A Grain of Sand
一粒沙子
William Blake/威廉.布莱克
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild fllower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
从一粒沙子看到一个世界，
从一朵野花看到一个天堂，
把握在你手心里的就是无限，
永恒也就消融于一个时辰。
Henry David Thoreau/享利.大卫.梭罗
However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The faultfinder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poorhouse. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. May be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving. Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means. Which should be more disreputable. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends, Turn the old, return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。
These Things Shall Never Die
这些美好不会消逝
Charles Dickens/查尔斯.狄更斯
The pure. the bright, the beautiful, 一切纯洁的,辉煌的,美丽的,
That stirred our hearts in youth, 强烈地震撼着我们年轻的心灵的,
The impulses to wordless prayer, 推动着我们做无言的祷告的,
The dreams of love and truth; 让我们梦想着爱与真理的;
The longing after something's lost, 在失去后为之感到珍惜的,
The spirit's yearning cry, 使灵魂深切地呼喊着的,
The striving after better hopes- 为了更美好的梦想而奋斗着的-
These things can never die. 这些美好不会消逝。
The timid hand stretched forth to aid 羞怯地伸出援助的手，
A brother in his need, 在你的弟兄需要的时候，
A kindly word in grief's dark hour 伤恸、困难的时候，一句亲切的话
That proves a friend indeed ; 就足以证明朋友的真心；
The plea for mercy softly breathed, 轻声地乞求怜悯，
When justice threatens nigh, 在审判临近的时候，
The sorrow of a contrite heart- 懊悔的心有一种伤感--
These things shall never die. 这些美好不会消逝。
Let nothing pass for every hand 在人间传递温情
Must find some work to do ; 尽你所能地去做；
Lose not a chance to waken love- 别错失去了唤醒爱的良机-----
Be firm, and just ,and true; 为人要坚定，正直，忠诚；
So shall a light that cannot fade 因此上方照耀着你的那道光芒
Beam on thee from on high. 就不会消失。
And angel voices say to thee---你将听到天使的声音在说-----
These things shall never die. 这些美好不会消逝。
Think it over……好好想想……
Today we have higher buildings and wider highways, but shorter temperaments and narrower points of view;
今天我们拥有了更高层的楼宇以及更宽阔的公路，但是我们的性情却更为急躁，眼光也更加狭隘；
We spend more, but enjoy less;
我们消耗的更多，享受到的却更少；
We have bigger houses, but smaller families;
我们的住房更大了，但我们的家庭却更小了；
We have more compromises, but less time;
我们妥协更多，时间更少；
We have more knowledge, but less judgment;
我们拥有了更多的知识，可判断力却更差了；
We have more medicines, but less health;
我们有了更多的药品，但健康状况却更不如意；
We have multiplied out possessions, but reduced out values;
我们拥有的财富倍增，但其价值却减少了；
We talk much, we love only a little, and we hate too much;
我们说的多了，爱的却少了，我们的仇恨也更多了；
We reached the Moon and came back, but we find it troublesome to cross our own street and meet our neighbors;
我们可以往返月球，但却难以迈出一步去亲近我们的左邻右舍；
We have conquered the uter space, but not our inner space;
我们可以征服外太空，却征服不了我们的内心；
We have higher income, but less morals;
我们的收入增加了，但我们的道德却少了；
These are times with more liberty, but less joy;
我们的时代更加自由了，但我们拥有的快乐时光却越来越少；
We have much more food, but less nutrition;
我们有了更多的食物，但所能得到的营养却越来越少了；
These are the days in which it takes two salaries for each home, but divorces increase;
现在每个家庭都可以有双份收入，但离婚的现象越来越多了；
These are times of finer houses, but more broken homes;
现在的住房越来越精致，但我们也有了更多破碎的家庭；
That's why I propose, that as of today;
这就是我为什么要说，让我们从今天开始；
You do not keep anything for a special occasion because every day that you live is a SPECIAL OCCASION.
不要将你的东西为了某一个特别的时刻而预留着，因为你生活的每一天都是那么特别；
Search for knowledge, read more, sit on your porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs;
寻找更我的知识，多读一些书，坐在你家的前廊里，以赞美的眼光去享受眼前的风景，不要带上任何功利的想法；
Spend more time with your family and friends, eat your favorite foods, visit the places you love;
花多点时间和朋友与家人在一起，吃你爱吃的食物，去你想去的地方；
Life is a chain of moments of enjoyment; not only about survival;
生活是一串串的快乐时光；我们不仅仅是为了生存而生存；
Use your crystal goblets. Do not save your best perfume, and use it every time you feel you want it.
举起你的水晶酒杯吧。不要吝啬洒上你最好的香水，你想用的时候就享用吧！
Remove from your vocabulary phrases like” one of these days” or "someday";
从你的词汇库中移去所谓的“有那么一天”或者“某一天”；
Let's write that letter we thought of writing "one of these days"!
曾打算“有那么一天”去写的信，就在今天吧！
Let's tell our families and friends how much we love them;
告诉家人和朋友，我们是多么地爱他们；
Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life;
不要延迟任何可以给你的生活带来欢笑与快乐的事情；
Every day, every hour, and every minute is special;
每一天、每一小时、每一分钟都是那么特别；
And you don't know if it will be your last.
你无从知道这是否最后刻。
The life I desired
我所追求的生活
威廉.萨姆塞特.毛姆/William Somerset Maugham
That must be the story of innumerable couples, and the pattern of life of life it offers has a homely grace. It reminds you of a placid rivulet, meandering smoothly through green pastures and shaded by pleasant trees, till at last it falls into the vastly sea; but the sea is so calm, so silent, so indifferent, that you are troubled suddenly by a vague uneasiness. Perhaps it is only by a kink in my nature, strong in me even in those days, that I felt in such an existence, the share of the great majority, something amiss. I recognized its social value. I saw its ordered happiness, but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course. There seemed to me something alarming in such easy delights. In my heart was desire to live more dangerously. I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous, shoals it I could only have change-change and the excitement of unforeseen.
这一定是世间无数对夫妻的生活写照，这种生活模式给人一种天伦之美。它使人想起一条平静的溪流，蜿蜒畅游过绿茵的草场，浓荫遮蔽，最后注入烟波浩渺的汪洋大海；但是大海太过平静，太过沉默，太过不动声色，你会突然感到莫名的不安。也许这只是我自己的一种怪诞想法，在那样的时代，这想法对我影响很深：我觉得这像大多数人一样的生活，似乎欠缺了一点儿什么。我承认这种生活有社会价值，我也看到了它那井然有序的幸福，但我血液里的冲动却渴望一种更桀骜不驯的旅程．这样的安逸中好像有一种叫我惊惧不安的东西．我的心渴望一种更加惊险的生活。只要生活中还能有变迁———以及不可知的刺激，我愿意踏上怪石嶙峋的山崖，奔赴暗礁满布的海滩。
Virtue 美德
G.Herbert/赫伯特
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright! 甜美的白昼，如此凉爽、安宁、明媚！
The bridal of the earth and sky- 天地间完美的匹配-----
The dew shall weep thy fall to-night; 今宵的露珠儿将为你的消逝而落泪；
For thou must die. 因为你必须离去。
Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave, 美丽的玫瑰，色泽红润艳丽，
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye, 令匆匆而过的人拭目而视，
Thy root is ever in its grave, 你的根永远扎在坟墓里，
And thou must die. 而你必须消逝。
Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses, 美妙的春天，充满了美好的日子和芳香的玫瑰，
A box where sweets compacted lie, 如一支芬芳满溢的盒子，
My music shows ye have your closes, 我的音乐表明你们也有终止，
And all must die, 万物都得消逝。
Only a sweet and virtuous soul, 唯有美好而正直的心灵，
Like season’s timber, never gives; 犹如干燥备用的木料，永不走样；
But though the whole world turn to coal, 纵然整个世界变为灰烬，
Then chiefly lives. 它依然流光溢彩。
The Rainy Day
雨天
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 亨利.沃兹渥斯.朗费罗
The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.
My life is cold and dark and dreary;
It rains and the wind is never weary;
My though still cling to the moldering past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
And the days are dark and dreary.
Be still, sad heart! And cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,
Some days must be dark and dreary.
天冷、阴暗、沉闷；
下着雨，风也刮个不停；
藤还攀附着颓垣残壁，
每来一阵狂风，枯叶附落纷纷，
天真是阴暗而沉闷。
我的生活寒冷、阴郁、沉闷；
下着雨，风也刮个不停；
我的思想还纠缠着消逝的往事，
大风里，我的青春希望相继熄灭，
天真是阴暗而沉闷。
安静吧，忧伤的心！别再悔恨；
乌云后面太阳依然辉煌灿烂；
你命运和大家的一样，
每个人一生都得逢上阴雨，
有些日子必然阴暗而沉闷。
参考资料：http://365myth.com/article.asp?id=910