With a pencil stub he crossed out my entire schedule. Then, having demolished my adolescent dream structure at a single stroke, he wrote down three syllables: peace of mind. “This is the gift that God reserves for His special protégés, ” he said.
“Talent and beauty He gives to many. Wealth is commonplace, fame not rare. But peace of mind—that is His final guerdon of approval, the fondest insignia of His love. He bestows it charily. Most men are never blessed with it; others wait all their lives—yes, far into advanced age—for this gift to descend upon them. ”
曾经，当我是一个充满了丰富幻想的年轻人时，我着手起草了一份被公认为人生“幸福”的目录。就像别人有时会将他们所拥有或想要拥有的财产列成表一样，我将世人希求之物列成表：健康、爱情、美丽、才智、权力、财富和名誉。
当我完成清单后，我自豪地将它交给一位睿智的长者，他曾是我少年时代的良师和精神楷模。或许我是想以此来加深他对我早熟智慧的印象。无论如何，我把单子递给了他。我充满自信地对他说：“这是人类幸福的总和。一个人若能拥有这些，就和神差不多了。”
在我的朋友老迈的眼角处，我看到了感兴趣的皱纹，汇聚成一张耐心的网。他深思熟虑后说：“是一张出色的表单，内容整理详细，记录顺序也合理。但是，我的年轻朋友，好像你忽略了最重要的一个要素。你忘了那个要素，如果缺少了它，每项财产都会变成可怕的折磨。”
我立即暴躁地逼问：“那么，我遗漏的这个要素是什么？”
他用一小段铅笔划掉我的整张表格。在一拳击碎我的少年美梦之后，他写下三个字：心之静。“这是上帝为他特别的子民保留的礼物。”他说道。
“他赐予许多人才能和美丽。财富是平凡的，名望也不稀有，但心灵的宁静才是他允诺的最终赏赐，是他爱的最佳象征。他施予它的时候很谨慎。多数人从未享受过，有些人则等待了一生——是的，一直到高龄，才等到赏赐降临到他们身上。”
财富是平凡的，名望也不稀有，唯有心灵的宁静最难能可贵。
1. Perhaps I was trying to impress him_________my precocious wisdom. Anyway, I handed him the . “This, ” I told him confidently, “is the_________of mortal goods. Could a man possess them all, he would be_________a god.”
2. “Well digested in contented and set down in not-unreasonable . But it appears, my young friend, that you have omitted the most_________ele-ment of all. You have forgotten the one ingredient, lacking_________each possession becomes a hideous torment. ”
3. But peace of —that is His final guerdon of approval, the fondest insignia of His .
1. 在我的朋友老迈的眼角处，我看到了感兴趣的皱纹，汇聚成一张耐心的网。
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. 他用一小段铅笔划掉我的整张表格。
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. 财富是平凡的，名望也不稀有，但心灵的宁静才是他允诺的最终赏赐。
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
1. At the corners of my friend’s old eyes, I saw wrinkles of amusement gathering in a patient net.
at the corner of：在……的角落
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Most men are never blessed with it; others wait all their lives—yes, far into advanced age—for this gift to descend upon them.
descend upon：降临
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
容颜与人生
Face and Fortune
弗朗西斯?帕金森?凯丝 / Frances Parkinson Keyes
There is a story about a proposed appointment in Lincoln’s cabinet that I have always liked very much. One of his advisers urgently recommended a candidate and Lincoln declined to follow the suggestion. So he was asked to give his reasons.
“I don’t like the man’s face.” Lincoln explained briefly.
“But the poor man is not responsible for his face.” his advocate insisted.
“Every man over forty is responsible for his face.” Lincoln replied, and turned to the discussion of other matters.
Recently, at the instigation of my publisher, I had some photographs taken. It was a long time, he reminded me, since I had supplied him with a new one; I could not go on using the same pose indefinitely. I do not enjoy the process of being photographed, and when I saw the results of this latest ordeal, I enjoyed these still less. I compared the new photograph with one that had been taken 25 years ago, and my feminine vanity suffered an acute pang at the thought of being presented to the public as I am today. My first instinct was to have the prints “touched up,” though I have never “touched up” my own face or my own hair because I have always maintained that women who did this deceived no one except themselves. As I thoughtfully considered the photographs, I knew that as till more important principle was involved.
A quarter century of living should put a great deal into a woman’s face besides a few wrinkles and some unwelcome folds around the chin. In that length of time she has become intimately acquainted with pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, life and death. She has struggled and survived, failed and succeeded. She has lost and regained faith. And, as a result, she should be wiser, gentler, more patient and more tolerant than she was when she was young. Her sense of humor should have mellowed , her outlook should have widened, her sympathies should have deepened. And all this should show. If she tries to erase the imprint of age, she runs the risk of destroying, at the same time, the imprint of experience and character.
I know I am more experienced than I was a quarter century ago and I hope I have more character. I released the pictures as they were.
我很喜欢一个故事，那是有关推荐林肯内阁职务的。他的一位顾问极力向他推荐一位候选人，但是林肯拒绝接受这个建议。因此，这位顾问要求林肯给出原因来。
“我不喜欢那人的面相。”林肯简明扼要地回答道。
“可是那个可怜的人不应对他的长相负责。”推荐人坚持道。
“一个人一旦过了40岁就应该对自己的长相负责。”林肯答复完就转而讨论其他的事情了。