有什麼適合大聲朗讀、文筆優美的英文散文？

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準備做口譯，老師希望能找一些寫得優美的英文散文來讀，鍛煉口語流暢度和對英語的感覺，有什麼推薦的作者以及作品集嗎？

Pumas are large, cat-like animals which are found in America....

不要再贊了讓我這個強迫症根本沒辦法好好的看知乎了(??ˇ?ˇ??)

葛底斯堡演說。

謝邀。一早接到邀請，一直在找靜靜拖到今天。
說到朗讀，又說到散文，我第一想到的就是伍爾夫和王爾德。兩位的essay都近於詩體散文，讀書之雜，辭藻之美，語出之犀利，一直是數一數二的。在之前的一些回答里也說過，聽了幾年的BBC drama，深深覺得伍爾夫的東西真的要讀出來才能品味到。

1、王爾德的散文詩（online audio）：
Le Jardin Des Tuileries
Impressions | Selected American and British Poems
Humanitad | Selected American and British Poems
The Ballad of Reading Gaol

2、毒舌少年寫過的The Picture of Dorian Gray的序言（Preface）《論藝術》也是深入我心吶：
THE ARTIST Is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is art"s aim.

The critic is he who can translate into another manner or a new material his impression of beautiful things. The highest, as the lowest, form of criticism is a mode of autobiography.

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault. Those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated. For these there is a hope. They are the elect to whom beautiful things mean only Beauty.

There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written, or badly written. That"s all.

The nineteenth-century dislike of Realism is the rage of Caliban seeing his own face in a glass. The nineteenth-century dislike of Romanticism is the rage of Caliban not seeing his own face in a glass.

The moral life of man forms part of the subject-matter of the artist, but the morality of art consists in the perfect use of an imperfect medium.

No artist desires to prove anything. Even things tha are true can be proved. No artist has ethical sympathies. An ethical sympathy in an artist is an unpardonable mannerism of style.

No artist is ever morbid. The artist can express everything.

Thought and language are to the artist instrumants of an art.

Vice and virture are to the materials for an art. From the point of view of form, the type of all the arts is the art of the musician. From the point of view of feeling, the actor"s craft is the type.

All art is at once surface and symbol.

Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.

Those who read the symbol do so at their peril. It is the spectator, and not life, that art really mirrors.

Dversity of opinion about a work of art shows that the work is new, complex and vital.

When critics disagree the artist is in accord with himself.

We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely.

All art is quite useless.

3、伍爾夫
A Room of One"s Own
Death of a Moth ：從前的精讀課文。伍爾夫用詞之豐富精細可見一斑。
The Common Reader
Modern Fiction
Orlando （其實是傳記，但是強烈推薦）

4、再推薦一個蔣宋美齡女士1943年美國國會演講，人生巔峰，震動全美。這篇演講的中文翻譯也非常好：宋美齡1943年美國國會演講視頻：戰爭無法讓中國屈膝（雙語）
I can also assure you that China is eager and ready to cooperate with you and other peoples to lay a true and lasting foundation for a sane and progressive world society which would make it impossible for any arrogant or predatory neighbor to plunge future generations into another orgy of blood.
余亦能確告諸君，吾人渴望並準備與諸君及其他民族合作，共同奠定一種真實與持久之基礎，以建設一合理而進步之世界社會，使任何恣肆驕狂或劫掠成性之鄰國，不復能使後世之人，再遭流血之慘劇。

宋美齡女士講英文不快，但極有頓挫，有腔有調，風采飛揚。寫英文更是用詞精緻，文雅而有力。美聯社的記者說她的咬字(articulation)比撒切爾夫人還要好。
宋美齡曾秀流利英文被鳥聲引笑場爭取婦女權利講話
http://baidu.v.ifeng.com/watch/04052751365577329702.html?page=videoMultiNeed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y_hBFH-dTY 國會、紐約、洛杉磯演講。

如其抗戰演講所說，「Man』s mettle is tested both in adversity and in success. Twice is this true of the soul of a nation. 個人之品德，於困厄中驗之，亦於成功中驗之。以言一國之精神，倍加真確。」

評論里有人要求增加幾篇，我把Born to win 的那三十篇文章鏈接放在下面，有需要的可以下載.

http://pan.baidu.com/s/1bRgR0M

在平時的英語閱讀過程中，我偏愛文風華麗而又不失思想性的文章（顏值高還有腦子簡直無敵）。文風華麗不在於甩出多少艱深晦澀的「高級辭彙」，讓讀者不明覺厲；也不是為了炫技而刻意地嵌套了多少複雜的句型。好的文章要做到通順暢達，用英語說就是「just keep it flow」，文字要絲滑地流淌出來。（哈哈，德芙廣告附體）

好的文章同時還要具備思想性，或能啟迪讀者的思考，或能給讀者信念。（雖然這樣的文章難免被雞湯化）

基於以上兩點，我分享兩篇文章，和大家一起品味欣賞。

第一篇：來自西方神秘財團洛克菲勒家族的家訓。這篇文章流露出西方資本主義家族無比高尚的人格信條，每一句都是座右銘級別的金句，大部分內容在抒情，稍顯空洞，但是用詞方面很有水準，辭彙難度不超過大學英語六級，卻字字珠璣，簡單易學，特別適合背誦。

Our family creed

They are the principles on which my wife and I have tried to bring up my family. They are the principles in which my father believed, and by which he governed his life. They are the principles, many of them, which I learned at my mother"s knee.

They point the way to usefulness and happiness in life , to courage and peace in death.

If they mean to you what they mean to me, they may perhaps be helpful also to our sons for their guidance and inspiration.

Let me state them:

I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and his right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility, every opportunity, an obligation, every possession, a duty.

I believe that the law was made for the man, but not man for the law. The government is the servant of the people, but not their master.

I believe in the dignity of the labor, whether with head or hand. That the world owns no man a living, but that it owns every man an opportunity to make a living.

I believe that thrift is essential to well-ordered living and economy is a prime requisite of sound financial structure, whether in government, business or personal affairs.

I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise, that a man"s word should be as good as his bond, that character- not wealth, power and position- is of supreme worth.

I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind, that only in the purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of the human soul set free.

I believe in an all-wise and all-loving god, named by whatever name, and that the individual"s highest fulfillment, greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living in harmony with his will.

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world, that it alone can overcome hate, that right can and will triumph over might.

These are the principles, however formulated, for which all good men and women throughout the world, irrespective of race or creed, education, social position or occupation, are standing, and for which many of them are suffering and dying.

These are the principles upon which alone a new world recognizing the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of god can be established.

這些信條是我和夫人持家育子所依據的原則，是父親深信不移並據以立身處世的信念，其中很多也是母親對我的諄諄教誨。這些信條告訴人們如何快樂而有所作為地活著，也告訴人們如何勇敢而安詳地面對死亡。如果這些信條對大家也同樣適用，它們或許也能讓我們的子女從中得到指引和鼓舞。這些信條我陳述如下：我相信，個人擁有無上的價值，擁有生存、自由和追求幸福的權利。我相信，每一項權利都伴隨著一種職責；每一個機會都伴隨著一份義務；每一次擁有都伴隨著一種責任。我相信，法律為人而制，而非人為法律而生；政府是人民的公僕，而非人民的主人。我相信，無論體力勞動還是腦力勞動都是高尚的；世界不會讓人不勞而獲，而會給人—次謀生的機會。我相信，無論在政府、商業還是個人事務中，勤儉節約都是合理安排生活之基本要素，而經濟適用是健全的金融機制之必需。我相信，真理和正義是任何一個長治久安的社會秩序之基礎。我相信，承諾是神聖的；我也相信，假如人的言語能和契約同樣可靠，那麼這種品質—而非財富、權勢與身份地位——就具有至高無上的價值。我相信，人類共同的職責是有用地服務社會；只有在自我犧牲的煉火中，自私的沉渣才會被焚為灰燼，人類靈魂中的偉大情操才會顯現。我相信，有一位無所不知、大慈大悲的上帝存在——儘管人們對他的稱呼各不相同；人們能在與他的意志相和諧的生活過程中得到最高的滿足感、最大的幸福感，以及最廣博的成就感。我相信，世界上最偉大的事物就是愛；只有愛能夠戰勝仇恨，而真理能夠而且必定能擊敗強權。不管如何表述，以上這些信條就是全世界所有善良的人——不分種族、信仰、教育、社會地位或職業——所共同堅持的原則；而且正是為了這些原則，他們中許多人正飽受煎熬或瀕臨死亡。只有憑藉這些信條，人類才能建立起人人如手足、上帝如慈父的新世界。

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第二篇:這篇文章是黛安娜王妃車禍去世後，他的弟弟發表的悼詞，弟弟與黛安娜王妃的感情非常好，王妃逝世後他悲痛萬分，寫下了這篇悼詞，文章的中心思想就是誇黛安娜，順便表達一下懷念之情，這篇悼詞寫盡了黛安娜王妃的神態之美，舉止之美，精神之美，如何把自己摯愛的女人誇出一朵花來，我們都要向他的弟弟學習一個。
The tribute to Diana

I stand before you today the representative of a family in grief, in a country in mourning before a world in shock.

"We are all united not only in our desire to play our respects to Diana but rather in our need to do so. For such was her extraordinary appeal that the tens of millions of people taking part in this service all over the world via television and radio who never actually met her, feet that they too lost someone close to them in the early hours of Sunday morning. It is a more remarkable tribute to Diana than I can ever hope to offer her today.

Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity. All over the world, a standard bearer for the right of the truly downtrodden, a very British girl who transcend nationality. Someone with a natural nobility who was classless and who proved in the last year that she needed no royal title to continue to generate her particular brand of magic.

Today is our chance to say thank you for the way you brightened our lives, even though God granted you but half a life. We will all feel cheated always that you were taken from us so young and yet we must learn to be grateful that you came along at all. Only now that you are gone do we truly appreciate what we are now without and we want you to know that life without you is very, very difficult.

We have all despaired at our loss over the past week and only the strength of the message you gave us through your years of giving has afforded us the strength to more forward.

There is a temptation to rush to canonize your memory, there is no need to do so. You stand tall enough as a human being of unique qualities not to need to be seen as a saint. Indeed to sanctify your memory would be to miss out on the very core of your being, your wonderfully mischievous sense of humor, with a laugh that bent you double.

Your joy for life transmitted wherever your took your smile and the sparkle in those unforgettable eyes. Your boundless energy which you could barely contain.

But your greatest gift was you intuition and it was a gift you used wisely. This is what underpinned all your other wonderful attributes and if we look to analyze what it was about you that had such a wide appeal we find it in your instinctive feel for what was really important in all our lives.

Without your God-given sensitivity we would be immerse in greater ignorance at he anguish of Aides and HIV sufferers, the plight of the homeless, the isolation of lepers, the random destruction of landmines.

Diana explained to me once that it was her innermost feeling of suffering that made it possible for her to connect with her constituency of the rejected.

And here we come to another truth about her. For all the status, the glamour, the applause, Diana remained throughout a very insecure person at heart, almost childlike in her desire to do good for others so she could release herself from deep feeling of unworthiness of which her eating disorders were merely a symptom.

The world sensed this part of her character and cherished her for her vulnerability whilst admiring her for her honesty.

The last time I saw Diana was on July 1, her birthday in London, when typically she was not taking time to celebrate her special day with friends but was guest of honor at a special charity fund-raising evening. She sparkled of course, but I would rather cherish the days I spent with her in March when she came to visit me and my children in our home in South Africa. I am proud of the fact apart from when she was on display meeting President Mandela we managed to contrive to stop the ever-present paparazzi from getting a single picture of her that meant a lot to her.

There were days I will always treasure. It was as if we had been transported back to our childhood when we spent such an enormous amount of time together the two youngest in the family.

Fundamentally she had not changed at all from the big sister who mothered me as a baby, fought with me at school and endured those long train journeys between our parents" homes with me at weekends.

It is a tribute to her level-headedness and strength that despite the most bizarre-like life imaginable after her childhood, she remained intact, true to herself.

There is no doubt that she was looking for a new direction in her life at this away from England, mainly because of the treatment that she received at the hands of the newspapers. I don"t think she ever understood why her genuinely good intentions were sneered at by the media, why there appeared to be a permanent quest on their behalf to bring her down. It is baffling.

My own and only explanation is that genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum. It is a point to remember that of all the ironies about Diana, perhaps the greatest was this a girl given the name of the ancient goddess of hunting was, in the end, in the end, the most hunted person of the modern age.

She would want us today to pledge ourselves to protecting her beloved boys William and Harry from a similar fate and I do this here Diana on your behalf. We will not allow them to suffer the anguish that used regularly to drive you to tearful despair.

And beyond that, on behalf of your mother and sisters, I pledge that we, your blood family, will do all we can to continue the imaginative way in which you were steering these two exceptional young men so that their souls are not simply immersed by duty and tradition but can sing openly as you planned.

We fully respect the heritage into which they have both been born and will always respect and encourage, them in their royal role but we, like you, recognize the need for them, to experience as many different aspects of life as possible to arm them spiritually and emotionally for the years ahead. I know you would have expected nothing less from us.

William and Harry, we all cared desperately for you today. We are all chewed up with the sadness at the loss of a woman who was not even our mother. How great your suffering is, we cannot even imagine.

I would like to end by thanking God for the small mercies he has shown us at this dreadful time. For taking Diana at her most beautiful and radiant and when she had joy in her private life. About all we gibe thanks for the life of a woman I am so proud to be able to call my sister, the unique, the complex, the extraordinary and irreplaceable Diana whose beauty, both internal and external, will never be extinguished from our minds.

今天,我作為一個悲慟的家屬代表,站在你們面前,站在一個受到震驚的世界面前,站在一個舉國哀悼的國度里.

我們所有的人都連結在一起,不僅僅是因為我們十分想要向她表示敬意，而是因為我們需要這樣做.由於她的特殊強大的吸引力,全世界幾千萬人,甚至沒有見過她的人,今天都能夠通過電視收音機參加這個葬禮,他們都感到本星期天凌晨失去了一個可親的人.這個事實本身, 對黛安娜來說,就是比我今天希望表達的悼詞要強烈和深刻得多的殊榮.

在全世界,黛安娜是無私和人道的象徵,是同情心,責任心,風度和美麗的化身,是維護真正被踐踏的權益的旗手,是一個超越國界的真正的英國女孩,是一個帶有自然的高貴氣質的人,是一個不分階層的人.在最後一年裡,她已經證明,她不需什麼皇家頭銜也可以繼續發揮她那獨特的神奇力量.

借今天這個機會,我們要向你說聲謝謝,雖然上天只給了你一半的生命,但是你的榜樣照亮了我們的生活.我們常感到像受騙受欺似的,你那樣年輕,就離開了我們,然而我們必須學會感恩,你畢竟來過.今天,只是你走了我們才真正明白我們失去的是什麼.我們要你知道,沒有你的日子是多麼艱難.

一個星期以來,我們全家都生活在痛失親人的絕望中,惟有你多年慷慨留下的信心和力量才讓我們有力量繼續走下去.現在有股風潮,大家爭搶對你的回憶,實在沒有必要這樣做.作為一個有傑出品質的人,你已經站得很高了,你沒有必要被看作聖人.的確,聖化對你的回憶就是忽視你的最本質的東西.無論什麼時候,你那奇妙的,帶點調皮的,忍俊不禁的詼諧,你那令人難忘的微笑閃爍的眼神,總把生活的歡愉帶給別人,你旺盛不竭的精力好象剛剛是你身體所能容納的.

你最大的天賦是天生待人處事的賢淑,這個天賦你運用得那麼聰明和恰到好處.你的其它種種的優良品性就是從這個天性衍生出來的.如果我們試著分析你怎麼有這樣巨大的吸引力,我們就會找到答案,答案就在於你對我們大家生命中真正重要的東西有同情心.

如果沒有你那天賜的敏感,今天我們對艾滋病病人的痛苦,對無家可歸的人的窘境,對被地雷隨意殺傷的人的不幸,要冷漠得多.黛安娜有次對我說,她內心深處的痛苦使她有可能同那些被社會擯棄的人們往來.這是我們可以看到她身上的另一個事實,不管社會地位多麼顯赫,多麼光彩照人,不管人們怎樣頌揚,黛安娜內心始終是一個受損傷和沒有安全感的人,她像孩子似的竭力對別人做點好事,以解脫她內心深處的壓抑,她的飲食失調也是這種憂鬱心情的一個病症.全世界都感受到她性格中的這個部分.人們不僅緬懷她的真誠,更緬懷

她的被貶受挫的一面.

我最後一次見到黛安娜是今年7月1日在倫敦她的生日晚會上,那是很典型的一天,她沒有時間同朋友們一起慶賀自己的這個特別的日子,只是作為貴賓出席了一個為慈善籌款的晚會.那天她是光彩奪目的,但我覺得更珍貴的是今年3月我們在一起的日子,那時她來到南非我的家中,來看我和我的孩子們.我感到驕傲的是,那次她除了同曼德拉總統見面是在公眾場合外,我設法不讓那些糾纏的記者拍一張照片,她對此感到舒暢.

我珍視少時和她在一起的日子,我現在好像又回到了從前,我倆一起生活很多年的日子,我和她是家裡最小的兩個孩子.她基本上同小時候我心目中的黛安娜一樣,一點沒有改變.在學校里打架,忍受與我一同度過往返雙親各自家中的漫長的火車旅行.她性情溫存,內心堅定.在童年以後,即便身處複雜奇怪的環境,她總保持完整和自己的真實.

毫無疑問,她一直在找尋一個新生活方向,她不時說起要離開英國,主要是受不了報紙對她的圍攻.我想她始終不明白為什麼她的真誠善意會被傳媒扭曲嘲弄,為什麼周圍總有一股永遠把她拉倒的代表傳媒的勢力,這些確實令人難以理解.

我自己唯一的解釋,就是真正的善與美對那些位於道德光譜另一端的人來說,是一種威脅.但是,在一切有關黛安娜的嘲諷中,也許最大的諷刺是:一個女孩子,她的名字是古代狩獵女神(Diana),自己最後卻成為現代社會最受圍剿的一個人.她會要我們今天誓言保護她鍾愛的孩子威廉和哈里,免遭相同的命運.黛安娜,我在這裡代表你起誓,我們決不會讓他們遭受與你那種慣於把你逼到絕望落淚的苦難.

另外,我代表你母親和兩個姐姐起誓,我們,你的骨肉親人,將盡一切能力繼續走你那極富創意和深具愛心的道路,引導這兩個傑出孩子,讓他們的心靈不是束縛在職責的傳統中,而是能如你所期盼地自由地放聲歌唱.

我們完全尊重他們出生的傳統,我們也常尊重和鼓勵他們肩負王室成員的職責.但我們也像你一樣,認識到他們需要在盡量多的不同的生活層面上實踐,以使他們在精神和情感上得到武裝,能夠面對未來的挑戰.我知道你一定要我們做到這一點.

威謙和哈里,我們全家今天竭盡全力地愛護你們,我們大家正被失去親人的痛苦折磨,我們無法想像你們忍受的創痛是多麼的劇烈.最後,我要感謝天主,在這可怕的悲痛的同時,還是給了我們許多的安慰.感謝天主,在黛安娜最美麗,最放光彩的時刻,在她最快樂的時候將他帶走，最後我要感謝這個我驕傲地稱之為姐姐的女性的生命，感謝獨特的，難解的，非凡的，無可替代的黛安娜，她的美麗，無論內在還是外在，都在我的心中永存。

http://www.zhihu.com/question/27393206/answer/131754545

What I have lived for
by Bertrand Russell
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy –ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness--that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what- at last- I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible,led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness,poverty and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
我為何而生
羅素
三種單純而極其強烈的激情支配著我的一生，那就是：對於愛情的渴望，對於知識的尋求，以及對於人類苦難痛徹肺腑的憐憫。這些激情猶如狂風，把我伸展到絕望邊緣的深深苦海上空東拋西擲，使我的生活沒有定向。
我追求愛情，首先因為它令人銷魂，這令人銷魂的魅力使我常常樂意為了幾小時這樣的快樂而犧牲生活中的其他一切。我追求愛情，又因為它減輕孤獨感——那種一個顫抖的靈魂望著世界邊緣之外冰冷而無生命的無底深淵時所感到的可怕的孤獨。我追求愛情，還因為愛的結合使我在一種神秘的縮影中提前看到了聖者和詩人曾經想像過的天堂。這就是我所追求的，儘管人的生活似乎還不配享有它，但它畢竟是我終於找到的東西。
我以同樣的熱情追求知識。我想理解人類的心靈。我想了解星辰為何燦爛。我還試圖弄懂畢達哥拉斯學說的力量，是這種力量使數在無常之上高踞主宰地位。我在這方面略有成就，但不多。
愛情和知識只要存在，總是引我追尋天堂，但憐憫之心總能讓我回到現實當中。受饑荒煎熬的孩童，無辜者被壓迫者折磨，孤弱無助的老人在自己的兒子眼中變成可惡的累贅，以及世上觸目皆是孤獨、貧困和痛苦——這些都是對人類生活的嘲弄。我渴望能減少罪惡，可我做不到，於是我也感到痛苦。
這就是我的一生。我覺得這一生是值得活的。如果真有可能再給我一次機會，我將欣然再活一次。
【文言文版】
吾之三願
貝特蘭羅素
吾生三願，純樸卻激越：一曰渴望愛情，二曰求索知識，三曰悲憫吾類之無盡苦難。此三願，如疾風，迫吾無助飄零於苦水深海之上，直達絕望之彼岸。
吾求愛，蓋因其賜吾狂喜——狂喜之劇足令吾舍此生而享其片刻；吾求愛，亦因其可驅寂寞之感，吾人每生寂寞之情輒兢兢俯視天地之緣，而見絕望之無底深淵；吾求愛還因若得愛，即可窺視聖哲詩人所見之神秘天國。此吾生之所求，雖慮其之至美而恐終不為凡人所得，亦可謂吾之所得也。
吾求知亦懷斯激情。吾願聞人之所思，亦願知星之何以閃光……吾僅得此而已，無他。
愛與知并力，幾攜吾入天國之門，然終為悲憫之心拖拽未果。痛苦之吟常縈繞吾心：受飢餓之嬰，遭壓迫之民，為兒女遺棄之無助老叟，加之天下之孤寂、貧窮、苦痛，具令吾類之生難以卒睹。吾願窮畢生之力釋之，然終不能遂願，因亦悲極。
吾生若此而已，然吾頗感未枉此生；若得天允，當樂而重為之。

是時候把我珍藏的幾篇文章拿出來了：

1. Youth -- Samuel Vllman
作者塞繆爾年逾70才開始寫作，筆力練達老成，這篇《青春》一經發表便不脛而走，影響了非常多人，文章非常經典，建議珍藏背誦。

"Whether they are sixteen or seventy,there is in every being"s heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and starlike things and thoughts,the undaunted challenge of events,the unfailing childlike appetite for what is to come next, and the joy and the game of life."

2. Happiness Is a Journey -- Crystal Boyd

我非常喜歡的一篇文章，文章簡潔有力，朗朗上口，推薦每個人都去讀一讀。

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we』re frustrated that the kids aren』t old enough and we』ll be more content when they are. After that, we』re frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We』ll certainly be happy when they』re out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there』s no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. It』s best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said, 「For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.」

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with someone special, special enough to spend your time with…and remember that time waits for no one.

So, stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night, until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you』re off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until your song comes on, until you』ve had a drink, until you』ve sobered up, until you die, until you』re born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

網上曾流傳是Alfred D"Souza 神父的作品，後來考證其真實作者是 Crystal Boyd ,鏈接說明: Happiness is a Journey

從本文中也引申出了很多名句，比如下面這個：

3. When Love Beckons To You -- Kahlil Gibran
紀伯倫的名篇，這篇 When Love Beckons To You 出自其代表作《先知》(The Prophet)，初稿在他年僅15歲時出爐，並於1923 年直接用英文在美國出版，《先知》以一位智者臨別贈言的形式，論述愛與美，生與死，婚姻與家庭等一系列的人生和社會問題，充滿比喻和哲理的東方色彩。When Love Beckons To You 最著名的應該是這句：
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

4. On Studies -- Francis Bacon
培根的《論讀書》，字字珠璣，極富思辨色彩，下面這段話與諸君共勉：

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.「

5. Summer Sunrises on the Mississippi -- Mark Twain
馬克吐溫的名篇《密西西比河上夏天的日出》，文章短小精悍，動詞用得極其出色靈活，你們感受一下：

I had myself called with the four o"clock watch, mornings, for one cannot see too many summer sunrises on the Mississippi. They are enchanting.First, there is the eloquence of silence; for a deep hush broods everywhere.Next, there is the haunting sense of loneliness, isolation, remoteness from the worry and bustle of the world.The dawn creeps in stealthily; the solid walls of black forest soften to gray, and vast stretches of the river open up and reveal themselves; the water is glass-smooth, gives off spectral little wreaths of white mist, there is not the faintest breath of wind, nor stir of leaf; the tranquillity is profound and infinitely satisfying. Then a bird pipes up, another follows, and soon the pipings develop into a jubilant riot of music.You see none of the birds; you simply move through an atmosphere of song which seems to sing itself.When the light has become a little stronger, you have one of the fairest and softest pictures imaginable. You have the intense green of the massed and crowded foliage near by; you see it paling shade by shade in front of you; upon the next projecting cape, a mile off or more, the tint has lightened to the tender young green of spring; the cape beyond that one has almost lost color, and the furthest one, miles away under the horizon, sleeps upon the water a mere dim vapor, and hardly separable from the sky above it and about it.And all this stretch of river is a mirror, and you have the shadowy reflections of the leafage and the curving shores and the receding capes pictured in it. Well, that is all beautiful; soft and rich and beautiful; and when the sun gets well up, and distributes a pink flush here and a powder of gold yonder and a purple haze where it will yield the best effect, you grant that you have seen something that is worth remembering.

6. The Joys of Writing -- Winston Churchill
丘吉爾的《寫作的樂趣》，其中有一段廣為流傳：

」To my mind, to be able to make your work your pleasure is the one class distinction in the world worth striving for; and I do not wonder that others are inclined to envy those happy human beings who find their livelihood in the gay effusions of their fancy, to whom every hour of labour is an hour of enjoyment, to whom repose—however necessary—is a tiresome interlude. And even a holiday is almost deprivation. Whether a man writes well or ill, has much to say or little, if he cares about writing at all, he will appreciate the pleasures of composition. 「

7. Blood,Toil,Tears and Sweat -- Winston L. S. Churchill

1940年5月8日，由於前首相張伯倫遭到不信任質疑動議，被迫辭職。5月10日下午6時，國王召見丘吉爾，令其組閣；一小時後丘吉爾會見工黨領袖艾德禮，邀請工黨加入內閣並獲得支持。3天後丘吉爾首次以首相身份出席下議院會議，發表了著名的講話: Blood,Toil,Tears and Sweat .

」你們問：我們的目的是什麼？我可以用一個詞來答覆：勝利，不惜一切代價去爭取勝利，無論多麼恐怖也要爭取勝利，無論道路多麼遙遠艱難，也要爭取勝利，因為沒有勝利就無法生存」，「下議院最終以381票對0票的絕對優勢表明了對丘吉爾政府的支持。 " I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat." 即出自此文。

We are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history.... That we are in action at many points—in Norway and in Holland—, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean. That the air battle is continuous, and that many preparations have to be made here at home.

I would say to the House as I said to those who have joined this government: I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering.

You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs—Victory in spite of all terror—Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

全文鏈接：Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

Fourscore and seven years ago...

瀉藥。首推Samuel 的「Youth」，我背的滾瓜爛熟的一篇。
不知道為什麼這麼多人提到新東方…我從來沒上過新東方………

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
　　Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
　　Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
　　Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being"s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing child-like appetite of what"s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.
　　When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you"ve grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

英國首相丘吉爾一生酷愛文學，從年少時代就開始著書立說，熱愛寫作，還曾為倫敦《每日紀事報》《每日電訊報》等報社撰寫戰地報道，他一生都對創作充滿了激情，並且善於演講，二戰中的那些演講是激勵的多少士兵。

著名的那段，「我的成功秘訣有三個：第一是，決不放棄；第二是，決不、決不放棄；第三是，決不、決不、決不放棄！我的演講結束了！」更是讓多少人為之欽佩。

著作等身，文筆一流，掌握近五萬多辭彙，被傳為歷史上掌握英語單詞辭彙量最多的人之一，不論歷史對丘吉爾如何評價，作為一個演說家，他是成功的，將丘吉爾的《工作與娛樂》放在此處，除了朗誦之外，更是在日益忙碌的生活中一個方向。

Work and Pleasure

Winston Churchill

To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: 「I will take an interest in this or that.」 Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week』s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.

It may also be said that rational, industrious useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly,those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune』s favoured children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.

工作和娛樂

溫斯頓·丘吉爾

要想獲得真正的快樂與安寧，一個人應該有至少兩三種愛好，而且必須是真正的愛好。到晚年才說「我對什麼什麼有興趣」是沒用的，這隻會徒然增添精神負擔。一個人可以在自己工作之外的領域獲得淵博的知識，不過他可能幾乎得不到什麼好處或是消遣。做你喜歡的事是沒用的，你必須喜歡你所做的事。總的來說，人可以分為三種：勞累而死的、憂慮而死的、和煩惱而死的。對於那些體力勞動者來說，經歷了一周精疲力竭的體力勞作，周六下午讓他們去踢足球或者打棒球是沒有意義的。而對那些政治家、專業人士或者商人來說，他們已經為嚴肅的事情操勞或煩惱六天了，周末再讓他們為瑣事勞神也是沒有意義的。

也可以說，那些理性的、勤勉的、有價值的人們可分為兩類，一類，他們的工作就是工作，娛樂就是娛樂；而另一類，他們的工作即娛樂。大多數人屬於前者，他們得到了相應的補償。長時間在辦公室或工廠里的工作，回報給他們的不僅是維持了生計，還有一種強烈的對娛樂的需求，哪怕是最簡單的、最樸實的娛樂。不過，命運的寵兒則屬於後者。他們的生活很自然和諧。對他們來說，工作時間永遠不嫌長。每天都是假日，而當正常的假日來臨時，他們總是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被強行中斷了。不過，有些事情對兩類人是同樣至關重要的，那就是轉換一下視角、改變一下氛圍、將精力轉移到別的事情上。確實，對那些工作即是娛樂的人來說，最需要隔一段時間就用某種方式把工作從腦子裡面趕出去。

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Do not go gentle into that good night -by Dylan Thomas
《不要踏入靜謐的良夜》狄蘭·托馬斯

Do not go gentle into that good night，
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage， rage against the dying of the light.
不要溫和地走進那個良夜，
白晝將盡，暮年仍應燃燒咆哮;
怒斥吧，怒斥光的消逝。

Though wise men at their end know dark is right，
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
雖然在白晝盡頭，智者自知該踏上夜途，
因為言語未曾迸發出電光，他們
不要溫和地走進那個良夜。

Good men， the last wave by， crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay，
Rage， rage against the dying of the light.
好人，當最後一浪過去，高呼著他們脆弱的善行
本來也許可以在綠灣上快意地舞蹈，
所以，他們怒斥，怒斥光的消逝。

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight，
And learn， too late， they grieved it on its way，
Do not go gentle into that good night.
狂人抓住稍縱即逝的陽光，為之歌唱，
並意識到，太遲了，他們過去總為時光傷逝，
不要溫和地走進那個良夜。

Grave men， near death， who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like 4)meteors and be gay，
Rage， rage against the dying of the light.
嚴肅的人，在生命盡頭，用模糊的雙眼看到
失明的眼可以像流星般閃耀，歡欣雀躍，
所以，他們怒斥，怒斥光的消逝。

And you， my father， there on the sad height，
Curse， bless， me now with your fierce tears， I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage， rage against the dying of the light.

而您，我的父親，在生命那悲哀之極，
我求您現在用您的熱淚詛咒我，祝福我吧
不要溫和地走進那個良夜。
怒斥吧，怒斥光的消逝。

之前有次聽一個英音非常圓潤的妹子讀過，非常非常非常優美，講真如果有人能給我優雅地讀一遍我指定二話不說就跟你走！

葛底斯堡演講真的超贊，不開玩笑
培根的論學，高中的時候超喜歡那個，譯過駢文
ambition，也是一篇雄文

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

很多答案推薦的文章都很好，諸如Youth, 葛底斯堡演講，肯尼迪就職演說等等，能夠熟讀背誦當然不錯。

不過，我個人倒是認為其實大家的英文課本的文章就是很好的朗誦和熟讀的材料。畢竟許多文章都是教材編者集體挑出來的，裡面的辭彙和句型也都是值得反覆學習的。

無論是什麼材料，其實學習次數多了，透了，成了學習者的一部分，便是好的材料。附上前面說到的幾篇的音頻：

Youth

眾明星朗讀《獨立宣言》

What I Have Lived For

林肯：葛底斯堡演講

抖森朗誦名人書信

關於英語學習及大學生活的更多話題，請關注「與外語沾邊」。

《美國獨立宣言》中的一段話

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

我們認為下述真理是不言而喻的：人人生而平等，造物主賦予他們若干不可讓與的權利，其中包括生存權、自由權和追求幸福的權利。為了保障這些權利，人們才在他們中間建立政府，而政府的正當權利，則是經被統治者同意授予的。任何形式的政府一旦對這些目標的實現起破壞作用時，人民便有權予以更換或廢除，以建立一個新的政府。新政府所依據的原則和組織其權利的方式，務使人民認為唯有這樣才最有可能使他們獲得安全和幸福。

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

若真要審慎地來說，成立多年的政府是不應當由於無關緊要的和一時的原因而予以更換的。過去的一切經驗都說明，任何苦難，只要尚能忍受，人類還是情願忍受，也不想為申冤而廢除他們久已習慣了的政府形式。

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government.

然而，當始終追求同一目標的一系列濫用職權和強取豪奪的行為表明政府企圖把人民至於專制暴政之下時，人民就有權也有義務去推翻這樣的政府，並為其未來的安全提供新的保障。這就是這些殖民地過去忍受苦難的經過，也是他們現在不得不改變政府制度的原因。

The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

當今大不列顛王國的歷史，就是屢屢傷害和掠奪這些殖民地的歷史，其直接目標就是要在各州之上建立一個獨裁暴政。為了證明上述句句屬實，現將事實公諸於世，讓公正的世人作出評判。

美麗英文30篇

新東方的生而為贏系列

還有任何你想讀的都可以：英美的散文名家特別多

但是適合大聲朗讀，首先發音要准要美，需要很多技巧。

Judy朗誦Four Quartets Part I by T.S. Eliot

Judy朗誦Ode to a Nightingale

Judy朗誦If I Were A Boy Again

ANNABEL LEE詩歌朗讀

上面是素人版本，只練習了半個月，就進入了暑假瘋狂工作模式。

還需要學習氣息控制，練嗓子，過陣子找專業老師教。

朗讀的好處是，永遠都不會完美，永遠都有遺憾。

每一次都感覺情感可以更充沛，每一次讀都有新的感受。

聽別人讀，可以感受到每一絲細膩的顫動，每一份被自己忽略的情感。

聽自己讀，可以反覆品味聲音和韻律，放佛和偉大的作者共同創作。

抵抗天賦的誘惑(記貝索斯在普林斯頓大學2010年學士畢業典禮上的演講)

我非常喜歡的一篇演講

附內容～

我一直相信每一個人都有自己的天賦，每一個人的存在都代表著宇宙空間中的一種唯一，然而令我經常都在深思的是，既然我們都是這樣的獨特，又為何偏偏要去模仿和畸變成擁有同類「基因」的人呢？為什麼我們中的很多人都不願意去追逐屬於自己的理想，或者不能為此奮鬥一生呢，抑或者一生都是在自欺欺人的辯解？在Randy的The Last Lecture中我深深的感受到了一個人追逐自己最初理想的意義會變得如此的偉大，充滿的是一種人生最大的和最根本的價值。一直在想這樣的一個問題，當社會尚且艱難，生活尚且苦難的日子裡都有如此多人在追逐屬於自己夢想的時候；在一個生活舒適，物質條件優越的年代我們竟然不知所措的迷失掉自己的方向，找不到自己前行的路。這是多麼可悲和可笑的一種境況！我們，有了更高的天賦，有了更好的環境，卻因為有更多的選擇而抹殺了我們自己的夢...這確實讓人覺得不可思議！

我相信每個人都有自己最初的夢想，在這樣的一個年代，在這樣一個至少沒有饑寒交迫的時代，我堅信追逐自己理想的人會獲得生命盡頭最高貴的禮物和人生最大的價值！

記：在一個可以實現最初夢想的時代選擇不可以的沉默必將是這個時代最損失的損失，也必將是生活在這個時代的人最遺憾的遺憾...

附：

抵抗天賦的誘惑（貝索斯在普林斯頓大學2010年學士畢業典禮上的演講）

中文譯稿：

在我還是一個孩子的時候，我的夏天總是在德州祖父母的農場中度過。我幫忙修理風車，為牛接種疫苗，也做其它家務。每天下午，我們都會看肥皂劇，尤其是《我們的歲月》。我的祖父母參加了一個房車俱樂部，那是一群駕駛Airstream拖掛型房車的人們，他們結伴遍游美國和加拿大。每隔幾個夏天，我也會加入他們。我們把房車掛在祖父的小汽車後面，然後加入300餘名Airstream探險者們組成的浩蕩隊伍。

我愛我的祖父母，我崇敬他們，也真心期盼這些旅程。那是一次我大概十歲時的旅行，我照例坐在后座的長椅上，祖父開著車，祖母坐在他旁邊，吸著煙。我討厭煙味。

在那樣的年紀，我會找任何借口做些估測或者小算術。我會計算油耗還有雜貨花銷等雞毛蒜皮的小事。我聽過一個有關吸煙的廣告。我記不得細節了，但是廣告大意是說，每吸一口香煙會減少幾分鐘的壽命，大概是兩分鐘。無論如何，我決定為祖母做個算術。我估測了祖母每天要吸幾支香煙，每支香煙要吸幾口等等，然後心滿意足地得出了一個合理的數字。接著，我捅了捅坐在前面的祖母的頭，又拍了拍她的肩膀，然後驕傲地宣稱，「每天吸兩分鐘的煙，你就少活九年!」

我清晰地記得接下來發生了什麼，而那是我意料之外的。我本期待著小聰明和算術技巧能贏得掌聲，但那並沒有發生。相反，我的祖母哭泣起來。我的祖父之前一直在默默開車，把車停在了路邊，走下車來，打開了我的車門，等著我跟他下車。我惹麻煩了嗎?我的祖父是一個智慧而安靜的人。他從來沒有對我說過嚴厲的話，難道這會是第一次?還是他會讓我回到車上跟祖母道歉?我以前從未遇到過這種狀況，因而也無從知曉會有什麼後果發生。我們在房車旁停下來。祖父注視著我，沉默片刻，然後輕輕地、平靜地說：「傑夫，有一天你會明白，善良比聰明更難。」

選擇比天賦更重要

今天我想對你們說的是，天賦和選擇不同。聰明是一種天賦，而善良是一種選擇。天賦得來很容易——畢竟它們與生俱來。而選擇則頗為不易。如果一不小心，你可能被天賦所誘惑，這可能會損害到你做出的選擇。

在座各位都擁有許多天賦。我確信你們的天賦之一就是擁有精明能幹的頭腦。之所以如此確信，是因為入學競爭十分激烈，如果你們不能表現出聰明智慧，便沒有資格進入這所學校。

你們的聰明才智必定會派上用場，因為你們將在一片充滿奇蹟的土地上行進。我們人類，儘管跬步前行，卻終將令自己大吃一驚。我們能夠想方設法製造清潔能源，也能夠一個原子一個原子地組裝微型機械，使之穿過細胞壁，然後修復細胞。這個月，有一個異常而不可避免的事情發生了——人類終於合成了生命。在未來幾年，我們不僅會合成生命，還會按說明書驅動它們。我相信你們甚至會看到我們理解人類的大腦，儒勒·凡爾納，馬克·吐溫，伽利略，牛頓——所有那些充滿好奇之心的人都希望能夠活到現在。作為文明人，我們會擁有如此之多的天賦，就像是坐在我面前的你們，每一個生命個體都擁有許多獨特的天賦。

你們要如何運用這些天賦呢?你們會為自己的天賦感到驕傲，還是會為自己的選擇感到驕傲?

追隨自己內心的熱情

16年前，我萌生了創辦亞馬遜的想法。彼時我面對的現實是互聯網使用量以每年2300%的速度增長，我從未看到或聽說過任何增長如此快速的東西。創建涵蓋幾百萬種書籍的網上書店的想法令我興奮異常，因為這個東西在物理世界裡根本無法存在。那時我剛剛30歲，結婚才一年。

我告訴妻子MacKenzie想辭去工作，然後去做這件瘋狂的事情，很可能會失敗，因為大部分創業公司都是如此，而且我不確定那之後會發生什麼。MacKenzie告訴我，我應該放手一搏。在我還是一個男孩兒的時候，我是車庫發明家。我曾用水泥填充的輪胎、雨傘和錫箔以及報警器製作了一個自動關門器。我一直想做一個發明家，MacKenzie支持我追隨內心的熱情。

我當時在紐約一家金融公司工作，同事是一群非常聰明的人，我的老闆也很有智慧，我很羨慕他。我告訴我的老闆我想開辦一家在網上賣書的公司。他帶我在中央公園漫步良久，認真地聽我講完，最後說：「聽起來真是一個很好的主意，但是對那些目前沒有謀到一份好工作的人來說，這個主意會更好。」

這一邏輯對我而言頗有道理，他說服我在最終作出決定之前再考慮48小時。那樣想來，這個決定確實很艱難，但是最終，我決定拼一次。我認為自己不會為嘗試過後的失敗而遺憾，倒是有所決定但完全不付諸行動會一直煎熬著我。在深思熟慮之後，我選擇了那條不安全的道路，去追隨我內心的熱情。我為那個決定感到驕傲。

明天，非常現實地說，你們從零塑造自己人生的時代即將開啟。

你們會如何運用自己的天賦?你們又會作出怎樣的抉擇?

你們是被慣性所引導，還是追隨自己內心的熱情?

你們會墨守陳規，還是勇於創新?

你們會選擇安逸的生活，還是選擇一個奉獻與冒險的人生?

你們會屈從於批評，還是會堅守信念?

你們會掩飾錯誤，還是會坦誠道歉?

你們會因害怕拒絕而掩飾內心，還是會在面對愛情時勇往直前?

你們想要波瀾不驚，還是想要搏擊風浪?

你們會在嚴峻的現實之下選擇放棄，還是會義無反顧地前行?

你們要做憤世嫉俗者，還是踏實的建設者?

你們要不計一切代價地展示聰明，還是選擇善良?

我要做一個預測：在你們80歲時某個追憶往昔的時刻，只有你一個人靜靜對內心訴說著你的人生故事，其中最為充實、最有意義的那段講述，會被你們作出的一系列決定所填滿。最後，是選擇塑造了我們的人生。為你自己塑造一個偉大的人生故事。

謝謝，祝你們好運!

英文原稿：

"We are What We Choose"
Remarks by Jeff Bezos, as delivered to the Class of 2010
Baccalaureate
May 30, 2010

As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas. I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores. We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially "Days of our Lives." My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers, we"d join the caravan. We"d hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather"s car, and off we"d go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips. On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.

At that age, I"d take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. I"d calculate our gas mileage -- figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. I"d been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can"t remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I"d come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, "At two minutes per puff, you"ve taken nine years off your life!"

I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills. "Jeff, you"re so smart. You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division." That"s not what happened. Instead, my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow. Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother. I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be. We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, "Jeff, one day you"ll understand that it"s harder to be kind than clever."

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy -- they"re given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you"re not careful, and if you do, it"ll probably be to the detriment of your choices.

This is a group with many gifts. I"m sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. I"m confident that"s the case because admission is competitive and if there weren"t some signs that you"re clever, the dean of admission wouldn"t have let you in.

Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels. We humans -- plodding as we are -- will astonish ourselves. We"ll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it. Atom by atom, we"ll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs. This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we"ve synthesized life. In the coming years, we"ll not only synthesize it, but we"ll engineer it to specifications. I believe you"ll even see us understand the human brain. Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton -- all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now. As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.

How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I"d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles -- something that simply couldn"t exist in the physical world -- was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I"d been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn"t work since most startups don"t, and I wasn"t sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie (also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row) told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I"d been a garage inventor. I"d invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn"t work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings. I"d always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, "That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn"t already have a good job." That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn"t think I"d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I"m proud of that choice.

Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life -- the life you author from scratch on your own -- begins.

How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

Will you bluff it out when you"re wrong, or will you apologize?

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

When it"s tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck!

Of Study
論讀書。
不管是中文版，還是英文版都值得背下來。
最主要是作者深得我心。

芝士就是力量，法國就是培根。

大聲朗讀不如熟練背誦。我練習口譯的方法，也是我老師聯繫的方法，是每天一段/一篇英語熟練背誦。題材可以從名人演講（很多人提到的I have a dream或者葛底斯登堡演說）到TED Talk等等。每天一段，堅持下來，英語語感會有質的變化。

有一個作者叫e.e.cumings
他的詩歌很有意思，非常難翻譯，但是讀出來很有意思
他對辭彙的消解和重塑非常有韻味，很適合朗誦，辭彙也不會很艱深
帖一首示例

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn"t he danced his did

Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn"t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain

children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more

when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone"s any was all to her

someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream

stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)

one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was

all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.

Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain