英語美文美句摘錄品析
美文從其形式到內容,從表現手法到思想感情,無不如謙謙君子,以其高潔的主題、華麗的文字、精美的構思、深厚的底蘊,令人怦然心動,仰慕和嚮往。下面小編整理了英語美文，希望大家喜歡!
The Emotional Bank Account
-- Secrets of Happy Families
by Stephen R. Covey
The Emotional Bank Account is like a financial bank account in one way: you can make "deposits" -- actions that build trust -- or you can make "withdrawals" that decrease it. It represents the quality of the relationship you have with other people. If you have a high balance, then communication is open and free.
Let me share ideas for "deposits" you can make in your family:
感情儲蓄和金融儲蓄在某個方面是相似:你既可以"存款"增加信用，也可以"取款"削弱信用。它代表着你和他人之間的關係質量。如果你帳戶上餘額很高，那麼你同親友交往就可以無話不談，無拘無束。
下面介紹一下我對家庭感情儲蓄的一些觀點：
1. Cultivate Kindness / 培養愛心
Many years ago I spent an evening out with two of my sons. In the middle of the movie, Sean, then four, fell asleep. His older brother Stephen, six, stayed awake, and we watched the rest of the movie together. When it was over, I carried Sean to the car. It was cold, so I took off my coat and gently put it over him. When we arrived home, I carried Sean in, then lay down next to Stephen to talk. Suddenly he asked, "Daddy, if I were cold, would you put your coat around me, too?"
Of all the events of our night out together, the most important was a little act of kindness -- a showing of love to his brother.
許多年以前，我和我的兩個兒子在外面過了一個愉快的夜晚。在看電影的過程中，當時4歲的肖恩睡着了。他6歲的哥哥斯蒂芬沒有睡，和我一起看完了電影的後半部分。電影看完後，我將肖恩抱上汽車。那時天氣很涼，我把外衣脫下來輕輕地蓋在了肖恩的身上。當我們到家時，我把肖恩抱進房間，然後躺在斯蒂芬旁邊和他說起話來。突然，他問道："爸爸，如果我很冷，你也會用你的外衣給我蓋上嗎?"
那天晚上我們外出做了不少事，可留給斯蒂芬最重要的事竟然是一個極爲平常的舉動，一個對他弟弟表現愛心的舉動。
In relationships, the little things are the big things. They go a long way toward building trust and unconditional love. Just think about the impact in your family of using words of courtesy such as thank you and please. Or unexpected acts of service, such as taking children shopping for something that's important to them. Or finding little ways to express love, such as leaving a note in a lunch box or briefcase.
在人際關係中，小事情就是大事情。它們對建立信任和培養無條件的關愛作用很大。想一想家庭中使用像"謝謝"和"勞駕"這類禮貌用語的效果吧。或者是爲家人做些他們意想不到的事情，比如帶孩子們去買對他們來說很重要的東西，或者想出一些表示愛的小點子，比如在午飯盒裏或是公文包裏留個條子等。
2. Earn an "A" : apologize / 學會一個"A" : 即道歉
Perhaps nothing tests our capacity to initiate change as much as saying "I'm sorry I embarrassed you in front of your friends. That was wrong of me."
"Sweetheart, I apologize for cutting you off. I was so rude. Please forgive me."
Sometimes apologizing is incredibly hard, but the effort says, "Our relationship is very important to me." And that kind of communication builds the Emotional Bank Account.
最能檢驗我們打破僵局的才能，莫過於說一句："很抱歉，我不應該在你的朋友面前使你難堪，我錯了。"
"親愛的，我非常抱歉打斷你，我太粗魯了，請原諒。"
有時道歉是難以想象的困難，但是這種努力表明："我們之間的關係對我來說很重要。" 這種交流能夠增加感情儲蓄。
3. Learn loyalty / 學會忠誠
Next to apologizing, one of the most important deposits a person can make is to be loyal to family members when they are not present.
In other words, talk about others as if they were there. That doesn't mean you're unaware of their weaknesses. It means, rather, that you focus on the positive -- and that if you do talk about weaknesses, you do it in such a way that you wouldn't be ashamed to have the person overhear it.
在家庭成員不在場時，不要對他們說三道四，這種重要的感情投資僅次於道歉。換言之，談論他人的時候，就彷彿覺得他們也在場。這並不意味着你對他們的弱點一無所知。相反，這意味着你看重他們的優點。即使談起他們的缺點時，也要讓他們聽到之後你也無須感到內疚。
A friend had an 18-year-old son whose habits annoyed his brothers and sisters. When the boy wasn't there, the family often talked about him. At one point, this friend decided to follow the principle of being loyal to those not present. When such conversations developed, he gently interrupted and said something good that he had observed his son doing. Soon the conversation would shift to more interesting subjects.
Our friend said he soon felt that the others began to connect with this principle of family loyalty. They realized that he'd also defend them if they were not present. And in some unexplainable manner -- perhaps because he started seeing his son differently -- this change improved his Emotional Bank Account.
我有一朋友，他有個18歲的兒子，他的行爲習慣惹得他的兄弟姐妹都討厭。當那個男孩不在家時，家裏人經常談論他。一次，我的朋友決定遵循忠於不在場人的原則。當再出現這種議論時，他委婉地打斷話題，講敘他親眼看見兒子做的一些好事。很快，話題轉到更有趣的問題.
我的朋友說，不久他的家人都開始遵循家庭中互相忠誠的原則。他們認識到有人議論他們的缺點時，他也會爲他們說話。說不清這是怎麼回事，也許是由於他開始從不同的角度來看他的那個兒子，這一變化增加了他的情感儲蓄。
4. Make -- and keep -- promises / 做出承諾並兌現
Over the years people have asked if I had one simple idea that would help others cope with problem, seize opportunities and make their lives successful. I gave a four-word answer: "make and keep promises."
My daughter, Cynthia, recalls something that happened when she was 12 years old: Dad promised to take me with him on a business trip to San Francisco. We talked about the trip for months. After his meeting, we planned to take a cab to Chinatown and have our favorite food and see a movie, I was dying with expectation."
多少年來，人們一直問我是不是有能幫他人處理問題、抓住機遇或是生活幸福美滿的簡單良策。我的回答是4個字："承諾,兌現"
我的女兒辛西婭回憶起她12歲時發生的一件事："爸爸答應帶我和他一起到舊金山出差。關於這次旅行，我們談論了好幾個月。在他開完了會之後，我們計劃坐出租車去唐人街，吃我們最愛吃的東西，然後去看一場電影。我特別盼望這次旅行。"
"The day finally arrived. The hours dragged by as I waited for Dad to finish work. At about 6:30, he arrived with an influential business acquaintance who wanted to take us to dinner. My disappointment was bigger than life."
"I will never forget Dad saying to him,'I'd love to see you, but this is a special time with my girl. We've got it planned to the minute.' We did everything. That was just about the happiest time of my life. I don't think any young girl ever loved her father as much as I loved mine that night."
I'm convinced that you would be hard pressed to come up with a deposit that has more impact in the family than making and keeping promises.
"這一天終於來到了。我一直等了好幾個小時，直到爸爸工作結束。大約6：30分，他回來了，這時一位很有影響的、生意上的熟人想請我們共赴晚宴。我當時失望極了。"
"我永遠也忘不了當時爸爸對他說的話：'見到你很高興，但是今天對於我的女兒來說非同尋常，我們已經做了詳細的安排'。那天我們玩了個痛快。那是我一生中最快樂的時光。我想，任何女兒都沒有像我在那天晚上那樣愛我的爸爸。"
我深信比起遵守諾言來說，很難再找到對於家庭來說更大的感情投資的了。
5. Don't forget to forgive / 記住要寬恕別人
For many, the ultimate deposit to the Emotional Bank Account comes in forgiving.
When you forgive, you open the channels for trust and unconditional love. You cleanse your heart. You also remove a major obstacle that keeps others from changing -- because when you don't forgive, you put yourself between people and their conscience. Instead of spending their energy on work with their own conscience, they spend it defending and justifying their behavior to you.
In everything you do for your family, keep in mind the miracle of the Chinese bamboo. After the seed is planted, new, taller shoots appear until the bamboo reaches full height. But the most dramatic growth is underground, where the roots grow very strong. With this support, the bamboo can reach a height of 120 feet!
The Emotional Bank Account can be like that. As you begin to make deposits, you may see positive results immediately. More often it will take weeks, months, even years. But results will come, and you will be astonished at the change.
對許多人來說，感情儲蓄中最重要的投入是寬恕。
寬恕別人，就打開了信任和無條件關愛的渠道，靜化了自已的心靈。同樣，還排除了陰礙別人改正錯誤的巨大障礙。如果你不肯原諒別人，其實是阻礙人們認識的錯誤，這就會使他們總在爲自己的不對找出種種理由，進行辯護，而不去想想自己是否有不對之處。
在你爲家人做每一件事時，請記住中國毛竹這個奇妙之物，它們的種子種下之後，就會長出新的、比種子更高的竹筍，一直長到成竹。但是最戲劇性的變化發生在地下，生長在地下的竹根長得很壯。有這樣的竹根支撐，竹子竟能長到120英尺高!
感情儲蓄也是如此，一旦開始投入，你即刻就可以看到良效。雖然多數情況下需要數週、數月、乃至數年的努力。但是，一定會有成果，而且你也一定會對這些成果所帶來的變化感到驚奇。
經典的英語美文結婚第一天，我們緊張的要死
the first day of our marriage, we scared to death
The first day of my marriage is scary. I think that we should all have two lines. One to live to make mistakes and then one to come back and do it again. You know, so you don’t make mistakes. I mean because parents will not tell you things nobody ever tells you. Parents don’t want to sit down and really garb and say: Well now. This is what this is about and this is why we are doing this and this.---No! It is a big secret.
When I got married, I said to my father: “I am going to get married. Can you help me?”he said: “no.”I went to my mother and said: “I am going to get married, ma. Tell me something about it.”my mother said: “oh! That’s wonderful. Your father and I have never argued. And he’s just been wonderful all through life.” Which is a lie! Lie! I heard him in there. And I will tell you another thing. I will take your arm and rip it off and rarara…
And now, in my marriage, my wife and I love each other. But I will tell you in a minute we’ve had some arguments. I mean, I have never punched her. And she has never punched me. But we have had some arguments. I called her some names that I was proud I even thought of. And my wife has run some of on me that I’ve written down, yeah, but nobody will tell you that. The only person who ever made an attempt was a priest. A priest! Said：“I will tell you about it,” I beg your pardon.
Marriage, you can’t beat it. The first day we got married. Both of us were scared everything. When we got married, and went to a hotel room for our honey room. We just stared at each other, just sat on the edge of our bed with our clothes on, looking at each other. Then finally we got in the car and went to the drive-in and knew what to do.
關於英語美文Dance like no one is watching 起舞吧，就像根本無人觀望
We always convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage.
We always tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car,and are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire. The truth is, there's no better time than right now. If not now, when? Our life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to ourselves and decide to be happy anyway.
One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin--real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life." This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So, treasure every moment that you have. And remember that you have. And remember that time waits for no one. So stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school; until you get married, until you get divorced; until you have kids, until your kids leave home; until you start work, until you retire; until you get a new car or home; until spring; until you are born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy…
Happiness is a journey, not a destination. So, work like you don't need money, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.
後記：
原文作者是一位名字叫做 Alfred D'Souza 的神父，原文的主旨是在告訴人們要更加珍惜那些可以與別人共度過的時光，不要等待，沒有通往快樂的道路，因爲快樂本身就是道路，是一段旅程，而不是終點~~
Dance like no one is watching.
Sing like no one is listening.
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Live life everyday as if it were your last.
