版高考英语 Passage 32 IF You Have Your Life to Live Over Again双语美文集锦素材3页

Passage 32 IF You Have Your Life to Live Over Again When the late Nadine Stair of Louisville, Kentucky, was 85 years old, she was asked what she would do if she had her life to live over again. “I’d make more mistakes next time,” she said. “I’d relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been on this trip. I would take fewer things seriously. I would take more chances. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones. ” “You see, I’m one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day. I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, and a raincoat. If I had to do it over again, I would travel lighter than I have. “If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds and I would pick more daisies. ” 如果生命再来一次 在肯塔基州路易斯维尔，有位已故的老人，她叫Nadine Stair ，在她85岁高龄的时候，有人问她，如果她再有一次生命的话，她会做些什么。 “下次我犯的错误会更多，”她回答到。“我应该会很放松；我会把身子锻炼得很柔软；我应该会比现在还傻；我会更加温和地处理问题；我会抓住更多的机会；我会爬更多的高山，游更多的河流；我会吃更多的冰激凌，少吃点大豆；也许，我会碰到很多的现实生活中的麻烦事，但是，一些想像中的麻烦事将不会更多了。” “你也知道，我是那种每时每刻都活得很理性的人。哦，我度过了生命中的光阴，如果再让我过一次的话，我将会拥有更多的时间。事实上，我会去尝试那种除了时光一无所有的生活。只让大段大段的时光，一点一点地流淌。而不是那么多年过一种每天都要赶时间的日子。有些人如果不带寒暑表，不带热水壶，不带雨衣的话，他们就不会去任何地方，我曾经就是这副样子。但是，如果我可以再走一次人生的话，我就会轻装上阵，旅行得更远。 “如果我再有一次生命的话，我就会从早春赤脚到深秋，我会多跳几次舞，我会多骑几次旋转木马，还有，我会多采些雏菊花……” Passage 33 Find Something Beautiful to Notice A very special teacher in a high school had a husband who died suddenly of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her thoughts with a classroom of students. As the late afternoon sunlight shined through the classroom windows, and when the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on her desk and sat down there. With a gentle look on her face, she paused and said, “Before class is over, I would like to share with all of you a thought which I feel is very important. Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate and give of ourselves. . . but none of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment. Perhaps this is a sign that we must make the most out of every single day. ” Her eyes beginning to water, she went on, “So I would like you all to make me a promise: from now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice. It doesn’t have to be something you see—it could be a scent—perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting out of someone’s house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches one autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. Please, look for these things, and remember them. “For, although it may sound silly to some people, these things are the stuff of life, the little things we are put here on earth to enjoy, and the things we often take for granted. We must make it important to notice them, for at any time. . . they can all be taken away. ” The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school than I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook. Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Or walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double dip ice cream cone. For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn’t do.