英語勵(lì)志美文精華 39 Fixing Up the Run-Down Places 修補(bǔ)破損之處
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Fixing Up the Run-Down Places
by Dr. David Dallas Jones
Every life coheres around certain fundamental core ideas whether we realize it or not. If I were asked to state the ideas around which my life and my life's work have been built it would seem that they were very simple ideas. An old professor of mine used to say that "effort counts." "The surest thing in the world," he would say, "next to death is that effort counts." This I believe with all my heart. We seldom realize the sense of glow, the sense of growing self-esteem, the sense of achievement, which can come from doing a job well. Just working at a thing with enthusiasm and with a belief that the job may be accomplished, however uncertain the outcome, lends zest to life.
If I were to start life again, I think I would do just what I have done in the past-this past having been done by mere chance. I would start at some task which very much needed to be done. I would start in a place which was run down and I would believe with all my heart that if the thing needed to be done and if effort were put into it, results would come for human good.
Too, from the outset, my wife and I have had the feeling that no matter what else we did in life, we had to devote our best thinking and our best living to our children. Now that they are all grown, we have sincere satisfaction in the fact that trying to do a job and trying to earn a living did not take away from us this urgency to be and do so that our children could have a feeling of the importance of integrity, honesty and straightforwardness in life. It seems to me far too often this is overlooked. We people in public life do the jobs we have to do and fail to save our own children. This second thing is important- doing the task you have to do but beginning at home to bring peace, love, happiness and contentment to those whom God has given you.
The third idea, around which I have tried to live and work, is that there is an overshadowing Providence that cares for one. Ofttimes struggles are too intense, too "eager beaverish" when, as a matter of fact, time and God can solve many problems. Never in my life have I gotten away from the idea that God cares and that He provides that the forces of good in the world are greater than the forces of evil and that if we will lend ourselves to those forces, in the long run we have greater joy and happiness in the thing which we try to achieve. This I learned from my mother as a boy. Although she was ill and although we were poor-as poor as people can be-I do not now recall a moment of discouragement in her presence. There was always an overpowering belief that God was in His heaven and that, as Joe Louis said, "God is on our side."
These things I believe with all my heart.
修補(bǔ)破損之處
大衛(wèi)•達(dá)拉斯•瓊斯博士
無論我們能否認(rèn)識到這點(diǎn)，每個(gè)人的人生都與某種基礎(chǔ)的核心思想密切相連。倘若有人問我，我的生命與工作基于何 種觀念？我覺得它們非常簡單。“一分耕耘，一分收獲。”這是我的一位老教授過去常說的話。他說：“除了死亡之外，世界上最確切的事就是‘一分耕耘，一分收 獲’。”我對此深信不疑。我們很少能意識到工作帶給我們的樂趣，對我們自尊心的培養(yǎng)，以及給予我們的成就感。只要帶著熱情去做一件事情，并堅(jiān)信一定可以完 成，無論最終會有怎樣的結(jié)果，它都會為我們的生活帶來激情。
如果再給我一次生命，我想我仍會做過去所做的事——雖然過去所做的一切純屬偶然。我會從急需去做的事情做起，從破損之處做起；我會由衷地相信，只要是必須做的事，只要付出努力，就一定會獲得對人類有益的結(jié)果。
并 且，我和妻子從一開始就認(rèn)為，無論生活中還有任何什么別的事等待我們?nèi)プ觯覀兌急仨毴硇牡貫楹⒆觽兲峁┳詈玫纳?。如今，他們都已長大成人。我們感到 無比滿足，我們?yōu)樯?jì)奔波，努力工作，但都不曾忽略孩子，這樣孩子們才能真正明白生活中正直、誠實(shí)和坦率的重要性。而我覺得，人們通常都忽略了這些。為了 在社會中生存，人們不得不去工作，于是忽略了自己的孩子。然而，后者更為重要——做你必須做的事，但先要把和平、愛心、幸福和滿足感帶給家中的那些上帝恩 賜予你的孩子們。
上天始終眷顧著我，這是維系我的生活與工作的第三個(gè)觀念。有時(shí)，我們會過于積極，過于“急功近利”，而事實(shí)上，上帝和時(shí)間 會解決很多問題。上帝眷顧著我們，他讓我們懂得世界上善的力量總大于惡的力量，只要我們追隨著善，就一定會從我們努力成就的事業(yè)中獲得更多的快樂與幸福， 這正是我在一生中都不曾背離的一種觀念。它們是我兒時(shí)從母親那里學(xué)到的。雖然母親染病在身，雖然我們的生活一貧如洗，但是在我的記憶中，母親從未有過一刻 的氣餒。她始終堅(jiān)信，正如喬?路易斯所說：“上帝與我們同在。”上帝就在天堂。
對于這些觀念，我是由衷地相信的。
