第二篇
Companionship of Books 以书为伴（节选）
A man may usually be known by the books he reads aswell as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as wellas of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be ofbooks or of men.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It isthe same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the mostpatient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in timesof adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusingand instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
Men often discover their affinity to each other by themutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover afriend by the admirationwhich both entertain for athird. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love my dog.” But there ismore wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higherbond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other throughtheir favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.
A good book is often the best urn of a life enshriningthe best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for themost part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries ofgood words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become ourconstant companions and comforters.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are byfar the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, butbooks survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as freshtoday as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. Whatwas then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from theprinted page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products;for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society; they bringus into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear whatthey said and did; we see the as if they were really alive; we sympathize withthem, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and wefeel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which theydescribe.
The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed （铭记于心）in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. Itis an intellect to which on still listens.
通常看一个读些什么书就可知道他的为人，就像看他同什么人交往就可知道他的为人一样，因为有人以人为伴，也有人以书为伴。无论是书友还是朋友，我们都应该以最好的为伴。
好书就像是你最好的朋友。它始终不渝，过去如此，现在如此，将来也永远不变。它是最有耐心，最令人愉悦的伴侣。在我们穷愁潦倒，临危遭难时，它也不会抛弃我们，对我们总是一如既往地亲切。在我们年轻时，好书陶冶我们的性情，增长我们的知识；到我们年老时，它又给我们以慰藉和勉励。
人们常常因为喜欢同一本书而结为知已，就像有时两个人因为敬慕同一个人而成为朋友一样。有句古谚说道：“爱屋及屋。”其实“爱我及书”这句话蕴涵更多的哲理。书是更为真诚而高尚的情谊纽带。人们可以通过共同喜爱的作家沟通思想，交流感情，彼此息息相通，并与自己喜欢的作家思想相通，情感相融。
好书常如最精美的宝器，珍藏着人生的思想的精华，因为人生的境界主要就在于其思想的境界。因此，最好的书是金玉良言和崇高思想的宝库，这些良言和思想若铭记于心并多加珍视，就会成为我们忠实的伴侣和永恒的慰藉。
书籍具有不朽的本质，是为人类努力创造的最为持久的成果。寺庙会倒坍，神像会朽烂，而书却经久长存。对于伟大的思想来说，时间是无关紧要的。多年前初次闪现于作者脑海的伟大思想今日依然清新如故。时间惟一的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因为只有真正的佳作才能经世长存。
书籍介绍我们与最优秀的人为伍，使我们置身于历代伟人巨匠之间，如闻其声，如观其行，如见其人，同他们情感交融，悲喜与共，感同身受。我们觉得自己仿佛在作者所描绘的舞台上和他们一起粉墨登场。
即使在人世间，伟大杰出的人物也永生不来。他们的精神被载入书册，传于四海。书是人生至今仍在聆听的智慧之声，永远充满着活力。
·第四篇：If I Rest,I Rust 如果我休息，我就会生锈
If I Rest, I Rust
The significant inscription found on an old key---“IfI rest, I rust”---would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted withthe slightest(半点) bit of idleness. Even themost industrious person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminderthat, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key,they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work requiredof them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept bygreat men must keep their faculties polished by constant use, so that they mayunlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to theprofessions, to science, art, literature, agriculture---every department ofhuman endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasuryof achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry(采石场矿产),had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become afamous geologist. The celebrated（著名的） mathematician, Edmund Stone,would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the keyto science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, hadthe little Scotch lad（小伙子）, Ferguson, allowed the busybrain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead ofcalculating the position of the stars by a string of beads（珠子）,he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant, spasmodic, orill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward awell-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of nobleand enduring success.
·第四篇：如果我休息，我就会生锈
在一把旧钥匙上发现了一则意义深远的铭文——如果我休息，我就会生锈。对于那些懒散而烦恼的人来说，这将是至理名言。甚至最为勤勉的人也以此作为警示：如果一个人有才能而不用，就像废弃钥匙上的铁一样，这些才能就会很快生锈，并最终无法完成安排给自己的工作。
有些人想取得伟人所获得并保持的成就，他们就必须不断运用自身才能，以便开启知识的大门，即那些通往人类努力探求的各个领域的大门，这些领域包括各种职业：科学，艺术，文学，农业等。
勤奋使开启成功宝库的钥匙保持光亮。如果休·米勒在采石场劳作一天后，晚上的时光用来休息消遣的话，他就不会成为名垂青史的地质学家。著名数学家爱德蒙·斯通如果闲暇时无所事事，就不会出版数学词典，也不会发现开启数学之门的钥匙。如果苏格兰青年弗格森在山坡上放羊时，让他那思维活跃的大脑处于休息状态，而不是借助一串珠子计算星星的位置，他就不会成为著名的天文学家。
劳动征服一切。这里所指的劳动不是断断续续的，间歇性的或方向偏差的劳动，而是坚定的，不懈的，方向正确的每日劳动。正如要想拥有自由就要时刻保持警惕一样，要想取得伟大的，持久的成功，就必须坚持不懈地努力。
·第五篇：Ambition 抱负
Ambition
It is not difficult to imagine a world short ofambition. It would probably be a kinder world: with out demands, withoutabrasions, without disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Suchwork as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity.Competition would never enter in. conflict would be eliminated, tension becomea thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. Art would nolonger be troubling, but purely celebratory欢乐的in its functions. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die ofheart 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未减轻的boring life would be!
There is a strong view that holds that success is amyth, and ambition therefore a sham. Does this mean that success does notreally exist? That achievement is at bottom empty? That the efforts of men andwomen are of no significance alongside the force of movements and events nownot all success, obviously, is worth esteeming（尊重）,nor all ambition worth cultivating. Which are and which are not is somethingone soon enough learns on one’s own. But even the most cynical secretly admitthat success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that thetrue myth is that the actions of men and women are useless. To believeotherwise is to take on a point of view that is likely to be deranging.(打乱)It is, in its implications, to remove all motives for competence, interest inattainment, and regard for posterity（子孙）.
We do not choose to be born. We do not choose ourparents. We do not choose our historical epoch新纪元,the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. Wedo not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions ofour death. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how weshall live: courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purposeor in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decidethat 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 wedecide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end, forming our own destinyis what ambition is about.
我们来决定什么使我们有意义，通过我们做什么或者我们拒绝做什么，但是不管这个世界对我们的选择与决定多么漠视，这些选择与决定的掌握权始终在我们手里。
一个缺乏抱负的世界将会怎样，这不难想象。或许，这将是一个更为友善的世界：没有渴求，没有磨擦，没有失望。人们将有时间进行反思。他们所从事的工作将不是为了他们自身，而是为了整个集体。竞争永远不会介入；冲突将被消除。人们的紧张关系将成为过往云烟。创造的重压将得以终结。艺术将不再惹人费神，其功能将纯粹为了庆典。人的寿命将会更长，因为由激烈拼争引起的心脏病和中风所导致的死亡将越来越少。焦虑将会消失。时光流逝，抱负却早已远离人心。
啊，长此以往人生将变得多么乏味无聊！
有一种盛行的观点认为，成功是一种神话，因此抱负亦属虚幻。这是不是说实际上并不丰在成功？成就本身就是一场空？与诸多运动和事件的力量相比，男男女女的努力显得微不足？显然，并非所有的成功都值得景仰，也并非所有的抱负都值得追求。对值得和不值得的选择，一个人自然而然很快就能学会。但即使是最为愤世嫉俗的人暗地里也承认，成功确实存在，成就的意义举足轻重，而把世上男男女女的所作所为说成是徒劳无功才是真正的无稽之谈。认为成功不存在的观点很可能造成混乱。这种观点的本意是一笔勾销所有提高能力的动机，求取业绩的兴趣和对子孙后代的关注。
我们无法选择出生，无法选择父母，无法选择出生的历史时期与国家，或是成长的周遭环境。我们大多数人都无法选择死亡，无法选择死亡的时间或条件。但是在这些无法选择之中，我们的确可以选择自己的生活方式：是勇敢无畏还是胆小怯懦，是光明磊落还是厚颜无耻，是目标坚定还是随波逐流。我们决定生活中哪些至关重要，哪些微不足道。我们决定，用以显示我们自身重要性的，不是我们做了什么，就是我们拒绝做些什么。但是不论世界对我们所做的选择和决定有多么漠不关心，这些选择和决定终究是我们自己做出的。我们决定，我们选择。而当我们决定和选择时，我们的生活便得以形成。最终构筑我们命运的就是抱负之所在。
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