英语沙龙：The Bread of Life

There are lives that have bread in abundance and yet are starved;

with barns and warehouses¹ filled, with shelves and larders² laden³ they are empty and hungry.

No man need envy them; their feverish⁴, restless whirl in the dust of publicity⁵

is but the search for a satisfaction never to be found in things.

They are called rich in a world where no others are more truly, pitiably poor;

having all, they are yet lacking in all because they have neglected the things within.

The abundance of bread is the cause of many a man's deeper hunger.

Having known nothing of the discipline that develops life's hidden sources of satisfaction,

nothing of the struggle in which deep calls unto deep and the true life finds itself,

he spends his days seeking to satisfy his soul with furniture,

with houses and lands, with yachts and merchandise, seeking to feed his heart on things,

a process of less promise and reason than feeding a snapping turtle on thoughts.

It takes many of us altogether too long to learn

that you cannot find satisfaction so long as you leave the soul out of your reckoning.

If the heart be empty the life cannot be filled.

The flow must cease at the faucet⁶ if the fountains go dry.

The prime, the elemental necessities of our being are for the life rather than the body,

its house. But, alas⁷, how often out of the marble edifice⁸ issues the poor emaciated⁹ inmate¹⁰,

how out of the life having many things comes that which amounts to nothing.

The essential things are not often those which most readily strike our blunt senses.

We see the shell first.

To the undeveloped mind the material is all there is.

But looking deeper into life there comes an awakening¹¹ to the fact

and the significance of the spiritual,

the feeling that the reason, the emotions, the joys and pains

that have nothing to do with things, the ties that knit one to the infinite,

all of which constitute the permanent elements of life.

1 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

2 larders   

n.（家中的）食物贮藏室，食物橱( larder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

3 laden   

adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的

参考例句：

• He is laden with heavy responsibility.他肩负重任。
• Dragging the fully laden boat across the sand dunes was no mean feat.将满载货物的船拖过沙丘是一件了不起的事。

4 feverish   

adj.发烧的，狂热的，兴奋的

参考例句：

• He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
• They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。

5 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

6 faucet   

n.水龙头

参考例句：

• The faucet has developed a drip.那个水龙头已经开始滴水了。
• She turned off the faucet and dried her hands.她关掉水龙头，把手擦干。

7 alas   

int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等)

参考例句：

• Alas!The window is broken!哎呀！窗子破了！
• Alas,the truth is less romantic.然而，真理很少带有浪漫色彩。

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。

9 emaciated   

adj.衰弱的，消瘦的

参考例句：

• A long time illness made him sallow and emaciated.长期患病使他面黄肌瘦。
• In the light of a single candle,she can see his emaciated face.借着烛光，她能看到他的被憔悴的面孔。

10 inmate   

n.被收容者；(房屋等的)居住人；住院人

参考例句：

• I am an inmate of that hospital.我住在那家医院。
• The prisoner is his inmate.那个囚犯和他同住一起。

11 awakening   

n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的

参考例句：

• the awakening of interest in the environment 对环境产生的兴趣
• People are gradually awakening to their rights. 人们正逐渐意识到自己的权利。