小學生短篇英語版散文：我為何而生

　　What I Have Lived For

　　Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.

　　I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy---ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness---that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what---at last---I have found.

　　With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.

　　Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always it brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.

　　This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.

　　小學生短篇英語版散文譯文：

　　我為何而生

　　我的一生被三種簡單卻又無比強烈的激情所控制：對愛的渴望，對知識的探索和對人類苦難難以抑制的嶼。這些激情像狂風，把我恣情吹向四方，掠過苦痛的大海，迫使我瀕臨絕望的邊緣。

　　我尋求愛，首先因為它使我心為之著迷，這種難以名狀的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去換取哪怕幾個小時這樣的幸福。我尋求愛，還因為它能緩解我心理上的孤獨中，我感覺心靈的戰栗，仿如站在世界的邊緣而面前是冰冷，無底的死亡深淵。我尋求愛，因為在我所目睹的結合中，我仿佛看到了圣賢與詩人們所向往的天堂之景。這就是我所尋找的，雖然對人的一生而言似乎有些遙不可及，但至少是我用盡一生所領悟到的。

　　我用同樣的激情去尋求知識。我希望能理解人類的心靈，希望能夠知道群星閃爍的緣由。我試圖領悟畢達哥拉斯所景仰的“數即萬物”的思想。我已經悟出了其中的一點點道理，盡管并不是很多。

　　愛和知識，用它們的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情卻總把人又拽回到塵世中來。痛苦的呼喊聲回蕩在我的內心。饑餓的孩子，受壓迫的難民，貧窮和痛苦的世界，都是對人類所憧憬的美好生活的無情嘲弄。我渴望能夠減少邪惡，但是我無能為力，我也難逃其折磨。

　　這就是我的一生。我已經找到它的價值。而且如果有機會，我很愿意能再活它一次。

　　小學生短篇英語版散文：The Road to Success 成功之道

　　The Road to Success

　　It is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom, and spent the first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors and janitresses now in offices, and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of business education. But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy who has the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.

　　Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started, my advice to you is “aim high”. I would not give a fig for the young man who does not already see himself the partner or the head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk, or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself, “My place is at the top.” Be king in your dreams.

　　And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it.

　　The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital, which means that they have scattered their brains also. They have investments in this, or that, or the other, here there, and everywhere. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” is all wrong. I tell you to “put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket.” Look round you and take notice, men who do that not often fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too many baskets that breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head, which is apt to tumble and trip him up. One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.

　　To summarize what I have said: aim for the highest; never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor, or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make the firm’s interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly, be not impatient, for as Emerson says, “no one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourselves.”

　　小學生短篇英語版散文譯文：

　　成功之道

　　年輕人創業之初，應該從最底層干起，這是件好事。匹茲保有很多商業巨頭，在他們創業之初，都肩負過“重任”：他們以掃帚相伴，以打掃辦公室的方式度過了他們商業生涯中最初的時光。我注意到我們現在辦公室里都有工友，于是年輕人就不幸錯過了商業教育中這個有益的環節。如果碰巧哪天上午專職掃地的工友沒有來，某個具有未來合伙人氣質的年輕人會毫不猶豫地試著拿起掃帚。在必要時新來的員工掃掃地也無妨，不會因為而有什么損失。我自己就曾經掃過地。

　　假如你已經被錄用，并且有了一個良好的開端，我對你的建議是：要志存高遠。一個年輕人，如果不把自己想象成一家大公司未來的老板或者是合伙人，那我會對他不屑一顧。不論職位有多高，你的內心都不要滿足于做一個總管，領班或者總經理。要對自己說：我要邁向頂尖!要做就做你夢想中的國王!

　　成功的首要條件和最大秘訣就是：把你的精力，思想和資本全都集中在你正從事的事業上。一旦開始從事某種職業，就要下定決心在那一領域闖出一片天地來;做這一行的領導人物，采納每一點改進之心，采用最優良的設備，對專業知識熟稔于心。

　　一些公司的失敗就在于他們分散了資金，因為這就意味著分散了他們的精力。他們向這方面投資，又向那方面投資;在這里投資，在那里投資，到處都投資。“不要把所有的雞蛋放在一個籃子里”的說法大錯特錯。我要對你說：“把所有的雞蛋都放在一個籃子里，然后小心地看好那個籃子。”看看你周圍，你會注意到：這么做的人其實很少失敗。看管和攜帶一個籃子并不太難。人們總是試圖提很多籃子，所以才打破這個國家的大部分雞蛋。提三個籃子的人，必須把一個頂在頭上，而這個籃子很可能倒下來，把他自己絆倒。美國商人的一個缺點就是不夠專注。

　　把我的話歸納一下：要志存高遠;不要出入酒吧;要滴酒不沾，或要喝也只在用餐時喝少許;不要做投機買賣;不要寅吃卯糧;要把公司的利益當作自己的利益;取消訂貨的目的永遠是為了挽救貨主;要專注;要把所有的雞蛋放在一個籃子里，然后小心地看好它;要量入為出;最后，要有耐心，正如愛默生所言，“誰都無法阻止你最終成功，除非你自己承認自己失敗。”

　　小學生短篇英語版散文：Friendship 關于友誼

　　Friends play an important part in our lives, and although we may take the friendship for granted, we often don't clearly understand how we make friends. While we get on well with a number of people, we are usually friends with only a very few, for example, the average among students is about 6 per person. In all the cases of friendly relationships, two people like one another and enjoy being together, but beyond that, the degree of intimacy between them and the reasons for their shared interest vary enormously. As we get to know people we take into account things like age, race, economic condition, social position, and intelligence. Although these factors are not of prime importance, it is more difficult to get on with people when there is a marked difference in age and background.

　　生活中，朋友扮演著一個極為重要的角色。然而，我們可能把友誼視為理所當然，卻通常并不清楚朋友是怎么結識的。盡管我們與很多人都相處融洽，但真正成為朋友的卻只有少數幾個——比如，學生平均每人有6個朋友，其中兩人志趣相投，相處甚好;除此之外，朋友間的親密程度及志趣相投的原因大有不同。我們在彼此結識時，常會考慮對方的年齡，種族，經濟條件，社會地位和聰明才智等。盡管這些因素并非特別重要，但當人們在年齡與背景方面存在太大差異時，往往很難相處。

　　Some friendly relationships can be kept on argument and discussion, but it is usual for close friends to have similar ideas and beliefs, to have attitudes and interests in common—they often talk about "being on the same wavelength". It generally takes time to reach this point. And the more intimately involved people become, the more they rely on one another. People want to do friends favors and hate to break a promise. Equally, friends have to learn to put up with annoying habits and to tolerate differences of opinion.

　　有些朋友關系能在相互爭論和討論中維持。但親密的朋友通常有著相似的觀點和信仰，相同的見解和興趣——就是常說的“志趣相投”，要達到這種境界，一般需要很長時間的磨合。而且，彼此關系越密切，依賴性就越強烈。人們總希望朋友間互幫互助，憎惡背信棄義。同樣，朋友間必須學會容忍對方的壞習性，并接受對方的不同觀點。

　　In contrast with marriage, there are no friendship ceremonies to strengthen the association between two people. But the supporting and understanding of each other that results from shared experiences and emotions does seem to create a powerful bond, which can overcome differences in background, and break down barriers of age, class or race.

　　與婚姻相反的是，友誼沒有儀式來強化二者的關系。但是，基于雙方共同的經歷，情感而產生的理解和支持，能克服背景的差異，年齡的界限，打破性別，階層與種族的屏障，把二人牢牢地拴在一起。