英语阅读：TheArtofLiving生活的艺术.docVIP

美联英语提供：英语阅读：The Art of Living生活的艺术 两分钟做个小测试，看看你的英语水平 /test/kuaisu.aspx?tid=16-73675-0 The Art of Living生活的艺术 The art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. For life is a paradox: It enjoins us to cling to its many gifts even while it ordains their eventual relinquishment. The rabbis of old put it this way:A man comes to this world with his fist clenched, but when he dies, his hand is open. 生活的艺术是要知晓何时取得与何时放弃。因为生活自身便是一个矛盾：它一方面劝诫我们要珍惜它的诸多恩赐，同时最后又注定将其统统收回。在古时候，犹太教的教士们曾这样说过一个人来到这个世界上的时候，他的手是紧握成拳的;但是当他离开这个世界的时候，他的手掌是张开的。” Surely we ought to hold fast to life, for it is wondrous, and full of a beauty that breaks through every pore of Gods own earth. We know that this is so, but all too often we recognize this truth only in our backward glance when we remember what was and then suddenly realize that it is no more. 当然，我们应该紧紧抓住生活，因为它奇妙无比，并且饱含滲透每一寸土地的美感。纵然我们明白这一点，可是往往只是在我们回首从前忆起往事，而后忽然发觉已经物是人非之时，才会对此颇有感触。 We remember a beauty that faded, a love that waned. But we remember with far greater pain that we did not see that beauty when it flowered, that we failed to respond with love when it was tendered. 我们记得已经凋落的美，已经消褪的爱。可是，我们的回忆却满是痛苦:我们没有在美丽绽放之时看到它，没有在爱意缱绻之时以爱去回应。 A recent experience re-taught me this truth. I was hospitalized flollowing a severe heart attack and had been in intensive care for several days. It was not a pleasant place. 最近,我的一次经历让我再一次认识到这一真理。在一次严重的心脏病发作之后,我住进医院接受治疗，在特别护理区住了好几天。那可不是什么让人感到愉快的地方。 One morning, I had to have some additional tests. The required machines were located in a building at the opposite end of the hospital, so I had to be wheeled across the courtyard on a gurney. 有一天早晨，我不得不再做一些检测，检测的器械在医院对面尽头的一幢大楼上，因此我不得不躺在轮床上让人推着从院子里经过。 As we emerged from our unit, the sunlight hit me. Thats all there was to my experience. Just the light of the sun. And yet how beautiful it was - how warming, how sparking, how brilliant! I looked to see whether anyone else relished the suns golden glow, but everyone was hurrying to and fro, most with eyes