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英语美文-Wake up your life

时间:2009-12-22 08:29:18

(单词翻译:单击)

Years ago, when I started looking for my first job, wise advisers1 urged, "Barbara, be enthusiastic热心的,热情的! Enthusiasm will take you further than any amount of experience." How right they were.

Enthusiastic people can turn a boring drive into an adventure, extra work into opportunity and strangers into friends. "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm," wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. It is the paste糊状物,浆糊 that helps you hang on there when the going gets tough. It is the inner voice that whispers, "I can do it!" when others shout, "No, you can't!"

It took years and years for the early work of Barbara McClintock, a geneticist遗传学者 who won the 1983 Nobel Prize in medicine, to be generally accepted. Yet she didn't let up on her experiments. Work was such a deep pleasure for her that she never thought of stopping.

We are all born with wide-eyed, enthusiastic wonder -- as anyone knows who has ever seen an infant's delight at the jingle2叮当声 of keys or the scurrying3急跑,短距离赛跑 of a beetle4甲虫. It is this childlike wonder that gives enthusiastic people such a youthful air, whatever their age.

At 90, cellist5 Pablo Casals would start his day by playing Bach. As the music flowed through his fingers, his stooped shoulders would straighten and joy would reappear in his eyes. Music, for Casals, was an elixir6万能药,不老长生药 that made life a never-ending adventure.

As author and poet Samuel Ullman once wrote, "Years wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul." How do you rediscover the enthusiasm of your childhood? The answer, I believe, lies in the word itself. Enthusiasm comes from the Greek and means "God within." And what is God within is but an abiding7 sense of love -- proper love of self and, from that, love of others.

Enthusiastic people also love what they do, regardless of money or title or power. Patricia McIlrath, retired8 director of the Missouri Repertory Theater in Kansas City, was once asked where she got her enthusiasm. She replied, "My father, a lawyer, long ago told me, `I never made a dime9一角硬币 until I stopped working for money.'" If we cannot do what we love as a full-time10 career, we can as a part-time avocation嗜好,业余爱好: like the head of state who paints, the nun11 who runs marathons.

Elizabeth Layton of Wellsville, Kan., was 68 before she began to draw. This activity ended bouts12 of depression that had plagued折磨,困扰 her for at least 30 years, and the quality of her work led one critic to say, "I am tempted13 to call Layton a genius." Elizabeth has rediscovered her enthusiasm.

We can't afford to waste tears on "might-have-beens." We need to turn the tears into sweat as we go after "what-can-be". We need to live each moment wholeheartedly全心全意地, with all our senses -- finding pleasure in the fragrance14香味,芬芳 of a back-yard garden, the crayoned以蜡笔作画 picture of a six-year-old, the enchanting15 beauty of a rainbow. It is such enthusiastic love of life that puts a sparkle in our eyes, a lilt in our steps and smooths the wrinkles from our souls.


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1 advisers d4866a794d72d2a666da4e4803fdbf2e     
顾问,劝告者( adviser的名词复数 ); (指导大学新生学科问题等的)指导教授
参考例句:
  • a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
  • She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。
2 jingle RaizA     
n.叮当声,韵律简单的诗句;v.使叮当作响,叮当响,押韵
参考例句:
  • The key fell on the ground with a jingle.钥匙叮当落地。
  • The knives and forks set up their regular jingle.刀叉发出常有的叮当声。
3 scurrying 294847ddc818208bf7d590895cd0b7c9     
v.急匆匆地走( scurry的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • We could hear the mice scurrying about in the walls. 我们能听见老鼠在墙里乱跑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • We were scurrying about until the last minute before the party. 聚会开始前我们一直不停地忙忙碌碌。 来自辞典例句
4 beetle QudzV     
n.甲虫,近视眼的人
参考例句:
  • A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
  • He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。
5 cellist CU9yp     
n.大提琴手
参考例句:
  • The cellist's bowing was very sensitive . 那位大提琴手的弓法十分细腻。 来自辞典例句
  • World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded The Silk Road Project in 1998. 世界闻名的大提琴家马友友于1998年创建了丝路工程。 来自互联网
6 elixir cjAzh     
n.长生不老药,万能药
参考例句:
  • There is no elixir of life in the world.世界上没有长生不老药。
  • Keep your mind awake and active;that's the only youth elixir.保持头脑清醒和灵活便是保持年轻的唯一灵丹妙药。
7 abiding uzMzxC     
adj.永久的,持久的,不变的
参考例句:
  • He had an abiding love of the English countryside.他永远热爱英国的乡村。
  • He has a genuine and abiding love of the craft.他对这门手艺有着真挚持久的热爱。
8 retired Njhzyv     
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的
参考例句:
  • The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
  • Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。
9 dime SuQxv     
n.(指美国、加拿大的钱币)一角
参考例句:
  • A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
  • The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。
10 full-time SsBz42     
adj.满工作日的或工作周的,全时间的
参考例句:
  • A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
  • I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作,我不知道她是如何对付的。
11 nun THhxK     
n.修女,尼姑
参考例句:
  • I can't believe that the famous singer has become a nun.我无法相信那个著名的歌星已做了修女。
  • She shaved her head and became a nun.她削发为尼。
12 bouts 2abe9936190c45115a3f6a38efb27c43     
n.拳击(或摔跤)比赛( bout的名词复数 );一段(工作);(尤指坏事的)一通;(疾病的)发作
参考例句:
  • For much of his life he suffered from recurrent bouts of depression. 他的大半辈子反复发作抑郁症。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • It was one of fistiana's most famous championship bouts. 这是拳击界最有名的冠军赛之一。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
13 tempted b0182e969d369add1b9ce2353d3c6ad6     
v.怂恿(某人)干不正当的事;冒…的险(tempt的过去分词)
参考例句:
  • I was sorely tempted to complain, but I didn't. 我极想发牢骚,但还是没开口。
  • I was tempted by the dessert menu. 甜食菜单馋得我垂涎欲滴。
14 fragrance 66ryn     
n.芬芳,香味,香气
参考例句:
  • The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
  • The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。
15 enchanting MmCyP     
a.讨人喜欢的
参考例句:
  • His smile, at once enchanting and melancholy, is just his father's. 他那种既迷人又有些忧郁的微笑,活脱儿象他父亲。
  • Its interior was an enchanting place that both lured and frightened me. 它的里头是个吸引人的地方,我又向往又害怕。