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动物也会思考吗四级晨读主题美文
The question has often been asked, Do animals think? I believe that some of them think a great deal. Many of them are like children in their sports. We notice this to be true very often with dogs and cats; but it is true with other animals as well.
Some birds are very lively in their sports; and the same is true with some insects. The ants, hardworking as they are, have their times for play. They run races; they wrestle; and sometimes they have mock fights together. Very busy must be their thoughts while engaged in these sports.
There are many animals, however, that never play; their thoughts seem to be of the more sober kind. We never see frogs engaged in sport. They all the time appear to be very grave. The same is true of the owl, who always looks as if he were considering some important question.
Animals think much while building their houses. The bird searches for what it can use in building its nest, and in doing this it thinks. The beavers think as they build their dams and their houses. They think in getting their materials, and also in arranging them, and in plastering them together with mud. Some spiders build houses which could scarcely have been made except by some thinking creature.
As animals think, they learn. Some learn more than others. The parrot learns to talk, though in some other respects it is quite stupid. The mocking bird learns to imitate a great many different sounds. The horse is not long in learning many things connected with the word which he has to do. The shepherd dog does not know as much about most things as some other dogs, and yet he understands very well how to take care of sheep.
Though animals think and learn, they do not make any real improvement in their ways of doing things, as men do. Each kind of bird has its own way of building a nest, and it is always the same way. And so of other animals. They have no new fashions, and learn none from each other. But men, as you know, are always finding new ways of building houses, and improved methods of doing almost all kinds of labor.
Many of the things that animals know how to do they seem to know either without learning, or in some way which we cannot understand. They are said to do such things by instinct; but no one can tell what instinct is. It is by this instinct that birds build their nests and beavers their dams and huts. If these things were all planned and thought out just as men plan new houses, there would be some changes in the fashions of them, and some improvements.
人们会经常问到这样的问题:动物会思考吗?我想有些动物很会动脑筋思考的。很多动物玩起来像小孩子们是一样的。我们注意到,这一点就猫狗说确实真是这样的,而对其他一些动物来说也是如此。
有些鸟类在玩起来的时候是很活跃的,有些昆虫类也是如此。蚂蚁,虽然干起活来很勤奋,可是它们也能抽出时间来玩。蚂蚁参加各种赛跑,摔跤,有时还在一起模拟战斗。在蚂蚁从事这些活动的时候,他的思想肯定很活跃。
可是,也有些动物从来也不玩耍,它们的思想性格令人觉得好像是属于比较严肃冷静的那种类型。我们从来没见过蛙类在一起玩耍。蛙类总是令人觉得很严肃的样子。猫头鹰也是这样:总让人看起来好像猫头鹰老是在考虑很重要的问题的样子。
动物在筑巢或垒窝的时候就会考虑得比较多。鸟在筑巢时就要搜索它能用得上的材料,在做这类工作时,鸟儿就在动脑筋。河狸在修水坝或垒窝的时候也会动脑子。河狸在寻找建筑材料,在把撒谎到的材料考虑怎样安放以及用泥土把这些材料粘合到一起时都在动脑子思考。有些种类的蜘蛛所垒的窝,除了有些思想的动物而外,是很少有什么动物能垒成的。
动物不但会思考,而且也会学习。有些动物比其他动物更关于学习。鹦鹉虽然在别的方面很蠢,可是会学说话。美国南方的模仿鸟会模仿很多不同的音响。马不用很长时间就能学会跟让它干的活儿有关的许多东西。虽然牧羊犬不懂得基他种狗所懂的绝大部分事物,可是牧羊犬却精通于怎样看护好羊群。
虽然动物会思考也会学习,可是却不能像人那样,对学会的事物作出任何真正的'改革。每种鸟都有自己的筑巢方法,但总是用的同样的方式,互相之间也不学习。可是,你知道,人类就不是这样,人类总是要寻求新的盖房子的方式,人类总是要改进作一些事情的方式方法。
有许多事情,似乎是动物都知道怎么做。它们秘书科不用学就会或者是用我们还没了解到的方法就掌握了。据说它们都是凭着本能去做这类事情,都能像人类设计新房子那样,动物也能有周密的计划和仔细的考虑,那么动物的巢穴在式样上也会有所变化和改进的
最新四级晨读主题美文精选
Net Aroma: E-mail tries out a sense of smell
You could soon be able to spice up your e-mails with your favourite perfume.
UK net provider Telewest Broadband is testing a system to let people to send aromatic e-mails over the internet.
It has developed a kind of hi-tech air freshener that plugs into a PC and sprays a smell linked to the message.
Telewest say it could be used by supermarkets to tempt people with the smell of fresh bread or by holiday companies seeking to stir up images of sun-kissed beaches.
“This could bring an extra whiff of realism to the internet,” said Chad Raube, director of internet services at Telewest Broadband.
“We are always looking at ways to enhance the broadband internet experience of the future and this time we are sure consumers will come up smelling of roses.”
Emotional response
The technology behind the idea was originally developed by US company Trisenx. Scientists at Telewest's labs in Woking, Surrey, have built on that research to come up with the idea of a “scent dome”.
The dome comes with a cartridge containing 20 basic aromas, which can be combined to produce up to 60 different smells.
A “scented e-mail” would contain electronic signals that would tell the dome to release the smell of flowers, perfume or coffee.
“Our sense of smell is directly connected to our emotions,” said anthropologist Kate Fox, director of the Social Issues Research Centre in Oxford.
“Smells trigger very powerful and deep-seated emotional responses, and this additional element to the internet will enhance users' online experience by adding that crucial third dimension.”
But the chance to sniff your e-mails not may come cheap. Telewest says its “scent dome” could cost around 250 and would only work with a high-speed, broadband connection.
英语标准美文100篇 002Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
四级晨读主题美文
How the Americans View Friendship
Steve and Yaser ‵first met|in their chemistry class|at an American university. Yaser was an ‵international student|from Jordon. He wanted to learn ‵more|about American culture|and hope that he and Steve would become ‵good friends. At first, Steve seemed ‵very friendly. He always greeted Yaser ‵warmly before class. Sometimes he offered to study with Yaser. He ‵even invited Yaser|to eat lunch with him. ‵But after the semester was over, Steve seemed more distant.①The two former classmates|didn’t see each other very much|at school. One day Yaser decided to call Steve. Steve didn’t seem ‵very interested|in talking to him. Yaser was ‵hurt|by Steve’s change of attitude. “Steve said we were friends.” Yaser complained, “and I thought friends were friends|for ever.” Yaser is a little ‵confused. As a foreigner, he doesn’t understand the way|Americans view friendship. Americans use the word “friend”|in a ‵very general way. They may call ‵both casual acquaintances|and close companions “friends”.② These friendships are based on ‵common interests. When the shared activity ‵ends, the friendship may ‵fade. Now as Steve and Yaser|are no longer classmates, their “friendship”|has changed. In some cultures|friendship means a ‵strong life-long bond| between two people. In these cultures|friendships develop ‵slowly, since they are built to last. American society is one of ‵rapid change. Studies show|that one out of five American families ‵moves every year. American friendships develop quickly, and they may change|just as ‵quickly. People from the United States|may at first seem friendly. Americans often chat ‵easily with strangers. But American friendliness|is not always an offer of ‵true friendship. After an experience like Yaser’s|people who’ve been in this country for only a ‵few months|may consider Americans to be fickle. Learning how Americans view friendship|can help non-Americans avoid misunderstandings. It can ‵also make them|make friends the American way. [320 words]
美国人的友谊观
史蒂夫和亚瑟第一次见面是在美国一所大学的化学课上。亚瑟是来自约旦的外国留学生,他想更多地了解美国文化,并希望能和史蒂夫成为好友。起初,史蒂夫显得很友好,上课前他总是热情地与亚瑟打招呼。有时他主动提出与亚瑟一起学习,甚至还邀请亚瑟共进午餐。但学期结束后,史蒂夫显得比较冷淡了。①这两位先前的同班同学在学校不再经常见面。有一天,亚瑟决定给史蒂夫打个电话,可史蒂夫似乎不大愿意与其交谈。史蒂夫态度的改变让亚瑟感到受了伤害。“史蒂夫说过我们是好朋友,”亚瑟抱怨说,“我本来以为是朋友就永远是朋友。”亚瑟有些不解。作为一个外国人,他不理解美国人对友谊的看法。美国人对“朋友”一词的使用非常广泛。他们可能把偶然相识的人和亲密的伙伴都称之为“朋友”。②这些友谊都是基于共同的兴趣。当这些原来共同从事的活动不复存在时,友谊也可能随之淡化。现在亚瑟和史蒂夫不再是同学,所以他们的“友谊”已经发生了变化。在有些文化中,友谊意味着维系两个人之间牢固的持续终生的纽带。在这些文化中,友谊发展得很慢,因为人们是在建立持续终生的感情。而美国社会是个快速变化的社会。有研究显示,每年每五个美国家庭中就有一家迁移。美国人的友谊建立得非常快,其变化也同样快。从美国来的人给人的第一印象是很友好。美国人常随意与陌生人交谈。然而美国人的友好并不总是真正友情的表示。来到美国才几个月的外国人在经历了一次如同亚瑟这样的经历之后,可能会认为美国人易变。了解美国人对友谊的看法,有助于非美国人避免误解,还可以帮助他们学会以美国方式与美国人交朋友。
Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
Chinese Undergraduates in the US
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
I Want to Know
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, without moving to hide it
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I want to know if you can see beauty , if you can source your life from god’s presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
Beauty
there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that have nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart.
I have thought about her often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks, class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition hurt her deeply.
Would her life have been different had she been pretty? Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.
It is said that the true nature of being is veiled. The labor of words, the expression of art, the seemingly ceaseless buzz that is human thought all have in common the need to get at what really is so. The hope to draw close to and possess the truth of being can be a feverish one. In some cases it can even be fatal, if pleasure is one's truth and its attainment more important than life itself. In other lives, though, the search for what is truthful gives life.
The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.
Work and Pleasure
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.
工作和娱乐
要想获得真正的快乐与安宁,一个人应该有至少两三种爱好,而且必须是真正的爱好。到晚年才说“我对什么什么有兴趣”是没用的,这只会徒然增添精神负担。一个人可以在自己工作之外的领域获得渊博的知识,不过他可能几乎得不到什么好处或是消遣。做你喜欢的事是没用的,你必须喜欢你所做的事。总的来说,人可以分为三种:劳累而死的、忧虑而死的、和烦恼而死的。对于那些体力劳动者来说,经历了一周精疲力竭的体力劳作,周六下午让他们去踢足球或者打棒球是没有意义的'。而对那些政治家、专业人士或者商人来说,他们已经为严肃的事情操劳或烦恼六天了,周末再让他们为琐事劳神也是没有意义的。
也可以说,那些理性的、勤勉的、有价值的人们可分为两类,一类,他们的工作就是工作,娱乐就是娱乐;而另一类,他们的工作即娱乐。大多数人属于前者,他们得到了相应的补偿。长时间在办公室或工厂里的工作,回报给他们的不仅是维持了生计,还有一种强烈的对娱乐的需求,哪怕是最简单的、最朴实的娱乐。不过,命运的宠儿则属于后者。他们的生活很自然和谐。对他们来说,工作时间永远不嫌长。每天都是假日,而当正常的假日来临时,他们总是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被强行中断了。不过,有些事情对两类人是同样至关重要的,那就是转换一下视角、改变一下氛围、将精力转移到别的事情上。确实,对那些工作即是娱乐的人来说,最需要隔一段时间就用某种方式把工作从脑子里面赶出去。
最新四级晨读主题美文汇总
The Teacher Who Has Had a Deep Impact on My
From age eight to eleven, I attended a small parochial school in Bath, England. It was a small composed of four classes with about 25 children in each class according to age. For the most part, one teacher was responsible for teaching all subjects to their class. However, occasionally the Headmaster would come in and spend an hour or so, teaching some subject in which he was especially interested. The Headmaster’s name was Mr.Ronald Broackes. He was a large rotund man with a very jovial nature and a compassionate disposition. Although he was quite strict about discipline within the school, he had a keen sense of humor and would delight in telling the children small stories that would make us laugh uproariously. He was a very fair man and had a great influence on many of the children. In my own case, I found that he took a great interest in me and he quickly discovered that I enjoyed puzzles. He would often waylay me as I was going to class and produce a piece of paper from his pocket, often with a puzzle already on it. The puzzles were usually mathematical or logical. As time went on, they slowly got more difficult, but I loved them. Not only that, they kindled within me a love of mathematics and problem-solving that stays with mw to this day. They also served to show me that intellectual activity was rewarding when the correct answers were found, but perhaps more importantly it was great fun. To this day I can remember Mr.Broackes’ joyous exclamation of “Well done!” whenever I got a problem right or his own delight when he stumped me. This simple interaction with a man whom I admired greatly has had a deep impact on my life. I shall forever be grateful that our paths crossed. Mr. Broackes died just two week after the announcement that I had won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Unfortunately, I had no chance to speak with him before he died. I learnt later that he had heard of my achievement and I will always hope that he realized the deep impact he had made on my life.
影响了我一生的老师
理查德.J. 罗伯茨(Richard J.Roberts 1943-),英国生物化学家,因发现断裂基因获1993年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖。
从8岁到11岁,我在英格兰巴思的一个教会小学上学。那是一个很小的学校,由4个班级组成,每班大约有25个孩子,是按照年龄来分班的,一般都是由一个老师负责教每个班级的全部课程。但是,校长偶尔也会到班级来,用上大约一个小时讲授一些他特别感兴趣的课程。校长名叫罗纳德.布罗克斯,是一个又高又胖的男人,天性快乐并富有同情心。尽管他在学校里有很严格的纪律要求,但他富于幽默感,喜欢给孩子们讲一些小故事,常引得大家哄然大笑。他是一个很正直的人,对许多孩子都有很大的影响。以我为例我发现他对我很感兴趣,并且很快就知道我喜欢破解难题。他经常在我进教室的路上拦住我,然后从口袋里掏出一张纸条给我,上面通常写着有关数学或逻辑的难题。随着时间的推移,题目渐渐地越来越难,可我很喜欢。不仅如此,这些小纸条还点燃了我对数学和破解难题的热爱,这种热爱至今还保留在我的身上。当我找出正确答案时,我会觉得这种智力活动是值得一做的`,或许更重要的是,那是巨大的乐趣。直道今天我还能回想起,每当我答对了问题,布罗克斯先生对要愉快的叫道“干得好!”,而当他的题目难道了我时他就得意洋洋。我与这位我很敬佩的人的平淡交往,对我一生产生了深刻影响,我永远不会忘记他对我的知遇之恩。在宣布我获得了1993年诺贝尔生理学或医学奖后刚两个星期布罗克斯先生就过世了。很遗憾,在他生前我没有机会再同他聊聊。后来我才知道,布洛克斯先生临终前已经知道了我的学术成就。我永远希望他能知道他对我一生的深刻影响。
To be or not to be
Outside the Bible, these six words are the most famous in all the literature of the world. They were spoken by Hamlet when he was thinking aloud, and they are the most famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet was speaking not only for himself but also for every thinking man and woman. To be or not to be, to live or not to live, to live richly and abundantly and eagerly, or to live dully and meanly and scarcely. A philosopher once wanted to know whether he was alive or not, which is a good question for everyone to put to himself occasionally. He answered it by saying: “I think, therefore am.”
But the best definition of existence ever saw did another philosopher who said: “To be is to be in relations.” If this true, then the more relations a living thing has, the more it is alive. To live abundantly means simply to increase the range and intensity of our relations. Unfortunately we are so constituted that we get to love our routine. But apart from our regular occupation how much are we alive? If you are interest-ed only in your regular occupation, you are alive only to that extent. So far as other things are concerned--poetry and prose, music, pictures, sports, unselfish friendships, politics, international affairs--you are dead.
Contrariwise, it is true that every time you acquire a new interest--even more, a new accomplishment--you increase your power of life. No one who is deeply interested in a large variety of subjects can remain unhappy; the real pessimist is the person who has lost interest.
Bacon said that a man dies as often as he loses a friend. But we gain new life by contacts, new friends. What is supremely true of living objects is only less true of ideas, which are also alive. Where your thoughts are, there will your live be also. If your thoughts are confined only to your business, only to your physical welfare, only to the narrow circle of the town in which you live, then you live in a narrow cir-conscribed life. But if you are interested in what is going on in China, then you are living in China~ if you’re interested in the characters of a good novel, then you are living with those highly interesting people, if you listen intently to fine music, you are away from your immediate surroundings and living in a world of passion and imagination.
To be or not to be--to live intensely and richly, merely to exist, that depends on ourselves. Let widen and intensify our relations. While we live, let live!
Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
Chinese Undergraduates in the US
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
I Want to Know
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, without moving to hide it
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I want to know if you can see beauty , if you can source your life from god’s presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
Beauty
there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that have nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart.
I have thought about her often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks, class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition hurt her deeply.
Would her life have been different had she been pretty? Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.
It is said that the true nature of being is veiled. The labor of words, the expression of art, the seemingly ceaseless buzz that is human thought all have in common the need to get at what really is so. The hope to draw close to and possess the truth of being can be a feverish one. In some cases it can even be fatal, if pleasure is one's truth and its attainment more important than life itself. In other lives, though, the search for what is truthful gives life.
The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.
四级晨读主题美文四篇
(一)
爱无止境 Love without Measure
Freda Bright says, “Only in opera do people die of love.” It’s true. You really can’t love somebody to death. I’ve known people to die from no love, but I’ve never known anyone to be loved to death. We just can’t love one another enough.
A heart-warming story tells of a woman who finally decided to ask her boss for a raise in salary. All day she felt nervous and apprehensive. Late in the afternoon she summoned the courage to approach her employer. To her delight, the boss agreed to a raise.
The woman arrived home that evening to a beautiful table set with their best dishes. Candles were softly glowing. Her husband had come home early and prepared a festive meal. She wondered if someone from the office had tipped him off, or... did he just somehow know that she would not get turned down?
She found him in the kitchen and told him the good news. They embraced and kissed, then sat down to the wonderful meal. Next to her plate the woman found a beautifully lettered note. It read: “Congratulations, darling! I knew you’d get the raise! These things will tell you how much I love you.”
Following the supper, her husband went into the kitchen to clean up. She noticed that a second card had fallen from his pocket. Picking it off the floor, she read: “Don’t worry about not getting the raise! You deserve it anyway! These things will tell you how much I love you.”
Someone has said that the measure of love is when you love without measure. What this man feels for his spouse is total acceptance and love, whether she succeeds or fails. His love celebrates her victories and soothes her wounds. He stands with her, no matter what life throws in their direction.
Upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa said: “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” And love your friends. Love them without measure.
弗里达·布赖特说过: “只有在歌剧中,人们才会为爱而死?” 这是千真万确的?的确,你不会因为爱一个人而死?我知道有人因为缺乏爱而死,可我从来没有听说过谁因被爱而死?我们恰好是相互之间爱也爱不够?
有一个感人的故事,讲的`是有个女人终于决定去向老板提出加薪的要求?她一整天都焦虑不安?下午晚些时候,她鼓起勇气向老板提议?让她感到高兴的是,老板同意给她加薪?
当晚,女人回家后,发现漂亮的餐桌上已经摆满了丰盛的菜肴,烛光在轻轻地摇曳着?丈夫提早回家准备了一顿庆祝宴?她心想,会不会是办公室里有人向他通风报信了呢?或者……他不知怎么竟知道她不会被拒绝?
她在厨房找到了他,告诉了他这个好消息?他们拥抱亲吻,然后坐下来共享美餐?在她的盘子旁边,女人看到了一张字迹优美的便条?上面写着: “祝贺你,亲爱的!我就知道你会加薪的?我为你做的这一切会告诉你,我有多么爱你?”
晚餐后,丈夫到厨房洗碗?她注意到又有张卡片从他口袋里掉了出来?她把卡片从地板上拣起来,念道: “不要因为没有加薪而烦恼!不管怎样,是该给你加薪了!我为你做的这一切会告诉你,我有多么爱你?”
有人曾经说过,爱的限度就是无限度地去爱?不管妻子成功还是失败,这个男人都给予她完全的包容和爱?他的爱庆祝她的胜利,也抚平她的创伤?不管生活的道路上遇到什么,他们始终同舟共济?
特蕾莎修女在接受诺贝尔和平奖时说道: “你能为促进世界和平做些什么呢?回家爱你的家人吧?” 还要爱你的朋友?爱他们无止境?
(二)
On Motes and Beams
It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them, find it easy to condone them. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left our everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial instance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he has never told not one, but a hundred?
There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and littleness, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness. Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but potentially they are the same. For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity. The knowledge that these reveries are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others. It is well also if they enable us to look upon our felllows, even the most eminent and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.
(三)
Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
(四)
Chinese Undergraduates in the US
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
Idleness , Bad Habit
There are some that profess Idleness in its full dignity, who call themselves the Idle, who boast2 that they do nothing, and thank their stars that they have nothing to do; who sleep every night till they can sleep no longer, and rise only that exercise may enable them to sleep again; who prolong the reign of darkness by double curtains, and never see the sun but to “tell him how they hate his beams”; whose whole labor is to vary the postures of indulgence3 , and whose day differs from their night but as a couch or chair differs from a bed.
These are the true and open votaries of Idleness, for whom she weaves4 the garlands of poppies, and into whose cup she pours the water of oblivion; who exist in a state of unruffled stupidity, forgetting and forgotten; who have long ceased to live, and at whose death the survivors can only say that they have ceased5 to breathe.
But Idleness predominates6 in many lives where it is not suspected; for being a vice which terminates in itself, it may be enjoyed without injury to others; and is therefore not watched like Fraud, which endangers property, or like Pride,which naturally seeks its gratifications in another's inferiority. Idleness is a silent and peaceful quality, that neither raises envy by ostentation, nor hatred by opposition; and therefore nobody is busy to censure or detest it.
There are others to whom Idleness dictates7 another expedient, by which life may be passed unprofitable away without the tediousness of many vacant hours. The art is, to fill the day with petty business, to have always something in hand which may raise curiosity, but not solicitude, and keep the mind in a state of action, but not of labor.
No man is so much open to conviction as the idler, but there is none on whom it operates so little. What will be the effect of this paper I know not: perhaps he will read it and laugh, and light the fire in his furnace; but my hope is that he will quit his trifles, and betake himself to rational and useful diligence.
英语标准美文
Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism.
Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .
A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
英语标准美文
Chinese Undergraduates in the US
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
英语标准美文
I Want to Know
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, without moving to hide it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I want to know if you can see beauty , if you can source your life from god’s presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
英语标准美文
Beauty
there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that have nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart.
I have thought about her often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks, class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition hurt her deeply.
Would her life have been different had she been pretty? Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.
It is said that the true nature of being is veiled. The labor of words, the expression of art, the seemingly ceaseless buzz that is human thought all have in common the need to get at what really is so. The hope to draw close to and possess the truth of being can be a feverish one. In some cases it can even be fatal, if pleasure is one's truth and its attainment more important than life itself. In other lives, though, the search for what is truthful gives life.
The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.
英语标准美文
Work and Pleasure
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.
工作和娱乐
要想获得真正的快乐与安宁,一个人应该有至少两三种爱好,而且必须是真正的爱好。到晚年才说“我对什么什么有兴趣”是没用的,这只会徒然增添精神负担。一个人可以在自己工作之外的领域获得渊博的知识,不过他可能几乎得不到什么好处或是消遣。做你喜欢的事是没用的,你必须喜欢你所做的事。总的来说,人可以分为三种:劳累而死的、忧虑而死的、和烦恼而死的'。对于那些体力劳动者来说,经历了一周精疲力竭的体力劳作,周六下午让他们去踢足球或者打棒球是没有意义的。而对那些政治家、专业人士或者商人来说,他们已经为严肃的事情操劳或烦恼六天了,周末再让他们为琐事劳神也是没有意义的。
也可以说,那些理性的、勤勉的、有价值的人们可分为两类,一类,他们的工作就是工作,娱乐就是娱乐;而另一类,他们的工作即娱乐。大多数人属于前者,他们得到了相应的补偿。长时间在办公室或工厂里的工作,回报给他们的不仅是维持了生计,还有一种强烈的对娱乐的需求,哪怕是最简单的、最朴实的娱乐。不过,命运的宠儿则属于后者。他们的生活很自然和谐。对他们来说,工作时间永远不嫌长。每天都是假日,而当正常的假日来临时,他们总是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被强行中断了。不过,有些事情对两类人是同样至关重要的,那就是转换一下视角、改变一下氛围、将精力转移到别的事情上。确实,对那些工作即是娱乐的人来说,最需要隔一段时间就用某种方式把工作从脑子里面赶出去。
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