不够洒脱，但这就是人生。不够豁达，但这就是人生。不够励志也不够美好，但这就是人生啊。下面小编整理了英语美文名人励志故事，希望大家喜欢!

英语美文名人励志故事品析

A Straight Wall Is Hard to Build

人格的力量

by Lou R. Crandall

卢.R.克兰德尔

As I try to outline my thoughts, the subject becomes more and more difficult. I have many basic beliefs but as I try to pick and choose it seems to me that they all can be summarized in the word "character." Obviously, what you believe is a fundamental thing. There can be no fanfare, no embellishments. It must be honest.

我努力清理思路时，主题变得越来越难讲述。我有诸多信仰，但试图挑选时，似乎都可用“人格”一词概括。显然，一个人的信仰是根本，无需炫耀，无需修饰，是什么就是什么。

An architect once told me that the most difficult structure to design was a simple monumental shaft. The proportions must perfect to be pleasing. The hardest thing to build is a plain straight wall. The dimensions must be absolute.

一位建筑师告诉我，最难设计的建筑是一尊简单的纪念柱，比例必须完美无缺，赏心悦目;最难砌的是一堵简朴笔直的墙，尺寸必须一丝不差。

In either case there is no ornamentation to hide irregularities, no moldings to cover hidden defects and no supports to strengthen concealed weaknesses.

在这两种情况下，都无法用修饰掩盖不平整，以造型遮盖暗藏的缺陷，以支撑物来加固不牢的根基。

I am using this example to illustrate human character, which to me is the most important single power in the world today. The young people of toady are in reality foundations of structures yet to be built.

我以此例来说明人格，在我看来它是当今世界上最重要的唯一的力量。今天的年轻人实际上是世界待建结构的根基。

It is obvious that the design of these human structures is the combined efforts of many human architects. Boys and girls are influenced first by their parents, then by their friends and finally by business associates. During this period of construction, the human character is revised and changed until at maturity a fairly well-fixed form of character is found.

显而易见，设计这些人格结构需要众多人类建筑师的共同努力。孩子们的成长，先后要受到父母、朋友和事业伙伴的影响。在这一成长过程中，人格一直在改变，直到在成熟期定型。

There are few human straight walls and fewer human monumental shafts. Such men and women are personalities of great beauty and are so rare that history records their being and holds them up as examples for the future.

人类中堪称墙一般笔直挺立的人少有，像纪念柱一样矗立的人更少，这样的人是美的化身，世所罕见，历史记录他们的存在，奉之为后世的楷模。

The Biblical characters are for me the closest examples of human perfection. They were unselfish, steadfast in their faith and unstinting in their help to others.

《圣经》中的人物在我心中是最接近完人的范例，他们无私，信仰坚定，帮助他人，不遗余力。

Today in this world of turmoil and trouble we could use more of such people, but they do not just happen along. I believe that they are the result of concentrated effort on the part of parents and associates, and the more we build with character the better the world will become.

在今天这个混乱不安的世界，我们可以多用这样的人，但他们并非从天而降。我相信他们是父母、同伴倾力锻造的结果。我们越重视人格的建构，世界会越美好。

This may sound like a dreamer's hope and a theoretical goal which can never be reached. I do not think so.

这听起来像痴人说梦，是永远无法实现的理论目标，我却不这么想。

The world as a whole has progressed tremendously material-wise, and we are a fortunate nation in that we are leading the procession. It is, I believe, natural that nations not so fortunate should look upon us with envy. We would do the same if the positions were reserved, so we should not judge too harshly the efforts of others to equal our standard of living. In either case, the fortunate or the unfortunate character in the individual and collectively in a nation stands out.

全世界在物质生产上已取得巨大进步，美利坚荣幸地成为引导这一进程的国家。我相信，没有这样好运气的国家可能会嫉妒我们，如果换个位置，我们也会如此，因此对于别人奋力向我们的生活标准看齐，我们不应该草率地评判。无论是哪种情况，个人或民族的幸运或不幸的品格都会凸显出来。

I agree that it is easier to build character under ideal conditions but cannot forget that character is also required to give as well as receive.

我赞同在理想条件下更容易塑造人格的说法，但我认为不能忘记人格的塑造不仅需要外界条件的熏陶，也需要自身的努力。

It should be to the benefit of humanity if all individuals - and this includes myself - did a renovation or remodeling job on our own character. It may merely be a case of removing rough edges or tossing away molding to expose irregularities, in some cases to remove a prop and stand on one's own feet.

如果所有人——也包括我自己——都更新或重铸自己的人格，这应该是有益于人类的。这也许仅仅是抹去粗糙的边缘或丢弃固有的模式，从而显露出不平整，有时则需要拿走支撑物，完全靠自己站立。

In any event if some of us set example, others will follow and the result should be good. This I believe.

不论何种情况，只要我们有人树立榜样，其他人就会效仿，结果就应该是好的。对此我深信不疑。

经典的英语美文名人励志故事

Freedom is Worth the Risk

为了自由，冒险又何妨 埃尔默·戴维斯

The philosopher George Santayana, at the age of eighty-eight, admitted that things no longer seemed so simple to him as they did fifty years ago.

哲学家乔治·桑塔亚那在八十八岁高龄时坦言在他眼里事物不再像五十年前那么简单。

Even those of us who have not reached Mr. Santayana’s age must share that feeling; but we must act by the best light we have, hoping that the light will grow brighter- and we have reason to hope it will, so long as men remain free to think. The most important thing in the world, I believe, is the freedom of the mind. All progress, and all other freedoms, spring from that.

我们当中那些即使未到桑塔亚那先生那个年纪的人一定也有同感，但我们必须在最充足的光线下活动，并且希望光线会更明亮——只要人类仍然有思想的自由，我们有理由希望它会更明亮。我相信世上最重要的事情是思想的自由，所有的进步及其他一切自由皆源于此。

It is a dangerous freedom, but this is a dangerous world. You cannot think right without running the risk of thinking wrong; but for any evils that may come from thinking, the cure is more thinking. Over much of the world, at present, the freedom of the mind is suppressed.

这种自由是危险的，但这个世界本身就危险。不冒犯错误的风险就无法正确地思考，但是对于任何思想可能带来的邪恶，治疗的药方是进一步思考。目前世界上许多地方思想的自由受到压制。

We have got to preserve it here, despite the efforts of very earnest men to suppress it—men who say, and perhaps believe, that they are actuated by patriotism, but who are doing their best to destroy the liberties which above all are what the United States of America has meant, to its people and to humanity.

我们必须在这里保留思想的自由，即使有些一本正经的人竭力遏制它——这些人口口声声说他们这样做是基于爱国，也许他们真这样想，但他们却在竭尽所能摧毁自由，而拥有自由正是美利坚合众国对它的民众和整个人类的首要意义之所在。

This is perhaps a less personal statement than most of those in “ This I believe”. If so, it is because a man of my age, in his relation to himself, runs mostly on momentum; and it is a little difficult to look back and figure out what give him the push, or the various pushes.

这种观点也许不像这个节目大多数观点那样带个人感情色彩，如果真是如此，则是因为一个人到我这个年纪大多靠冲动处理与自己的关系，让他回过头来想清楚是什么激励了他是有点困难的。

What he has to consider now is what he can contribute to the present, or the future, as a member of a very peculiar species—possibly even a unique species—which has immense capacities for both good and evil, as it has amply demonstrated during its recorded history.

现在他要考虑的是作为一个非常特殊的种群(也许甚至是独一无二的种群)的一员，能为现在或将来做出什么贡献。历史记载已充分证明这一种群无论行善还是作恶，能力都很强。

That history to date is ---barring some unpredictable cosmic disaster---the barest beginning of what may lie ahead of us. But we happen to live in one of the turning points of history—by no means the first, as it will not be the last; and the future of mankind will be more than usually affected by what we do in this generation.

那需要标注日期的历史阻止了一些不可预知的宇宙灾难，也许是摆在我们眼前的最原初的开端，而我们碰巧身处历史转折点之一——绝不是第一个也不会是最后一个;我们这一代的所作所为将对人类的未来造成较大的影响。

What should we do? Well, first of all and above all, preserve freedom, and extend it if we can. Beyond that I don’t know how better to define our business than to say we should try to promote an increase of decency. Decency in the sense of respect for other people; of taking no advantage; of never saying,”

我们该怎么办?嗯，首先也是最重要的是保留自由，尽我们所能拓展自由。除此之外，除了说我们应该努力促使人们不断端正行为之外，我不知道该如何更好地说明我们的这一事业。行为端正意味着尊重他人、不利用人、永远不说：“得让这个人吃些苦头我心里才舒服。”

This man must be miserable in order that I may be comfortable.” This is not as easy as it looks; it’s impossible to exist without hurting somebody, however unintentionally. But there are limits. I do not believe that human life is accurately represented by Viggeland’s famous sculptured column in Oslo, of people climbing over one another and trampling one anther down. The Nazis, when they occupied Norway, greatly admired that sculpture.

这看起来容易，做起来难，因为我们不可能在生活中不伤害他人，无论这种伤害多么无心，但是伤害是有限度的。我不相信挪威奥斯陆市维格兰雕塑公园著名的“生命之柱”上人们从别人身上爬过去再把人往下踩的情景准确地表现了人类的生活。纳粹在占领挪威时对那根石柱顶礼膜拜。

They would. But the rest of us can do better than that; many men and women in every age have done better, and are doing it still.

他们会照此行事，可我们其他人的行为可以比他们有人性，每个时代的众多男男女女都是如此，现在仍然如此。

The Scottish scientist J.B.S.Haldane once said that the people who can make a positive contribution to human progress are few; that most of us have to be satisfied with merely staving off the inroads of chaos.

苏格兰科学家约翰·伯登·桑德斯·霍尔丹曾说能为人类发展做出积极贡献的人寥寥无几，大多数人只能满足于避开乱世的侵扰。能那样已经够难了，尤其是当今这个动荡不安的时代

That is a hard enough job—especially in these times, when those inroads are more threatening that they have been for a long time past. But if we can stave them off, and keep the field clear for the creative intelligence, we can feel that we have done our part toward helping the human race get ahead.

人们的生存在过去很长一段时间都不曾像现在这样遭到威胁。但如果我们能够避开这些混乱的侵扰，为人类创造性的智慧创造空间，我们就能感到自己已经为推动人类前进的步伐尽了绵薄之力。

关于英语美文名人励志故事

What Makes Me Feel Big

什么使我胸怀宽广

by J. Frank Dobie

J.弗兰克.多比

"My mind is big when I look at you and talk to you," Chief Eagle of the Pawnees said to George Bird Grinnell when, after years of absence, that noble writer appeared at his friend's tepee.

并非所有坚定的真理都是美好的，但“美即是真”。所有伟大的艺术都追求这样的目标，即美融合爱，也被爱所融合。它无处不在，唾手可得。

It is very difficult in drawing up a credo to be severely honest about oneself, to avoid all traditional cant. We actually believe in what we value most. Outside of the realms of ccarnality and property, which men appearing in public generally pretend not to notice, I believe in and draw nourishment from whatever makes me "feel big".

在离开朋友波尼族印第安人首领雄鹰的兽皮帐篷几年后，作家乔治.伯德.格林又回到那里。这位首领对他高尚的朋友说：“凝视着你，与你交谈，让我感到心胸宽广。”我们很难为自己拟出一个既能严格遵守又能避免传统教条的信念。事实上，我们最为珍视的东西便是我们的信仰。除了人们在公共场合总会假装视而不见的俗念与财产之外，所有能让我胸怀宽广的都是我的信仰，它们是我力量的源泉。

I believe in a Supreme Power, unknowable and impersonal, whose handiwork the soul-enlarging firmament declares. However, I believe in questionings, doubtings, searchings, skepticism, and I discredit credulity or blind faith. The progress of man is based on disbelief of the commonly accepted.

我相信有一种至高无上且无法控制的未知力量，它的创造，宣告了灵魂拥有无限伸展的空间。然而，我也相信询问、质疑、探索与怀疑，但拒绝轻信或盲从的信仰。人类的进步是基于对普遍接受的质疑。

The noblest minds and natures of human history have thought and sung, lived and died, trying to budge the status quo towards a larger and fuller status. I am sustained by a belief in evolution - the increasing purpose of life in which the rational is, with geological slowness, evolving out of the irrational.

人类历史上，拥有最高尚思想的人们曾经思考过，歌唱过，生活过，最终离去，他们也曾努力扩展并充实现状。我始终相信进化论，即生活目的在不断增加，而其中从非理性到理性的进化时间就像地质变化一样漫长。我相信，伊甸园中完美的善良、智慧与正义就在遥远的前方，给予我希望，并或多或少地解释了生存的意义。这是一个长远的观点。

To believe that goodness and wisdom and righteousness, in Garden of Eden perfection, lie somewhere far ahead instead of farther and farther behind, gives me hope and somewhat explains existence. This is a long view. I do not pretend that it is a view always present in me. It does raise me when I have it, however.

我不会假装认为，自己始终拥有这样的观点。然而，当我拥有它时，我的灵魂的确得到了升华。使人不敢坦诚言论的势力，是我最为憎恨的。当看到受压迫的个人与民族奋起反抗时，我便会心生敬慕，感到满足。我并不伪称自己已经摒弃了所有的偏见，但有时当我发现自己摆脱了某些偏见时，我就会狂喜不已。

I feel no resentment so strongly as that against forces which make men and women afraid to speak out forthrightly. The noblest satisfaction I have is in witnessing the up movement of suppressed individuals and people. I make no pretense to having rid myself freed from certain prejudices, but at times when I have discovered myself freed from certain prejudices, I have felt rare exhilaration.

我认为，美虽然存在于肉体，但却属于精神。我从未听说过，有哪句布道词能从言辞或事实上表现出这样的精神美：“夜晚繁星点点，湖水自由荡漾。”

For me, the beautiful resides in the physical, but it is spiritual. I have never heard a sermon as spiritual in either phrase or fact us, "Waters on a starry night are beautiful and free." No hymn lifts my heart higher than the morning call of the bobwhite to the long fluting cry of sandhill cranes out of the sky at dusk. I have never smelled incense in a church as refining to the spirit as a spring breeze laden with aroma from a field of bluebonnets. Not all hard truths are beautiful, but "beauty is truth."

北美鸠清晨的鸣唱或黄昏时天空中沙丘鹤笛鸣般的长吟，是任何赞美诗都无法媲美的。柔和的春风中弥漫着田野间矢车菊的芳香，让我的灵魂也更加高尚，这是教堂中任何焚香都无法比拟的。并非所有坚定的真理都是美好的，但“美即是真”。

It incorporates love and is incorporated by love. It is the goal of all great art. Its presence everywhere makes it free to all. It is not so abstract as justice, but beauty and intellectual freedom and justice, all incorporating truth and goodness, are constant sustainers to my mind and spirit.

所有伟大的艺术都追求这样的目标，即美融合爱，也被爱所融合。它无处不在，唾手可得。它不像正义那样抽象，但美、心智的自由及正义，都与真与善融合，这便是我思想与精神的永恒支柱。