你曾堅持背誦過哪些令你獲益匪淺的英文文章？

12-17

想早上背點英文不知道看什麼好了求指點

《葛底斯堡演講》
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.

喬布斯的05年斯坦福演講。
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1/22更新，應大家要求打包了一份音頻和演講稿的word文檔。

這個是world文檔，有中英對譯。

網盤地址在這
http://pan.baidu.com/s/1qXzJyuK

我要掀桌了！！！收藏數又是贊數的三倍，只收藏不點贊都是大壞蛋。

好了，正文。

----

Thank you.

I"m honored to be with you today for your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. Truth be told, I never graduated from college, and this is the closest I"ve ever gotten to a college graduation. Today, I want to tell you three stories from my life. That"s it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first six months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife --- except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking, "We"ve got an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said, "Of course." My biological mother found out later that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would go to college. This was the start in my life.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents" savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn"t see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life.

So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out okay. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn"t interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked far more interesting.

It wasn"t all romantic. I didn"t have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends" rooms. I returned coke bottles for the five cent deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the seven miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn"t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can"t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the "Mac" would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it"s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on that calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards 10 years later.

Again, you can"t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something --- your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever --- because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well-worn path, and that will make all the difference.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky --- I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz1 and I started Apple in my parents" garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a two billion dollar company with over 4000 employees. We"d just released our finest creation --- the Macintosh --- a year earlier, and I had just turned 30.And then I got fired.

How can you get fired from a company you started?

Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. And so at 30, I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn"t know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down --- that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me: I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn"t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the world"s first computer-animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, and I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple"s current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together

I"m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn"t been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometime life --- Sometimes life going to hit you in the head with a brick. Don"t lose faith. I"m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You"ve got to find what you love.

And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven"t found it yet, keep looking --- and don"t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you"ll know when you find it. And like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking --- don"t settle

My third story is about death

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you"ll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I"ve looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something

Remembering that I"ll be dead soon is the most important tool I"ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything --- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure --- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn"t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor"s code for "prepare to die." It means to try and tell your kids everything you thought you"d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. I means to say your goodbyes。

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and, thankfully, I"m fine now.

This was the closest I"ve been to facing death, and I hope it"s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die.Even people who want to go to heaven don"t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It"s Life"s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it"s quite true.

Your time is limited, so don"t waste it living someone else"s life. Don"t be trapped by dogma --- which is living with the results of other people"s thinking. Don"t let the noise of others" opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the "bibles" of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 60s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along. It was idealistic, overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I"ve always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much.

謝謝大家能喜歡！

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最後，只收藏不點贊的，以後再也不跟玩了..哼

新概念4里的幾篇文章，一篇是youth，我看樓上幾個答主都已經提到了，一篇是羅素的How to grow old,思索了人生和死亡的意義，一篇是丘吉爾的Hobbies，也對人生有很多思考。

youth
People are always talking about "the problem of youth". If there is one--which I take leave to doubt -- then it is older people who create it, not the young themselves. Let us get down to fundamentals and agree that the young are after all human beings--people just like their elders. There is only one difference between an old man and a young one: the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid future behind him: and maybe that is where the rub is.

When I was a teenager, I felt that I was just young and uncertain--that I was a new boy in a huge school, and I would have been very pleased to be regarded as something so interesting as a problem. For one thing, being a problem gives you a certain identity, and that is one of the things the young are busily engaged in seeking.

I find young people exciting. They have an air of freedom, and they have not a dreary commitment to mean ambitions or love of comfort. They are not anxious social climbers, and they have no devotion to material things. All this seems to me to link them with life, and the origins of things. It"s as if they were, in some sense, cosmic beings in violent and lovely contrast with us suburban creatures. All that is in my mind when I meet a young person. He may be conceited, ill-mannered, presumptuous or fatuous, but I do not turn for protection to dreary cliches about respect for elders -- as if mere age were a reason for respect. I accept that we are equals, and I will argue with him, as an equal, if I think he is wrong.

How to grow old
Some old people are oppressed by the fear of death. In the young there is a justification for this feeling. Young men who have reason to fear that they will be killed in battle may justifiably feel bitter in the thought that they have been cheated of the best things that life has to offer. But in an old man who has known human joys and sorrows, and has achieved whatever work it was in him to do, the fear of death is somewhat abject and ignoble. The best way to overcome it -- so at least it seems to me -- is to make your interests gradually wider and more impersonal, until bit by bit the walls of the ego recede, and your life becomes increasingly merged in the universal life. An individual human existence should be like a river -- small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being. The man who, in old age, can see his life in this way, will not suffer from the fear of death, since the things he cares for will continue. And if, with the decay of vitality, weariness increases, the thought of rest will be not unwelcome. I should wish to die while still at work, knowing that others will carry on what I can no longer do, and content in the thought that what was possible has been done.

Hobbies

A gifted American psychologist has said, "Worry is a spasm of the emotion; the mind catches hold of something and will not let it go." It is useless to argue with the mind in this condition. The stronger the will, the more futile the task. One can only gently insinuate something else into its convulsive grasp. And if this something else is rightly chosen, if it really attended by the illumination of another field of interest, gradually, and often quite swiftly, the old undue grip relaxes and the process of recuperation and repair begins.
The cultivation of a hobby and new forms of interest is therefore a policy of the first importance to a public man. But this is not a business that can be undertaken in a day or swiftly improvised by a mere command of the will. The growth of alternative mental interests is a long process. The seeds must be carefully chosen; they must fall on good ground; they must be sedulously tended, if the vivifying fruits are to be at hand when needed.
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 get hardly 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 or 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.
As for the unfortunate people who can command everything they want, who can gratify every caprice and lay their hands on almost every object of desire -- for them a new pleasure, a new excitement if only an additional satiation. In vain they rush frantically round from place to place, trying to escape from avenging boredom by mere clatter and motion. For them discipline in one form or another is the most hopeful path.
It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human being 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 work is their pleasure are those who and most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.

譯文我不貼了，不難看懂，而且我覺得翻譯過來很多風味有點變。

IF
《如果》
——Rudyard Kipling
（拉迪亞德.吉普林）

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don"t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don"t give way to hating,
And yet don"t look too good, nor talk too wise;
如果所有人都失去理智，咒罵你，
你仍能保持頭腦清醒；
如果所有人都懷疑你，
你仍能堅信自己，讓所有的懷疑動搖；
如果你要等待，不要因此厭煩，
為人所騙，不要因此騙人，
為人所恨，不要因此抱恨，
不要太樂觀，不要自以為是；

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you"ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 『em up with worn-out tools;
如果你是個追夢人——不要被夢主宰；
如果你是個愛思考的人——不要以思想者自居；
如果你遇到驕傲和挫折
把兩者當騙子看待；
如果你能忍受，你曾講過的事實
被惡棍扭曲，用於矇騙傻子；
或者，看著你用畢生去看護的東西損壞，
俯下身去，用破舊的工具把它修補；

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
如果在你贏得無數桂冠之後，
然後孤注一擲再搏一次，
失敗過後，東山再起，
不要抱怨你的失敗；
如果你能迫使自己，
在別人走後，長久堅守陣地，
在你心中已空蕩蕩無一物，
只有意志告訴你「堅持！」；

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds" worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that"s in it,
如果你與人交談，能保持風度，
伴王同行，能保持距離；
如果仇敵和好友都不害你；
如果所有人都指望你，卻無人全心全意；
如果你花六十秒進行短程跑，
填滿那不可饒恕的一分鐘——
你就可以擁有一個世界，
這個世界的一切都是你的!
孩子！

我對這種男人沒有抵抗力！

《Youth（青春）》——薩繆爾.厄爾曼
據說二戰，麥克阿瑟將軍在與日軍在太平洋鏖戰期間常以此文勉勵自己。
此文，我也常常拿出來溫故知新。
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 tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20.　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 spring back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being』s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike 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 are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.

譯文如下:
《青春》
青春不是年華，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志、恢宏的想像、熾熱的感情；青春是生命的深泉涌流。

青春氣貫長虹，勇銳蓋過怯弱，進取壓倒苟安。如此銳氣，二十後生有之，六旬男子則更多見。年歲有加，並非垂老；理想丟棄，方墮暮年。

歲月悠悠，衰微只及肌膚；熱忱拋卻，頹唐必致靈魂。憂煩、惶恐、喪失自信，定使心靈扭曲，意氣如灰。

無論年屆花甲，抑或二八芳齡，心中皆有生命之歡樂，奇蹟之誘惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。

人的心靈應如浩淼瀚海，只有不斷接納美好、希望、歡樂、勇氣和力量的百川，才能青春永駐、風華長存。

一旦心海枯竭，銳氣便被冰雪覆蓋，玩世不恭、自暴自棄油然而生，即使年方二十，實已垂垂老矣；然則只要虛懷若谷，讓喜悅、達觀、仁愛充盈其間，你就有望在八十高齡告別塵寰時仍覺年輕。

這是一篇經典的英語範文，只有4句話，它是美國總統林肯寫給一位在南北戰爭中失去5個孩子的比克斯比夫人（Mrs.Bixby）的慰問信。

林肯獲知有一位叫做比克斯比的婦女的五個兒子都犧牲在南北戰爭的戰場上，決定向她寫一封
慰問信。這封信是多麼地難寫，但是林肯寫出來了，雖然只有4句，卻成為經典，史稱「Bixby Letter 」（鏈接Bixby letter - Wikipedia）。

全信如下：

Executive Mansion,
Washington,
November 21, 1864
Mrs. Bixby,
Boston, Massachusetts

Dear Madam,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln
親愛的夫人：
我看到一份馬薩諸塞州參謀長委託戰爭部遞交的報告，得知您的五個孩子在戰場上都光榮犧牲。我深知任何言語都無法減輕這一巨大損失帶給你的悲痛，但我抑制不住，我要向您表示我發自內心的慰問，以及你五個孩子為之獻身的國家對您本人的感激之情。我懇請上帝帶走您失去愛子們的悲哀，留在您心中，是對您五位兒子的珍貴記憶，以及您當之無愧的自豪感。
您最忠誠的：
亞伯拉罕·林肯

有關這封信，存在很多爭議，有人說這封信其實是林肯秘書代筆的。有人考證說Bixby的5個兒子至少有兩個平安歸來，是美國統計部門出錯了，而且這位Bixby太太的人品還存在這樣或那樣的問題，而在我看來，事實的真相其實並不重要，因為它都已經是歷史。

這篇文章，已經成為英文寫作範文的經典，被無數人記憶和學習，這就夠了。熟悉《拯救大兵瑞恩》大概會發現，電影中將軍曾經直接念了這封信（感謝柯子網友指出我的錯誤）。

註：圖片均來自Bixby letter - Wikipedia。

A puma at large

背過這篇，瘋狂英語上的一篇文章，關於愛情的。不得不說，翻譯得很美，很矯情！

Hanover Square 漢諾威廣場--- 追憶似水年華

Can it really be sixty-two years ago that I first saw you?

It is truly a lifetime, I know. But as I gaze into your eyes now, it seems like only yesterday that I first saw you, in that small café in Hanover Square.

From the moment I saw you smile, as you opened the door for that young mother and her newborn baby. I knew. I knew that I wanted to share the rest of my life with you.

I still think of how foolish I must have looked, as I gazed at you, that first time. I remember watching you intently, as you took off your hat and loosely shook your short dark hair with your fingers. I felt myself becoming 1)immersed in your every detail, as you placed your hat on the table and cupped your hands around the hot cup of tea, gently blowing the steam away with your 2)pouted lips.

From that moment, everything seemed to make perfect sense to me. The people in the café and the busy street outside all disappeared into a 3)hazy 4)blur. All I could see was you.

All through my life I have relived that very first day. Many, many times I have sat and thought about that the first day, and how for a few 5)fleeting moments I am there, feeling again what is like to know true love for the very first time. It pleases me that I can still have those feelings now after all those years, and I know I will always have them to comfort me.

Not even as I shook and trembled uncontrollably in the 6)trenches, did I forget your face. I would sit huddled into the wet mud, terrified, as the hails of bullets and mortars crashed down around me. I would 7)clutch my rifle tightly to my heart, and think again of that very first day we met. I would cry out in fear, as the noise of war beat down around me. But, as I thought of you and saw you smiling back at me, everything around me would be become silent, and I would be with you again for a few precious moments, far from the death and destruction. It would not be until I opened my eyes once again, that I would see and hear the 8)carnage of the war around me.

I cannot tell you how strong my love for you was back then, when I returned to you on leave in the September, feeling 9)battered, bruised and fragile. We held each other so tight I thought we would burst. I asked you to marry me the very same day and I 10)whooped with joy when you looked deep into my eyes and said "yes" to being my bride.

I`m looking at our wedding photo now, the one on our dressing table, next to your jewellery box. I think of how young and innocent we were back then. I remember being on the church steps grinning like a 11)Cheshire cat, when you said how dashing and handsome I looked in my uniform. The photo is old and faded now, but when I look at it, I only see the bright vibrant colors of our youth. I can still remember every detail of the pretty wedding dress your mother made for you, with its fine delicate lace and pretty pearls. If I concentrate hard enough, I can smell the sweetness of your wedding bouquet as you held it so proudly for everyone to see.

I remember being so over enjoyed, when a year later, you gently held my hand to your waist and whispered in my ear that we were going to be a family.

I know both our children love you dearly; they are outside the door now, waiting.

Do you remember how I panicked like a mad man when Jonathon was born? I can still picture you laughing and smiling at me now, as I 12)clumsily held him for the very first time in my arms. I watched as your laughter faded into tears, as I stared at him and cried my own tears of joy.

Sarah and Tom arrived this morning with little Tessie. Can you remember how we both hugged each other tightly when we saw our tiny granddaughter for the first time? I can`t believe she will be eight next month. I am trying not to cry, my love, as I tell you how beautiful she looks today in her pretty dress and red shiny shoes, she reminds me so much of you that first day we met. She has her hair cut short now, just like yours was all those years ago. When I met her at the door her smile wrapped around me like a warm glove, just like yours used to do, my darling.

I know you are tired, my dear, and I must let you go. But I love you so much it hurts to do so.

As we grew old together, I would tease you that you had not changed since we first met. But it is true, my darling. I do not see the wrinkles and grey hair that other people see. When I look at you now, I only see your sweet tender lips and youthful sparkling eyes as we sat and had out first picnic next to that small stream, and chased each other around that big old oak tree. I remember wishing those first few days together would last forever. Do you remember how exciting and wonderful those days were?

I must go now, my darling. Our children are waiting outside. They want to say goodbye to you.

I wipe the tears away from my eyes and bend my frail old legs down to the floor, so that I can kneel beside you. I lean close to you and take hold of your hand and kiss your tender lips for the very last time.

Sleep peacefully my dear.

I am sad that you had to leave me, but please don`t worry. I am content, knowing I will be with you soon. I am too old and too empty now to live much longer without you.

I know it won`t be long before we meet again in that small café in Hanover Square.

Goodbye, my darling wife.

我們初次相遇，難道真的是六十二年前嗎？
年華似水，倏忽間我們已相攜一世。望著你的眼睛，當年的邂逅歷歷如在昨昔，就在漢諾威廣場的那間小咖啡館裡。
從見到你的那一刻起，那一刻你正為一位年輕的母親和她的小寶寶開門，那一刻當看到你的盈盈笑靨，我就明白我只願與你執手攜老，共度今生。
我仍然不時想起，那天自己那樣地盯著你，一定很傻；就那樣情不自禁怔怔地望著你，追隨你摘下小帽，用手指鬆了松短短的黑髮，追隨你把帽子放在桌前，雙手捧起暖暖的茶杯，追隨你微撅櫻唇，輕輕吹走飄騰的熱氣，我的目光始終追隨著你，感覺自己在你的溫柔舉止間慢慢融化。
從那一刻起，一切似乎都鮮明了意義。咖啡館裡的來來往往和外面鬧市的熙熙攘攘忽然都模糊了起來，我眼裡能看到的，只有你。
光陰似箭，那一天卻不斷在我的記憶里重演，鮮活如初。多少次我再次坐下，不斷追憶那天的點滴，不斷回味那些飛縱的瞬間，重新體會一見鍾情的美麗。歲月的流逝卻並沒有帶走我的愛戀感覺，這些體驗會永遠伴隨我，安撫我的寥寥餘生。
即使是當我在戰壕中控制不住地顫抖，我也不曾忘記你的容顏。我蜷縮在稀泥中，身邊是槍林彈雨，瀰漫硝煙，我把步槍緊緊地攥在胸前，一顆驚恐不安的心，還是想起了我們初識的那一天。身旁戰火呼嘯，恐懼讓我想要大聲呼叫，直到想起你，彷彿見到你在我身後盈盈淺笑，戰場忽然沉寂下來，在這珍貴的瞬間，我覺得自己暫時遠離了毀滅和死亡，飛向你的身旁。我拚命想留住這美好，直到睜開眼，周圍卻依然是血與火的生死戰場。
九月休假回到你身邊，我疲憊而脆弱，沒能再告訴你戰火紛飛時我對你的愛有多深。我們只能緊緊擁抱在一起，彷彿要把對方擠碎。也就在那天，面對我的求婚，你深深凝望我的眼睛，答應做我的新娘，而我早已歡喜地大喊大叫。
我現在正看著我們的結婚照片，總是放在妝台上的那張，就在你的首飾盒旁。那時候，我們多麼年輕，多麼純真。我記得我們站在教堂的台階上，開心得像一對甜蜜的鴛鴦，你還說我穿著制服多麼英武俊朗。照片已經舊得泛黃了，但我看到的，卻只有當年青春的明媚姿彩。我仍然記得你母親為你做的那件新娘禮服，那些精緻的花邊和漂亮的珠飾。讓我再想一想，我還能聞到那婚禮花束的甜香，你那麼驕傲地捧著花，讓每一個人分享你的幸福時光。
一年後，你輕輕地把我的手放到你的腹前，對著我的耳朵悄悄透露這個讓我欣喜若狂的好消息：我們就快有寶寶啦。
我知道我們的孩子都深深地愛你，他們現在就在門外等候。
你還記得喬納森出生的時候我那手足無措的慌張樣子嗎？當我笨拙地把他抱在懷裡，我還記得你笑話我的樣子，我看著他，我們都情不自禁地迸出了開心的淚花。
今天早晨撒拉和湯姆帶著小緹西也趕到了。你還記得嗎？第一次看到這個可愛的小孫女，我倆高興地緊緊擁抱。真讓人難以相信，她下個月就八歲了。親愛的，我不得不忍住眼淚告訴你，小傢伙今天穿著漂亮的裙子，閃亮的紅色小鞋，讓我立刻想起當年相遇時的你，連她的短髮也像極了年輕的你。當我在門口看到她的時候，她的笑容暖人心脾，這竟然也和你一模一樣。
我明白，親愛的，你累了，我應該讓你離開。可是愛人即逝，孤侶何傷！
這些年我們相濡以沫，白首到老，我總是逗你說你的容顏依然如昔。可這是真的，親愛的，我真的見不到他人眼裡的皺紋和白髮。現在我望著你，也還是只能看到你嬌嫩溫柔的紅唇和秋水流盼的眼眸，彷彿我們第一次在那條小溪邊野餐，在那棵巨大的老橡樹旁追逐嬉戲。那時候我們剛剛在一起，總是盼望那樣的日子生生世世，你還記得嗎？那些日子是多麼激情蕩漾，讓人不忍回首……
親愛的，我應該走了。孩子們都等在外面，他們要和你道別。
我擦去了眼角的淚，跪在你的身邊，輕輕靠近你，握住你的雙手，最後一次吻你。
親愛的，安心地睡吧。
這分離扯碎了我的心。別擔心，我很快就會來陪伴你。生死茫茫，塵世間沒有你，這滿腔的衷腸憑誰傾訴？這隻影的寂寥復有何歡？
很快，我們就能在漢諾威廣場的那間小咖啡館裡再相逢。
再會了，我的愛妻。

很久之前背的文章了，網上找了很久，沒找到。原文大概如下。
尤其喜歡這一段：做你想做的夢，去你想去的地方，成為你想成為的人。

It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return.But what is more painful is to love someone and never find the courage to let that person know how you feel.

愛一個人卻得不到對方的愛是一種痛苦，但更痛苦的是愛一個人卻從沒有勇氣來表白自己的愛。

Maybe God wants us to meet a few wrong people before meeting the right one so that when we finally meet the right person, we will know how to be grateful for that gift.

或許上帝安排，最終找到知音之前，我們總要遇到一些不盡如意的人，只有這樣，我們才能對知音這份禮物充滿感激之情。

When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don"t see the one which has been opened for us.

一道幸福之門關閉時，另一扇就會打開。我們經常太多太多地只看見關閉的門，而對開啟的門卻熟視無睹。

The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a porch and swing with, never say a word, and then walk away feeling like it was the best conversation you"ve every had.

也許最好的朋友就是那些你坐在門廊下，看到的來回過往的行人。你與他們一言未語，走開時卻感到好象有過最好的交談。

It"s true that we don"t know what we"ve got until we lose it, but it"s also true that we don"t know what we"ve been missing until it arrives.

無疑，一件東西只有失去時，我們才回懂得其真正的價值。同樣，一件東西在得到之前，我們並不意識它的缺少。

Giving someone all your love is never an assurance that they"ll love you back! Don"t expect love in return; just wait for it to grow in their heart but if it doesn"t, be content it

grew in yours. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an hour to like someone, and a day to love someone, but it takes a lifetime to forget someone

將愛全部付出，並不能確保一定會得到回報。別指望愛有什麼回報，耐心地等待她在你所愛的人的心裡生根發芽，成長壯大。即使不會那樣，也要感到滿足，相信愛會在自己的心裡成長。迷戀一個人只需要一分鐘，喜歡一個人需要一個小時，愛上一個人需要一天，而要忘記一個人則需要一輩子的時間。

Don"t go for looks; they can deceive. Don"t go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.

不要追求華麗的外表，外表常常具有欺騙性。不要追求萬貫家產，財富也會散盡。尋找那些可以使你永遠微笑的人們，只要微笑才能使黑暗的日子變得光明。尋找那些能夠使你心靈微笑的人。

There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real!

生活中，有時強烈的思念使我們恨不得一把將所愛的人從夢中帶走，帶到現實中事實在在的擁抱起來。

Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.

做自己想做的夢吧。去自己想去的地方吧。做自己想做的人吧。生命只有一次，機會只有一回。

願你有歡樂，

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.

使自己甜蜜；有考驗，使自己堅強；有悲傷，使自己富有人性；有希望，使自己幸福。

Always put yourself in others" shoes. If you feel that it hurts you, it probably hurts the other person, too.

要經常換在他人的位置上思維。一件事，要是你感到對自己有傷害，就可能對他人同樣有傷害。

The happiest of people don"t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

最幸福的人並不是那些擁有最好東西的人，他們只是能夠將得到的東西變為最好。

Happiness lies for those who cry, those who hurt, those who have searched, and those who have tried, for only they can appreciate the importance of people who have touched their lives.

幸福屬於那些會哭泣的人，那些受過傷害的人，那些身體力行做試驗的人。只有他們才懂得對自己生活中有影響的人們的重要。

Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss and ends with a tear. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can"t go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

愛以微笑開始，在親吻中成長，以淚水終結。光明燦爛的明天建立在忘卻的過去之上。只有讓以往的失敗和傷心隨風而去，你才能過的更好。

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you"re the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.

出生伊始，哭啼的是你，周圍的人卻在微笑。珍視生活，好好的活著，這樣入死，讓周圍的人哭啼，自己卻在微笑

Please send this message to those people who mean something to you, to those who have touched your life in one way or another, to those who make you smile when you really need it, to those that make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down, to those who you want to let them know that you appreciate their friendship. And if you don"t, don"t worry, nothing bad will happen to you, you will just miss out on the opportunity to brighten someone"s day with this message.

請把這些語言送給那些你所關心的人，那些在生活中這樣或那樣同自己打交道的人，那些需要是能給你帶來微笑的人，那些在逆境中依然使你能看到光明的人，那些珍視友誼的人。即使你沒有這樣做，也不要緊。沒有什麼大不了的事情，你只是錯過了用這些言語照亮他人日子的機會。

——————————————更新附加幾篇好文章。

【the difference between love and like】

　　in front of the person you love, your heart beats faster, but in front of the person you like, you get happy.

　　in front of the person you love, winter seems like spring, but in front of the person you like, winter is just beautiful winter.

　　if you look into the eyes of the one you love, you blush, but if you look into the eyes of the person you like, you smile.

　　if front of the person you love, you can』t say everything on your mind, but in front of the person you like, you can.

　　in front of the person you love, you tend to get shy, but in front of the person you like, you can show your own self.

　　you can』t look straight into the eyes of the one you love, but you can always smile into the eyes of the one you like.

　　when the one you love is crying, you cry with him, but when the one you like is crying, you end up comforting.

　　the feeling of love starts from the eye, and the feeling of like starts from the ears.

　　so if you stop liking a person you used to like, all you need to do is cover your ears. but if you try to close your eyes, love turns into a teardrop and remains in your heart forever after.

大學唯一背過一篇文章，施瓦辛格清華大學演講《決戰人生》，當時候跟著MP3音頻邊聽邊背，這麼多年過去了，唯一還記得的就是每次肌肉酸痛時想起這不叫painful 也不叫ache 而叫 sore，健身叫body building.

by Arnold Schwarzenegger

I started way back as a weightlifter. From the first moment when I gripped a barbell and lifted the steel up over my head, I felt this was exhilaration, and I knew then that this was something that I was gonna do.

I remember the very first real workout that I had. Eight miles away from my home village in Austria there was a gymnasium, and I rode to that gymnasium with a bicycle. And there I trained for half an hour; they said that after half an hour you should stop because otherwise your body will get really sore. But after half an hour I looked at my body, and nothing had happened. So I said, 「I』d better work out for another half hour.」 So I lifted some more. My strength didn』t improve, I didn』t see the muscles pop out or anything like that, so I trained for another half an hour. And then after another half hour I trained another half hour, and all together I』d trained (for) two and a half hours.

After that, I rode my bicycle home. And after the first mile I got numb, and I couldn』t feel anymore the handles of the bicycle, and I fell off the bike and I fell into the ditch at the side of the road. The next morning when I got up, my body was so sore that I couldn』t even lift my arms to comb my hair. I had to have my mother comb my hair, and you know how embarrassing that is. But you know something? I learned a very important lesson, that pain means progress. Pain is progress.

After two or three years of discipline and determination and working out hard, I actually changed my body, and I changed my strength. And that told me something, that if I could change my body that much, then I could also change anything else. I could change my habits, my intelligence, my attitude, my mind, my future, my life. And this is exactly what I』ve done. I think that lesson applies to people, and it also applies to countries. You can change, China can change, everyone in the world can change.

I remember the first time I went to the United States and I was competing in the World Championships in Bodybuilding. I lost and I was devastated. I felt like a loser, a major loser. I cried, as a matter of fact, because I felt like I disappointed my friends and I disappointed myself. But the next day I got my act together, I shifted gears, and I said, 「I』m going to learn from that lesson.」 And from then on, I continued. My career took off, and everything that I wanted to do I accomplished. First it was to become a champion in bodybuilding. Later on I became a movie star, then I became the governor of the great state of California, of the sixth largest economy in the world.

All of this happened because of my dreams, even though other people told me that those dreams were bogus and they were crazy, but I held onto my dreams. In Hollywood, they said, 「You will never make it. You have a German accent. No one in Hollywood has ever made it with a German accent. Yeah, maybe you can play some Nazi roles or something like that, but you cannot become a leading star with an accent. Plus your body, you』re overdeveloped, you have all these muscles. They did Hercules movies 20 years ago, that』s outdated. And your name, Schwarzenegger, it will never fit on a movie poster. Forget it, you will never make it. Go back to body building.」

Well, the rest is history. After Terminator 3, I became the highest paid movie star in Hollywood. And, let me tell you something, it continued on. Even when I ran for governor people said, 「Arnold, you will never become governor of California. What do you know about government?」 Well, I continued campaigning. I listened to my dreams, and the rest also is history. I became governor. So always it just carried me on, those dreams. So bodybuilding gave me the confidence, movies gave me the money, and public service and being a governor gave me a purpose larger than myself.

我出道時是個舉重運動員。自從第一次抓緊杠鈴、將其高高舉過頭頂之際，我就為此感到異常興奮。那時我知道，這就是我將來要做的事情。

我還記得最初那次真正的訓練。當時我騎著自行車前往一家健身房，那兒離我家所在的奧地利小村莊有八英里之遙。在那裡我訓練了半個鐘頭，因為他們說訓練必須半小時一停，否則你會全身酸痛。後來我看看自己的身體，啥事沒有！於是我說，「最好再練半小時吧。」就又多舉了幾下。可是力量並未因此增強，也不見肌肉鼓起來。然後我又練了半小時，再加半小時……結果總共練了兩個半小時。

後來，我騎車回家了。剛走一英里，我頓覺四肢麻木，連車把都感覺不到了，結果整個人從車上摔下來，掉進了路邊的水溝里。第二天早上起床，我渾身酸痛，連舉手梳頭都無能為力，只好叫我母親替我梳頭——這真令人難堪！可你知道嗎，我獲得了非常重要的一次教訓，即：要想進步就得吃苦。

經過兩三年意志上的磨練和體力上的鍛煉，我確實改造了自己的身體，氣力也變大了。這件事告訴我，如果能大大地改變身體，我就能改變一切：我能改變習慣，改變智力，改變態度，改變思想，改變未來，改變人生。事實上我已經做到了。我想這一教訓適用於人，也適用於國家。你能改變，中國能改變，世界上每個人都能變。

我還記得第一次到美國參加世界健美錦標賽。當時我輸了，絕望無比。我就像一個敗者，一個遭受慘敗的人。我哭了，事實上因為我感到讓朋友失望了，也讓自己失望了。但第二天，我重振旗鼓，改變了態度，並對自己說，「我要吸取教訓。」從那時起，我不斷努力，事業從此輝煌騰達，我實現了自己想做的一切——首先成為健美冠軍，接著成為電影明星，後來當上了世界第六大經濟體——加利福尼亞州的州長。

這一切的實現都是因為我的夢想，即使別人說我的那些夢想都是虛偽而荒唐的，但是我仍堅持不棄。在好萊塢，他們曾說，「你決不可能成功，你一口德國音。在好萊塢還沒有一個說話帶德國音的人能成功的。飾演一些納粹角色你倒是可以，但有口音的人想成為主角是不可能的。還有你的體形，一身肌肉，太過發達了！二十前他們是拍過大力士的影片，不過早過時了。還有你的名字，施瓦辛格，根本不適合上電影海報。算了，你不會成功的。還是回去搞你的健美運動去吧！」

其餘的都成了往事。演完《終結者III》之後，我便成為好萊塢片酬最高的明星。但外界的質疑從未中斷過。我競選州長時還有人說，「阿諾，你永遠當不上加州州長。你也懂政治？」而我依然參加了競選。我相信自己的夢想，其餘的都已成昨日黃花。我最終當上了州長。因此，那些夢想總引導著我不斷向前——健美運動給了我信心，電影給了我財富，而公共服務以及當州長給了我更大的決心。

在倫敦聞名世界的威斯敏斯特大教堂地下室的墓碑林中，有一塊名揚世界的墓碑。

其實這只是一塊很普通的墓碑，粗糙的花崗石質地，造型也很一般，同周圍那些質地上乘、做工優良的亨利三世到喬治二世等二十多位英國前國王墓碑，以及牛頓、達爾文、狄更斯等名人的墓碑比較起來，它顯得微不足道，不值一提。並且它沒有姓名，沒有生卒年月，甚至上面連墓主的介紹文字也沒有。

但是，就是這樣一塊無名氏墓碑，卻成為名揚全球的著名墓碑。每一個到過威斯特敏斯特大教堂的人，他們可以不去拜謁那些曾經顯赫一世的英國前國王們，可以不去拜謁那諸如狄更斯、達爾文等世界名人們，但他們卻沒有人不來拜謁這一塊普通的墓碑，他們都被這塊墓碑深深地震撼著，準確地說，他們被這塊墓碑上的碑文深深地震撼著。在這塊墓碑上，刻著這樣的一段墓志銘：

When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits,I dreamed of changing theworld.
As I grew older and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it, too, seemed immovable.
As I grewinto my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt, I settled for changing only my family, those closest to me, but alas, they would have none of it.
And now, as Ilie on my death bed, I suddenly realize:
If I had only changed myself first, then by example I would have changed my family.From their in spiration and encouragement, I would then have been able to better my country,and who knows, I may have even changed the world.

威斯敏斯特教堂碑文墓志銘譯文：

當我年輕的時候，我的想像力從沒有受到過限制，我夢想改變這個世界。

當我成熟以後，我發現我不能改變這個世界，我將目光縮短了些，決定只改變我的國家。

當我進入暮年後，我發現我不能改變我的國家，我的最後願望僅僅是改變一下我的家庭。但是，這也不可能。

當我躺在床上，行將就木時，我突然意識到：如果一開始我僅僅去改變我自己，然後作為一個榜樣，我可能改變我的家庭；在家人的幫助和鼓勵下，我可能為國家做一些事情。然後誰知道呢？我甚至可能改變這個世界。

據說，許多世界政要和名人看到這塊碑文時都感慨不已。有人說這是一篇人生的教義，有人說這是靈魂的一種自省。

當年輕的曼德拉看到這篇碑文時，頓然有醍醐灌頂之感，聲稱自己從中找到了改變南非甚至整個世界的金鑰匙。回到南非後，這個志向遠大、原本贊同以暴治暴填平種族歧視鴻溝的黑人青年，一下子改變的自己的思想和處世風格，他從改變自己、改變自己的家庭和親朋好友著手，經歷了幾十年，終於改變了他的國家。

我在中學的時候學過，我現在還會背，我也實在不是謙虛。

謝喵。雖然我沒有背過，但是眾所周知的是「葛底斯堡演說」是一個背誦有益的文章。你可以從這篇開始，以免會 simple naive

謝邀！

我倒覺得不必刻意去花大量時間去背誦什麼篇章，而是把你的「背誦」，與朗讀、糾正、練習語音語調、學習語彙/好詞好句等等捆綁到一起去學和練。一篇東西，你念的次數多了，你想要不記住也難。上大學時頭兩三年每天早上舉著羅斯福對日宣戰演講、肯尼迪就職演說、馬丁路德金 I have a dream。。。。等等大聲朗讀約30 - 50分鐘，沒有刻意去背誦過，但是裡面的不少句子、甚至段落至今30年過去還是能脫口而出。

具體做法：挑一篇自己喜歡的英美人的演講，要有視頻/音頻 + 文字稿。挑出一部分來，3、5分鐘左右，先仔細多聽、看幾遍，注意演講者的語音語調等，隨後斷句聽、模仿，此後每天早上來回大聲朗讀這部分（不是每天換新的，或每天把一長篇演講念一兩遍，因為那樣的話你對稿子不熟，能磕磕巴巴念下來就不錯了，根本顧不上認真對付語音語調）。念得要慢，清晰，每個詞發音到位。有些人朗讀象「自行車騎得飛快」，那樣根本達不到提升語音語調的效果。騎車的本事不在快，而在於騎得慢而不倒；演講人的本事更不在於快，而在與把握好節奏、把話說得有感染力說服力。要提高語音語調，需要模仿的顯然也是這個。你有本事把一篇/一段演講讀得不僅流暢、語音語調到位，而且聲情並茂，那這篇東西、包括裡面的好詞好句你也已經記得差不多了。

平時沒事就把這演講從頭到尾來來回回播放著，聽到熟悉的部分隨口跟著講，全文、語音語調+英語語彙全都一起學了。

順便說一句：我個人的看法是最好不要去念、背幾百年前的東西，因為那時候的英語與現在大不相同，句子冗長，用詞、句子結構等晦澀，念來很難上口，語言也太老。那裡面的語彙你念得很熟的話，一不小心說出話來就像洋鬼子聊天說中文時滿嘴「之乎者也」的調子，「讓人陶醉」。

新東方是一家偉大的公司。

無論什麼階段，想挑點資料學習時，書城總是會設有一個專區——新東方出版物，總是能找到讓我心滿意足的書。

周末晨讀背一背好文章，幾乎是每一個學英語的人都會自發產生的念頭。之前在書城逛了逛，挑了好幾本，其中最喜歡的是《新東方背誦美文》

。是一個系列，都是薄薄一冊可以塞進牛仔褲的屁股荷包，一本30篇，十塊錢一本。（淘寶買十塊錢不到還包郵，國內書的價格，真是讓人不知道怎麼說好）

精選短文，包括像喬治奧威爾、海明威、王爾德等，內容短小精鍊，我買了幾本，挑喜歡的讀一讀，背一背，特別好。

去年背過一段時間的《飛鳥集》，含英咀華慢慢品，背一本飛鳥集也就是差不多背兩篇新概念3的課文的篇幅，但感覺又是另外一種滋味了（雖然忘得差不多了，但感覺很好）。

最讓我獲益無窮的文章，無疑是新概念3的文章了。

除了真正喜歡的幾篇是背了全文，大部分只是背第一段，新概念3是一座寶礦，不同的人得到不同的礦，反正我是真靠它發家致富語法、詞法都進步了一大截。

（我總是鼓勵學英語的朋友們把新概念3當成手書，周末早起散散步，找個地方讀一讀、背一背，既對身體好，又英語進步，何樂而不為呢。）

周末晨起，好好吃個早餐，去公園讀讀新概念3，甚至是個特別浪漫的事兒。

開通了個人公眾號——sparetime2017 / 姜大白，在哪裡我把關於自學英語的內容系統的整理了，現已開門迎客，歡迎大家去看一看，有朋自遠方來~

http://weixin.qq.com/r/szrexuPEML5Prael92_h (二維碼自動識別)

Desiderata 所願之物每晚入睡的必備嘉文據說是一位牧師寫的

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,

and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible without surrender

be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly;


and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;

they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,


they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter;

for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;

it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs;


for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;

and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.


Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment

it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,

gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.

But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,


be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,

in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,


it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
=====================================================================
附中文版本：

在喧鬧而奔忙的世界中平靜地往前走這是多麼和平、安寧你要與周圍地所有的人友好相處儘可能不要放棄這種努力和追求你要輕輕卻要清晰地說出自己的真實思想並且耐心傾聽別人含糊甚至煩人的想法因為每個人都有他們自己的故事你要遠遠避開那些吵鬧、具有侵略性的人他們會使你的精神痛苦如果你將自己與他人作比那麼你將變得既自負又痛苦因為這世上永遠有著比你強和比你弱的人們你該享受你自己的成就和計劃保持對你自己的事業的興趣它們不管多麼細瑣、低下，都是你在變化多端的時代能真正擁有的財產在商業事務中你要小心謹慎這世上到處都有陰謀和欺騙你也不要讓自己對美德視而不見世界上很多人為了崇高的理想在忍飢挨餓生活中到處都有英雄主義存在你對你自己要誠實尤其不要無情裝有情對愛情不要玩世不恭在這乾旱、沒有希望的土地上它是一片四季常青的綠洲你要認真吸取流水年華的經驗從容地向青春時光告別你要培養自己的精神力量以抗擊突如其來的不幸的打擊但你千萬不要用想像使自己苦惱、憂傷有很多恐懼產生於疲勞和孤獨除去有益於身心健康的原則之外你要善待你自己你和樹林、星星一樣是這茫茫宇宙的一分子你有權力生活在這裡毫無疑問這世界已經完全為你打開所以你要與上帝和平相處不論你覺得他身在何方也不論你作出何種努力、有什麼渴望在喧鬧、混雜的生活中你應該與你的心靈和平相處儘管這世上有很多假冒和欺騙有很多單調乏味的工作和眾多破滅的夢幻它仍然是一個美好的世界記住：你應該努力去追求幸福

謝邀！

大學的時候背過很多很多的篇章，目前印象還比較深刻的有：

1. 泰坦尼克的原聲帶，聽了至少500次，很多台詞自然而然會背的。那會兒用的還是隨身聽，想想真用功。

2. Samule Ullman的Youth，現在很多微信公眾號推送過這個文章。我也是跟著磁帶聽著背的，有一期瘋狂英語有這篇，百度音樂搜索也可以找到。

3. 當時買了李陽的超級演說家那本，配磁帶的，裡面很多篇章不錯。其中包括奧斯卡的致謝詞，接待來訪美國客人的致辭，長篇幅的致辭等。這一本也聽了很多遍，裡面帶卡片的，卡片可以隨身看，挺不錯，我基本都能背。不過聽說李陽去賣安利了，我還是感謝這一本。【剛才搜索了一下，竟然網上連圖片都找不到了。】我還背過李陽自己的那個自我介紹，以及他書中的其他一些篇章。

4. 還曾經自己手抄了很多很好的句子，大一的時候每天都聽，全部都會背了。

5. 背誦過J.F. Kennedy的就職演說，經典的演說篇章，很有氣勢。同樣聽過很長一段時間的是Martin Luther King 的I have a dream, 不過不能背誦。

6. 當時還背誦過大學所在城市的英文宣傳單，幾乎滾瓜爛熟，連城市的經度緯度都記住了。現在想來，那個英文並不地道，畢竟是中文翻譯過去的。

我個人覺得背誦還是很有用的，實打實的提高。只是背誦完了不要扔到一邊，要經常讀一下。慢慢地，很多東西都會內化為自己的，在口語和寫作等方面都會體現出來。

以下是幾篇可以跟讀的經典英文文章：
What I Have Lived For
林肯：葛底斯堡演講（語音）
如何提高英語發音？
Will Chinese Travel Help China"s Economy?
熱飲可致癌？照喝！
與「嘴」有關的美語表達
Americans Chose Their Favorite Poems

替女票來答
美國獨立宣言，不說其內容及意義，這樣的文章背完以後的感受她說是能對英文文章的結構體系由更深的認識和理解，對以後閱讀英文文獻都大有裨益，以下是原文。

The Declaration of Independence

　　IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

　　THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERAICA

　　When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws Nature and Nature』s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

　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 they are among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among them, deriving their just power 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. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than t right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 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. The history of the present King of Great Britain is usurpations, all having in direct object tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

　　He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

　　He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend them.

　　He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

　　He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

　　He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasion on the rights of the people.。

　　He has refused for a long time, after such dissolution, to cause others to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsion within.

　　He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws of naturalizing of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the condition of new appropriations of lands。

　　He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent of laws for establishing judiciary powers.

　　He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their office, and the amount and payment of their salary.

　　He has erected a multitude of new officers, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out our substances.

　　He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislatures.

　　He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.

　　He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation.For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

　　For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murder which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States.

　　For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world;

　　For imposing taxes on us without our consent;

　　For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;　

　　For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses;

　　For abolishing the free systems of English laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule these Colonies;

　　For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments;

　　For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

　　He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

　　He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

　　He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely parallel in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

　　He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

　　He has excited domestic insurrection amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

　　In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petition have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

　　Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpation, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them., as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

　　We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled , appealing to the supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United States Colonies and Independent States; that they are absolved by from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

首先是魔戒第二部最後Sam對Frodo說的那段話：

I know. It"s all wrong. By rights, we shouldn"t even be here. But we are.
It"s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The one"s that really matter, full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn"t even want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?
But in the end, it"s only a passing thing this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will com. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer.
Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why, but I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now.
Folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn"t, they kept going, because thery were holding on to something. That there"s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it"s worth fighting for.

還有聖經里:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul, he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name"s sake.
Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.

一段在我迷茫的時候給我激勵，一段在我無助的時候給我慰藉。

Hamlet的那段經典獨白
最初知道是看武林外傳，每次呂秀才老愛拿它裝逼。
然後自己找來背了下，後來看了原著，覺得莎士比亞的台詞好多都寫的特棒。

To be, or not to be: that is the question,
Whether it"s nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die,to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, it"s a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream: ay, there"s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There"s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor"s wrong, the proud man"s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law"s delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied or with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action.

生存還是毀滅，這是一個值得考慮的問題；
默然忍受命運暴虐的毒箭，或是挺身反抗人世無涯的苦難,通過鬥爭把它們掃個乾淨，
這兩種行為，哪一種更加高尚？
死了；睡著了；什麼都完了；
要是在這一種睡眠之中，我們心頭的創痛，以及其他無數血肉之軀所不能避免的打擊，都可以從此消失，那正是我們求之不得的結局。
死了；睡著了；
睡著了也許還會做夢；
嗯，阻礙就在這兒：
因為當我們擺脫了這一具朽腐的皮囊以後，在那死的睡眠里，究竟將要做些什麼夢，那不能不使我們躊躇顧慮。人們甘心久困於患難之中，也就是為了這個緣故；
誰願意忍受人世的鞭撻和譏嘲、壓迫者的凌辱、傲慢者的冷眼、被輕蔑的愛情的慘痛、法律的遷延、官吏的橫暴和費盡辛勤所換來的小人的鄙視，要是他只要用一柄小小的刀子，就可以清算他自己的一生？
誰願意負著這樣的重擔，在煩勞的生命的壓迫下呻吟流汗，倘不是因為懼怕不可知的死後，懼怕那從來不曾有一個旅人回來過的神秘之國，是它迷惑了我們的意志，使我們寧願忍受目前的磨折，不敢向我們所不知道的痛苦飛去？這樣，重重的顧慮使我們全變成了懦夫，決心的赤熱的光彩，被審慎的思維蓋上了一層灰色，偉大的事業在這一種考慮之下，也會逆流而退，失去了行動的意義。