英語勵(lì)志短文:A Morning Prayer in a Little Church英語短文:小教堂的晨禱

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英語勵(lì)志短文:A Morning Prayer in a Little Church小教堂的晨禱

Once, years ago, I got into a dogfight. I was wheeling a baby carriage, my pet cocker spaniel trotting beside me. Without warning, three dogs — an Afghan, a St. Bernard and a Dalmatian — pounced on the cocker and started tearing him to pieces. I shrieked for help. Two men in a car stopped, looked, and drove on.

多年前，我曾經(jīng)歷了一場惡狗大戰(zhàn)。當(dāng)時(shí)，我正推著嬰兒車，短腳長耳的寵物犬一路小跑地跟在身邊。毫無預(yù)兆的，3只狗——一只阿富汗獵犬、一只圣比納救護(hù)犬和一只達(dá)爾馬提亞狗突然向我的狗撲來，拼命地撕咬它。我大叫著請(qǐng)求幫忙，只見兩個(gè)人停車看了看又開走了。

When I saw that I was so infuriated that I waded in and stopped the fight myself. My theatrical training never stood me in better stead. My shouts were so authoritative, my gestures so arresting, I commanded the situation like a lion-tamer and the dogs finally slunk away.

看到這些，我頓時(shí)憤怒不已，于是親自上陣去阻止這場惡戰(zhàn)。我的戲劇訓(xùn)練從未有過這樣的震撼力。我怒聲呵斥，動(dòng)作惹眼，像馴獸師那樣控制住混亂的局面，最終3只狗落荒而逃。

Looking back, I think I acted less in anger than from a realization that I was on my own, that if anybody was going to help me at that moment, it had to be myself.

回想起來，我覺得自己的行為與其說是憤怒之舉，不如說是一種發(fā)自于意識(shí)到必須依靠自己的力量。自己幫助自己的舉動(dòng)。

Life seems to be a series of crises that have to be faced. In summoning strength to face them, though, I once fooled myself into an exaggerated regard of my own importance. I felt very independent. I was only distantly aware of other people. I worked hard and was "successful." In the theater, I was brought up in the tradition of service. The audience pays its money and you are expected to give your best performance — both on and off the stage. So I served on committees, and made speeches, and backed causes. But somehow the meaning of things escaped me.

生活看起來就像是一連串必須要面對(duì)的危機(jī)。但在集中精力面對(duì)它們時(shí)，我曾自欺欺人地夸大了自我的重要性。我覺得自己可以獨(dú)立面對(duì)危機(jī)，卻又隱約還能感覺到周圍有其他人存在。我努力奮斗著，最終獲得“成功”。在戲劇圈中，我很小就懂得了為觀眾服務(wù)的規(guī)矩。無論臺(tái)上臺(tái)下，觀眾付了錢，就期待你獻(xiàn)出最佳的表演。于是，我加入了委員會(huì)，發(fā)表演講，支持公益事業(yè)。然而，不知何故，做這些事情的意義卻蕩然無存。

When my daughter died of polio, everybody stretched out a hand to help me, but at first I couldn't seem to bear the touch of anything, even the love of friends; no support seemed strong enough.

患小兒麻痹的女兒夭折時(shí)，所有人都向我伸出了援手。然而，最初我簡直無法接受這一切，甚至難以接受朋友的關(guān)愛;所有的支持似乎都顯得蒼白無力。

While Mary was still sick, I used to go early in the morning to a little church near the hospital to pray. There the working people came quietly to worship. I had been careless with my religion. I had rather cut God out of my life, and I didn't have the nerve at the time to ask Him to make my daughter well — I only asked Him to help me understand, to let me come in and reach Him. I prayed there every morning and I kept looking for a revelation, but nothing happened.

瑪麗尚在病中時(shí)，我常會(huì)早起到醫(yī)院附近的小教堂祈禱。一些干粗活的人也常會(huì)靜靜地去那里祈禱。之前，我從未在意過自己的宗教信仰，甚至將上帝排除在我的生活之外。因此，我沒有勇氣請(qǐng)求上帝保佑我的女兒康復(fù)，只是祈求他理解我，讓我進(jìn)來靠近他。每天早晨，我都會(huì)去那里祈禱，渴望著能得到一個(gè)啟示，然而什么都沒有出現(xiàn)。

And then, much later, I discovered that it had happened, right there in the church. I could recall, vividly, one by one, the people I had seen there — the solemn laborers with tired looks, the old women with gnarled hands. Life had knocked them around, but for a brief moment they were being refreshed by an ennobling experience. It seemed as they prayed their worn faces lighted up and they became the very vessels of God. Here was my revelation. Suddenly I realized I was one of them. In my need I gained strength from the knowledge that they too had needs, and I felt an interdependence with them. I experienced a flood of compassion for people. I was learning the meaning of "love thy neighbor."

后來，過了很久，就在那個(gè)教堂里，我看到了轉(zhuǎn)機(jī)。我依然生動(dòng)地記得那些在教學(xué)里見到的人。他們中有疲憊而嚴(yán)肅的勞工，也有雙手粗糙的老婦。他們飽嘗生活的艱辛，但就在那短暫的一瞬間，他們的靈魂得到了升華，頓時(shí)顯得精神百倍。在祈禱的時(shí)候，他們成了上帝真正的子民，那飽經(jīng)風(fēng)霜的面容也立刻容光煥發(fā)起來。這便是我得到的啟示。突然，我意識(shí)到自己也是他們中的一員。當(dāng)知道他們也需要慰藉時(shí)，尋求中的我從中得到了力量，我覺得自己與他們相依相存。我感到有一種對(duì)人們的同情在心中涌動(dòng)，也頓時(shí)明白了“愛你的鄰人……”的真正意義。

Truths as old and simple as this began to light up for me like the faces of the men and women in the little church. When I read the Bible now, as I do frequently, I take the teachings of men like Jesus and David and St. Paul as the helpful advice of trusted friends about how to live. They understand that life is full of complications and often heavy blows and they are showing me the wisest way through it. I must help myself, yes, but I am not such a self-contained unit that I can live aloof, unto myself. This was the meaning that had been missing before: the realization that I was a living part of God's world of people.

像小教堂中男男女女的面容一樣，古樸而簡單的真理照亮了我的心靈(讓我豁然開朗)。如今，我常常閱讀圣經(jīng)，將耶穌、大衛(wèi)與圣保羅的教誨當(dāng)作是可信的朋友對(duì)如何生活的有益忠告。他們知道，生活錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜，常會(huì)給人類帶來沉重的打擊，他們正在為我指明一條最明智的人生之路。是的，我必須自助，但我并不能夠離群索居，只做自給自足的個(gè)體。我意識(shí)到自己是上帝所創(chuàng)造的人世間一個(gè)有生命的部分，這是我之前從未意識(shí)到的生存意義。

by Helen Hayes

海倫.海斯