英语短篇美文四篇

Everybody’s business is nobody’s business There are four people named everybody, somebody, anybody and nobody. There was an important job to be done and everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure that somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but nobody did it. Some body got angry about that because it was everybody’s job. Everybody thought anybody could do it, but nobody realized that everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that everybody blamed somebody when nobody did what anybody could have done. 有四个人分别叫做：“每个人”、“某个人”、“任何人”和“没有人”。有一次，他们每个人都要被要求去完成一件重要的工作。大家都相信某个人会去做这件事。其实，任何人都可以完成这项工作的，但就是没有人去做。某个人对此感到非常气愤，因为这是大家的任务。每个人都认为任何人可以完成这件事，但没有人认识到大家都不会去做这件事。结果呢，当没有人去做其实任何人都可以做到的事情的时候，每个人都在抱怨某个人。SpringtimeDays get longer and warmer in the spring.There are new leaves on the trees.Flowers begin to grow.Rain makes the grass green and helps the plants grow.Spring is the time of new life. Nature puts on new clothes in many colors —red, yellow, blue, white, and purple.Birds build nests in the spring.Many baby animals appear.People like to make gardens and farmers plant crops in the fields.Spring is the season for young love. “In the spring a young man’s thoughts turn to love.” according to an old saying.The Cat and the Bell (猫和铃）There were many mice in a house. The man of the house got a cat. The cat killed many of the mice. Then the oldest mouse said, " All mice must come to my hole tonight, and we will think what we can do about this cat." All the mice came. Many mice spoke, but none knew what to do. At last a young mouse stood up and said, "We must put a bell on the cat. Then, when the cat comes near, we shall hear the bell and run away and hide. So the cat will not catch any more mice."Then the old mouse asked, " Who will put the bell on the cat?" No mouse answered. He waited, but still no one answered. At last he said, "It is not hard to say things; but it is harder to do them."A Woodman came into a forest to ask the Trees to give him a handle for Ax. It seemed so modest a request that the principal tree at once agreed to it, and it was settled among them that the plain, homely Ash should furnish what was wanted. No sooner had the Woodman fitted the staff to his purpose ,than he began laying about him on all side. felling the whole matter too late, whispered to the Cedar: "the first concession has lost all ;if we has not a sacrificed our humble neighbor, we might have yet stood for ages ourselves."译文： 有一个樵夫来到森林里，要求树给他一跟斧柄，看来他的请求非常谦虚，立刻得到了树的首领的同意。他们决定由平凡而朴素的白杨树来提供所需要的东西。樵夫刚按好斧柄，就开始到处乱砍，森林里最高的树都砍倒了，树林现在察觉大势已去，就小声对衫树说："第一次的让步已失去了一切。如果我们不牺牲我们的小小的邻居，我们自己还可以活无数年呢。"

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life. Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. 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 enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing appetite for what’s next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart, there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, courage and power from man and from the infinite, so long as you are young.

When your aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you’ve grown old, even at 20; but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there’s hope you may die young at 80.

It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world: with out demands, without abrasions, without disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Such work as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity. Competition would never enter in. conflict would be eliminated, tension become a thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. Art would no longer be troubling, but purely celebratory in its functions. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke caused by tumultuous endeavor. Anxiety would be extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart. Ah, how unrelieved boring life would be!

There is a strong view that holds that success is a myth, and ambition therefore a sham. Does this mean that success does not really exist? That achievement is at bottom empty? That the efforts of men and women are of no significance alongside the force of movements and events now not all success, obviously, is worth esteeming, nor all ambition worth cultivating. Which are and which are not is something one soon enough learns on one’s own. But even the most cynical secretly admit that success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that the true myth is that the actions of men and women are useless. To believe otherwise is to take on a point of view that is likely to be deranging. It is, in its implications, to remove all motives for competence, interest in attainment, and regard for posterity.

We don't choose to be born. We don't choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live: courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is about.

Outside the Bible, these six words are the most famousin all the literature of the world. They were spokenby Hamlet when he was thinking aloud, and they are themost famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet wasspeaking not only for himself but also for everythinking man and woman. To be or not to be, to live ornot to live, to live richly and abundantly andeagerly, or to live dully and meanly and scarcely. Aphilosopher once wanted to know whether he was aliveor not, which is a good question for everyone to putto himself occasionally. He answered it by saying: "I think, therefore am." But the best definition of existence ever saw did another philosopher who said: "To be is to bein relations." If this true, then the more relations a living thing has, the more it is alive. Tolive abundantly means simply to increase the range and intensity of our relations.Unfortunately we are so constituted that we get to love our routine. But apart from our regularoccupation how much are we alive? If you are interest-ed only in your regular occupation, youare alive only to that extent. So far as other things are concerned--poetry and prose, music,pictures, sports, unselfish friendships, politics, international affairs--you are dead.

Contrariwise, it is true that every time you acquire a new interest--even more, a newaccomplishment--you increase your power of life. No one who is deeply interested in a largevariety of subjects can remain unhappy; the real pessimist is the person who has lostinterest.

Bacon said that a man dies as often as he loses a friend. But we gain new life by contacts, newfriends. What is supremely true of living objects is only less true of ideas, which are alsoalive. Where your thoughts are, there will your live be also. If your thoughts are confined onlyto your business, only to your physical welfare, only to the narrow circle of the town in whichyou live, then you live in a narrow cir-conscribed life. But if you are interested in what isgoing on in China, then you are living in China~ if you’re interested in the characters of agood novel, then you are living with those highly interesting people, if you listen intently tofine music, you are away from your immediate surroundings and living in a world of passion andimagination.

To be or not to be--to live intensely and richly, merely to exist, that depends on ourselves.Let widen and intensify our relations. While we live, let live!

On Friday evening last I received from His Majesty the mission to form a new administration.

It was the evident will of Parliament and the nation that this should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and that it should include all parties.

I have already completed the most important part of this task. A war cabinet has been formed of five members, representing, with the Labor, Opposition and Liberals, the unity of the nation.

It was necessary that this should be done in one single day on account of the extreme urgency and rigor of events. Other key positions were filled yesterday. I am submitting a further list to the King tonight. I hope to complete the appointment of principal Ministers during tomorrow.

The appointment of other Ministers usually takes a little longer. I trust when Parliament meets again this part of my task will be completed and that the administration will be complete in all respects.

I considered it in the public interest to suggest to the Speaker that the House should be summoned today. At the end of today's proceedings, the adjournment of the House will be proposed until May 2l with provision for earlier meeting if need be. Business for that will be notified to M. P. 's at the earliest opportunity.

I now invite the House by a resolution to record its approval of the steps taken and declare its confidence in the new government. The resolution:

"That this House welcomes the formation of a government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion."

To form an administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself. But we are in the preliminary Phase of one of the greatest battles in history. We are in action at any other points-in Norway and in Holland-and we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean. The air battle is continuing, and many preparations have to be made here at home.

In this crisis I think I may be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today, and I hope that any of my friends and colleagues or for mer colleagues who are affected by the political reconstruction will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act.

I say to the House as I said to Ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.

You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word, It is victory. Victory at all costs-victory in spite of all terrors-victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

Let that be realized. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.

I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men.

I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

“We are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book whose pages are infinite…”

I do not know who wrote those words, but I have always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want to make it. We can take the mysterious, hazy future and carve out of it anything that we can imagine, just as a sculptor carves a statue from a shapeless stone.

We are all in the position of the farmer. If we plant a good seed, we reap a good harvest. If our seed is poor and full of weeds, we reap a useless crop. If we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.

I want the future to be better than the past. I don’t want it contaminated by the mistakes and errors with which history is filled. We should all be concerned about the future because that is where we will spend the remainder of our lives.

The past is gone and static. Nothing we can do will change it. The future is before us and dynamic. Everything we do will affect it. Each day brings with it new frontiers, in our homes and in our business, if we only recognize them. We are just at the beginning of the progress in every field of human endeavor.

When someone looks into your eyes they should see something alive within you. Having a dream is like owning a lighthouse1 which directs you on your journey.

At every turn we come across its mystery. At each new level we become more of the person we were meant to become. In lonely times, when we pass through a storm of disappointment, we find our faith is unshaken, our strength still strong.

Believe in your faith. Set the vision before your eyes. Write down your most sincere dreams and when the opportunity comes, step into your dream. It may take one season or more, but the result is the same. Make big dreams and then go out and make them realities. The highest hopes of the dreamer are revealed with every step taken in their journey to the impossible. For a season we must protect the dream so that it can grow quietly on the inside. But if we tenderly care for our deepest expectations, slowly but surely the dream will become new life.

Dreaming is an act of faith. The light of your expectations will cast off the shadows of a disbelieving world. God has given us the dreamer as a gift to light an unbelieving world.

Find your treasure within and cherish it. Tomorrow is waiting for you to take the first step.

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the framer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway and it just wasn't worth to retrieve the donkey. So, he decided to bury it!

He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly, then slowly he quieted down till nothing more was heard.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well, and was astonished at what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing! He would shake it off and take a step up!

As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping, never giving up, shaking it off, and taking a step up!

Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred.

2. Free your mind from worries.

3. Trust in God.

4. Give more.

5. Expect less.

Lost time is never found again. This is something which I learned very clearly last semester. I spent so much time fooling around that my grades began to suffer. I finally realized that something had to be done. It was time for a change.

Now I have a new plan for using my time wisely. I have set my alarm clock ahead half an hour. This will give me a head start on the day. I have also decided to keep a log of what I do and when I do it. Looking back on what I’ve done will give me some ideas on how to reorganize my time.

时光一去不复返，这是我上学期清楚学到的教训。我浪费很多时间四处游荡，以致于我的成绩开始退步。最后我终于了解到我必须有所作为；该是痛改前非的时候了。

现在我有一个明智运用时间的新方法。我已将闹钟早拨半小时，这将使我这一天的作息提前开始。我也决定将我所做的`一切及做这些事的时间记录下来。回顾我所做的事情会启发我如何重新安排我的时间。

1、If not to the sun for smiling, warm is still in the sun there, but wewill laugh more confident calm; if turned to found his own shadow, appropriate escape, the sun will be through the heart,warm each place behind the corner; if an outstretched palm cannot fall butterfly, then clenched waving arms, given power; if I can't have bright smile, it will face to the sunshine, and sunshine smile together, in full bloom.

译文：如果不向太阳索取微笑,温暖仍在太阳那里,但我们会笑得更加自信从容；如果转过身去发现了自己的影子,适当的躲让,阳光便可穿越心灵,温暖每一处身后的角落；如果摊开的掌心不能点落蝴蝶,那就紧握成拳挥动臂膀,给予力量；如果我不能够微笑得灿烂,那就将脸投向灿烂的阳光,与阳光一起微笑,烂漫。

2、When you love who you are,you become a conduit of light.Just drop into your heart space,and live life from this view.For all of this doing is not who you are.Listen to your heart’s soft whisper,this voice will show you the way.Live life from your essence is what she will say.See the light in yourself,and your world will be bright.There is no need to worry,you are exactly as you should be;remember to love who you are,and love you will see.

译文：当你爱自己的时候，你会成为一道光。只需触及心房，并遵循本心来生活。做这一切无关你是谁。聆听内心轻柔的呢喃，她会告诉你方法。遵循本性来生活她会这样告诉你。欣赏自身的光芒，你的世界都会变得明亮。没必要担心，你正是自己本来的模样；记得爱自己，爱自己欣赏的一切。

3、Occasionally, life can be undeniably, impossibly difficult. We are faced with challenges and events that can seem overwhelming, life-destroying to the point where it may be hard to decide whether to keep going. But you always have a choice. Jessica Heslop shares her powerful, inspiring journey from the worst times in her life to the new life she has created for herself.

译文：生活有时候困难得难以置信，但又不容置疑。我们面临的挑战与困境似乎无法抵御，试图毁灭我们生活，甚至使你犹疑是否继续走下去。但是你总有选择的余地。从人生低谷走向新生活的杰西卡·赫斯乐普，在这里与我们分享她启迪心灵、充满震撼力的生活之旅。

4、So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently.

译文：想象一下你就是这个木匠，想象你正在建造这座房子，你每天钉进一颗钉子、安装一块板子或者筑起一面墙。请用心对待吧，这是唯一一个你为自己打造的生活。即使你只在里面住上一天，这一天也要活得有光彩、有尊严。正如格言所说，“生活是一个只有靠自己才能完成的项目。”

5、Time is like a river, the left bank is unable to forget the memories, right is worth grasp the youth, the middle of the fast flowing, is the sad young faint. There are many good things, buttruly belong to own but not much. See the courthouse blossom,honor or disgrace not Jing, hope heaven Yunjuanyunshu, has no intention to stay. In this round the world, all can learn to use a normal heart to treat all around, is also a kind of realm!

译文：岁月就象一条河,左岸是无法忘却的回忆,右岸是值得把握的青春年华,中间飞快流淌的,是年轻隐隐的伤感.世间有许多美好的东西,但真正属于自己的却并不多.看庭前花开花落,荣辱不惊,望天上云卷云舒,去留无意.在这个纷绕的世界里,能够学会用一颗平常的心去对待周围的一切,也是一种境界!

6、People always confuse about the meaning of happiness, they don’t know how to define it. Some people think that when one has the successful career or does something that makes contribution to the society is the happiness. It is common that great acts are admired by the public and people are easy to feel the happiness. While in my opinion, happiness is very easy to achieve. When I stay with my family, we have the nice talk and I feel very happy. When I eat the delicious food that is cooked by my mother, I feel moved and happy. Happiness is around everywhere, we can feel it if we treat it right.

译文：人们总是混淆幸福的含义，他们不知道如何定义幸福。有些人认为，当一个人有了成功的事业或做了对社会有所贡献的事情时，那就是幸福。人们很欣赏伟大的行为，人们很容易感到幸福。在我看来，幸福是很容易实现的。当我和家人在一起时，我们的谈话很愉快，我感到非常高兴。当我吃妈妈做的美味的食物时，我感到很开心。幸福无处不在，只要我们善待它，我们就能感受到幸福。

7、When I am making mistakes, my parents will never be angry with me. I am so thankful to them for they are so tolerant with me. I learn many things from my parents, they show me how to be a tolerant person. They will not blame me for the small mistake that I make, instead, they will educate me in the gentle way. Unlike some parents who are strict to their kids, they will be very angry and said the hurting words, making the children feel sad. Being tolerant to other people’s mistakes is the best way to solve the problem. People will appreciate the kind act and make things goes on the easy way.

译文：当我犯错误的时候，我的父母永远不会生我的气。我非常感谢他们，因为他们对我很宽容。我从父母那里学到很多东西，他们教我如何成为一个宽容的人。他们不会因为我犯的一个小错误而责备我，相反，他们会以温和的方式教育我。不像一些对孩子要求严格的父母，他们会很生气，说那些伤人的话，让孩子们感到悲伤。宽容别人的错误是解决问题的最好办法。人们会欣赏这种善举，让事情变得简单。

8、Sometimes you dream to be a kind of happiness, sometimes the dream is also a kind of happiness; sometimes is a kind of happiness, sometimes the loss is also a kind of happiness;sometimes success is a kind of happiness, sometimes failure is also a kind of happiness. Sometimes the rich is a kind of happiness, sometimes poverty is also a kind of happiness. "Not happy" today, now can not be "happy", while it may be tomorrow or later become "happiness"!

译文：有时你的梦想达到是一种幸福,有时梦想破灭也是一种幸福；有时得到是一种幸福,有时失去也是一种幸福；有时成功是一种幸福,有时失败也是一种幸福.有时富有是一种幸福,有时贫穷也是一种幸福.“不幸福”今天或者现在不能成为“幸福”,而明天或者以后却可能变成“幸福”!

YouthSamuel UllmanYouth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a body 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 enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what's next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.青春青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。 、一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。Three Days to See (Excerpts)Hellen KellerAll of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year; sometimes as short as twenty-four hours. But always we were interested in discovering how the doomed choose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.Such storied set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experience, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings? What happiness should we find in reviewing the past, what regrets?Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with gentleness, vigor, and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, would adopt the Epicurean motto of “eat, drink and be merry.” But most people would be chastened by certainty of impending death.In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same story of not being grateful of what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.I have thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.假如给我三天光明（节选）我们都读过震撼人心的故事，故事中的主人公只能再活一段很有限的时光，有时长达一年，有时却短至一日。但我们总是想要知道，注定要离世人的会选择如何度过自己最后的时光。当然，我说的是那些有选择权利的自由人，而不是那些活动范围受到严格限定的死囚。这样的故事让我们思考，在类似的处境下，我们该做些什么？作为终有一死的人，在临终前的几个小时内我们应该做什么事，经历些什么或做哪些联想？回忆往昔，什么使我们开心快乐？什么又使我们悔恨不已？有时我想，把每天都当作生命中的最后一天来边，也不失为一个极好的生活法则。这种态度会使人格外重视生命的价值。我们每天都应该以优雅的姿态，充沛的精力，抱着感恩之心来生活。但当时间以无休止的日，月和年在我们面前流逝时，我们却常常没有了这种子感觉。当然，也有人奉行“吃，喝，享受”的享乐主义信条，但绝大多数人还是会受到即将到来的死亡的惩罚。在故事中，将死的主人公通常都在最后一刻因突降的幸运而获救，但他的价值观通常都会改变，他变得更加理解生命的意义及其永恒的精神价值。我们常常注意到，那些生活在或曾经生活在死亡阴影下的人无论做什么都会感到幸福。然而，我们中的大多数人都把生命看成是理所当然的。我们知道有一天我们必将面对死亡，但总认为那一天还在遥远的将来。当我们身强体健之时，死亡简直不可想象，我们很少考虑到它。日子多得好像没有尽头。因此我们一味忙于琐事，几乎意识不到我们对待生活的冷漠态度。我担心同样的冷漠也存在于我们对自己官能和意识的运用上。只有聋子才理解听力的重要，只有盲人才明白视觉的可贵，这尤其适用于那些成年后才失去视力或听力之苦的人很少充分利用这些宝贵的能力。他们的眼睛和耳朵模糊地感受着周围的景物与声音，心不在焉，也无所感激。这正好我们只有在失去后才懂得珍惜一样，我们只有在生病后才意识到健康的可贵。我经常想，如果每个人在年轻的时候都有几天失时失聪，也不失为一件幸事。黑暗将使他更加感激光明，寂静将告诉他声音的美妙。