么大問題。
那個小男孩感激地說：“謝謝你，先生，上帝保佑你。”然后他看著男孩推著他哥哥回去。
年輕總裁返回Jaguar的路變的很漫長，他也沒有修他汽車的側(cè)門。他保留著車上的凹痕就是提醒自己：
生活的道路不要走的太匆忙，否則需要其他人敲打自己來注意生活的真諦。
當(dāng)生命想與你的心靈竊竊私語時，若你沒有時間，你有兩種選擇：傾聽你心靈的聲音或讓磚頭來砸你！
5．人生絮語：生命只有一次
There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real!
Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.
Always put yourself in others‘ shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the other person, too.
The happiest of people don‘t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.
Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss and ends with a tear. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can‘t go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you‘re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.
Please send this message to those people who mean something to you, to those who have touched your life in one way or another, to those who make you smile when you really need it, to those that make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down, to those who you want to let them know that you appreciate their friendship. And if you don‘t, don‘t worry, nothing bad will happen to you, you will just miss out on the opportunity to brighten someone‘s day with this message.
中文：
生活中，有時強烈的思念使我們恨不得一把將所愛的人從夢中帶走，實實在在地?fù)肀麄儭?/span>
做自己想做的夢吧。去自己想去的地方吧。做自己想做的人吧。生命只有一次，機會只有一回。
愿你有足夠的歡樂，使自己甜蜜；有足夠的考驗，使自己堅強；有足夠的悲傷，使自己富有人情；有足夠的希望，使自己幸福。
要經(jīng)常換位思維。一件事，要是你感到對自己有傷害，就可能對他人也有傷害。
最幸福的人并不是那些擁有最好東西的人，他們只是能夠?qū)⒌玫降臇|西變得最好。
幸福屬于那些會哭泣的人，那些受過傷害的人，那些探索的人，以及那些嘗試過的人。只有他們才懂得對自己生活有影響的人們的重要。愛以微笑開始，在親吻中成長，以淚水終結(jié)。光明燦爛的明天建立在忘卻的過去之上。只有讓以往的失敗和傷心隨風(fēng)而去，你才能過得更好。
出生伊始，哭啼的是你，周圍的人卻在微笑。珍視生活，好好地活著，這樣入死，讓周圍的人哭啼，自己卻在微笑。
請把這些語言送給那些你所關(guān)心的人，那些在生活中這樣或那樣同自己打交道的人，那些需要時能給你帶來微笑的人，那些在逆境中依然能使你看到光明的人，那些你珍視與他們之間友誼的人。即使你沒有這樣做，也不要緊。沒有什么大不了的事情，你只是錯過了用這些言語照亮他人日子的機會。
6．一杯牛奶的溫暖
A Glass of Milk 一杯牛奶的溫暖
One day, a poor boy who was trying to pay his way through school by selling goods door to door found that he only had one dime left. He was hungry so he decided to beg for a meal at the next house.
一天，一個貧窮的小男孩為了攢夠?qū)W費正挨家挨戶地推銷商品。饑寒交迫的他摸遍全身，卻只有一角錢。于是他決定向下一戶人家討口飯吃。
However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?"
然而，當(dāng)一位美麗的年輕女子打開房門的時候，這個小男孩卻有點不知所措了。他沒有要飯，只乞求給他一口水喝。這位女子看到他饑餓的樣子，就倒了一大杯牛奶給他。男孩慢慢地喝完牛奶，問道：“我應(yīng)該付多少錢？”
"You don‘t owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught me never to accept pay for a kindness." He said, "Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but it also increased his faith in God and the human race. He was about to give up and quit before this point.
年輕女子微笑著回答：“一分錢也不用付。我媽媽教導(dǎo)我，施以愛心，不圖回報。”男孩說：“那么，就請接受我由衷的感謝吧！”說完，霍華德-凱利就離開了這戶人家。此時的他不僅自己渾身是勁兒，而且更加相信上帝和整個人類。本來，他都打算放棄了。
Years later the young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where specialists can be called in to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly, now famous was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately, he rose and went down through the hospital hall into her room.
數(shù)年之后，那位女子得了一種罕見的重病，當(dāng)?shù)蒯t(yī)生對此束手無策。最后，她被轉(zhuǎn)到大城市醫(yī)治，由專家會診治療。大名鼎鼎的霍華德-凱利醫(yī)生也參加了醫(yī)療方案的制定。當(dāng)他聽到病人來自的那個城鎮(zhèn)的名字時，一個奇怪的念頭霎時間閃過他的腦際。他馬上起身直奔她的病房。
Dressed in his doctor‘s gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room and determined to do his best to save her life. From that day on, he gave special attention to her case.
身穿手術(shù)服的凱利醫(yī)生來到病房，一眼就認(rèn)出了恩人?；氐綍\室后，他決心一定要竭盡所能來治好她的病。從那天起，他就特別關(guān)照這個對自己有恩的病人。
After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it and then wrote something on the side. The bill was sent to her room. She was afraid to open it because she was positive that it would take the rest of her life to pay it off. Finally she looked, and the note on the side of the bill caught her attention. She read these words...
經(jīng)過艱苦的努力，手術(shù)成功了。凱利醫(yī)生要求把醫(yī)藥費通知單送到他那里，他看了一下，便在通知單的旁邊簽了字。當(dāng)醫(yī)藥費通知單送到她的病房時，她不敢看。因為她確信，治病的費用將會花費她整個余生來償還。最后，她還是鼓起勇氣，翻開了醫(yī)藥費通知單，旁邊的那行小字引起了她的注意，她不禁輕聲讀了出來：
"Paid in full with a glass of milk."
(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly
“醫(yī)藥費已付：一杯牛奶。” (簽名)霍華德-凱利醫(yī)生
Tears of joy flooded her eyes as she prayed silently: "Thank You, God. Your love has spread through human hearts and hands."
喜悅的淚水溢出了她的眼睛，她默默地祈禱著：“謝謝你，上帝，你的愛已通過人類的心靈和雙手傳播了。”
7．關(guān)于幸福的真諦 A Simply Truth About Happiness
After I gave a talk on the subject of happiness, a woman in the audience stood up and said, "I wish my husband had come." "Much as I loved him," she explained, "it wasn‘t easy being married to someone so unhappy." This woman enabled me to put into words what I had been searching for -- altruistic, as well as the personal, reasons for taking happiness seriously. I told her that each of us owes it to our spouse, our children, our friends to be as happy as we can.
I was not a particularly happy child, and like most teenagers, I took pleasure in my anguish. One day, however, it occurred to me that I was taking the easy way out. Anyone could be unhappy; it took no courage and effort. True achievement lay in struggling to be happy. The notion that we have to work at happiness comes as news to many people. We assume it‘s a feeling that comes as a result of good things that just happen to us, things over which we have little or no control. But the opposite is true: happiness is largely under our control. It is a battle to be fought and not a feeling to be awaited. To achieve a happy life, it‘s necessary to overcome some stumbling blocks, three of which are:
Notealtruistic: adj. 無私心的 spouse: n. 配偶（指夫或妻）
anguish: n. 痛苦，苦惱 stumble: v. 絆倒，躊躇 Comparison with Others
Most of us compare ourselves with anyone we think is happier -- a relative, an acquaintance or, often someone we barely know. I once met a young man who struck me as particularly successful and happy. He spoke of his love for his beautiful wife and their three daughters, and of his joy at being a radio talk-show host in a city he loved. I remember thinking that he was one of those lucky few for whom everything goes effortlessly right. Then we started talking about the Internet. He blessed its existence, he told me, because he could look up information on multiple sclerosis -- the terrible disease afflicting his wife. I felt like a fool for assuming nothing unhappy existed in his life.
Noteacquaintance: n. 熟人 sclerosis: n. 硬化癥 Images of Perfection
Almost all of us have images of how life should be. The problem, of course, is that only rarely do people‘s jobs, spouses and children live up to these imagined ideals. Here‘s a personal example: no one in my family had ever divorced. I assumed that marriage was for life. So when my wife and I divorced after five years of marriage and three years after the birth of our son, my world collapsed. I was a failure in my own eyes. I later remarried and confided to my wife that I couldn‘t shake the feeling that my family life had failed. She asked me what was wrong with our family now(which included her daughter from a previous marriage and my son). I had to admit that, aside from the pain of being with my son only half the time(my ex-wife and I shared custody), our family life was wonderful. " Then why don‘ t you celebrate it?" she asked. That‘ s what I decided to do. But first I had to get rid of a "perfect" family.
Notedivorce: v. 離婚 collapse: v.倒塌，崩潰 "Missing Tile" Syndrome
One effective way of destroying happiness is to look at something and focus on even the smallest flaw. It‘s like looking at the tiled ceiling and concentrating on the space where one tile is missing. As a bald man told me, "whenever I enter a room, all I see is hair. " Once you‘ve determined what your missing tile is, explore whether acquiring it will really make you happy. Then do one of the three things: get it, replace it with a different tile, or forget about it and focus on the tiles in your life that are not missing.
We all know people who have had a relatively easy life yet are essentially unhappy. And we know people who have suffered a great deal but generally remain happy.
The first secret is gratitude. All happy people are grateful. Ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to complain, but it‘s truer to say that complaining leads to people becoming unhappy.
Noteflaw: n. 缺點，瑕疵 essentially: adv. 本質(zhì)上 gratitude: n. 感謝的心情
The second secret is realizing that happiness is a byproduct of something else. The most obvious sources are those pursuits that give our lives purpose -- anything from studying insects to playing baseball. The more passions we have, the more happiness we are likely to experience. Finally, the belief that something permanent transcends us and that our existence has some larger meaning can help us be happier. We need a spiritual faith, or a philosophy of life. Whatever your philosophy, it should include this truism: if you choose to find the positive in virtually every situation, you will be blessed, and if you choose to find the awful, you will be cursed. As with happiness itself, this is largely your decision to make.
8．做人的十條規(guī)則 The Rules For Being Human
1. You will receive a body.
You may like it or hate it, but is will be yours for the entire period of this time around.
2. You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called Life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial and error: Experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".
Noteirrelevant: adj. 不相關(guān)的 trial: n. 考驗 ultimately: adv. 基本上
4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
6. "There" is no better than "here".
When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here".
7. Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you.
You hare all the tools and resources you need.
What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie inside you.
The answers to Life‘s questions lie inside you.
All you need to do is look, listen and trust.
10. You will forget all this.
9．最好的遺產(chǎn)是愛
你認(rèn)為最好的遺產(chǎn)是什么呢？是金錢還是房產(chǎn)？看了本文你就會這個問題有進一步的理解。
As a young man, Al was a skilled artist, a potter. He had a wife and two fine sons. One night, his oldest son developed a severe stomachache. Thinking it was only some common intestinal disorder, neither Al nor his wife took the condition very seriously. But the malady was actually acute appendicitis, and the boy died suddenly that night.
Knowing the death could have been prevented if he had only realized the seriousness of the situation, Al‘s emotional health deteriorated under the enormous burden of his guilt. To make matters worse his wife left him a short time later, leaving him alone with his six-year-old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two situations were more than Al could handle, and he turned to alcohol to help him cope. In time Al became an alcoholic.
Noteintestinal：腸的 malady：疾病 acute：急性的，劇烈的 appendicitis：闌尾炎
deteriorate：惡化 alcoholic：酒鬼
As the alcoholism progressed, Al began to lose everything he possessed — his home, his land, his art objects, everything. Eventually Al died alone in a
When I heard of Al‘s death, I reacted with the same disdain the world shows for one who ends his life with nothing material to show for it. "What a complete failure!" I thought. "What a totally wasted life"
As time went by, I began to re-evaluate my earlier harsh judgment. You see, I knew Al‘s now adult son, Ernie. He is one of the kindest, most caring, most loving men I have ever known. I watched Ernie with his children and saw the free flow of love between them. I knew that kindness and caring had to come from somewhere.
Notealcoholism：酒精中毒，酒癮 motel：汽車旅館 disdain：輕蔑
I hadn‘t heard Ernie talk much about his father. It is so hard to defend an alcoholic. One day I worked up my courage to ask him. "I‘m really puzzled by something," I said. "I know your father was basically the only one to raise you. What on earth did he do that you became such a special person?"
Ernie sat quietly and reflected for a few moments. Then he said, "From my earliest memories as a child until I left home at 18, Al came into my room every night, gave me a kiss and said, ‘I love you, son.‘"
Tears came to my eyes as I realized what a fool I had been to judge Al as a failure. He had not left any material possessions behind. But he had been a kind loving father, and he left behind one of the finest, most giving men I have ever known.
----Bobbie Gee
Questions:
1.How many children does Al have? 2.Where does Al die? 3.What does Al addict to?
4.What does this story tell us?
參考答案：1.Two 2.In a
10．我永遠都會在你的身邊
No matter what happens, I ll always be there for you!
In 1989 an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened
After the unforgettably initial shock, he remembered the promise he had made to his son: "No matter what, I‘ll always be there for you!" And tears began to fill his eyes. As he looked at the pile of ruins that once was the school, it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his commitment to his son.
He began to direct his attention towards where he walked his son to class at school each morning. Remembering his son‘s classroom would be in the back right corner of the building, he rushed there and started digging through the ruins.
As he was digging, other helpless parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying: "My son!" "My daughter!" Other well-meaning parents tried to pull him off what was left of the school, saying: "It‘s too late! They‘re all dead! You can‘t help! Go home! Come on, face reality, there‘s nothing you can do!"
To each parent he responded with one line: "Are you going to help me now?" And then he continued to dig for his son, stone by stone. The fire chief showed up and tried to pull him off the school‘s ruins saying, "Fires are breaking out, explosions are happening everywhere. You‘re in danger. We‘ll take care of it. Go home." To which this loving, caring American father asked, "Are you going to help me now?"
The police came and said, "You‘re angry, anxious and it‘s over. You‘re endangering others. Go home. We‘ll handle it!" To which he replied, "Are you going to help me now?" No one helped.
Courageously he went on alone because he needed to know for himself: "Is my boy alive or is he dead?" He dug for eight hours...12 hours...24 hours...36 hours...then, in the 38th hour, he pulled back a large stone and heard his son‘s voice. He screamed his son‘s name, "ARMAND!" He heard back, "Dad!?! It‘s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you‘d save me and when you saved me, they‘d be saved. You promised, No matter what happens, I‘ll always be there for you! You did it, Dad!" "What‘s going on in there? How is it?" the father asked.
"There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We‘re scared, hungry, thirsty and thankful you‘re here. When the building collapsed, it made a triangle, and it saved us."
"Come out, boy!"
"No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, cause I know you‘ll get me! No matter what happens, I know you‘ll always be there for me!"
不管發(fā)生什么，我永遠都會在你的身邊！
1989年，一次8.2級的地震幾乎鏟平美國，在短短不到4分鐘的時間里，奪去了3萬多人的生命！
在徹底的破壞與混亂之中，有位父親將他的妻子在家里安頓好后，跑到他兒子就讀的學(xué)校，而觸目所見，卻是被夷為平地的校園。
看到這令人傷心的一幕，他想起了曾經(jīng)對兒子所作的承諾：“不論發(fā)生什么事，我都會在你身邊。”至此，父親熱淚滿眶。目睹曾經(jīng)的學(xué)校成為了一堆瓦礫，真叫人絕望。但父親的腦中仍然牢記著他對兒子的諾言。
他開始努力回憶每天早上送兒子上學(xué)的必經(jīng)之路，終于記起兒子的教室應(yīng)該就在那幢建筑物后面，位于右邊的角落里，他跑到那兒，開始在碎石礫中挖掘，搜尋兒子的下落。
當(dāng)這位父親正在挖掘時，其他束手無策的學(xué)生家長趕到現(xiàn)場，揪心地叫著：“我的兒子呀！”“我的女兒呀！”一些好意的家長試圖把這位父親勸離現(xiàn)場，告訴他“一切都太遲了！他們?nèi)懒耍∵@樣做沒用的，回去吧，這樣做只會使事情更糟”。面對種種勸告，這位父親的回答只有一句話：“你們愿意幫我嗎？”然后繼續(xù)進行挖掘工作，在廢墟中尋找他的兒子。
消防隊長出現(xiàn)了，他也試圖把這位父親勸走，對他說：“火災(zāi)頻現(xiàn)，四處都在發(fā)生爆炸，你在這里太危險了，這邊的事我們會處理，你回家吧！”對此，這位慈愛、關(guān)切的父親仍然回答：“你們要幫我嗎？”
警察趕到現(xiàn)場，對他說：“你現(xiàn)在又氣又急，該結(jié)束了，你在危及他人，回家吧！我們會處理一切的。”這位父親依舊回答：“<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt; COLOR: black; mso-ascii-font-family: ‘Times New Roman‘; mso-hansi-font-family: ‘Times New Roman‘; mso-bi
