·Bud Tenney·
Ready or not, some day it will all come to an end. There will be no more sunrises, no days, no hours or minutes.All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame and temporaI power will shriveI to irrelevance. It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jeaIousies will finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will all expire. The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade away.
It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the tracks you lived.
It won't matter whether you were beautiful or briIIiant. Your gender, skin color, ethnicity will be irrelevant.
So what will matter?How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage and sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident.
It's not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.
巴德·坦尼
無(wú)論是否準(zhǔn)備好,總有一天它都會(huì)走到盡頭。那里沒(méi)有日出,沒(méi)有白天,沒(méi)有小時(shí)和分鐘。你收集的所有東西,不管你珍惜或忘記與否,它們都將流入他人手中。
不管是你得到的或是你欠別人的,你的財(cái)產(chǎn)、名譽(yù)和權(quán)勢(shì)也都會(huì)變成和你毫不相干的東西。
你的怨恨、憤慨、挫折和妒忌最終也將消失。
因此,你的希望、抱負(fù)、計(jì)劃以及行動(dòng)日程表也將全部結(jié)束。當(dāng)初看得比較重的成功得失也會(huì)消失。
你來(lái)自何方,住在窮人區(qū)還是富人區(qū)也都不重要了。
你昔日的漂亮與輝煌也都不重要了,你的性別、膚色、種族地位也將消失。
因此,什么重要呢?怎么衡量你有生之年的價(jià)值呢?
重要的不是你買(mǎi)了什么,而是你創(chuàng)造了什么;不是你得到了什么,而是你給予了什么。
重要的不是你成功了,而是你生命的意義。
重要的不是你學(xué)到了什么,而是你傳授了什么。
重要的是每個(gè)行動(dòng)之中都有正直和無(wú)所畏懼的氣概,偉大的同情心和犧牲精神,并且鼓勵(lì)他人遵從榜樣。
重要的不是你的能力,而是你的性格。
重要的不是你認(rèn)識(shí)多少人,而是在你離開(kāi)后,別人會(huì)認(rèn)為這是個(gè)永遠(yuǎn)的損失。
重要的是別人會(huì)記著你多長(zhǎng)時(shí)間,誰(shuí)記著你,為什么記著你。
過(guò)一種有意義的生活不是偶然的。
那不是環(huán)境的問(wèn)題,而是選擇的問(wèn)題。
選擇有意義的人生吧!
核心單詞
temporaI['temp?r?l]adj.暫存的,短暫的;世俗的;現(xiàn)世的
shriveI['?rivl]v.使束手無(wú)策;使無(wú)能為力;使無(wú)用
jeaIousy['d?el?si]n.妒忌;猜忌
briIIiant['brilj?nt]adj.光輝的;優(yōu)秀的;輝煌的;出色的
ethnicity[eθ'nisiti]n.種族地位;種族特點(diǎn);種族淵源
integrity[in'tegriti]n.正直;廉正;誠(chéng)實(shí)
competence['k?mp?t?ns]n.能力,勝任,稱(chēng)職
實(shí)用句型
Ready or not, some day it wiII aII come to an end.無(wú)論是否準(zhǔn)備好,總有一天它都會(huì)走到盡頭。
①ready or not是狀語(yǔ)從句N(xiāo)o matter you are ready or not的省略形式。②come to涉及,達(dá)成,類(lèi)似的表達(dá)還有come on進(jìn)展,逐漸開(kāi)始;come out出現(xiàn),出版;come up開(kāi)始,發(fā)生,被提出等固定搭配。
翻譯練習(xí)
1.會(huì)議終于結(jié)束了。(come to an end)
2.這不是你的錯(cuò),而是他的問(wèn)題。(not……but……)
3.我偶然遇到了她。(by accident)