美文，指文学、修辞、诗歌艺术的总体，”修辞和诗歌也可以由“文学”来概括。
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.
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.
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.
The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.
美女
她有一种与外表无关的敏感和美丽。她是一个值得倾听的人，她的话很容易让人铭记在心。
这些年来，我经常想起她，以及她在一个对外貌、阶级、财富和其他生活服饰都非常重视的社会中是如何挣扎的。她遭受了一种无法让自己看起来有魅力的毁容。我知道她的病情深深地伤害了她。
如果她长得漂亮，她的生活会有所不同吗？很有可能是这样。然而，她有一种与外表无关的敏感和美丽。她是一个值得倾听的人，她的话很容易让人铭记在心。她的话来自一颗受伤但充满爱心的心，就像所有人的心一样，但她更需要意识到这一点，与之共存并从中学习。她有一种敏锐的美感。她一生中唯一的恐惧就是失去一个朋友。
据说存在的本质是被掩盖的。语言的劳动，艺术的表达，人类思想中看似无休无止的嗡嗡声，所有这些都有一个共同点，那就是需要了解真正的真相。希望接近并拥有存在的真理可能是狂热的。在某些情况下，如果快乐是一个人的真理，而获得快乐比生活本身更重要，那么快乐甚至可能是致命的。然而，在另一些生活中，对真实的追求赋予了生命。
她生命的真谛是希望透过表面看一眼重要的东西。她发现了美丽和优雅，他
Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are ' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.
I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
竞争
这是一个显而易见的事实，我们所处的世界是一个各个领域、各个层次都在竞争的世界。这很令人兴奋。然而，从另一方面来说，竞争是一种务实的态度。人们选择学习有用的东西，做有利可图的事情。今天的大学教育也受到这种普遍的功利主义观念的影响。许多大学生选择商业或计算机编程作为他们的专业，他们相信这些专业是赚钱的地方。把大学生兼职看作是真正战斗的热身，这并不罕见。我经常看到我的朋友们参加GRE考试，学习英语或计算机证书，并通过驾驶执照获得驾照。我不反对务实。随着就业市场的竞争越来越激烈，学生们确实有理由变得务实。然而，我们永远不要忘记，大学教育远不止是技能培训。想象一下，如果你的功利主义在校园里盛行，没有空间培养学生的思想，也没有空间培养他们的灵魂。我们将看到大学正在训练出训练有素、毫无精神的机器。如果功利主义盛行于社会，我们将看到人们在赚钱的冒险中失去了由心灵锻造的医疗保险；我们将看到人性丧失其优雅和尊严，这将是灾难性的。我认为社会是一种勇气，追求利润或名誉的人是一种能激发勇气的力量。然而，如果司机不选择方向，勇气就会直线上升，甚至可能在不稳定的情况下结束。证书可能会给你带来一些优势，但广阔的视野、积极的态度和个人完整性，这些都是你无法通过任何快速固定的方式获得的资产。在当今世界，最高水平的竞争不是技能或专业知识，而是愿景和战略。你的智力水平在很大程度上决定了你在职业生涯中能走多远。
Dad's Kiss(原题 A goodbye kiss)
The Board Meeting had come to an end. Bob started to stand up and jostled the table, spilling his coffee over his notes. "How embarrassing. I am getting so clumsy in my old age." Everyone had a good laugh, and soon we were all telling stories of our most embarrassing moments. It came around to Frank who sat quietly listening to the others. Someone said, "Come on, Frank. Tell us your most embarrassing moment."
Frank laughed and began to tell us of his childhood. "I grew up in San Pedro. My Dad was a fisherman, and he loved the sea. He had his own boat, but it was hard making a living on the sea. He worked hard and would stay out until he caught enough to feed the family. Not just enough for our family, but also for his Mom and Dad and the other kids that were still at home." He looked at us and said, "I wish you could have met my Dad. He was a big man, and he was strong from pulling the nets and fighting the seas for his catch. When you got close to him, he smelled like the ocean. He would wear his old canvas, foul-weather coat and his bibbed overalls. His rain hat would be pulled down over his brow. No matter how much my Mother washed them, they would still smell of the sea and of fish."
Frank's voice dropped a bit. "When the weather was bad he would drive me to school. He had this old truck that he used in his fishing business. That truck was older than he was. It would wheeze and rattle down the road. You could hear it coming for blocks. As he would drive toward the school, I would shrink down into the seat hoping to disappear. Half the time, he would slam to a stop and the old truck would belch a cloud of smoke. He would pull right up in front, and it seemed like everybody would be standing around and watching. Then he would lean over and give me a big kiss on the cheek and tell me to be a good boy. It was so embarrassing for me. Here, I was twelve years old, and my Dad would lean over and kiss me goodbye!"
He paused and then went on, "I remember the day I decided I was too old for a goodbye kiss. When we got to the school and came to a stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean toward me, but I put my hand up and said, 'No, Dad.'
It was the first time I had ever talked to him that way, and he had this surprised look on his face. I said, 'Dad, I'm too old for a goodbye kiss. I'm too old for any kind of kiss.' My Dad looked at me for the longest time, and his eyes started to tear up. I had never seen him cry. He turned and looked out the windshield. 'You're right,' he said. 'You are a big boy....a man. I won't kiss you anymore.'"
Frank got a funny look on his face, and the tears began to well up in his eyes, as he spoke. "It wasn't long after that when my Dad went to sea and never came back. It was a day when most of the fleet stayed in, but not Dad. He had a big family to feed. They found his boat adrift with its nets half in and half out. He must have gotten into a gale and was trying to save the nets and the floats."
I looked at Frank and saw that tears were running down his cheeks. Frank spoke again. "Guys, you don't know what I would give to have my Dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek....to feel his rough old face....to smell the ocean on him....to feel his arm around my neck. I wish I had been a man then. If I had been a man, I would never have told my Dad I was too old for a goodbye kiss."
爸爸的吻(原题 告别之吻）
董事会会议已经结束。鲍勃开始站起来推搡桌子，把咖啡洒在了笔记上。“太尴尬了。我年纪大了，越来越笨手笨脚了。”每个人都笑得很开心，很快我们都在讲述自己最尴尬的时刻。轮到弗兰克了，他静静地坐在那里听别人说话。有人说：“来吧，弗兰克。告诉我们你最尴尬的时刻。”
弗兰克笑了，开始向我们讲述他的童年。“我在圣佩德罗长大。我父亲是个渔夫，他热爱大海。他有自己的船，但在海上谋生很困难。他努力工作，会一直呆在外面，直到捕到足够养活一家人的鱼。这不仅足以养活我们家，也足以养活他的父母和其他仍在家的孩子。”他看着我们说，“我希望你能见到我的父亲。他是个大块头，他很强壮，因为他拉着渔网，在大海中奋力捕鱼。当你靠近他时，他身上散发着大海的味道。他会穿着他的旧帆布、恶劣天气的外套和围嘴的工作服。他的雨帽会被拉下来遮住额头。无论我母亲洗了多少次，他们仍然会闻到大海和鱼的味道。”
弗兰克的声音降低了一点。“天气不好的时候，他会开车送我去学校。他有一辆他在钓鱼生意中使用的旧卡车。那辆卡车比他旧。它会在路上喘息和嘎嘎作响。你可以听到它来了好几个街区。当他开车去学校的时候，我会缩到座位上，希望消失。有一半时间，他会猛地停下，旧卡车会喷出一团烟雾。”烟他会把车停在前面，好像每个人都站在旁边看着。然后他会俯身在我脸上给我一个大大的吻，告诉我要做个好孩子。这对我来说太尴尬了。在这里，我十二岁，我爸爸会俯身和我吻别！"
他停顿了一下，然后继续说：“我记得有一天，我觉得自己太老了，不适合吻别。当我们到达学校并停下来时，他像往常一样露出灿烂的笑容。他开始向我倾斜，但我举起手说，‘不，爸爸。’”
这是我第一次这样跟他说话，他脸上露出惊讶的表情。我说，‘爸爸，我太老了，不适合吻别。’。我太老了，不适合任何形式的亲吻。”我爸爸看了我很长时间，他的眼睛开始流泪。我从没见过他哭。他转过身，朝挡风玻璃望去“你说得对，”他说你是个大男孩。一个男人。我不会再吻你了。”"
弗兰克的脸上露出了一种滑稽的表情，当他说话时，泪水开始涌上眼睛。“没过多久，我父亲就出海了，再也没有回来。那是一天，舰队的大多数人都留在了海里，但父亲却没有。他有一个大家庭要养活。他们发现他的船漂流着，渔网半进半出。他一定是遇上了大风，试图拯救渔网和浮标。”
我看着弗兰克，看到眼泪顺着他的脸颊流下来。弗兰克又开口了。“伙计们，你们不知道我会付出什么，让我爸爸在我的脸颊上再亲一个吻……去感受他粗糙的老脸……去闻他身上的海洋……去感受他搂着我脖子的手臂。我希望那时我是个男人。如果我是个男人，我永远不会告诉我爸爸我太老了，不适合吻别。”
Want to Know
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, without moving to hide it
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I want to know if you can see beauty , if you can source your life from god’s presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
想知道吗
� 我想知道你渴望什么，你是否敢于梦想满足内心的渴望。
我对你的年龄不感兴趣。我想知道你是否愿意为了爱，为了梦想，为了活着的冒险而冒着看起来像个傻瓜的风险。
我不感兴趣的是什么行星在和你的月亮成直角。我想知道你是否触及了自己悲伤的中心，是否因生活的背叛而敞开心扉，是否因害怕进一步的痛苦而变得干瘪和封闭！
如果你告诉我的故事是真的，我不感兴趣。我想知道的是，你是否能让别人失望，从而对自己诚实；如果你能忍受背叛的指控而不背叛自己的灵魂。如果你能忠诚，因此值得信赖。
我不想知道你住在哪里或者你有多少钱。我想知道，在经历了一夜的悲伤和绝望、疲惫和伤痕累累之后，你是否能起床，为孩子们做需要做的事情。
我对你在哪里、做什么、和谁一起学习不感兴趣。我想知道当一切都消失的时候，是什么从内心支撑着你。我想知道你是否能独处，你是否真的喜欢在空虚时刻结交的朋友。
你是谁，你是怎么来到这里的，我不感兴趣。我想知道你是否愿意和我一起站在火焰的中心，而不是退缩。
我想知道你是否能忍受痛苦而不去掩饰它
我想知道你是否能快乐，无论是我的还是你自己的，你是否能狂野地跳舞，让狂喜充满你的指尖和脚趾，而不是提醒我们要小心，要现实，或记住作为人类的局限性。
我想知道你是否能看到美，你是否能从上帝的存在中获得生命。我想知道你是否能忍受失败，不管是你的还是我的，仍然站在湖边对着银色的满月高喊：“是的！”
Chinese Undergraduates in the US
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
在美国的中国本科生
每年，耶鲁大学、哈佛大学、哥伦比亚大学、阿默斯特大学和韦尔斯利大学等美国精英大学和文科学院都会向中国高中毕业生提供大量奖学金，供他们攻读本科课程。四年前，我从耶鲁大学获得了这样的奖学金。
这些中国本科生是什么样的？大多数来自中国大城市中心的中产阶级家庭。地理分布极不平衡，上海和北京的代表性严重过剩。在主水池外，许多耶鲁学生来自长沙和宁波，每年都有美国耶鲁毕业生被派往这里教英语。
绝大多数在美中国本科生主修科学、工程或经济学。许多人在高中时都是学术巨星——在国际学术奥林匹克竞赛中获得金牌，或在全国学术竞赛中获奖。一旦进入美国校园，他们中的许多人决定将研究作为终身承诺。
课外生活是大学生活的重要组成部分。在美国大学，学生平均每周上课时间不到13小时。许多中国学生利用业余时间多挣些零花钱。在耶鲁大学，最常见的校园工作之一是在餐厅洗碗。几乎所有耶鲁大学的中国本科生在大学期间的某个时候都会在餐厅兼职。随着年龄的增长和成熟程度的提高，他们会升级到收入更高、压力更小的职位。更受欢迎和有趣的工作包括计算机助理、数学作业评分员、投资办公室助理和实验室或研究助理。后三种方法通常会刺激暑期工作。
学生活动是美国大学生活的另一个显著特征。每周都有无数学生组织的各种活动——体育、艺术、文化、政治或社会活动（即只是为了好玩）。新的学生组织不断涌现，而中国的本科生也为这场发酵做出了贡献。体育运动在美国校园的影响要比在中国大得多。在耶鲁，从足球到水球的校内运动全年都在进行；因此，体育天赋是真正的社会财富。几年前，耶鲁大学的一名中国学生是一名多才多艺的运动员。他的运动天赋和对体育赛事的热情参与，再加上他其他的优秀品质，使他在寄宿学�
Work and Pleasure
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.” Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.
It may also be said that rational, industrious useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune’s favoured children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.
工作和娱乐
要想获得真正的快乐与安宁，一个人应该有至少两三种爱好，而且必须是真正的爱好。到晚年才说“我对什么什么有兴趣”是没用的，这只会徒然增添精神负担。一个人可以在自己工作之外的领域获得渊博的知识，不过他可能几乎得不到什么好处或是消遣。做你喜欢的事是没用的。，你必须喜欢你所做的事。总的来说，人可以分为三种：劳累而死的、忧虑而死的、和烦恼而死的。对于那些体力劳动者来说，经历了一周精疲力竭的体力劳作，周六下午让他们去踢足球或者打棒球是没有意义的。而对那些政治家、专业人士或者商人来说，他们已经为严肃的事情操劳或烦恼六天了，周末再让他们为琐事劳神也是没有意义的。
也可以说，那些理性的、勤勉的、有价值的人们可分为两类，一类，他们的工作就是工作，娱乐就是娱乐；而另一类，他们的工作即娱乐。大多数人属于前者，他们得到了相应的补偿。长时间在办公室或工厂里的工作，回报给他们的不仅是维持了生计，还有一种强烈的对娱乐的需求，哪怕是最简单的、最朴实的娱乐。不过，命运的宠儿则属于后者。他们的生活很自然和谐。对他们来说，工作时间永远不嫌长。每天都是假日，而当正常的假日来临时，他们总是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被强行中断了。不过，有些事情对两类人是同样至关重要的，那就是转换一下视角、改变一下氛围、将精力转移到别的事情上。确实，对那些工作即是娱乐的人来说，最需要隔一段时间就用某种方式把工作从脑子里面赶出去。