讀點好英文:A Heart's-Ease 心安草

A Heart's-Ease 心安草

A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning, and found everything withered and dying.

He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it was sick of life and determined to die because it was not tall and beautiful like the pine.The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes, like the vine.The vine was going to throw its life away because it could not stand erect and have as fine fruit as the peach tree.The geranium was fretting because it was not tall and fragrant like the lilac……and so on all through the garden.

Coming to a heart's-ease, he found its bright face lifted as cheery as ever.“Well, heart's-ease, I'm glad, amidst all this discouragement, to find one brave little flower. You do not seem to be the least disheartened.”

“No, I am not of much account, but I thought that if you wanted an oak, or a pine, or a vine, or a peach tree, or a geranium, or a lilac, you would have planted one；but as I knew you wanted a heart's-ease, I am determined to be the best little heart's-ease that I can.”

這個故事是這樣的：一個國王清晨走進花園，發(fā)現(xiàn)所有的草木已經(jīng)枯萎，奄奄一息了。

于是，他問門邊的橡樹究竟發(fā)生了什么事。原來是它們消極厭世、一心求死，因為橡樹覺得自己不如松樹般高大、秀麗；而松樹為自己無法如葡萄藤那般結(jié)滿果實而沮喪；葡萄藤則為自己無法直立，并且無法像桃樹那樣結(jié)出上好的果實而想結(jié)束生命；天竺葵也焦躁不安，因為它覺得自己不如紫丁香那樣修長、芳香……于是，整個花園都了無生氣。

國王走到一株心安草面前，發(fā)現(xiàn)它仍然神采奕奕，如從前般歡樂。“你好，心安草，我感到非常高興，所有的草木都對自己失去了信心，只有你能勇敢地生活，沒有絲毫氣餒?！?/p>

“雖然我并沒有什么值得驕傲的東西，但我想，如果你想要一棵橡樹，或松樹、葡萄，或桃樹、天竺葵、丁香，你就會去種它們，而我知道你想要一株心安草，所以我決心盡我所能做一株最好的心安草?！?/p>

Practising&Exercise 實戰(zhàn)提升篇

單詞注解

humbIe['h?mbl]a.卑微的；（身份）低下的

Iantern['l?nt?n]n.燈籠；燈塔

determine[di't?：min]v.（下）決心，做決定

disheartened[dis'ha：tnd]a.沮喪的，灰心的

實用句型

One day a wealthy family man took his son on a trip to the country.一天，一個富有的爸爸帶著兒子進行了一次鄉(xiāng)村之旅。

The pine was all out of heart because it could not bear grapes.而松樹為自己不如葡萄藤那般結(jié)滿豐碩的果實而沮喪。

智慧點津

If you have love, friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude toward life, you've got everything！You can't buy any of these things. You can have all the material possessions you can imagine, provisions for the future, but if you are poor of spirit, you have nothing！

如果你擁有了愛情、朋友、家庭、健康、幽默和積極的生活態(tài)度，你就擁有了一切。這些東西是金錢買不到的。你可以擁有你想象中的任何物質(zhì)財富和為將來做的儲備，但假若你精神貧乏，將是一無所有的。

Others may do a greater work, but you have your part to do；and no one in all God's heritage can do it so well as you.

別人的工作或許比你更偉大，但你有你的職責，在上帝的子民中，沒有人能比你做得更好！