美文欣赏

【Transcript】

To sum up my credo in a sentence: The farther away I get from myself, the nearer I get to God. Most of my troubles came when I was obsessed with my own petty concerns and trivial details. I respect the hermit but admire the crusader—his life takes more of courage. I sympathize with the introvert as I would with the sickly, but both are missing a lot of life.

As a Catholic, I am touched by Assisi and his animals, but Loyola and his army fascinate me. No man ever got as much out of life as G. K. Chesterton, and he remarked, “Here dies another day during which I have had eyes, ears, hands, and the great world around me. And with tomorrow begins another. Why am I allowed two?”

Today’s young people live years in what used to be days. I might be a good example. I’ve been married six years, have two children, a home, and have been recently honored by my college, the Jewish community, and the Chamber of Commerce. I direct the region of a famous human-relations agency. I’ve had much sickness, been in a war, worked at a newspaper, traveled all over America and half the world, graduated from college, ran my own ad business, worked three years as an executive for General Electric, lost two brothers in a family, and spent a year in a tuberculosis sanatorium.

Now I could go on in this personal basis, but the point is I’ve just reached the 30 mark. Many of these experiences would be denied in the past age. I’ve found that the beliefs I’ve discovered in the 20- to 30-year period can be the ground floor of my philosophy, and that these early years can be a fruitful basis for a mature life for everyone. I remember in particular two young men named Jefferson and Hamilton, whose thoughts are deeply embedded in this country’s philosophy.

I like people because they are the key to the great human values: love, charity, friendship, sacrifice, and brotherhood. Some of my closest friends are people whom I was at first hesitant to meet. What close calls. I feel sorry for those poor souls who must go through life not knowing their neighbors, not participating in groups or being active in causes, and when I meet persons who are not interested in people who are different—and of course, that’s everyone. Then I rededicate myself to this thing called society—a continuous living drama equal to anything Hollywood ever produced. I believe the more people you understand, the more you understand God.

I have had in my short life a multitude of illnesses, close calls, disappointments, sufferings, and personal crosses. But I honestly think I could have survived them better, and perhaps avoided some of them altogether, if I’d gotten away from an obsession with myself. This philosophy is not startling for its originality nor for its maturity. It is not the whole faith I have, for in this short space I omitted the necessities of religion, introspection, study, family, and the other fundamentals which are done without the crowd.

But my main point is that we do not live alone in this contracting globe unless the belief in belonging to the human race is most important now, with bomb tensions, rabid nationalism, and rampant suspicion. And when I see a hard-bitten lawyer happily planning an outing for blind children; when I watch men of great prestige and wealth put their efforts into brotherhood; when I observe men and women begin to grow out of their own little tiny shells by going into the world and maturing by knowing other peoples, other greater sorrows, other new shared joys; then I know that this is worth believing in.

参考译文

【Translation】

我的人生信条就一句话：我离自己越远，离上帝就越近。我的大多数烦恼都来自于我过于在乎那些不必要的小问题。我尊敬遁世者，羡慕那些改革者。他们的人生需要更多的勇气。我理解内向者和体弱多病者，但我不得不承认，他们的人生丢失了很多。

作为一个天主教徒，我深深地被阿西西和他的动物们感动着，但我更喜欢洛约拉和他的军队。没有谁的人生堪比湾光切斯特顿，他曾经这样说过“现在，美好的一天正在离我们远去，我可以拥有我的眼睛，耳朵，手，还有这个美好的世界，我知道新的一天即将来临，但是为什么我可以拥有这2天呢？”

现在的年轻人度年如日，我就是一个很好的例子。我已经结婚6年了，有2个小孩，一个美好的家庭，而且，最近我刚刚被我的大学——商会犹太社区嘉奖。我是一个有名的人事所地区负责人。我也曾经经历多很多疾痛，经历过战争，在报社做过，甚至环游了整个美国和大半个地球。我从一所名校毕业，经营自己的广告公司，还有过3年在通用电气的管理经验。我的两个弟弟相继去世了，之后我在肺结核疗养院呆过一年。

现在，我可以利用我的丰富的人生经历，但是我刚刚跨过30岁的门槛，以前的很多经历在过去来说都是没有好处的。我也终于发现，人的一生当中20到30岁这段时间，是整个人生的奠基石，是拥有一个丰富的完好的人生的保证。我深深地记得，Jefferson和Hamilton这两个年轻人，他们的思想就牢牢地嵌入了这个国家的哲学。

我喜欢接触他人，因为他们是我了解人性价值的关键：爱，慈善，友谊，牺牲和兄弟情谊。我的朋友有一部分，在最开始的时候，我不不是很愿意去接触的。这都是一种侥幸。对于那些一辈子都不知道自己邻居是谁，从来不参加社团活动，在课堂上从来不积极，从来没试着去了解与自己想法不一致的人，我真的感到很难过。所以我要把自己贡献给这个所谓的社会，这部绝不亚于任何好莱坞大片的人生剧。我坚信，你了解的人越多，你与上帝的距离就越短。

在我的一生当中，我经历过无数次的病痛，危机，失望，难受和迷茫。但是我真诚地相信，如果我不曾那样地沉迷于自己的世界，我完全可以处理的更好，有些问题我甚至可以避免它们的发生。这个道理与创造性与成熟性无关。这不是我完全的信仰，因为在这些短暂的时间段当中，我跳过了宗教，学习，家庭和其他自己可以一个人去做的最基本的事。

但是我的主要观点是在这个相互交流的，充满炸弹，民族主义和怀疑精神的世界，我们不是独立地生活着，除非作为一个人这个信念是最重要的。当我看到一个顽强的律师带着一群失明的孩童出去郊游，当我看到拥有富贵和权耀的人致力于帮助自己的同胞时，当我看到越来越多的男男女女走出自己的小屋，试着接触越来越多的陌生人的悲喜，我知道这一切是值得相信的。

听力破解

【Listening】

1.本篇文章开始的时候主要讲的是作者的人生态度，包括他的“credo”（人生信条），I sympathize with the introvert as I would with the sickly, but both are missing a lot of life.这里有一个词可能会阻听力的进行：introvert，这个词有“内向的；不喜欢交往的 ”的意思，是一个形容词；即使我们不知道introvert的意思，下文紧接着提到“sickly多病的”，联系前文的sympathize（同情），我们可以很快推断出introvert在这里是与sickly相并列的“弱者”。

2.第二段当中出现了两个专有名词，即Assisi和Loyola，文中说As a Catholic, I am touched by Assisi and his animals, but Loyola and his army fascinate me.这里如果感到完全陌生，也不会影响理解全文，因为我们可以通过前文的As a Catholic（作为一个天主教徒） ，知道这两个词是与宗教有关的。

3.倒数第二段当中的This philosophy is not startling for its originality nor for its maturity.中的This philosophy。通过前文But I honestly think I could have survived them better, and perhaps avoided some of them altogether, if I’d gotten away from an obsession with myself. 可以推断出，这里的philosophy就是指出上一句话。在英语里这些指示代词，经常用到，要练习上下文才知道究竟指代的是什么。所以听力要贯穿全文，提纲挈领地记住最重要的信息。

口语要点

【Oral English】

1.To sum up my credo in a sentence: The farther away I get from myself, the nearer I get to God. Most of my troubles came when I was obsessed with my own petty concerns and trivial details.
我的人生信条就一句话：我离自己越远，离上帝就越近。我的大多数烦恼都来自于我过于在乎那些不必要的小问题。

这句话当中的credo表示：a set of beliefs, principles, or opinions that strongly influence the way a person lives or works. 信条。例如：To be the first to bear hardship and the last to enjoy comfort is our credo.
吃苦在前，享受在后，这就是我们的口号。

be obsessed with是“痴迷 ”的意思，

如：Some women are obsessed with/by the need to keep their home as clean as a hospital.
有些妇女一心想要把她们的家保持得像医院一样洁净。

That was a close call, the train nearly hit the car.
好险，火车差一点就撞上那部车子

（可可英语版权所有,未经允许请勿转载）