優秀英語勵志美文精選
從勵志書籍到“世界無抱怨運動”,積極思考的力量從來沒有向今天那麼頻繁地被鼓吹成通向快樂、健康、富有和智慧的康莊大道。下面是本站小編帶來的優秀英語勵志美文，歡迎閱讀!
有一說一
by Ralph Pinelli
拉爾夫·皮內利
An umpire has to make instant decision. I've learned to call things as I see them. This helps me make a quick reply to such an important and personal question as my belief. My philosophy of life is simple, with a vital driving force.
裁判員必須要迅速做出決定。我已經學會了有一說一。因此，我也能很快地回答有關我的信仰這樣重大的問題。我的生活哲學十分簡單，但卻具有巨大的驅動力。
I believe in my God, my family, my country, and baseball.
我信仰我的上帝，我的家庭，我的祖國以及棒球。
Including baseball may seem out of place in this statement, but I firmly believe that baseball, more than being just a national pastime, is beneficially bound up with American life - certainly with my own. It helped develop me physically as a boy. It taught me teamwork and ability to co-operate with others. Another thing, it taught me to try to play according to the rules of the games. This has helped me throughout life.
把棒球包括在內似乎不太妥當，但我堅信棒球並不只是一項全球性的娛樂活動，它和美國人的生活密切相關並有益於美國人的生活——當然對我的生活來說也是如此。在我還是個孩子的時候，它使我的身體茁壯成長，教我懂得團隊精神，能夠與他人合作。此外，它還教我懂得遵守比賽規則。這使我終生受益。
My parents came to this country from Italy as poor immigrants. I grew up at a time when even a high-school education was out of reach. My formal education never went beyond the elementary grades. But the lessons I learned at home, at church and on the playground have carried me through.
我的父母從意大利移民到美國時非常貧窮。在我成長時，他們甚至無力供我上學。我所接受的正規教育僅限於小學，但我在家裏、在教堂裏以及在運動場上所學到的知識使我能順利地走到今天。
I believe firmly in higher education. My son was assigned to a baseball contract when he was still in high school but I insisted on a clause permitting him a full four-year college course before starting professional ball.
我堅信高等教育的重要性。當我的兒子還在讀中學時，他就有和棒球隊簽約的機會，但我堅持要在合同上補充一個條款，保證讓他先修完大學四年課程後纔開始職業球員的生涯。
I believe that even more important than a college education, though, is the good solid practical and religious training in the home and at church. My mother taught me a proper scale of values and trained me to live up to them. I still remember the sand-lot game I had to leave before the final inning so I could get on my Sunday suit and be at church in time for Confirmation.
然而，我相信，還有比大學教育更爲重要的事，那就是在家裏和教堂裏接受良好持續的宗教薰陶和務實的訓練。我的母親教我懂得正確的價值觀，並訓練我遵循它們而生活。我仍然還記得我在進行業餘棒球比賽時不得不在最後一局之前離開，爲了能穿上我最好的衣服，按時到教堂參加堅信禮儀式。
Experience has proved my belief in the importance of the family. This is where good, useful citizens come from. My wife and I have enjoyed the companionship of some thirty-five years of married life, and we have had the happiness of seeing our two sons grew into manhood and start their own families. We never had the pleasure of having a daughter, but now we happily share three granddaughters and five grandsons. Our happiness with them is a great consolation and comfort against the older years when many a couple grow lonely.
人生的經歷證實了我的信仰，即家庭非常重要。家庭是培養善良有用公民的搖籃。我和我的妻子相依相伴，共同度過了大約三十五年的婚姻生活，幸福地看到我們的兩個兒子長大成人並建立了他們自己的家庭。我們從未享受過有女兒的樂趣，但現在我們卻有了三個孫女和五個孫子，感到非常幸福。在許多老年夫婦孤獨地生活時，有兒女們相伴的幸福對我們的晚年生活無疑是一種莫大的慰藉。
I have found strength and consolation in my church, and I have found peace and help in humble daily prayer when I praise God for His goodness and ask Him to "forgive me my trespasses as I forgive others," and beg His blessings for myself and my family and friends.
我在教會裏找到了力量和安慰，在每日恭敬的祈禱中我獲得了心靈的平靜和幫助。我讚美上帝的仁慈，請求他“因爲我們饒恕人的過錯，也饒恕我的過錯”，祈求他賜福給我、我的家人和朋友。
So these are the things I believe in:
這些就是我所信仰的：
My God, who has given me a personal destiny and who deserves all praise and service;
上帝，他賜予我命運並值得我的一切讚美和服務;
My family, who have given me happiness and strength;
家庭，它給我幸福和力量;
My country, which has given me every opportunity to live my life according to my conscience;
祖國，它爲我提供一切機會按照自己的良心生活;
And baseball, which has given me healthy recreation and solid training for life.
棒球，它是一種娛樂和訓練，使我健康，使我懂得生活。
This is my theology and philosophy of life.
這就是我的宗教信仰和人生哲學。
優秀英語勵志美文閱讀如何讓空虛的生活充實起來
by Albert J Nesbitt
艾伯特.內斯比特
One day about fifteen years ago I suddenly came face to face with myself and realized there was something quite empty about my life.
大約15年前的一天，我在面對自己時，突然覺得自己的生活很空虛。
My friends and associates perhaps didn’t see it. By the generally accepted standards, I was “successful,” I was head of a prosperous manufacturing concern and led what is usually referred to as an “active” life, both socially and in business.
也許這是朋友和同事所無法理解的。按照公認的標準來看，我是一位“成功者”。我領導着一個生意不錯的製造公司，是社交界及商界中的“活躍分子”。然而，對我而言，這些並沒有太大的意義。我始終都在圈內轉來轉去。
But it didn’t seem to me to be adding up to anything. I was going around in circles. I worked hard, played hard, and pretty soon I discovered I was hitting the highballs harder than I needed. I wasn’t a candidate for Alcoholics Anonymous, but to be honest with myself I had to admit I was drinking more than was good for me. It may have been out of sheer boredom.
我努力工作，盡情享樂，但很快就發現自己喝酒有些過多。雖然我並不準備加入嗜酒者互誡協會，但說真的，我不得不承認自己喝了太多的酒。也許，這是因爲我的生活實在太無聊了。
I began to wonder what to do. It occurred to me that I might have gotten myself too tightly wrapped up in my job, to the sacrifice of the basic but non-materialistic values of life. It struck me abruptly that I was being quite selfish, that my major interest in people was in what they meant to me, what they represented as business contacts or employees, not what I might mean to them.
於是，我開始想着去做點什麼。突然，我想到或許是由於自己將過多的精力投入工作，卻付出了失去最基本精神生活價值的代價。我頓時明白：自己一向都很自私，我只對別人對我意味着什麼，作爲我的生意夥伴或員工會爲我帶來什麼價值感興趣，而不在意我對他們而言意義何在。
I remembered that as my mother sent me to Sunday school as a boy, and encouraged me to sing in the church choir, she used to tell me that the value of what she called a good Christian background was in having something to tie to. I put in a little thought recalling the Golden Rule and some of the other first principles of Christianity. I began to get interested in YMCA work.
記得孩提時，母親常告訴我，一位虔誠信徒的人生價值在於他擁有精神的寄託。當時，她還送我去主日學校學習，並鼓勵我參加教堂唱詩班。我努力在腦海中回想着《聖經》中的金箴和基督教義中一些最重要的信條。於是，我開始對基督教青年會的工作感興趣了。
It happened that just at this time we were having some bitter fights with the union at our plant. Then one day it occurred to me: What really is their point of view, and why? I began to see a basis for their suspicions, their often chip-on-shoulder point of view, and I determined to do something about it.
湊巧的是，那時我們與工廠工會之間發生了一些尖銳的摩擦。後來的一天，我突然想到：他們真正的觀點是什麼?爲什麼會這樣?我開始明白他們爲何會對我們產生懷疑，並常持敵對態度，於是我決定採取相應的行動。
We endeavored to apply—literally apply—Christian principles to our dealing with employees, to practice, for example, something of the Golden Rule.
在處理與員工間的問題時，我們試圖將基督教的信條應用甚至照搬到其中，比如說，將金箴中的某些忠告付諸行動。
The men’s response, once they were convinced we were sincere, was remarkable. The effort has paid for its pains, and I don’t mean in dollars. I mean in dividends of human dignity, of a man’s pride in his job and in the company, knowing that he is no longer just a cog but a live personal part of it and that it doesn’t matter whether he belongs to a certain church or whether the pigmentation of his skin is light or dark.
當人們相信我們的誠意，自然就會作出良好的迴應。這種做法痛苦但卻有所回報。我所說的回報並非金錢，而是人的尊嚴，會使一個人爲他的工作與公司而驕傲。他明白，自己不再是一個微不足道的小齒輪，而是公司中生動鮮活的一分子，公司不會在乎他屬於哪個教會，或是膚色深淺。
But I can speak with most authority on how this change of attitude affected me and my personal outlook on life. Perhaps, again, many of my friends did not notice the difference.
然而，我可以肯定地說，我和我的人生觀正是因這種態度而發生了轉變。也許，對於我的變化，多數朋友並沒有發現。
But I noticed it. That feeling of emptiness, into which I was pouring cocktails out of boredom, was filling up instead with a purpose: to live a full life with an awareness and appreciation of other people. I do not pretend for a second that I have suddenly become a paragon. My faults are still legion and I know them.
但是，我自己注意到了。曾經用酗酒來排遣的空虛感，如今已不復存在，取而代之的是明確的目標：充實地生活，關注並尊重他人的存在。我並不假裝自己已經成了一個典範，我明白自己還有許多缺點。
But it seems to me better to have a little religion and practice it than think piously and do nothing about it. I feel better adjusted, more mature than I ever have in my life before. I have no fear. I say this not boastfully but in all humility. The actual application of Christian principles has changed my life.
但是，在我看來，與其什麼都不做地虔誠思考，不如擁有一點宗教信仰並將其付諸實踐。我感覺，相比以前，自己得到了更好的調整，也更爲成熟了。我無所畏懼。我之所以這麼說，並非吹噓，而是滿懷謙卑。我的生活也因將基督教信條付諸實踐而發生了改變。
優秀英語勵志美文學習One Girl Changed My Life一位女孩改變了我的生活
My childhood and adolescence were a joyous outpouring of energy, a ceaseless quest for expression, skill, and experience.
我在童年和少年時代激情四溢，無時無刻不追求展現自我、磨礪才藝和體味生活。
School was only a background to the supreme delight of lessons in music, dance, and dramatics, and the thrill of sojourns in the country, theaters, concerts. And books, big Braille books that came with me on streetcars, to the table, and to bed.
學校裏的音樂、舞蹈和戲劇課讓我歡欣不已，而劇院和音樂會更讓我身心爲之震顫，鄉間流連的時光也同樣美妙，還有我的書，那些厚重的盲文書籍無論在我乘車、用餐還是睡覺時都與我形影不離。
Then one night at a high school dance, a remark, not intended for my ears, stabbed my youthful bliss: “That girl, what a pity she is blind.”
然而，一天晚上，在高中的一次舞會上，一句我無意中聽到的話霎那間將我年少的幸福擊碎——“那女孩是個瞎子，真可惜!”
Blind! That ugly word that implied everything dark, blank, rigid, and helpless. Quickly I turned and called out, Please don’t feel sorry for me, I’m having lots of fun. But the fun was not to last.
瞎子——這個刺耳的字眼隱含着一個陰暗、漆黑、僵硬和無助的世界。我立刻轉過身，大聲喊道：“請不要爲我嘆惜，我很快樂!”——但我的快樂自此不復存在。
With the advent of college, I was brought to grips with the problem of earning a living. Part-time teaching of piano and harmony and, upon graduation, occasional concerts and lectures, proved only partial sources of livelihood. In terms of time and effort involved, the financial remuneration was disheartening.
升入大學之後，我開始爲生計而奔波。課餘時間我教授鋼琴及和聲，臨近畢業時還偶爾參加幾次演奏會，做了幾次講座，可要維持生計光靠這些還是不夠，與投入的時間和精力相比，它們在經濟上的回報讓人沮喪。
This induced within me searing self-doubt and dark moods of despondency. Adding to my dismal sense of inadequacy was the repeated experience of seeing my sisters and friends go off to exciting dates.
這讓我失去了自信和勇氣，內心鬱悶苦惱。眼看我的姐妹和夥伴們一次次興高采烈地與人約會，我更覺消沉空虛。
How grateful I was for my piano, where—through Chopin, Brahms, and Beethoven—I could mingle my longing and seething energy with theirs. And where I could dissolve my frustration in the beauty and grandeur of their conceptions.
所幸的是，還有鋼琴陪我。我沸騰的渴望和激情在肖邦、貝多芬、勃拉姆斯那裏得到了共鳴。我的挫敗感在他們美妙壯麗的音樂構想中消散。
Then one day, I met a girl, a wonderful girl, an army nurse, whose faith and stability were to change my whole life. As our acquaintance ripened into friendship, she discerned, behind a shell of gaiety, my recurring plateaus of depression.
直到有一天，我遇見一位女孩，一位出色的女孩，這名隨軍護士的信念和執著將改變我的一生。我們日益熟稔，成爲好友，她也慢慢察覺出我的快樂的外表之下內心卻時常愁雲密佈。
She said, “Stop knocking on closed doors. Keep up your beautiful music. I know your opportunity will come. You’re trying too hard. Why don’t you relax, and have you ever tried praying?”
她對我說，“門已緊鎖，敲有何用?堅持你的音樂夢想，我相信機會終將來臨。你太辛苦了，何不放鬆一下——試試禱告如何?”
The idea was strange to me. It sounded too simple. Somehow, I had always operated on the premise that, if you wanted something in this world, you had to go out and get it for yourself.
禱告?我從未想到過，聽起來太天真了。一直以來，我的行事準則都是，無論想得到什麼都必須靠自己去努力爭取。
Yet, sincerity and hard work had yielded only meager returns, and I was willing to try anything. Experimentally, self-consciously, I cultivated the daily practice of prayer. I said: God, show me the purpose for which You sent me to this world. Help me to be of use to myself and to humanity.
不過既然從前的熱誠和辛勞回報甚微，我什麼都願意嘗試一番。雖然有些不自在，我嘗試着每天都禱告——“上帝啊，你將我送到世上，請告訴我你賜予我的使命。幫幫我，讓我於人於己都有用處。”
In the years to follow, the answers began to arrive, clear and satisfying beyond my most optimistic anticipation. One of the answers was Enchanted Hills, where my nurse friend and I have the privilege of seeing blind children come alive in God’s out-of-doors. Others are the never-ending sources of pleasure and comfort I have found in friendship, in great music, and, most important of all, in my growing belief that as I attune my life to divine revelation, I draw closer to God and, through Him, to immortality.
在接下來的幾年裏，我得到了明確而滿意的回答，超出了我最樂觀的期望值。其中一個回答就是魔山盲人休閒營區。在那裏，我和我的護士朋友每年都有幸看到失明的孩子們在大自然的懷抱中是多麼生氣勃勃。除此之外，朋友們真摯的友誼以及美妙的音樂都給我帶來無窮無盡的歡樂和慰藉。最重要的是，我越來越意識到，在我日復一日的禱告中，當我聆聽上帝的啓示之時，我正日益與他靠近，並通過他接近永恆。
