優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文10篇附譯文(2)
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文：我為何而生
What I Have Lived For
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy---ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness---that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what---at last---I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always it brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文譯文：
我為何而生
我的一生被三種簡(jiǎn)單卻又無(wú)比強(qiáng)烈的激情所控制：對(duì)愛(ài)的渴望，對(duì)知識(shí)的探索和對(duì)人類(lèi)苦難難以抑制的嶼。這些激情像狂風(fēng)，把我恣情吹向四方，掠過(guò)苦痛的大海，迫使我瀕臨絕望的邊緣。
我尋求愛(ài)，首先因?yàn)樗刮倚臑橹裕@種難以名狀的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去換取哪怕幾個(gè)小時(shí)這樣的幸福。我尋求愛(ài)，還因?yàn)樗芫徑馕倚睦砩系墓陋?dú)中，我感覺(jué)心靈的戰(zhàn)栗，仿如站在世界的邊緣而面前是冰冷，無(wú)底的死亡深淵。我尋求愛(ài)，因?yàn)樵谖宜慷玫慕Y(jié)合中，我仿佛看到了圣賢與詩(shī)人們所向往的天堂之景。這就是我所尋找的，雖然對(duì)人的一生而言似乎有些遙不可及，但至少是我用盡一生所領(lǐng)悟到的。
我用同樣的激情去尋求知識(shí)。我希望能理解人類(lèi)的心靈，希望能夠知道群星閃爍的緣由。我試圖領(lǐng)悟畢達(dá)哥拉斯所景仰的“數(shù)即萬(wàn)物”的思想。我已經(jīng)悟出了其中的一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)道理，盡管并不是很多。
愛(ài)和知識(shí)，用它們的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情卻總把人又拽回到塵世中來(lái)。痛苦的呼喊聲回蕩在我的內(nèi)心。饑餓的孩子，受壓迫的難民，貧窮和痛苦的世界，都是對(duì)人類(lèi)所憧憬的美好生活的無(wú)情嘲弄。我渴望能夠減少邪惡，但是我無(wú)能為力，我也難逃其折磨。
這就是我的一生。我已經(jīng)找到它的價(jià)值。而且如果有機(jī)會(huì)，我很愿意能再活它一次。
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文：愛(ài)的召喚
When Love Beckons You
When love beckons to you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you, yield to him, though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you, believe in him, though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, so shall he descend to our roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
But if, in your fear, you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure, then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. Love gives naught but it self and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not, nor would it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself. But if you love and must have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a payer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文譯文：
愛(ài)的召喚
當(dāng)愛(ài)召喚你時(shí)，請(qǐng)追隨她，盡管愛(ài)的道路艱難險(xiǎn)峻。當(dāng)愛(ài)的羽翼?yè)肀銜r(shí)，請(qǐng)順從她，盡管隱藏在其羽翼之下的劍可能會(huì)傷到你。當(dāng)愛(ài)向你訴說(shuō)時(shí)，請(qǐng)相信她，盡管她的聲音可能打破你的夢(mèng)想，就如同北風(fēng)吹落花園里所有的花瓣。
愛(ài)會(huì)給你戴上桂冠，也會(huì)折磨你。愛(ài)會(huì)助你成長(zhǎng)，也會(huì)給你修枝。愛(ài)會(huì)上升到枝頭，撫愛(ài)你在陽(yáng)光下顫動(dòng)力的嫩枝，也會(huì)下潛至根部，撼動(dòng)力你緊抓泥土的根基。
但是，如果你在恐懼之中只想尋求愛(ài)的平和與快樂(lè)，那你就最好掩蓋真實(shí)的自我，避開(kāi)愛(ài)的考驗(yàn)，進(jìn)入不分季節(jié)的世界，在那里你將歡笑，但并非開(kāi)懷大笑，你將哭泣，但并非盡情地哭。愛(ài)只將自己付出，也只得到自己。愛(ài)一無(wú)所有，也不會(huì)為誰(shuí)所有，因?yàn)閻?ài)本身就已自足。
愛(ài)除了實(shí)現(xiàn)自我別無(wú)他求。但是如果你愛(ài)而又不得不有所求，那就請(qǐng)期望：
將自己融化并像奔流的溪水一般向夜晚吟唱自己優(yōu)美的曲調(diào)。
明了過(guò)多的溫柔所帶來(lái)的苦痛。
被自己對(duì)愛(ài)的理解所傷害;
并情愿快樂(lè)地悲傷。
在黎明帶著輕快的心醒來(lái)并感謝又一個(gè)有家的日子;
在黃昏懷著感恩之心回家;
然后為內(nèi)心所愛(ài)之人祈禱，吟唱贊美之歌，并帶著禱告和歌聲入眠。
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文：成功之道
The Road to Success
It is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom, and spent the first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors and janitresses now in offices, and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of business education. But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy who has the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.
Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started, my advice to you is “aim high”. I would not give a fig for the young man who does not already see himself the partner or the head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk, or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself, “My place is at the top.” Be king in your dreams.
And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it.
The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital, which means that they have scattered their brains also. They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here there, and everywhere. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” is all wrong. I tell you to “put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.” Look round you and take notice, men who do that not often fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too many baskets that breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head, which is apt to tumble and trip him up. One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.
To summarize what I have said: aim for the highest; never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor, or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make the firm’s interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly, be not impatient, for as Emerson says, “no one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourselves.”
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文譯文：
成功之道
年輕人創(chuàng)業(yè)之初，應(yīng)該從最底層干起，這是件好事。匹茲保有很多商業(yè)巨頭，在他們創(chuàng)業(yè)之初，都肩負(fù)過(guò)“重任”：他們以掃帚相伴，以打掃辦公室的方式度過(guò)了他們商業(yè)生涯中最初的時(shí)光。我注意到我們現(xiàn)在辦公室里都有工友，于是年輕人就不幸錯(cuò)過(guò)了商業(yè)教育中這個(gè)有益的環(huán)節(jié)。如果碰巧哪天上午專職掃地的工友沒(méi)有來(lái)，某個(gè)具有未來(lái)合伙人氣質(zhì)的年輕人會(huì)毫不猶豫地試著拿起掃帚。在必要時(shí)新來(lái)的員工掃掃地也無(wú)妨，不會(huì)因?yàn)槎惺裁磽p失。我自己就曾經(jīng)掃過(guò)地。
假如你已經(jīng)被錄用，并且有了一個(gè)良好的開(kāi)端，我對(duì)你的建議是：要志存高遠(yuǎn)。一個(gè)年輕人，如果不把自己想象成一家大公司未來(lái)的老板或者是合伙人，那我會(huì)對(duì)他不屑一顧。不論職位有多高，你的內(nèi)心都不要滿足于做一個(gè)總管，領(lǐng)班或者總經(jīng)理。要對(duì)自己說(shuō)：我要邁向頂尖!要做就做你夢(mèng)想中的國(guó)王!
成功的首要條件和最大秘訣就是：把你的精力，思想和資本全都集中在你正從事的事業(yè)上。一旦開(kāi)始從事某種職業(yè)，就要下定決心在那一領(lǐng)域闖出一片天地來(lái);做這一行的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人物，采納每一點(diǎn)改進(jìn)之心，采用最優(yōu)良的設(shè)備，對(duì)專業(yè)知識(shí)熟稔于心。
一些公司的失敗就在于他們分散了資金，因?yàn)檫@就意味著分散了他們的精力。他們向這方面投資，又向那方面投資;在這里投資，在那里投資，到處都投資。“不要把所有的雞蛋放在一個(gè)籃子里”的說(shuō)法大錯(cuò)特錯(cuò)。我要對(duì)你說(shuō)：“把所有的雞蛋都放在一個(gè)籃子里，然后小心地看好那個(gè)籃子。”看看你周?chē)?，你?huì)注意到：這么做的人其實(shí)很少失敗。看管和攜帶一個(gè)籃子并不太難。人們總是試圖提很多籃子，所以才打破這個(gè)國(guó)家的大部分雞蛋。提三個(gè)籃子的人，必須把一個(gè)頂在頭上，而這個(gè)籃子很可能倒下來(lái)，把他自己絆倒。美國(guó)商人的一個(gè)缺點(diǎn)就是不夠?qū)Ｗⅰ?/p>
把我的話歸納一下：要志存高遠(yuǎn);不要出入酒吧;要滴酒不沾，或要喝也只在用餐時(shí)喝少許;不要做投機(jī)買(mǎi)賣(mài);不要寅吃卯糧;要把公司的利益當(dāng)作自己的利益;取消訂貨的目的永遠(yuǎn)是為了挽救貨主;要專注;要把所有的雞蛋放在一個(gè)籃子里，然后小心地看好它;要量入為出;最后，要有耐心，正如愛(ài)默生所言，“誰(shuí)都無(wú)法阻止你最終成功，除非你自己承認(rèn)自己失敗。”
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文：論見(jiàn)名人
On Meeting the Celebrated
I have always wondered at the passion many people have to meet the celebrated. The prestige you acquire by being able to tell your friends that you know famous men proves only that you are yourself of small account. The celebrated develop a technique to deal with the persons they come across. They show the world a mask, often an impressive on, but take care to conceal their real selves. They play the part that is expected from them, and with practice learn to play it very well, but you are stupid if you think that this public performance of theirs corresponds with the man within.
I have been attached, deeply attached, to a few people; but I have been interested in men in general not for their own sakes, but for the sake of my work. I have not, as Kant enjoined, regarded each man as an end in himself, but as material that might be useful to me as a writer. I have been more concerned with the obscure than with the famous. They are more often themselves. They have had no need to create a figure to protect themselves from the world or to impress it. Their idiosyncrasies have had more chance to develop in the limited circle of their activity, and since they have never been in the public eye it has never occurred to them that they have anything to conceal. They display their oddities because it has never struck them that they are odd. And after all it is with the common run of men that we writers have to deal; kings, dictators, commercial magnates are from our point of view very unsatisfactory. To write about them is a venture that has often tempted writers, but the failure that has attended their efforts shows that such beings are too exceptional to form a proper ground for a work of art. They cannot be made real. The ordinary is the writer’s richer field. Its unexpectedness, its singularity, its infinite variety afford unending material. The great man is too often all of a piece; it is the little man that is a bundle of contradictory elements. He is inexhaustible. You never come to the end of the surprises he has in store for you. For my part I would much sooner spend a month on a desert island with a veterinary surgeon than with a prime minister.
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文譯文：
論見(jiàn)名人
許多人熱衷于見(jiàn)名人，我始終不得其解。在朋友面前吹噓自己認(rèn)識(shí)某某名人，同此而來(lái)的聲望只能證明自己的微不足道。名人個(gè)個(gè)練就了一套處世高招，無(wú)論遇上誰(shuí)，都能應(yīng)付自如。他們給世人展現(xiàn)的是一副面具，常常是美好難忘的面具，但他們會(huì)小心翼翼地掩蓋自己的真相。他們扮演的是大家期待的角色，演得多了，最后都能演得惟妙惟肖。如果你還以為他們?cè)诠娒媲暗谋硌菥褪撬麄兊恼鎸?shí)自我，那就你傻了。
我自己就喜歡一些人，非常喜歡他們。但我對(duì)人感興趣一般不是因?yàn)樗麄冏陨淼木壒?，而是出于我工作需求。正如康德勸告的那樣，我從?lái)沒(méi)有把認(rèn)識(shí)某人作為目的，而是將其當(dāng)作對(duì)一個(gè)作家有用的創(chuàng)作素材。比之名流顯士，我更加關(guān)注無(wú)名小卒。他們常常顯得較為自然真實(shí)，他們無(wú)須再創(chuàng)造另一個(gè)人物形象，用他來(lái)保護(hù)自己不受世人干擾，或者用他來(lái)感動(dòng)世人。他們的社交圈子有限，自己的種種癖性也就越有可能得到滋長(zhǎng)。因?yàn)樗麄儚膩?lái)沒(méi)有引起公眾的關(guān)注，也就從來(lái)沒(méi)有想到過(guò)要隱瞞什么。他們會(huì)表露他們古怪的一面，因?yàn)樗麄儚膩?lái)就沒(méi)有覺(jué)得有何古怪?？傊?，作家要寫(xiě)的是普通人。在我們看來(lái)，國(guó)王，獨(dú)裁者和商界大亨等都是不符合條件的。去撰寫(xiě)這些人物經(jīng)常是作家們難以抗拒的冒險(xiǎn)之舉，可為此付出的努力不免以失敗告終，這說(shuō)明這些人物都過(guò)于特殊，無(wú)法成為一件藝術(shù)作品的創(chuàng)作根基，作家也不可能把他們寫(xiě)得真真切切。老百姓才是作家的創(chuàng)作沃土，他們或變幻無(wú)常，或難覓其二，各式人物應(yīng)有盡有，這些都給作家提供了無(wú)限的創(chuàng)作素材。大人物經(jīng)常是千人一面，小人物身上才有一組組矛盾元素，是取之不盡的創(chuàng)作源泉，讓你驚喜不斷。就我而言，如果在孤島上度過(guò)一個(gè)月，我寧愿和一名獸醫(yī)相守，也不愿同一位首相做伴。
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文：生活理論半對(duì)半
The 50-Percent Theory of Life
I believe in the 50-percent theory. Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they re worse. I believe life is a pendulum swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.
Let’s benchmark the parameters: yes, I will die. I’ve dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale.
Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad things like coaching my son’s baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he’s swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassion so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered pile of Legos.
But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and the good flip-flop acrobatically. This is what convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory.
One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone that neighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal---the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioned died; the well went dry; the marriage ended; the job lost; the money gone. I was living lyrics from a country tune---music I loathed. Only a surging Kansas City Royals team buoyed my spirits.
Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the bad. Worse than normal wouldn’t last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. The reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that can thrive. The 50-percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals’ recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.
For that on blistering summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination before heat withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing corn from floods. That winter my crib overflowed with corn---fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filled with kernels from heel to tip---while my neighbors’ fields yielded only brown, empty husks.
Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.
優(yōu)美英語(yǔ)散文譯文：
生活理論半對(duì)半
我信奉對(duì)半理論。生活時(shí)而無(wú)比順暢，時(shí)而倒霉透頂。我覺(jué)得生活就像來(lái)回?cái)[的鐘擺。讀懂生活的常態(tài)需要時(shí)間和閱歷，而讀懂它也練就了我面對(duì)未來(lái)的生活態(tài)度。
讓我們確定一下好壞的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)：是的，我注定會(huì)死去。我已經(jīng)經(jīng)歷了雙親，一位好友，一位敬愛(ài)的老板和心愛(ài)寵物的死亡。有些突如其來(lái)，近在眼前，有些卻緩慢痛苦。這些都是糟糕的事情，它們屬于最壞的部分。
生活中也不乏高潮：墜入愛(ài)河締結(jié)良緣;身為人父養(yǎng)育幼子，諸如訓(xùn)練指導(dǎo)兒子的棒球隊(duì)，當(dāng)他和狗在小河中嬉戲時(shí)搖槳?jiǎng)澊?，感受他如此?qiáng)烈的同情心-即使對(duì)蝸牛也善待有加，發(fā)現(xiàn)他如此豐富的想象力-即使用零散的樂(lè)高玩具積木也能堆出太空飛船。
但在生活最好與最壞部分之間有一片巨大的中間地帶，其間各種好事壞事像耍雜技一樣上下翻滾，輪番出現(xiàn)。這就是讓我信服對(duì)半理論的原因。
有一年奏，我在一塊洼地上過(guò)早地種上了玉米。那塊地極易遭到水淹，所以鄰居們都嘲笑我。我為浪費(fèi)了精力而感到懊惱。沒(méi)想到夏天更為殘酷-我經(jīng)歷了最糟糕的熱浪和干旱?？照{(diào)壞了，進(jìn)干了，婚姻破裂了，工作丟了，錢(qián)也沒(méi)有。我正經(jīng)歷著某首鄉(xiāng)村歌曲中描繪的情節(jié)，我討厭這種音樂(lè)，只有剛出道不久的堪薩斯皇家棒球隊(duì)能鼓舞我的精神。
回首那個(gè)糟糕的夏天，我很快就明白了，所有后來(lái)出現(xiàn)的好事只不過(guò)與壞事相互抵消。比一般情況糟糕的境遇不會(huì)延宕過(guò)久;而太平時(shí)光是我應(yīng)得的，我要盡情享受，它們?yōu)槲易⑷牖盍σ詰?yīng)對(duì)下一個(gè)險(xiǎn)情，并確保我可以興旺發(fā)達(dá)。對(duì)半理論甚至幫助我在堪薩斯皇家棒球隊(duì)最近的低潮中看到希望-這是一快艱難行進(jìn)的新手們耕耘的土地，只要播種了，假以時(shí)日我們就可以收獲十月的金秋。
那個(gè)夏天天氣酷熱，地而濕度適宜，提早播種就可以在熱浪打蔫植尖之前完成授粉，同于干旱更沒(méi)有爆發(fā)洪水，產(chǎn)在田里的玉米得以保存。因此那個(gè)冬天我的糧倉(cāng)堆滿了玉米-豐滿，健康，一顆三穗且從頭到腳都是飽滿的玉米粒的玉米穗-而我的鄰居們收獲的只是曬黑的空殼。
盡管過(guò)去的播種可能沒(méi)有達(dá)到50%的收獲期望，而且將來(lái)也可能是這樣，但我仍然能靠著在旱季繁茂生長(zhǎng)的莊稼而生存下去。
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