美文欣赏：赋予生命的意义

　　英语美文 赋予生命的意义

　　Have you thought about what you want people to say about you after you’re gone? Can you hear the voice saying, “He was a great man.” Or “She really will be missed.” What else do they say?

　　你有没有想过，你希望人们在你死后怎样评论你？你能否听到这样的说，“他是个伟大的人”或“人们的确会怀念她”，他们还会说些什么？

　　One of the strangest phenomena of life is to engage in a work that will last long after death. Isn’t that a lot like investing all your money so that future generations can bare interest on it? Perhaps, yet if you look deep in your own heart, you’ll find something drives you to make this kind of contribution---something drives every human being to find a purpose that lives on after death.

　　人生最奇异的现象之一就是，你从事的事业在你死后仍将长久存在。这和你用所的钱进行投资以便后人能从中获益不是如出一辙吗？也许，如果你审视自己的内心深处，你就会发现促使你做出这种贡献的驱动力-一种驱使每个人寻找在自己死后仍能继续存在的事业的驱动力。

　　Do you hope to memorialize your name? Have a name that is whispered with reverent awe? Do you hope to have your face carved upon 50 ft of granite rock? Is the answer really that simple? Is the purpose of lifetime contribution an ego-driven desire for a mortal being to have an immortal name or is it something more?

　　你希望自己的名字被人记住吗？你希望别人提起你的名字时心怀敬畏吗？你希望自己的面容被雕刻在50英尺高的花岗岩上吗？答案真的那么简单吗？难道终有一死的人贡献一生自我鞭策的欲望就是想要获得不朽名声的？抑或是其他更伟大的事物？

　　A child alive today will die tomorrow. A baby that had the potential to be the next Einstein will die from complication is at birth. The circumstances of life are not set in stone. We are not all meant to live life through to old age. We’ve grown to perceive life as a full cycle with a certain number of years in between. If all of those years aren’t lived out, it's a tragedy. A tragedy because a human’s potential was never realized. A tragedy because a spark was snuffed out before it ever became a flame.

　　今天活着的孩子明天就会死去。一个有可能成为下一个爱因斯坦的婴儿会死于出生并发症。生命的情形并不是固定不变的。我们并没有注定都要活到老年。我们已经认识到，生命是一个周期，其时间长度是特定的。如果这些时间没有被充分利用，那就是个悲剧，因为人的潜能还未实现，因为火花还没形成火焰就被补灭。

　　By virtue of inhabiting a body we accept these risks. We expose our mortal flesh to the laws of the physical environment around us. The trade off isn’t so bad when you think about it. The problem comes when we construct mortal fantasies of what life should be like. When life doesn’t conform to our fantasy we grow upset, frustrated, or depressed.

　　由于附着于肉体之身，所以我们就得接受这些风险。我们使易朽的肉体服从周围物理环境的法则。你仔细想一想就会发现，这种交易并不是那么糟糕。当我们幻想生命应该如何时，问题就来了。当生命和我们的幻想不一致时，我们就变得烦恼，无奈或沮丧。

　　We are alive; let us live. We have the ability to experience; let us experience. We have the ability to learn; let us learn. The meaning of life can be grasped in a moment. A moment so brief it often evades our perception.

　　我们活着，那我们就要活得精彩；我们有能力体验，那我们就要体验人生甘苦；我们有能力学习，那我们就要在学海徜徉。生命的意义可以在一瞬间抓住-一个经常被我们忽略的短暂瞬间。

　　What meaning stands behind the dramatic unfolding of life? What single truth can we grasp and hang onto for dear life when all other truths around us seem to fade with time?

　　当生命戏剧般地一幕幕拉开时，其中隐含的意义是什么？当我们周围所有其他都似乎随着时间而消逝时，我们能够掌握哪个真理并依靠它来生活呢？

　　These moments are strung together in a series we call events. These events are strung together in a series we call life. When we seize the moment and bend it according to our will, a will driven by the spirit deep inside us, then we have discovered the meaning of life, a meaning for us that shall go on long after we depart this Earth.

　　这些瞬间串联在一起，我们称之为事件。这些事件串联系在一起，我们称之为生活。当我们抓住那个瞬间并按照我们的意志来改变它-这意志受到我们内心深处的精神的驱使，我们就发现了生命的意义-这意义将在我们离开地球之后长久存在。

　　美文欣赏:你可以选择自己想过的生活

　　Occasionally, life can be undeniably, impossibly difficult. We are faced with challenges and events that can seem overwhelming, life-destroying to the point where it may be hard to decide whether to keep going. But you always have a choice. Jessica Heslop shares her powerful, inspiring journey from the worst times in her life to the new life she has created for herself:

　　生活有时候困难得难以置信，但又不容置疑。我们面临的挑战与困境似乎无法抵御，试图毁灭我们生活，甚至使你犹疑是否继续走下去。但是你总有选择的余地。从人生低谷走向新生活的.杰西卡·赫斯乐普，在这里与我们分享她启迪心灵、充满震撼力的生活之旅。

　　In 2012 I had the worst year of my life.

　　2012年是我生活中最艰难的一年。

　　I worked in a finance job that I hated and I lived in a concrete jungle city with little greenery. I occupied my time with meaningless relationships and spent copious quantities of money on superficialities. I was searching for happiness and had no idea where to find it.

　　我做着讨厌的财务工作，住在难寻绿色的高楼林立的城市。我忙于无意义的交往，在一些肤浅表面的东西上大笔开销。我寻找快乐，却又不知道它在哪里。

　　Then I fell ill with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and became virtually bed bound. I had to quit my job and subsequently was left with no income. I lived with my boyfriend of then only 3 months who financially supported me and our relationship was put under great pressure. I eventually regained my physical health, but not long after that I got a call from my family at home to say that my father’s cancer had fiercely progressed and that he had been admitted to a hospice.

　　然后我患上了慢性疲劳综合症，几乎到了卧床不起的地步。我不得不辞掉工作，同时也就断了财源。我和那时仅相处了3个月的男友住在一起，经济上完全依赖于他，我们的关系承受着巨大压力。终于我恢复健康，但不久，我接到家里的电话，父亲的癌症急剧恶化，已经住进了临终关怀中心。

　　I left the city and I went home to be with him.

　　我离开了城市，回家陪父亲。

　　He died 6 months later.

　　6个月之后，他去世了。

　　My father was a complete inspiration to me. He was always so strong that, for a minute after he drew his last breath, I honestly thought he would come back to life. I couldn’t believe I would never again cuddle into his big warm chest and feel safe no matter what.

　　父亲的事让我彻底清醒。他一直很强壮，在他咽气之后一分钟里，我真的认为，他会活过来。我不能相信，我再也不能依偎在他温暖的怀抱里，享受他宽大的胸怀带给我的安全感。

　　The grief that followed was intense for all of us 5 children and our mother, but we had each other.

　　母亲和我们5个兄弟姐妹极为难过，但至少我们还拥有彼此。

　　But my oldest sister at that time complained of a bad back. It got so bad after 2 months that she too was admitted to hospital.

　　但是，那时我大姐开始抱怨着背痛，2个月后，因疼痛加剧也住进了医院。

　　They discovered that she had highly advanced cancer in her bones and that there was nothing that they could do.

　　医生们检查发现，她已是骨癌晚期，对此他们已无能为力。

　　She died 1 month later.

　　1个月之后，她也走了。

　　I could never put into words the loss of my sister in my life.

　　大姐的逝去让我陷入难以形容的痛苦之中。

　　She was a walking, talking angel and my favourite person in the whole world. If someone could have asked me the worst thing that could ever happen, it would have been losing her.

　　在这个世界上，她是一个能走路、会说话的天使，我最喜欢的人。如果有人问我，世界上发生的最坏的事情是什么，那就是失去她。

　　She was my soul-mate and I never thought I would journey this lifetime without her.

　　她是我的灵魂伴侣，我从来没有想过，我会走过没有她陪伴的生命旅程。

　　The Moment Of Deliberate Choice

　　抉择时刻

　　The shock and extreme heart break brought me to my knees. The pain was so great and my world just looked desolate. I had no real home, no money, no job, and no friends that cared. Not one person had even sent me a sympathy card for my loss.

　　我被打击和极度的心痛击挎了。强烈的痛苦使世界在我眼中变得如此凄凉。我没有真正意义上的家，没有钱，没有工作，也没有关心我的朋友。没有一个人因我失去亲人而寄给我慰问卡。

　　I made an attempt of my own life and I ended up in hospital.

　　我尝试着活下去，结果住进了医院。

　　I remember lying in the hospital bed, looking up at the ceiling and seeing my sister’s beautiful face. She stayed with me all night long.

　　我记得，躺在病床上，看着天花板，看到姐姐美丽的面庞。她整夜守候着我。

　　I realised during that night that I had a choice. I could choose to end my life or I could choose to live it.

　　那天晚上，我意识到我可以选择。要么结束生命，要么活下去。

　　I looked in my sister’s eyes and I made a decision not to go with her just yet. That I would stay and complete my journey here.

　　望着姐姐的眼睛，我决定不跟她走。我要留下来，走完我的生命旅程。

　　I also made the decision that, I wouldn’t just live any life. I would live the life that I absolutely LOVE and nothing less.

　　同时，我还决定，不只为生活而生活，我要完全以自己想要的方式生活。

　　In that moment, the clarity that descended around me was like a light shining in a dark room for the first time. As if the earth’s plates had shifted under my feet and everything suddenly looked real for the first time.

　　在那一刻，这一想法第一次清晰得如同一盏在黑暗闪烁的明灯。好像脚下的地球版块变换了，每一样东西在我眼前都真实得前所未有。