There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy.
从前在非洲有一位快乐而满足的农夫。他因满足而快乐,同时也因快乐而感到满足。
One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along them.
有一天,一位智者向他走来并告知他关于钻石的荣耀,以及随之而来权力。
The wise man says, “If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist you could probably own your own country.” And then he went away.
That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent, and he was discontent because he was unhappy.
The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn’t find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.
Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow.
He thought it would look good on the mantelpiece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?"
The new owner said, "No, why do you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one." The man said, "No, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more.' They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres of diamonds.
if we did not know our age, some of us would appear to be very young, and some of us would seem very old.
如果不知道年龄,我们中的某些人会变得很年轻,而某些人会变得苍老。
sometimes, people use age as a convenient excuse. “i am too old to start something new,” or, “i couldn’t learn that at my age.” other people, though, go on to achieve their greatest accomplishments in life in later years.
take, for example, colonel harland sanders who started franchising his chicken outlets when he was 65 years old, duanwenw.com up to the age of 90 years old he traveled 250000 miles a year visiting kfc franchises. he didn’t let age stand in his way!
feeling lead to attitudes, attitudes become beliefs, and beliefs become the basis for actions.
感觉导致态度,态度变成信仰,信仰变成行动的根本。
it is not important how old you are;
多大年纪并不重要
it is how you feel, how you think, duanwenw.com
重要的是你之所想你之所感
and what you do that is important.
以及你之所为
to quote satchel paige, “how old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?”
撒切尔.佩吉说过:“忘记你多大,你想多大就是多大。”
适合初中生的英语美文篇三
an individual human life should belike a river生命应该像条河
whether sixty or sixteen, there is the desire of wonders, the endless pure desire of what’s next and the joy of the game of living in every human being’s heart.
in the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: it receives messages of beauty, hope, pleasure, courage and power from men, and all these things keep you young.
an individual human life should be like a river —small at first, narrowly contained within its banks and rushing passionately duanwenw.com past rocks and over waterfalls. gradually, the river grows wider and the banks fall back, the water flows more quietly. in the end, without any visible break, they come together in the sea and painlessly lose their individual being.
youth means courage over shyness and the adventurous spirit of deserting the love of ease. duanwenw.com this often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. nobody grows old merely by a number of years. we grow old by deserting our ideals. years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up passion wrinkles the soul. worry, fear and self-distrust bow the heart and turn the spirit back into dust.
One day a man walking on the road met a celestial, who happened to be an old friend of his.
一天,有个人走在路上遇到一个神仙。原来,这个神仙还是他的老朋友呢。
Seeing that his life was hard, the celestial pointed with his finger at a brick on the roadside,which turned into a gold brick at once.
神仙看到他生活很困难,就用手指朝路边的一块砖头一指,砖头立即变成了金砖。
And he gave it to the man.
神仙把金砖送给了他。
But the man was not satisfied. The celestial pointed again with his finger at a large stone lion atthe gate, which at once turned into a gold lion.
他并不满足。神仙又把手指一指,门前的一尊大石狮马上变成了一尊金狮,
And he gave it to him too. But the man still complained it was not enough.
也送给了他。可是他仍旧嫌少。
The celestial asked him:
神仙问他:
“My friend, how much will be enough for you? What should I do to satisfy you?”
“朋友,你要多少才能满足?我怎么做你才满意?”
The man hummed and hawed and said:“I want your finger.”
他支支吾吾地说:“我想要你的这个手指头!”
In a village in the mountain in front, there was a man named Wang Laowu notorious for hislaziness.
前山村里有个王老五,懒得出奇,
Everyone called him “Lazy Laowu”, but he never admitted he was lazy. Wheneversomeonecalled him “Lazy Laowu”, he would glare and say:
大家都叫他“懒老五”。可是王老五从来不承认自己懒,一听有人叫他“懒老五”,他就瞪眼,说:
“Who is lazy? It is just that I don't want to make my efforts in vain.”
“谁懒了?我只是不愿意干那种白费劲的活儿罢了。”
One day he went out. Before he had taken several steps, he stumbled and fell down.
有一天,他出门刚走了两步就跌了一跤。
He got up and walked for a few more steps, then fell down again.
他爬起来走了儿步,又跌了一跤。
This time he lay on the ground and would not get up. He said to himself:
这一回,他索性趴在地上不起来了。他自言自语地说:
“If I knew this earlier, why did I get up in the first place?”
“早知如此,刚才何必爬起来呢!”
The gorillas in the valleys in the south often lived together in groups of several tens.
南方山谷里的猩猩,常常数十成群地生活在一起。
They were fond of drinking wine, and even fonder of imitating man’s behavior.
它们喜欢喝酒,更喜欢模仿人的行为。
People knew very well their habits and often put wine or distiller’s grains on the roadsidetogether with many straw sandals connected together with ropes.
人们掌握了它们的习性,经常把酒或酒糟放在路边,旁边又放着许多草鞋,草鞋用绳索连接起来。
The gorillas knew this was a trick to lure them into traps and cursed:
猩猩知道这是人们引诱它们上当,便破口大骂:
“Humph! Do you think we don't know your tricks?We’ll never be taken in!”
“哼!你们以为我们不知道吗?我们决不上你们的当!”
So they called one another, turned round and left.
于是,互相招呼,回头就走。
But they had already smelled the aroma of the wine,and couldn’t bear to part with it.
但是,它们已经闻到了酒香,总有点恋恋不舍,
Even after they left, they would turn their heads to look back.When they saw no one there,theywould turn back;and after they turned back,
就是走了,也要回过头来望望。回头望不见人,便又转过来;
they were afraid of being deceived, and left again. After much hesitation, they finally said tothemselves:
转过来了又怕上当,再返身回去。犹豫了好久,它们最后自言自语地说:
“Just for a taste of the wine. It won’t matter as long as we don’t get drunk.”
“去尝尝味道,不喝醉就不碍事。”
Shortly afterwards, they agreed to come back to drink the wine.When they got drunk,theyforgot everything.
不一会儿,大家同意了,都回来喝酒。等到喝醉的时候,它们一切都忘记了,
Every gorilla put on the straw sandals and imitated the way man walks.
一个个穿上草鞋,学着人走路。
As a result, they fell down one after another and were all caught alive by people.