另一种就是音乐。然而，虽不知为何，那句谚语在演戏上并没有得到验证，但在音乐上得到了。很多人认为如果他们不能唱出很动听的歌，不能很娴熟地弹奏钢琴或者小提琴、竖琴，那么，他们最好不要去做这些事情。我承认，他们不应该不加选择地把低劣的表演给公众或者他们的熟人看。如果在家里也不能容忍这种低劣的音乐表演，这是我不赞成的。
没什么天赋的儿女，通过简单的歌声给她们的父母或不那么挑剔的朋友带来快乐——这样的例子还少吗？然而有一天，这些小歌唱家开始因为不满足而苦恼。他们开始去学习音乐——如果他们资质平庸，性情温和——他们的不足就会暴露出来。十有八九，歌声就像一枚不值钱的硬币一样被抛在一边。有多少父亲为了鼓励女儿学歌却从此家里没有歌声呢？然而在教区音乐会上，她们可能会遭到打击。
在这里，我应该驻足观察一些奇怪的现象，有些人在画室或自家浴室从不唱歌，但在宗教集会或教堂里，他们会毫不犹豫地用那五音不全的嗓子放声高歌。我相信，对于这个问题，有一个很好很合理的解释，但这属于神学的范畴，已经超出了我的研究范围。
“如果一件事值得去做，就应该好好去做。”这该死的说法就是导致个人生活极其匮乏的原因，从某种意义上讲，它也是公众生活水平降低的原因。这条谚语对小有才能的人有两方面影响：它让资质平庸之辈再也不练习，而令资质超凡者为此付出太多，同时也将自己的思想强加给他人；它使人们疏于写作和写日记，同时也导致了本该锁在作者抽屉里的文集和日记广泛发表。
它导致了布兰克先生不去写诗——出于自娱自乐或与朋友的消遣，他可以写得很好的。同时，它也致使德茜小姐为了她那些并不成功的模仿之作（模仿德拉梅尔先生、叶芝先生和布里奇斯博士）去纠缠各个杂志社疲惫的编辑们。结果是，我们整个国家的艺术生活存在着两方面的迫切需求：更多的业余爱好者从事艺术实践，以及更高水平、更专业的艺术标准。只有达到这两个目标，我们才能获取心灵深处最美好的东西。
我认为，对我们来说，除去公民的职责，除去我们作为儿子、丈夫、父亲或者女儿、妻子、母亲的责任外，只有一件事情值得我们好好去做，值得我们全力以赴。这件事可以是写作、制造蒸汽机，也可以是砌砖块。除此之外，很多事我们都可以不必那么较真。我们的目的是为了放松自己或者触动自己的心灵，只有意识到这一点，人们才会幸福，才会满意，我们的家园才会更加美好。
我认为，有些事情草草去做可能比认真去做要好一些。比如钓鱼，其结果就是鱼儿被宰杀，一想到这些，钓鱼的乐趣就会荡然无存。当然，如果你既能钓到鱼又不去宰杀它，那就另当别论了。
correspondent [k:ri'spndnt] n. 通信者；通讯记者
At one time he was a part-time campus correspondent for the
Kansas City Star.
有一段时间，他还为《堪萨斯城星报》做过兼职的驻校通讯记者。
masquerade [m鎠k'reid] v. 化装；伪装；乔装
He tried to masquerade as a policeman.
他设法化装成一名警察。
sage [seid] n. 圣人；贤人；哲人
He is a sage.
他是位圣人。
tournament ['tunmnt] n. 比赛；锦标赛；联赛
They won the tournament.
他们赢了锦标赛。
没有什么比玩自己喜欢的游戏更惬意和更有益的了。
如果一件事值得去做，就应该好好去做。
有些事情草草去做可能比认真去做要好一些。
Two central examples, sports and music, are valuable to most people in proportion to how enthusiastically they do them, rather than how well.
in proportion to：与……成比例；与……相称
Blank not to write verses at all — which he might very well do, for the sake of his own happiness, and for the amusement of his friends.
for the sake of：为了……的利益；为了
18放飞心灵
Free to Soar
佚名 / Anonymous
One windy spring day, I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing. As the strong winds gusted against the kites, a string kept them in check.
Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled, but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow, facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the string, they seemed to say, "Let me go! Let me go! I want to be free!" They soared beautifully even as they fought the restriction of the string. Finally, one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose. "Free at last," it seemed to say. "Free to fly with the wind."
Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze. It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush. "Free at last", free to lie powerless in the dirt, to be blown helplessly along the ground, and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.
How much like kites we sometimes are. Heaven gives us adversity and restrictions, rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the commandment and never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.
Let us each rise to the great heights, recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.
一个春风拂面的日子，一群年轻人正在放风筝。天空中满是各种颜色、形状和大小的风筝，犹如穿梭飞舞着的漂亮鸟儿。强劲有力的风吹着风筝，牵引线控制着它们。
风筝并不是随风而去，而是迎风飘往高处。风的劲吹使它们摇晃着、拉扯着，但牵引线和笨重的尾翼让它们始终处于控制之中。它们挣扎着、抖动着，似乎在说：“放开我！放开我！我要自由！”就是在与牵引线抗争之时，它们也依然优雅地飞翔着。终于，其中一只风筝成功地挣脱了线的束缚，它好像在说：“终于自由了，终于可以随风自由飞翔了。”
然而，没有束缚的自由让它完全处于风的无情摆布之下。它笨拙地坠落到地面，落在一堆乱草之中，线也缠在一丛枯死的灌木上了。“终于自由了”——自由到无力地躺在泥土中，自由到无助地任由风吹得满地跑，自由到撞到第一个障碍物就搁浅，毫无生气可言。
有时候，我们与风筝是多么相似啊！上天让我们经历逆境，体验束缚，并定下规则约束我们，让我们从中成长起来，获得人生所需的力量。逆风而行时，束缚是不可或缺的。有些人强硬地抵制这些规则，那就永远也飞不到本可以达到的高度。只遵从部分规则，我们绝不可能飞得很高。
每个人都飞到高处吧，同时也要认识到——某些令人恼怒的约束，实际上是帮助我们攀升、飞跃和达到目标的强大力量。
断了线的风筝终将落在地上。有些约束，有些规则，正是支持我们攀升、飞跃和腾达的强大力量。
cumbersome ['kmbsm] adj. 笨重的；难处理的；累赘的
Your article is too cumbersome. Lop off those repeated and empty
words.
你的文章太冗长了。把那些重复的、空洞的话都删掉。
mercy ['m:si] n. 仁慈；宽容；怜悯；幸运；善行
Captain White scourged his crew without mercy.
船长怀特无情地鞭挞船员。
tug [t] v. 用力拉；竞争；努力做
She tried to tug my hand away.
她使劲拉开我的手。
chafe [teif] v. 擦破；擦热；擦痛；激怒
The foaming waves chafe against the rocky shore.
汹涌的波涛猛烈地冲击着礁岸。
天空中满是各种颜色、形状和大小的风筝，犹如穿梭飞舞着的漂亮鸟儿。
风筝并不是随风而去，而是迎风飘往高处。
某些令人恼怒的约束，实际上是帮助我们攀升、飞跃和达到目标的强大力量。
Instead of blowing away with the wind, they arose against it to achieve great heights.
blow away：吹走；驱散
Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze.
at the mercy of：受……支配
19内心深处的波纹
The Splashes of Life
佚名 / Anonymous
My grandfather took me to the fish pond on the farm when I was about seven, and he told me to throw a stone into the water. He told me to watch the circles created by the stone. Then he asked me to think of myself as that stone.
"You may create lots of splashes in your life, but the waves that come from those splashes will disturb the peace of all your fellow creatures," he said.
"Remember that you are responsible for what you put in your circle and that circle will also touch many other circles.