英语情感美文

英语情感美文

　　心灵鸡汤 七夕的爱情

　　Chinese Valentine's Day （or “Qi Qiao Jie ”） falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar （August according to the Gregorian calendar）. As is the custom elsewhere in the world, this is a day devoted to romance.

　　In China, this day is also known as “The Begging Festival” or “The Daughter's Festival.” It is an important day for girls. In the evening, girls prepare melons and fruit before worship and prayers for a good marriage.

　　There are many stories as to the origins of Chinese Valentine's Day, and one of them involves the Emperor of Heaven and his seven daughters.

　　The love story

　　The seventh daughter of the Emperor of Heaven and an orphaned cowherd were separated by the Emperor； the girl was forced to move to the star Vega （织女星，天琴座中的最亮的那颗星）and the cowherd, to the star Altair（牛郎星, 牵牛星）. They were only allowed to meet once a year on the day of seventh day of seventh lunar month - Chinese Valentine's Day.

　　The story begins with the handsome but poor orphan who lived with his elder brother and sister-in-law. After his parents passed away, the boy's brother inherited the house and land. But all he had was an old ox. As a cowherd, the boy had to work the farm fields with his ox everyday. His daily life routine resembled the story of Cinderella （《灰姑娘》）.

　　The seventh daughter of the Emperor, also known as the Weaving Maid, was good at handcrafting, especially weaving clothes. The Emperor particularly appreciated her skills of weaving clouds with rainbows to make the world more beautiful.

　　The cowherd's ox, which was actually an immortal from heaven, made mistakes in heaven and was reincarnated as an ox to toil on earth. One day, the ox suddenly said to the cowherd： “You are a nice person. If you want to get married, go to the brook and your wish will come true.”

　　Love Is Not Like Merchandise

　　爱情不是商品

　　A reader in Florida, apparently bruised by some personal experience, writes in to complain, "If I steal a nickel's worth of merchandise, I am a thief and punished; but if I steal the love of another's wife, I am free."

　　佛罗里达州的一位读者显然是在个人经历上受过创伤, 他写信来抱怨道: “如果我偷走了五分钱的商品, 我就是个贼, 要受到惩罚, 但是如果我偷走了他人妻子的爱情, 我没事儿。”

　　This is a prevalent misconception in many people's minds---that love, like merchandise, can be "stolen". Numerous states, in fact, have enacted laws allowing damages for "alienation of affections".

　　这是许多人心目中普遍存在的一种错误观念——爱情, 像商品一样, 可以 “偷走”。实际上，许多州都颁布法令，允许索取“情感转让”赔偿金。

　　But love is not a commodity; the real thing cannot be bought, sold, traded or stolen. It is an act of the will, a turning of the emotions, a change in the climate of the personality.

　　但是爱情并不是商品；真情实意不可能买到，卖掉，交换，或者偷走。爱情是志愿的行动，是感情的转向，是个性发挥上的变化。

　　When a husband or wife is "stolen" by another person, that husband or wife was already ripe for the stealing, was already predisposed toward a new partner. The "love bandit" was only taking what was waiting to be taken, what wanted to be taken.

　　当丈夫或妻子被另一个人“偷走”时，那个丈夫或妻子就已经具备了被偷走的条件，事先已经准备接受新的伴侣了。这位“爱匪”不过是取走等人取走、盼人取走的东西。

　　We tend to treat persons like goods. We even speak of the children "belonging" to their parents. But nobody "belongs" to anyone else. Each person belongs to himself, and to God. Children are entrusted to their parents, and if their parents do not treat them properly, the state has a right to remove them from their parents' trusteeship.

　　我们往往待人如物。我们甚至说孩子“属于”父母。但是谁也不“属于”谁。人都属于自己和上帝。孩子是托付给父母的，如果父母不善待他们，州政府就有权取消父母对他们的托管身份。

　　Most of us, when young, had the experience of a sweetheart being taken from us by somebody more attractive and more appealing. At the time, we may have resented this intruder---but as we grew older, we recognized that the sweetheart had never been ours to begin with. It was not the intruder that "caused" the break, but the lack of a real relationship.

　　我们多数人年轻时都有过恋人被某个更有诱惑力、更有吸引力的人夺去的经历。在当时，我们兴许怨恨这位不速之客---但是后来长大了，也就认识到了心上人本来就不属于我们。并不是不速之客“导致了”决裂，而是缺乏真实的关系。

　　On the surface, many marriages seem to break up because of a "third party". This is, however, a psychological illusion. The other woman or the other man merely serves as a pretext for dissolving a marriage that had already lost its essential integrity.

　　从表面上看，许多婚姻似乎是因为有了“第三者”才破裂的。然而这是一种心理上的幻觉。另外那个女人，或者另外那个男人，无非是作为借口，用来解除早就不是完好无损的婚姻罢了。

　　Nothing is more futile and more self-defeating than the bitterness of spurned love, the vengeful feeling that someone else has "come between" oneself and a beloved. This is always a distortion of reality, for people are not the captives or victims of others---they are free agents, working out their own destinies for good or for ill.

　　因失恋而痛苦，因别人“插足”于自己与心上人之间而图报复，是最没有出息、最自作自受的乐。这种事总是歪曲了事实真相，因为谁都不是给别人当俘虏或牺牲品——人都是自由行事的，不论命运是好是坏，都由自己来作主。

　　But the rejected lover or mate cannot afford to believe that his beloved has freely turned away from him--- and so he ascribes sinister or magical properties to the interloper. He calls him a hypnotist or a thief or a home-breaker. In the vast majority of cases, however, when a home is broken, the breaking has begun long before any "third party" has appeared on the scene.

　　但是，遭离弃的情人或配偶无法相信她的心上人是自由地背离他的——因而他归咎于插足者心术不正或迷人有招。他把他叫做催眠师、窃贼或破坏家庭的人。然而，从大多数事例看，一个家的破裂，是早在什么“第三者”出现之前就开始了的。

　　包容一切的爱情

　　弗里达·布赖特说过：“只有在歌剧中，人们才会为爱而死。” 的确，你不会因为爱一个人而死。有人会因为得不到爱而死，可从未有人因被爱而死。

　　Freda Bright says, "Only in opera do people die of love." It's true. You really can't love somebody to death. I've known people to die from no love, but I've never known anyone to be loved to death. We just can't love one another enough.

　　A heart-warming story tells of a woman who finally decided to ask her boss for a raise in salary. All day she felt nervous and apprehensive. Late in the afternoon she summoned the courage to approach her employer. To her delight, the boss agreed to a raise.

　　The woman arrived home that evening to a beautiful table set with their best dishes. Candles were softly glowing. Her husband had come home early and prepared a festive meal. She wondered if someone from the office had tipped him off, or... did he just somehow know that she would not get turned down?

　　She found him in the kitchen and told him the good news. They embraced and kissed, then sat down to the wonderful meal. Next to her plate the woman found a beautifully lettered note. It read, "Congratulations, darling! I knew you'd get the raise! These things will tell you how much I love you."

　　Following the supper, her husband went into the kitchen to clean up. She noticed that a second card had fallen from his pocket. Picking it off the floor, she read, "Don't worry about not getting the raise! You deserve it anyway! These things will tell you how much I love you."

　　Someone has said that the measure of love is when you love without measure. What this man feels for his spouse is total acceptance and love, whether she succeeds or fails. His love celebrates her victories and soothes her wounds. He stands with her, no matter what life throws in their direction.

　　Upon receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa said, "What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family." And love your friends. Love them without measure.

　　爱情像断臂要敢于再次尝试

　　"But what if I break my arm again?" my five year-old daughter asked, her lower lip trembling. I knelt holding onto her bike and looked her right in the eyes. I knew how much she wanted to learn to ride. How often she felt left out when her friends pedaled by our house. Yet ever since she'd fallen off her bike and broken her arm, she'd been afraid.

　　"Oh honey," I said. "I don't think you'll break another arm."

　　"But I could, couldn't I?"

　　"Yes," I admitted, and found myself struggling for the right thing to say. At times like this, I wished I had a partner to turn to. Someone who might help find the right words to make my little girl's problems disappear. But after a disastrous marriage and a painful divorce, I'd welcomed the hardships of being a single parent and had been adamant in telling anyone who tried to fix me up that I was terminally single.

　　"I don't think I want to ride," she said and got off her bike.

　　We walked away and sat down beside a tree.

　　"Don't you want to ride with your friends?" I asked.

　　"And I thought you were hoping to start riding your bike to school next year," I added.

　　"I was," she said, her voice almost a quiver.

　　"You know, hon," I said. "Most everything you do comes with risks. You could get a broken arm in a car wreck and then be afraid to ever ride in a car again. You could break your arm jumping rope. You could break your arm at gymnastics. Do you want to stop going to gymnastics?"

　　"No," she said. And with a determined spirit, she stood up and agreed to try again. I held on to the back of her bike until she found the courage to say, "Let's go!"

　　I spent the rest of the afternoon at the park watching a very brave little girl overcome a fear, and congratulating myself for being a self-sufficient single parent.

　　As we walked home, pushing the bike as we made our way along the sidewalk, she asked me about a conversation she'd overheard me having with my mother the night before.

　　"Why were you and grandma arguing last night?"

　　My mother was one of the many people who constantly tried to fix me up. How many times had I told her "no" to meeting the Mr. Perfect she picked out for me. She just knew Steve was the man for me.

　　"It's nothing," I told her.

　　She shrugged. "Grandma said she just wanted you to find someone to love."

　　"What grandma wants is for some guy to break my heart again," I snapped, angry that my mother had said anything about this to my daughter.

　　"But Mom."

　　"You're too young to understand," I told her.

　　She was quiet for the next few minutes. Then she looked up and in a small voice gave me something to think about.

　　"So I guess love isn't like a broken arm."

　　Unable to answer, we walked the rest of the way in silence. When I got home, I called my mother and scolded her for talking about this to my daughter. Then I did what I'd seen my brave little girl do that very afternoon. I let go and agreed to meet Steve.

　　Steve was the man for me. We married less than a year later. It turned out mother and my daughter were right.

　　中文：

　　“可我要再把胳膊给摔断了怎么办？”我五岁的女儿问道，她的下唇颤抖着。我跪着抓稳了她的自行车，直视着她的眼睛。我很明白她非常想学会骑车。多少次了，她的朋友们踩车经过我们家时，她感到给抛下。可自从上次她从自行车上摔下来，把胳膊给摔断之后，她对车便敬而远之。

　　“噢，亲爱的。”我说，“我不认为你会把另一只胳膊给摔断的。”

　　“但有可能，不是吗？”

　　“是的，”我承认道，使劲想找出些道理来说。每逢此时，我便希望自己有人可依靠。一个可以说出正确道理、帮我的小女儿解决难题的人。可经过一场可悲的婚姻和痛苦的离婚后，我倾向于当个单身母亲，并且我还态度坚决地告诉每个要给我介绍对象的人说我要抱定终身不嫁。

　　“我不想学了。”她说着，下了自行车。

　　我们走到一旁，坐在一颗树旁。

　　“难道你不想和朋友们一起骑车吗？”我问。

　　“而且我还以为你希望明年踩着车回去上学呢。”我补充道。

　　“我是希望。”她说，声音有点颤。

　　“知道吗，宝贝。”我说，“很多要做的事情都是带有风险的。汽车失事也会折断胳膊，那么你就算再坐在车上也会害怕。跳绳也有可能折断胳膊。做体操也有可能折断胳膊。你连体操也想不练了吗？”

　　“不想。”她说。然后她毅然站起，同意再试试。我扶着车尾，直到她有勇气说：“放手！”

　　后来一个下午，我就在公园里看着这个有无比勇气的小女孩克服了恐惧，我恭喜自己成了可以独当一面的单身家长。

　　回家时，我们推着自行车顺着人行道走，她问起昨天晚上我和我妈*一个对话，那是她无意中听到的。

　　“你昨晚为什么和姥姥吵？”

　　我妈妈总是想安排我去相亲的许多人中的一个。我多次拒绝去看她给我找的合适对象。她知道史蒂文和我会合得来。

　　“没什么事。”我告诉她。

　　她耸耸肩。“姥姥说她只不过想让你找个人来爱。”

　　“姥姥想再找个人来伤我的心。”我厉声说道，很生气妈妈把这件事跟我的女儿说了。

　　“可妈妈。”

　　“你还太小，不明白。”我对她说。

　　接下来好几分钟她都很安静。然后她抬起头，小小声地说了句令我深思不已的话。

　　“那么我猜爱情和断胳膊不是一回事了。”

　　我无言以对，余下的路我们在沉默中走完了。回到家后，我给妈妈打了个电话，责备她不该和我女儿谈论这话题。接着我做了一件那个下午看到我那勇敢的小女儿所做过的事。我松口答应和史蒂文见面。

　　史蒂文正是我的合适人选。大约一年前我们结了婚。结果证明我妈妈和女儿是正确的。

　　维系永恒的婚姻与爱情

　　Challenges to a Lasting Relationship

　　"Of all the misconceptions about love, the most powerful and pervasive (普遍深入的)is the belief that falling in love is love or at least one of the manifestations (显现，表示)of love." -- M. SCOTT PECK

　　People who are married or in committed relationships are healthier, wealthier, and happier. So why do more than 60 percent of marriages end in divorce? Why has the national divorce rate climbed more than 200 percent in the last thirty years? And why are fewer people getting married today than ever before?

　　The answers to these questions are plentiful, but the main reason is simple. It"s easy to "fall" in love, but very few people know how to stay in love. Even though staying in love is our "smartest" choice all the way around! Recent studies on marriage prove it"s one of the major ingredients (成分，因素)in life-long success for men and women. "It lengthens life, substantially boosts (推进)physical and emotional health, and raises income over that of single or divorced people or those who live together," reported an article in the New York Times. Marriage has also been found to boost happiness, reduce the degree of depression, and provide protection from sexually transmitted diseases.

　　So let"s wake up, make up, and turn this trend around! One of the most startling (令人吃惊的)pieces of evidence that shows people are not in touch with (了解。。。的情况)what"s really going on in their partnerships is the fact that the majority of people who file (v.提出申请)for divorce say they didn"t think there was a relationship-threatening problem just six months prior to breaking up. Another shocker is that most couples wait six years or more to seek professional help when their relationship is in danger. By the time they do wake up and smell the coffee, it"s often too late.

　　Truly there is no reason to resign yourself to a bad relationship ? whether you"re dating or married. Rather than changing partners and ending up this same predicament (困境)again, you can learn to have a fabulous relationship with the partner you already have! I strongly encourage you to make the relationship you have work, because there is a higher rate of divorce and adultery in second marriages.

　　Getting rid of your partner does not get rid of the problem, because half of the "problem" is yours. You can walk out on your marriage, but you can"t run away from yourself, no matter how hard you try! Rather than blaming each other, couples can learn how to work as a team and coach each other through the troubled times and power struggles. To do this, you must create a "safe" relationship so you can express your needs and fears and effectively resolve anger and conflict. More relationships break up because people don"t know how to validate (验证)each other (that frustration escalates to become anger) than for any other reason. This is truly a shame, because the skills for "fighting fair" are very easy to master with just a little practice and patience.

　　One of the biggest causes of unresolved anger between people is a lack of understanding. Men and women have different strengths and weaknesses, different ways of expressing ourselves, and different "childhood wounds" that we"re trying to heal. While it may seem like we"re from different planets we are actually very much alike when it comes to our need and desire for love and intimacy. We only behave differently in our quests for (追求，探索)closeness. Stop doing what you think is "fair" or "right" and start doing what works! It"s not about "working harder" it"s about "working smarter".

　　母爱的真谛

　　Time is running out1 for my friend. While we are sitting at lunch she casually mentions she and her husband are thinking of starting a family. “We're taking a survey,”she says, half-joking. “Do you think I should have a baby?”

　　“It will change your life,” I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral2. “I know,”she says, “no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous3 holidays...”

　　But that's not what I mean at all. I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional4 wound so raw5 that she will be vulnerable6 forever.

　　I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without thinking: “What if that had been MY child?” That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die. I look at her carefully manicured7 nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated8 she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive9 level of a bear protecting her cub10.

　　I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed11 by motherhood. She might arrange for child care, but one day she will be going into an important business meeting, and she will think her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of discipline12 to keep from running home, just to make sure her child is all right.

　　I want my friend to know that every decision will no longer be routine. That a five-year-old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at a restaurant will become a major dilemma. The issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester13 may be lurking14 in the lavatory15. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess16 herself constantly17 as a mother.

　　Looking at my attractive friend, I want to assure her that eventually18 she will shed the added weight19 of pregnancy20, but she will never feel the same about herself. That her own life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. She would give it up in a moment to save her offspring21, but will also begin to hope for more years—not to accomplish her own dreams—but to watch her children accomplish theirs.

　　I want to describe to my friend the exhilaration22 of seeing your child learn to hit a ball. I want to capture23 for her the belly laugh24 of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real it hurts.

　　My friend's look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. “You'll never regret it,” I say finally. Then, squeezing25 my friend's hand, I offer a prayer for her and me and all of the mere mortal women who stumble26 their way into this holiest of callings.

　　母爱的真谛：母亲永远不会后悔！

　　时光任苒，朋友已经老大不小了。我们坐在一起吃饭的时候，她漫不经心地提到她和她的丈夫正考虑要小孩。 “我们正在做一项调查，”她半开玩笑地说。“你觉得我应该要个小孩吗？”

　　“他将改变你的生活。”我小心翼翼地说道，尽量使语气保持客观。“这我知道。”她答道，“周末睡不成懒觉，再也不能随心所欲休假了……”

　　但我说的绝非这些。我注视着朋友，试图整理一下自己的思绪。我想让她知道她永远不可能在分娩课上学到的东西。我想让她知道：分娩的有形伤疤可以愈合，但是做母亲的情感伤痕却永远如新，她会因此变得十分脆弱。

　　我想告诫她：做了母亲后，每当她看报纸时就会情不自禁地联想：“如果那件事情发生在我的孩子身上将会怎样啊！”每一次飞机失事、每一场住宅火灾都会让她提心吊胆。看到那些忍饥挨饿的孩子们的照片时，她会思索：世界上还有什么比眼睁睁地看着自己的孩子饿死更惨的事情呢？我打量着她精修细剪的指甲和时尚前卫的衣服，心里想到：不管她打扮多么考究，做了母亲后，她会变得像护崽的母熊那样原始而不修边幅。

　　我觉得自己应该提醒她，不管她在工作上投入了多少年，一旦做了母亲，工作就会脱离常规。她自然可以安排他人照顾孩子，但说不定哪天她要去参加一个非常重要的商务会议，却忍不住想起宝宝身上散发的甜甜乳香。她不得不拼命克制自己，才不致于为了看看孩子是否安然无羔而中途回家。

　　我想告诉朋友，有了孩子后，她将再也不能按照惯例做出决定。在餐馆，5岁的儿子想进男厕而不愿进女厕将成为摆在她眼前的一大难题：她将在两个选择之间权衡一番：尊重孩子的独立和性别意识，还是让他进男厕所冒险被潜在的儿童性骚扰者侵害？任凭她在办公室多么果断，作为母亲，她仍经常事后后悔自己当时的决定。

　　注视着我的这位漂亮的朋友，我想让她明确地知道，她最终会恢复到怀孕前的体重，但是她对自己的感觉已然不同。她现在视为如此重要的生命将随着孩子的诞生而变得不那么宝贵。为了救自己的孩子，她时刻愿意献出自己的生命。但她也开始希望多活一些年头，不是为了实现自己的梦想，而是为了看着孩子们美梦成真。

　　我想向朋友形容自己看到孩子学会击球时的喜悦之情。我想让她留意宝宝第一次触摸狗的绒毛时的捧腹大笑。我想让她品尝快乐，尽管这快乐真实得令人心痛。

　　朋友的表情让我意识到自己已经是热泪盈眶。“你永远不会后悔，”我最后说。然后紧紧地握住朋友的手，为她、为自己、也为每一位艰难跋涉、准备响应母亲职业神圣的召唤的平凡女性献上自己的祈祷。

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