A child was careless Ramie stabbed, he rushed home and told his mother: "I only lightly Pengyi what, it was my painful thorns." Mom said: "Because of this, it will thorn you. if the next time you met Ramie, to a courageous and seize it, it will be in your hands become soft as silk, you will no longer be stabbed. "
一个小孩不小心被苎麻刺了，他急忙跑回家，告诉妈妈说：“我只轻轻地碰它一下，它就刺得我很痛。”妈妈说：“正因为如此，它才会刺你。下次你如果再碰到苎麻，要勇敢地一把抓住它，它就会在你的手中变得柔软如丝，不再会刺伤你了。
Look at the Sky from the Bottom of a Well
There is a frog.He lives in a well and he never goes out of the well.He thinks the sky is as big as the mouth of the well.
有一只青蛙住在井底，他从来没有去过井外面。他以为天空就和井口一样大。
One day a crow comes to the well.He sees the frog and says,“Frog,let’s have a talk.”
一天，一只乌鸦飞到井边，看见青蛙，就对它说：“青蛙，咱们聊聊吧。”
Then the frog asks,“Where are you from?”
青蛙就问他：“你从哪里来?”
“I fly from the sky,”the crow says.
“我从天上上来。”乌鸦说。
The frog feels surprised and says,“The sky is only as big as the mouth of the well.How do you fly from the sky?”
青蛙惊讶地说：“天空就只有这井口这么大，你怎么会从天上来?”
The crow says,“The sky is very big.You always stay in the well,so you don’t know the world is big.”
乌鸦说：“天空很大。只不过你一直呆在井里，所有不知道世界很大。”
The frog says,“I don’t believe.”
青蛙说：“我不相信。”
But the crow says,“You can come out and have a look by yourself.”
乌鸦说：“你可以出来，自己看看嘛。”
So the frog comes out from the well.He is very surprised.How big the world is!
于是青蛙来到井外。他十分惊讶，原来世界这么大!
A friend of mine named Paul received an automobile from his brother as a Christmas present. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a street urchin[1] was walking around the shiny new car, admiring it.
"Is this your car, Mister?" he said.
Paul nodded. "My brother gave it to me for Christmas."
The boy was astounded[2]. "You mean your brother gave it to you and it didnt cost you nothing? Boy, I wish . . ."
He hesitated.
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the lad said jarred Paul all the way down to his heels.
"I wish," the boy went on, "That I could be a brother like that."
Paul looked at the boy in astonishment[3], then impulsively he added, "Would you like to take a ride in my car?"
"Oh yes, Id love that."
After a short ride, the boy turned with his eyes aglow [4], said, "Mister, would you mind driving in front of my house?"
Paul smiled a little. He thought he knew what the lad wanted. He wanted to show his neighbors that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was wrong again. "Will you stop where those two steps are?" the boy asked.
He ran up the steps. Then in a little while Paul heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his little crippled[5] brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him [6] and pointed to the car.
"There she is, Buddy[7], just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didnt cost him a cent. And some day Im gonna give you
one just like it . . . then you can see for yourself all the pretty things in the Christmas windows that Ive been trying to tell you about."
Paul got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining-eyed older brother climbed in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.
That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what Jesus meant when he said: "It is more blessed to give[8] . . . "
－－Dan Clark
注释：
1．urchin：淘气鬼，顽童，尤其是指男孩子。比如，a street urchin，街头流浪儿。
2．astounded：astound，使（人）大吃一惊，但它一般多用于被动 语态。He was astounded at the news.那消息让他大吃一惊。
3．in astonishment：和in surprise意思差不多，表示很惊讶。但 吃惊的程度要深一些。
4．aglow：这是一个形容词，它的意思是“炽热的，脸上发热的”。
5．crippled：cripple即可作名词，也可作动词，意为跛子，或使跛足。在这里用crippled，是用分词做形容词，跛足的。
6．squeezed up against him：squeeze是挤压的意思，在这里，很形象地说明小男孩紧紧抱着跛脚的弟弟，怕他摔倒了。
7．buddy：老兄，老弟。这是美国俚语中常见的说法，一般只用于
打招呼。
8．It is more blessed to give：施比受更有福。给予是一种幸福，因为你是富有的，这种富有通常跟财富无关，更主要的是精神上的富有。
内容：
哥哥的心愿圣诞节时，保罗的哥哥送他一辆新车。圣诞节当天，保罗离开办公室时，一个男孩绕着那辆闪闪发亮的.新车，十分赞叹地问：
"先生，这是你的车？"
保罗点点头："这是我哥哥送给我的圣诞节礼物。"男孩满脸惊讶，支支吾吾地说："你是说这是你哥送的礼物，没花你一分钱？天哪，我真希望也能……"
保罗当然知道男孩他真想希望什么。他希望能有一个象那样的哥哥。但是小男孩接下来说的话却完全出乎了保罗的意料。
"我希望自己能成为送车给弟弟的哥哥。"男孩继续说。
保罗惊愕地看着那男孩，冲口而出地说："你要不要坐我的车去兜风？"
"哦，当然好了，我太想坐了！"
车开了一小段路后，那孩子转过头来，眼睛闪闪发亮，对我说："先生，你能不能把车子开到我家门前？"
保罗微笑，他知道孩子想干什么。那男孩必定是要向邻居炫耀，让大家知道他坐了一部大轿车回家。但是这次保罗又猜错了。"你能不能把车子停在那两个台阶前？"男孩要求道。
男孩跑上了阶梯，过了一会儿保罗听到他回来了，但动作似乎有些缓慢。原来把他跛脚的弟弟带出来了，将他安置在第一个台阶上，紧紧地抱着他，指着那辆新车。
只听那男孩告诉弟弟："你看，这就是我刚才在楼上对你说的那辆新车。这是保罗他哥哥送给他的哦！将来我也会送给你一辆像这样的车，到那时候你就能自己去看那些在圣诞节时，挂窗口上的漂亮饰品了，就象我告诉过你的那样。"
保罗走下车子，把跛脚男孩抱到车子的前座。兴奋得满眼放光的哥哥也爬上车子，坐在弟弟的身旁。就这样他们三人开始一次令人难忘的假日兜风。
那个圣诞夜，保罗才真正体会主耶稣所说的"施比受更有福"的道理。
－－丹克拉克
Ignorance of the objective world
In the State of Lu, there was a couple of husband and wife, the former being an expert shoemaker and the latter a skilled hand in wearing taffeta. One day after consultations they decided to go to the state of Yue to earn a livelihood. The neighbors advised them not to go when they learned about their plan. "Don't go there," said one neighbor, "If you go, you can never earn a livelihood."
"We cannot understand you," interrogated the couple, "We have a find command of our art, how could we not earn our living with our work? Don't make a fool of us, please."
"Indeed, you have your skill," explained the man, "But have you taken notice of the fact that shoes are made for people and the silk taffeta are for hat-making? The people of Yue don't wear shoes, for they are barefooted. Again, they like to have their hair spread out over their heads and they never use hats. To whom should you sell your shoes and hats then?" Experienced though you are in the arts, yet the arts you have mastered are useless there."
After this explanation, the husband and wife now understood that anything that was not adaptable to the objective world would be useless and unpractical.
不合时宜
鲁国有对夫妻，男的是鞋匠，鞋子做的很好;女的是织绢能手。有一天，他们商量想到越国去谋生。消息传到四邻后，有人对他们说："不要到那儿去!否则你们一定无法生存的!"那对夫妇说："我们不明白你的意思， 我们都有一套手艺，怎么 会生活不了呢?别胡说了!" 那人说："对呀，你们虽然都有一套手艺，可是你们要知道，鞋子是给人穿的，但越国人都赤脚不穿鞋子，你们织的丝绢原是做帽子用的，但越国人喜欢披着头发，不戴帽子，你们的本领虽大，手艺虽高，但你们做的鞋子、帽子去卖给谁呢?那对夫妇这才明白，凡事如果不合时宜，不适合客观环境就不中用了。
It was time for a haircut. Lenny didn’t even have to look in the mirror. Even though he was going bald, he knew that he needed to cut his hair every two weeks.
He had a "tongue" of hair on the top of his head. His hair was thinning at the crown. He still had plenty of hair on the sides and back. It was what they call "salt and pepper," a mixture of gray hair and dark brown hair. It was only a few years, he figured, until the salt and pepper became just salt.
He never let his hair grow for more than two weeks. The longer it got, the worse it looked, he thought.
He spread a newspaper over the bathroom sink so that no hair went down the drain. He plugged in the clippers and started cutting his hair. He started at the back of his head, went to the sides, and finished on the top. Every minute or so, he had to clean the hair out of the blades with an old toothbrush.
Finished, he picked up a hand mirror to check out the back of his head. Everything looked okay. He carried the newspaper back out to the kitchen and shook the hair clippings into the trash can.
Then he took a shower.
Doing the rounds in the folk is a story, once upon a time there lived a king, and he sent neighbouring Sudan three appearance, size, and weight are exactly the same gold statue, and told the Sudan, their value is not the same. The king is to want to take this a few things to try the Sudan and his subjects is not clever.
Sudan received the unusual gifts, feel strange. Him to the king's palace to find out the statue to the difference, however, read and reread all around them, checked and checked, how also can not find out.
about the three gold statue of the news soon spread out in the city, from the old man to the child, not a don't know. A poor young man in a locked up in prison alone.so he told Sudan, as long as let him take a look at the three gold statue, he'll be able to tell the difference between them.
Sudan commanded to bring the youth into the king's palace. He around the three gold statue back and forth to see it again, found their ears are drilling a eye. He picked up a straw, wear into the first statue of ears, straw emerged from his mouth. He wear straw into the second statue ears, straw and emerged from the other ear. He wear straw into the third when the ears of the statue, straw was it swallowed into the stomach, can not come.
So, young people began to say to Sudan:
"Your majesty! This a few gold statue and the characteristics of people. The first is like a statue sharp-tongued, he heard something, say it out soon, this kind of person can't depend on, so, this statue value a few money. The second is like a statue east out the ear, ear, this kind of person be unlearned, no skill, the value of money. The third statue is like a very cultured person, he can know all the things in the belly, so this is the most valuable statue."
Sudan, hear the word of the young people very happy, he bade on each statue write down the value of it, and gave them back to the king of neighboring countries. Since then, Sudan to the young people released from the prison, and leaving him in the side, problems in doubt, ask for his advice.
Give up halfway
During the Warring States Period (475-221BC), there was a man called Yue Yangzi in State One day he saw a piece of gold on the road and picked it He took it home and gave it to his But his wife was not The virtuous woman said, "I hear that a man of morality doesn't drink a thief's water and a man of probity refuses to accept What do you think of the action of picking up another's lost valuable and possessing it for one's own?"
Yue Yangzi, feeling ashamed, sent the gold back to where he found
the next year, Yue Yangzi felt that he should go out and visit scholars to enrich his So he set
A year later, he came back home
"Why have you returned?" asked his wife in surprise, "You've only spent one year studying with "
"I come back because I missed you very "
Without saying anything, his wife took a pair of scissors and went to the loom at which she had Pointing at the half done brocade, she proclaimed : "This brocade is woven from the finest I wove one strand after another to produce the Now if I cut it, all my previous work will be It's the same with your You can acquire knowledge only through Now, you've stopped Isn't it the same as cutting the brocade on the loom?"
Yue Yangzi was moved by what she He again left home to visit Several years later he became a learned
半途而废
战国时期，魏国有个叫乐羊子的人。有一天，乐羊子在路上看到一块金子，他就捡起金子，带回了家并把它拿给妻子看。可他妻子一点儿也不高兴。这个贤惠的女人对他说："我听人说'壮士不饮盗泉之水;廉洁的人不食嗟来之食'。把别人遗失的贵重之物捡起来据为己有，你怎么看待这种行为呢?"
乐羊子听了妻子的话，觉得很惭愧，就把那块金子又扔到原来的地方。
第二年，乐羊子离开家到了一个很远的地方，去拜师求学。
一年后，乐羊子突然回到家中，他的妻子很惊讶地问："你怎么回来了?你才和那些学者学了一年呀。"乐羊子说："我太想你了，所以回来看看。"
他的妻子听了以后，二话不说，拿起把剪刀走到她的织布机前。她指着那块已经完成了一半的锦缎说："这块锦缎用的是最好的丝。我一丝丝的累积来织成这锦缎。如果我现在把它剪断，就等于前功尽弃。你求学也是这样。如果现在停止，和剪断织布机上的锦缎有什么区别?"
乐羊子被妻子的话所感动，于是立刻离开家，继续拜师求学。
几年后，乐羊子终于完成学业，成为一个博学的人。
【微语】生活如调色板，交织着忙碌、烦恼与丝丝甜蜜。
