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　　最適合英語口語練習文章：Beauty

　　There were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that have nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart.

　　It is said that the true nature of being is veiled. The labor of words, the expression of art, the seemingly ceaseless buzz that is human thought all have in common the need to get at what really is so. The hope to draw close to and possess the truth of being can be a feverish one. In some cases it can even be fatal, if pleasure is one’s truth and its attainment more important than life itself. In other lives, though, the search for what is truthful gives life.

　　I used to find notes left in the collection basket, beautiful notes about my homilies and about the writer’s thoughts on the daily scriptural readings. The person who penned the notes would add reflections to my thoughts and would always include some quotes from poets and mystics he or she had read and remembered and loved. The notes fascinated me. Here was someone immersed in a search for truth and beauty. Words had been treasured, words that were beautiful. And I felt as if the words somehow delighted in being discovered, for they were obviously very generous to the as yet anonymous writer of the notes. And now this person was in turn learning the secret of sharing them. Beauty so shines when given away. The only truth that exists is, in that sense, free. It was a long time before I met the author of the notes.

　　One Sunday morning, I was told that someone was waiting for me in the office. The young person who answered the rectory door said that it was "the woman who said she left all the notes." When I saw her I was shocked, since I immediately recognized her from church but had no idea that it was she who wrote the notes. She was sitting in a chair in the office with her hands folded in her lap. Her head was bowed and when she raised it to look at me, she could barely smile without pain. Her face was disfigured, and the skin so tight from surgical procedures that smiling or laughing was very difficult for her. She had suffered terribly from treatment to remove the growths that had so marred her face.

　　We chatted for a while that Sunday morning and agreed to meet for lunch later that week. As it turned out we went to lunch several times, and she always wore a hat during the meal. I think that treatments of some sort had caused a lot of her hair to fall out. We shared things about our lives. I told her about my schooling and growing up. She told me that she had worked for years for an insurance company. She never mentioned family, and I did not ask.

　　We spoke of authors we both had read, and it was easy to tell that books are a great love of hers.

　　I have thought about her often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks, class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition hurt her deeply. Would her life have been different had she been pretty Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.

　　How long does it take most of us to reach that level of human growth, if we ever get there

　　We get so consumed and diminished, worrying about all the things that need improving, we can easily forget to cherish those things that last. Friendship, so rare and so good, just needs our care--maybe even the simple gesture of writing a little note now and then, or the dropping of some beautiful words in a basket, in the hope that such beauty will be shared and taken to heart.

　　最適合英語口語練習文章：雨中的記憶

　　1 Run through the rain

　　1 雨中的記憶

　　She had been shopping with her Mom in Wal-Mart. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful brown haired, freckle-faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the Earth, it has no time to flow down the spout.

　　她和媽媽剛在沃爾瑪結束購物。這個天真的小女孩應該6歲大了，頭發是美麗的棕色，臉上有雀斑。外面下著傾盆大雨。雨水溢滿了檐槽，來不及排走，就迫不及待地涌漲上地面。

　　We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Wal-Mart. We all waited, some patiently, others irritated, because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I get lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child come pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

　　我們都站在沃爾瑪門口的遮篷下。大家都在等待，有人很耐心，有人很煩躁，因為老天在給他們本已忙碌的一天添亂。雨天總引起我的遐思。我出神地聽著、看著老天沖刷洗滌這世界的污垢和塵埃，孩時無憂無慮地在雨中奔跑玩水的記憶洶涌而至，暫時緩解了我一天的焦慮。

　　Her voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, “Mom, let"s run through the rain." she said.

　　小女孩甜美的聲音打破了這令人昏昏欲睡的氣氛，“媽媽，我們在雨里跑吧。”她說。

　　"What?" Mom asked.

　　“什么?”母親問。

　　"Let"s run through the rain!" She repeated.

　　“我們在雨里跑吧，”她重復。

　　"No, honey. We"ll wait until it slows down a bit." Mom replied.

　　“不，親愛的，我們等雨小一點再走。”母親回答說。

　　This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let"s run through the rain."

　　過了一會小女孩又說：“媽媽，我們跑出去吧。”

　　"We"ll get soaked if we do." Mom said.

　　“這樣的話我們會濕透的。”母親說。

　　"No, we won"t, Mom. That"s not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom"s arm."

　　“不會的，媽媽。你今天早上不是這樣說的。”小女孩一邊說一邊拉著母親的手。

　　"This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?"

　　“今天早上?我什么時候說過我們淋雨不會濕啊?”

　　"Don"t you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"

　　“你不記得了嗎?你和爸爸談他的癌癥時，你不是說‘如果上帝讓我們闖過這一關，那我們就沒有什么過不去。’”

　　The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn"t hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.

　　人群一片寂靜。我發誓，除了雨聲，你什么都聽不到。我們都靜靜地站著。接下來的幾分鐘沒有一個人走動。母親停了一下，想著應該說些什么。

　　Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child"s life. Time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith. "Honey, you are absolutely right. Let"s run through the rain. If get wet, well maybe we just needed washing." Mom said. Then off they ran.

　　有人也許會對此一笑了之，或者責備這孩子的不懂事，有人甚至不把她的話放在心上。但這卻是一個小孩子一生中需要被肯定的時候。若受到鼓舞，此時孩子單純的信任就會發展成為堅定的信念。“親愛的，你說得對，我們跑過去吧。如果淋濕了，那也許是因為我們的確需要沖洗一下了。”母親說。然后她們就沖出去了。

　　We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories. So, don"t forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories every day!

　　我們站在那里，笑著看她們飛快地跑過停著的汽車。她們把購物袋高舉過頭想擋擋雨，但還是濕透了。好幾個人像孩子般尖叫著，大笑著，也跟著沖了出去，奔向自己的車子。當然，我也這樣做了，跑了出去，淋濕了。我也需要接受洗禮。環境或其他人可以奪去你的物質財富，搶走你的金錢，帶走你的健康，但沒有人可以帶走你珍貴的回憶。因此，記得要抓緊時間，抓住機會每天都給自己留下一些回憶吧

　　To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. I hope you still take the time to run through the rain.

　　世間萬物皆有自己的季節，做任何事情也有一個恰當的時機。希望你有機會在雨中狂奔一回。

　　最適合英語口語練習文章：永恒的承諾

　　3 Promise

　　3 永恒的承諾

　　In 1989 an 8.2 earthquake almost flattened America, killing over 30,000 people in less than four minutes. In the midst of utter devastation and chaos, a father left his wife safely at home and rushed to the school where his son was supposed to be, only to discover that the building was as flat as a pancake.

　　1989年，一次8.2級的地震幾乎鏟平美國，在短短不到4分鐘的時間里，奪去了3萬多人的生命!在徹底的破壞與混亂之中，有位父親將他的妻子在家里安頓好后，跑到他兒子就讀的學校，而觸目所見，卻是被夷為平地的校園。

　　After the unforgettably initial shock, he remembered the promise he had made to his son: "No matter what, I’ll always be there for you!" And tears began to fill his eyes. As he looked at the pile of ruins that once was the school, it looked hopeless, but he kept remembering his commitment to his son.

　　看到這令人傷心的一幕，他想起了曾經對兒子所作的承諾："不論發生什么事，我都會在你身邊。"至此，父親熱淚滿眶。目睹曾經的學校成為了一堆瓦礫，真叫人絕望。但父親的腦中仍然牢記著他對兒子的諾言。

　　He began to direct his attention towards where he walked his son to class at school each morning. Remembering his son s classroom would be in the back right corner of the building; he rushed there and started digging through the ruins.

　　他開始努力回憶每天早上送兒子上學的必經之路，終于記起兒子的教室應該就在那幢建筑物后面，位于右邊的角落里，他跑到那兒，開始在碎石礫中挖掘，搜尋兒子的下落。

　　As he was digging, other helpless parents arrived, clutching their hearts, saying: "My son!" "My daughter!" Other well meaning parents tried to pull him off what was left of the school, saying: "It s too late! They’re all dead! You can’t help! Go home! Come on, face reality, there s nothing you can do!"

　　當這位父親正在挖掘時，其他束手無策的學生家長趕到現場，揪心地叫著："我的兒子呀!" "我的女兒呀!"一些好意的家長試圖把這位父親勸離現場，告訴他"一切都太遲了!"他們全死了!"這樣做沒用的"，"回去吧，這樣做只會使事情更糟"。

　　To each parent he responded with one line: "Are you going to help me now?" And then he continued to dig for his son, stone by stone. The fire chief showed up and tried to pull him off the school s ruins saying, "Fires are breaking out, explosions are happening everywhere. You’re in danger. We’ll take care of it. Go home." To which this loving, caring American father asked, "Are you going to help me now?"

　　面對種種勸告，這位父親的回答只有一句話："你們愿意幫我嗎?"然后繼續進行挖掘工作，在廢墟中尋找他的兒子。消防隊長出現了，他也試圖把這位父親勸走，對他說："火災頻現，四處都在發生爆炸，你在這里太危險了，這邊的事我們會處理，你回家吧!"對此，這位慈愛、關切的父親仍然回答："你們要幫我嗎?"

　　The police came and said, "You’re angry, anxious and it s over. You’re endangering others. Go home. We’ll handle it!" To which he replied, "Are you going to help me now?" No one helped.Courageously he went on alone because he needed to know for himself: "Is my boy alive or is he dead?" He dug for eight hours...12 hours...24 hours...36 hours...then, in the 38th hour, he pulled back a large stone and heard his son s voice. He screamed his son s name, "ARMAND!" He heard back, "Dad!?! It s me, Dad! I told the other kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you d save me and when you saved me, they d be saved. You promised, No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you! You did it, Dad!" "What s going on in there? How is it?" the father asked.

　　警察趕到現場，對他說："你現在又氣又急，該結束了，你在危及他人，回家吧!我們會處理一切的。"這位父親依舊回答："你們愿意幫我嗎?" 然而，人們無動于衷。為了弄清楚兒子是死是活，這位父親獨自一人鼓起勇氣，繼續進行他的工作。他挖掘了8小時，--12小時，24小時，36小時--38小時后，父親推開了一塊巨大的石頭，聽到了兒子的聲音。父親尖叫著："阿曼德!"兒子的回音聽到了："爸爸嗎?是我，爸，我告訴其他的小朋友不要著急。我告訴他們如果你活著，你會來救我的。如果我獲救了，他們也就獲救了。你答應過我， 不論發生什么，我永遠都會在你的身邊， 你做到了，爸!""你那里的情況怎樣?"父親問。

　　"There are 14 of us left out of 33, Dad. We’re scared, hungry, thirsty and thankful you re here. When the building collapsed, it made a triangle, and it saved us."

　　"我們有33個，只有14個活著。爸，我們好害怕，又渴又餓，謝天謝地，你在這兒。教室倒塌時，剛好形成一個三角形的洞，救了我們。"

　　"Come out, boy!"

　　"快出來吧!兒子!"

　　"No, Dad! Let the other kids out first, cause I know you ll get me! No matter what happens, I know you’ll always be there for me!"

　　"不，爸，讓其他小朋友先出來吧!因為我知道你會接我的!不管發生什么事，我知道你永遠都會來到我的身邊!"