經典美文閱讀：父親的金星

“我死了，是天國的榮耀;我活着，是上帝的恩惠。”那是他的金星，即信仰一種比人類更偉大的力量，這也是我們祖先的信仰。下面是本站小編爲大家帶來英語經典美文：父親的金星，希望大家喜歡!

During Moments of sadness or frustration, I often think of a family scene years ago in the town of Yakima, Washington. I was about seven or eight years old at the time. Father had died a few years earlier. Mother was sitting in the living room talking to me, telling me what a wonderful man Father was.

悲傷或受挫的時候，我常常想起幾年前在華盛頓州亞基馬城家中的一幕。那時我大約七八歲，父親幾年前去世了，母親坐在客廳裏向我描述父親是多麼了不起。

She told me of his last illness and death. She told me of his departure from Cleveland, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, for what proved to be a fatal operation. His last words to her were these: “If I die it will be glory, if I live it will be grace.”

她講到他最後一次生病去世的情景，講到他在離開華盛頓州的克利夫蘭趕往俄勒岡州的波特蘭做手術，正是這次手術要了他的命。臨終前，父親對母親說：“我死了，是天國的榮耀;我活着，是上帝的恩惠。”

I remember how those words puzzled me. I could not understand why it would be glory to die. It would be glory to live, that I could understand. But why it would be glory to die was something I did not understand until later.

我記得那些話曾讓我多麼困惑，因爲我無法理解死亡爲什麼是一種榮耀。活着是一種榮耀倒還可以理解，但爲什麼死了會是一種榮耀，我直到後來才明白。

Then one day in a moment of great crisis I came to understand the words of my father. “If I die it will be glory, if I live it will be grace.” That was his evening star. The faith in a power greater than man. That was the faith of our fathers.

有一天在危急關頭，我終於領悟了父親的遺言。“我死了，是天國的榮耀;我活着，是上帝的恩惠。”那是他的金星，即信仰一種比人類更偉大的力量，這也是我們祖先的信仰。

A belief in a God who controlled man in the universe, that manifested itself in different ways to different people. It was written by scholars and learned men in dozens of different creeds. But riding high above all secular controversies was a faith in One who was the Creator, the Giver of Life, the Omnipotent.

相信上帝主宰宇宙中的人類，並以各種方式向形形色色的人證實自身的存在。學者和有學問的人在各種信條中曾予以記載，而讓人在一切世俗論戰中獲得成功的祕訣是相信上帝創造了世界和生命，是無所不能的神。

Man’s age-long effort has been to be free. Throughout time he has struggled against some form of tyranny that would enslave his mind or his body. So far in this century, three epidemics of it have been let loose in the world.

人類長久以來努力爲自由而奮鬥，不斷與某種奴役其身心的獨裁形式作鬥爭。半個世紀已經爆發了三次由獨裁滋生的傳染病。

We can keep our freedom through the increasing crisis of history only if we are self-reliant enough to be free—dollars, guns, and all the wondrous products of science and the machine will not be enough. “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.”

只有當我們能自立，足以享有自由時，才能在歷史上不斷升級的危機中牢牢地把握自由——金錢、武器、科學和機器製造的所有令人歎爲觀止的產品都不足以保障我們的自由。“今夜必要你的靈魂。”

These days I see graft and corruption reach high into government. These days I see people afraid to speak their minds because someone will think they are unorthodox and therefore disloyal.

這些日子我目睹貪污腐敗在政府機構甚囂塵上;這些日子我看到人們害怕被視爲信仰異端邪說、對上帝不忠而不敢坦言心聲;

These days I see America identified more and more with material things, less and less with spiritual standards.

這些日子我發覺美國越來越沉溺於物質享受，卻越來越疏離於道德標準

These days I see America drifting from the Christian faith, acting abroad as an arrogant, selfish, greedy nation, interested only in guns and dollars, not in people and their hopes and aspirations.

這些日子我眼見美國偏離____的信仰，在海外的所作所爲使其淪爲一個傲慢、自私、貪婪、只對武器和金錢感興趣的國家……而不關注國民及其希望與追求

These days the words of my father come back to me more and more. We need his faith, the faith of our fathers. We need a faith that dedicates us to something bigger and more important than ourselves or our possessions. Only if we have that faith will we be able to guide the destiny of nations, in this the most critical period of world history.

這些日子我越來越回想起父親的話。我們需要他那樣的信仰，我們祖先的信仰;我們需要一種信仰鞭策自己投身於比發展自身與積聚私產更重要的事業。只有具備這種信仰，我們才能在世界歷史最關鍵的時期決定國家的命運