英语励志美文：生命在时间的土壤里成长.docxVIP

生命在时间的土壤里成长Thomas Mann 托马斯.曼What I believe, what I value most, is transitoriness.短暂是我的信仰，也是我认为最重要的东西。But is not transitoriness - the perishableness of life - something very sad? No! It is the very soul of existence. It imparts value, dignity, interest to life. Transitoriness creates time - and time is the essence. Potentially at least, time is the supreme, most useful gift.然而短暂，如生命的消逝，不是非常哀伤的事情吗？不！它正是生命存在的精髓。它赋予了生命价值、尊严和情趣。短暂创造了时间——而“时间正是其本质”。至少，时间是至高的，是最有用的礼物。Time is related to - yes, identical with - everything creative and active, every process toward a higher goal.时间与所有富有创造力和活力的事物，及每一个达到更高目标的进步息息相关——是的，它甚至等同于这一切。Without transitoriness, without beginning or end, birth or death, there is no time, either. Timelessness - in the sense of time never ending, never beginning - is a stagnant nothing. It is absolutely uninteresting.没有短暂，没有开始与结束、生与死，时间也就不复存在。永恒是毫无意义的停滞，它意味着时间永远没有结束，也永远没有开始，绝对令人乏味。Life is possessed by tremendous tenacity. Even so its presence remains conditional, and as it had a beginning, so it will have an end. I believe that life, just for this reason, is exceedingly enhanced in value, in charm.生命顽强无比。即便如此，它的存在也依赖于一定的条件，正如它有始亦有终。也因如此，我坚信，生命的价值与魅力将会不断地增长。One of the most important characteristics distinguishing man from all other forms of nature is his knowledge of transitoriness, of beginning and end, and therefore of the gift of time.人同自然界其他事物之间最重要的区别之一就是，人懂得短暂、始与终，所以也了解时间是一种恩赐。In man transitory life attains its peak of animation, of soul power, so to speak. This does not mean alone would have a soul. Soul quality pervades all beings. But mans soul is most awake in his knowledge of the interchangeability of the term existence and transitoriness.可以这么说，在人身上，短暂的生命达到了其活力与精神力量的巅峰。这并不是说只有人拥有灵魂。万物皆有灵性。但是对于“存在”与“短暂”的可互换性，只有人的大脑才能最清楚地意识到。To man time is given like a piece of land, as it were, entrusted to him for faithful tilling; a space in which to strive incessantly, achieve self-realization, more onward and upward. Yes, with the aid of time, man becomes capabl