By Anonymous
The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature. It is a moral quality. The absence of it is not an assured ground of condemnation, but the presence of it is an invariable sign of goodness of heart. In proportion to the degree in which it is felt will probably be the degree in which nobleness and beauty of character will be attained.
Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence. The universe is its temple. It unfolds into the numberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of trees and the green blades of grass. It haunts the depths of the earth and the sea. It gleams from the hues of the shell and the precious stone. And not only these minute objects but the oceans, the mountains, the clouds, the stars, the rising and the setting sun ---- all overflow our tenderest and noblest feelings, that it is painful to think of the multitude of people living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost blind to it.
All persons should seek to become acquainted with the beauty in nature. There is not a worm we tread upon , nor a leaf that dances merrily as it falls before the autumn winds, but calls for our study and admiration. The power to appreciate beauty not merely increases our sources of happiness ---- it enlarges our moral nature, too. Beauty calms our restlessness and dispels our cares. Go into the fields or the woods, spend a summer day by the sea or the mountains, and all your little perplexities and anxieties will vanish. Listen to sweet music, and your foolish fears and petty jealousies will pass away. The beauty of the world helps us to seek and find to beauty of goodness.
Vocabulary:
· condemnation n. 責難，譴責
· condemn vt. 責難，將….判刑
· nobleness n. 高尚，高貴
· all-pervading a.遍布的
· unfold vi.展現
· unfold into … 漸漸開展為
· haunt vt.出沒於；不斷糾纏
· gleam vi.發微光，閃爍
· congenial a.適合的；適意的
· multitude n. 許多，大批
· midst n. 中間
· leaf n. 樹葉(複數為leaves)
· leafy a. 多業的；葉滿枝的
· merrily adv. 快樂的；愉快的
· call for… 需要…
· restlessness n. 浮躁，不安
· dispel vt.驅逐，驅散
· perplexity n.困惑
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A Key to Happiness
By James T. Mangan
To help others, you don’t have to be an efficient expert in the art; the main thing is the intention. You may be crude and clumsy, wasteful and ineffective, but if you sincerely try to help, your attempt produces nothing but good. The one you are trying to help knows your intention and is strengthened and encouraged by the magic of your sharing. In nearly every case, your simple desire to help, converted into action, produces the good sought. But perhaps the greatest good is the good that you yourself get out of the attempt. Service to others delivers more joy to you than the joy you deliver to them. In doing good, you free yourself from the terrible burden of self; you escape from yourself into a clean world of joy and light. The good you simply try to do, regardless of the outcome, is always a success inside yourself.
Unselfish giving is your most efficient formula for happiness, for you have embraced Eternity instead of Self; you have felt Life, and you are now the world bigger than you were before you began the project.
Vocabulary:
· crude a.粗魯的，粗俗的
· clumsy a. 笨拙的
· in an attempt to V
· attempt to V
· nothing but + N = only N 除了….都沒；只有/是
· convert A into B 將A轉變為B
· 人+ convert to + 宗教 某人皈依某宗教
· embrace vt. 擁抱
· eternity n.永恆；漫長的時間
· eternal a.永恆的
To help others, you don’t have to be an efficient expert in the art; the main thing is the intention. You may be crude and clumsy, wasteful and ineffective, but if you sincerely try to help, your attempt produces nothing but good. The one you are trying to help knows your intention and is strengthened and encouraged by the magic of your sharing. In nearly every case, your simple desire to help, converted into action, produces the good sought. But perhaps the greatest good is the good that you yourself get out of the attempt. Service to others delivers more joy to you than the joy you deliver to them. In doing good, you free yourself from the terrible burden of self; you escape from yourself into a clean world of joy and light. The good you simply try to do, regardless of the outcome, is always a success inside yourself.
Unselfish giving is your most efficient formula for happiness, for you have embraced Eternity instead of Self; you have felt Life, and you are now the world bigger than you were before you began the project.
Vocabulary:
· crude a.粗魯的，粗俗的
· clumsy a. 笨拙的
· in an attempt to V
· attempt to V
· nothing but + N = only N 除了….都沒；只有/是
· convert A into B 將A轉變為B
· 人+ convert to + 宗教 某人皈依某宗教
· embrace vt. 擁抱
· eternity n.永恆；漫長的時間
· eternal a.永恆的
Friendship
By Orison Swett Marden
No young man starting life could have better capital than plenty of friends. They will strengthen his credit, support him in every great effort, and make him what unaided, he could never be. Friends of the right sort will help him more ---- to be happy and successful ---- than much money or great learning.
Friendship is no one-sided affair. There can be no friendship without reciprocity. One cannot receive all and give nothing, or give all and receive nothing, and expect to experience the joy and fullness of true companionship.
Those who would make friends must cultivate the qualities which are admired and which attract. If you are mean, stingy and selfish, nobody will admire you. You must cultivate generosity and large-heartedness; you must be magnanimous and tolerant; you must have positive qualities, for a negative shrinking, apologizing, roundabout man is despised. You must believe in yourself. If you do not, others will not believe in you. You must look upward and be hopeful, cheery, and optimistic. No one will be attracted to a gloomy pessimist.
Vocabulary:
· capital n. 資金，資本；首都 a. 大寫的
· capitalize vt. 用大寫字母寫 vi. 利用(與介詞 on 並用)
· lowercase a.小寫字體的
· a capital of + 金額 一筆….資金
· unaided a.無幫助的，無援助的
· aid sb in Ving = assist sb in Ving = help sb (to) V
· one-sided a.單方面的
· reciprocity n. 互惠
· cultivate vt. 培養
· stingy a.吝嗇的，小氣的
· generosity a.寬大，慷慨
· magnanimous a.寬宏大量的，有雅量的
· tolerant a. 寬容的，寬大的
· roundabout a. 迂迴的
· despise vt.輕蔑，瞧不起
· optimistic a. 樂觀的 optimist
· pessimistic a. 悲觀的 pessimist
· be optimistic/ pessimistic about
· gloomy a.憂鬱的；黯淡的
No young man starting life could have better capital than plenty of friends. They will strengthen his credit, support him in every great effort, and make him what unaided, he could never be. Friends of the right sort will help him more ---- to be happy and successful ---- than much money or great learning.
Friendship is no one-sided affair. There can be no friendship without reciprocity. One cannot receive all and give nothing, or give all and receive nothing, and expect to experience the joy and fullness of true companionship.
Those who would make friends must cultivate the qualities which are admired and which attract. If you are mean, stingy and selfish, nobody will admire you. You must cultivate generosity and large-heartedness; you must be magnanimous and tolerant; you must have positive qualities, for a negative shrinking, apologizing, roundabout man is despised. You must believe in yourself. If you do not, others will not believe in you. You must look upward and be hopeful, cheery, and optimistic. No one will be attracted to a gloomy pessimist.
Vocabulary:
· capital n. 資金，資本；首都 a. 大寫的
· capitalize vt. 用大寫字母寫 vi. 利用(與介詞 on 並用)
· lowercase a.小寫字體的
· a capital of + 金額 一筆….資金
· unaided a.無幫助的，無援助的
· aid sb in Ving = assist sb in Ving = help sb (to) V
· one-sided a.單方面的
· reciprocity n. 互惠
· cultivate vt. 培養
· stingy a.吝嗇的，小氣的
· generosity a.寬大，慷慨
· magnanimous a.寬宏大量的，有雅量的
· tolerant a. 寬容的，寬大的
· roundabout a. 迂迴的
· despise vt.輕蔑，瞧不起
· optimistic a. 樂觀的 optimist
· pessimistic a. 悲觀的 pessimist
· be optimistic/ pessimistic about
· gloomy a.憂鬱的；黯淡的
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