初中英语哲理文章

Homestay in the USMy name is Jenny and I did a homestay in America. When I first met my host mother, Mary, she gave me a big hug. I was really shocked because I had never been hugged before, and I wasn sure how to respond. By the time I left America, though, I came to enjoy hugging and being hugged. Shaking hands was also a challenge. My homestay father, Peter, looked at me straight in the eye and squeezed my hand firmly. Both Mary and Peter wanted me to call them by their first names because they, as Americans, like informality. By using first names only, we felt friendlier towards each other.

1The Dog and the Shadow)It happened that a Dog had got a piece of meat and was carrying it home in his mouth to eat it in peace. Now, on his way home he had to cross a plank lying across a running brook. As he crossed, he looked down and saw his own shadow reflected in the water beneath. Thinking it was another dog with another piece of meat, he made up his mind to have that also. So he made a snap at the shadow in the water, but as he opened his mouth the piece of meat fell out, dropped into the water and was never seen more. 一只狗嘴里衔着一块肉，走过一条河上面的桥，看见他自己在水里的影子，以为是另一只狗，那时狗衔着的肉，比他自己的还要大一倍。因此他仍掉自己的那一块，狠狠地扑向那只狗，想夺到那一块较大的肉。结果两头都落了空，因为他想要抓取在水中的那一块，只不过是一个影子，而原来的那一块，也被水冲走了。Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow. 谨记，切莫因追逐幻影而丢失已有的东西。2Joy in living comes from having fine emotions, trusting them, giving them the freedom of a bird in the open. Joy in living can never be assumed as a pose, or put on from the outside as a mask. People who have this joy don not need to talk about it; they radiate it. They just live out their joy and let it splash its sunlight and glow into other lives as naturally as bird sings.We can never get it by working for it directly. It comes, like happiness, to those who are aiming at something higher. It is a byproduct of great, simple living. The joy of living comes from what we put into living, not from what we seek to get from it.生活之乐趣来源于良好的情绪，信赖这些情绪，并任由它们如同鸟儿高翔于天空般地自由自在。生活的乐趣是无法靠姿态摆出来的，也无法用戴上一张面具来伪装。 拥有这种乐趣的人们无需挂在嘴边，他们自然会焕发出快乐的气息。他们自己生活在快乐当中，也将这样的快乐自然而然地感染着他人，犹如是鸟儿就必将歌唱。直接追求生活的乐趣却只会使乐趣远离我们，它与幸福一样青睐胸有大志的人们。生活过得高雅、简单便会产生出乐趣。它是我们对生活的投入，而非所求。

给你介绍一本书《给心灵洗个澡》，里面的英文短文充满了人生的哲理，希望你好好研读。