英语名篇诵读 品味百味人生

Touch Life at Every Point

品味百味人生

I have known want and struggle and anxiety and despair. I have always had to work beyond

the limits of my strength. As I look back upon my life, I see it as a battlefield strewn with the

wrecks¹ of dead dreams and broken hopes and shattered illusions — a battle in which I always

fought with the odds² tremendously against me, and which has left me scarred and bruised³ and

maimed and old before my time.

Yet, I have no pity for myself; no tears to shed over the past and gone sorrows; no envy for

the women who have been spared all I have gone through. For I have lived. They only existed.

I have drunk the cup of life down to its very dregs . They have only sipped⁴ the bubbles

on top of it. I know things they will never know. I see things to which they are blind.

I have learned to live each day as it comes and not to borrow trouble by dreading⁶ the morrow.

It is the dark menace of the future that makes cowards of us. I put that dread⁵ from me because

experience has taught me that when the time comes that I so fear, the strength and wisdom to meet

it will be given me. Little annoyances⁷ no longer have the power to affect me. After you have seen

your whole edifice⁸ of happiness topple and crash in ruins about you, it never matters to you

again that a man steps on your feet on the bus, or the cook spills the soup.

I have learned not to expect too much from people, and so I can still get happiness out of the

friend who isn't quite true to me or the acquaintance who gossips. Above all, I have acquired a

sense of humor, because there were so many things over which I had either to cry or laugh. And

when a woman can joke over her troubles instead of having hysterics , nothing can ever hurt her

much again.

I do not regret the hardships I have known, because through them I have touched life at every

point I have lived. And it was worth the price I had to pay.

我经历过匮乏、奋斗、焦虑和绝望。我总是在超负荷地辛劳着。当我回首既往的人生

时，我发现那是一个战场，上面撒满了破灭的梦想、破碎的希望和撞碎的幻想碎片——在

这场人生的战斗中，我同逆境做着艰难的斗争，打得我伤痕累累，肢体残废，未老先衰。

然而，我没有怜悯自己，不流追悔既往和怀旧伤痛之泪，也不妒忌免遭类似厄运的女

人。因为我真正生活过，而她们仅仅生存过。

我曾经饮干杯中的人生苦酒，我将生命之水一饮而尽，领略了残渣的辛辣苦涩。她们

只是呷了一下浮在表面的泡沫。我了解她们永远不懂的东西，看清了她们看不见的东西。

活在今天，而不是无聊地透支明天的烦恼。把我们变成胆小鬼的正是那属于未来的黑

暗威胁。我把那种害怕置之度外，因为经验告诉我，当真正使我害怕的时刻到来之际，我

会有智慧和力量助我应对。琐碎的烦扰不再能够左右我了。在目睹整座幸福大厦在你身旁

轰然倒塌，成为废墟之后，你绝不会在乎有个男的在公交车上踩了你一脚，或者厨师泼洒

了你的汤。

我学会了不过多寄希望于他人，所以我还能够从并不十分忠实于我的朋友那里，从说

我闲话的熟人当中，找到快乐。更重要的是，我培养了一种幽默感，因为有很多很多事

情，不是令我哭，就是让我笑。当一个女人把苦恼当作笑料，而不是歇斯底里发作的时

候，没什么能再伤害到她了。

我不后悔曾经的艰难困苦，因为通过这种体验我接触了生活中的方方面面。这种体验

值得我所有的付出。

1 wrecks   

n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 )；（事故中）遭严重毁坏的汽车（或飞机等）；（身体或精神上）受到严重损伤的人；状况非常糟糕的车辆（或建筑物等）v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 )；使（船舶）失事，使遇难，使下沉

参考例句：

• The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句

2 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

3 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

4 sipped   

v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He sipped his coffee pleasurably. 他怡然地品味着咖啡。
• I sipped the hot chocolate she had made. 我小口喝着她调制的巧克力热饮。 来自辞典例句

5 dread   

vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧

参考例句：

• We all dread to think what will happen if the company closes.我们都不敢去想一旦公司关门我们该怎么办。
• Her heart was relieved of its blankest dread.她极度恐惧的心理消除了。

6 dreading   

v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She was dreading having to broach the subject of money to her father. 她正在为不得不向父亲提出钱的事犯愁。
• This was the moment he had been dreading. 这是他一直最担心的时刻。

7 annoyances   

n.恼怒( annoyance的名词复数 )；烦恼；打扰；使人烦恼的事

参考例句：

• At dinner that evening two annoyances kept General Zaroff from perfect enjoyment one. 当天晚上吃饭时，有两件不称心的事令沙洛夫吃得不很香。 来自辞典例句
• Actually, I have a lot of these little annoyances-don't we all? 事实上我有很多类似的小烦恼，我们不都有这种小烦恼吗？ 来自互联网

8 edifice   

n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室)

参考例句：

• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。
• There is a huge Victorian edifice in the area.该地区有一幢维多利亚式的庞大建筑物。