世界最優美的散文選：文學大師的生命感悟

　　一本關於「真」的書：一篇散文，百種人生感悟，其中蘊涵了大師們對自然的感悟、體驗生死的情愫，生命如同四季一樣花開花落，然而其中的真理將銘刻在這些篇章中。

　　一本關於「善」的書：閱讀本書，流連於名家名作中，體會親人的愛和朋友的關懷，一種向善的力量，將使乾涸的心靈得以滋潤，枯萎的生命得以激勵。

　　一本關於「美」的書：共賞雋永的不朽作品，藉由名家筆觸感受唯美。翻開本書的一瞬間，將成為你生命的一部分，享受閱讀之樂、感知之樂、人生之樂。

　　一本關於「英美文學」的書：本書所選文章篇篇膾炙人口，堪稱人類語言文字之傑作。全書採取中英對照之原文韻味，讀者可以一邊欣賞文字之美，一邊學習英文的詞彙語法，使自己的英文能力得以提高。

作者簡介

大衛．梭羅（David Thoreau）

　　美國詩人、散文作家、哲學家，出生於美國康科德（西元1817~1862），一生最著名的創作為《湖濱散記》和《瓦爾登湖》。他一生未娶，曾在瓦爾登湖畔隱居，度過二年有餘依靠自給自足、脫離世俗、離群索居的與世隔絕生活，因而寫下了著名的《湖濱散記》一書，舉世公認最令人難忘的一部心靈經典。他鼓勵人們簡化生活，品味人生，多利用時間探討生命的真諦，其思想對當時的美國社會影響很大。

譯者簡介

徐漢林

　　畢業於國立師範大學英文系，曾當過教授，對英文研究造詣頗深，喜好歐美文學讀物，尤其對於名人著作更是學有專攻、卓然有成，並不遺餘力地進行推廣，翻譯作品經常發表於各大報章雜誌，是一位優秀的翻譯家。

第一卷　生命中的陽光

August has no such advantage. It comes when we remember nothing but clear skies, green fields, and sweet-smelling flowers-when the recollection of snow, and ice, and bleak winds, has faded from our minds as completely as they have disappeared from the earth- and yet what a pleasat time it is!

八月就沒有這樣的優勢。它來的時候，我們只記得 明朗的天空，綠綠的田野，還有芳香四溢的花朵CD記憶中 的冰雪、寒風都已完全消失，彷彿它們在地球上 了無蹤跡CD然而八月是多麼愉快的季節啊！

1青　春

作者介紹

塞繆爾．烏爾曼（1840-1920），猶太人，出生於德國，1851年隨家人移民到美國密西西比。烏爾曼雖以教育家和社會活動家而聞名於世，但在文學創作方面非常有才華。他的《青春》一文，因為麥克阿瑟將軍的推崇而廣為傳頌。

青春不是年華，而是一種心態；不是玫瑰般的臉龐，紅潤的嘴唇和敏捷的雙腿，而是堅韌的意志，豐富的想像力，以及無窮的激情；青春是生命深處的一股清泉。

青春意味著勇氣多於怯懦，青春意味著喜歡冒險而討厭安逸。擁有此種特質的人之中，六十歲的老人往往多於二十歲的年輕人。沒有人只因年齡的增長而年老，人們往往因放棄理想而年老。

歲月可使肌膚長滿皺紋，但放棄激情可使心靈佈滿灰塵。焦慮、疑惑、猜疑、恐懼和沮喪CD都會挫傷心靈，磨損意志。

不管是白髮老人還是青春少年，每個人的心裏皆有其喜歡之新奇事物，對星星和類似星星的東西皆有好奇之心，敢於挑戰，對未知事物的孩子般的渴求之心，樂於享受生活帶來的樂趣。

我們因充滿信心而變得年輕；因心存疑慮而變得年老；因自信而年輕，因心存恐懼而年老；因充滿希望而年輕，因滿懷沮喪而年老。

人人心裏都有一座無線電臺，只要接收到來自地球、人類和宇宙的美好、希望、勇氣、莊嚴及力量，就會變得年輕。

當心靈的天線倒下，心如大雪般的悲觀、如冰塊般的憤世嫉俗時，那時，唯有那時，我們將真正老去。

Youth

Samuel Ullman

Youth is not entirely a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means the temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite of adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than in a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old by merely living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despairCDthese bow the heart and turn the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being’s heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement at the stars and the star like things, the undaunted challenge of events, the unfailing child-like appetite for what-next, and the joy of the game of living.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.

In the central place of your heart there is a wireless station, so long as it receives message of beauty, hope, courage, grandeur and power from the earth, from man and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the wires are all down, and all the central places of your heart are covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and only then, are you grown old indeed.

2快樂吧！

作者介紹

勞埃德．莫里斯（1613-1680），英國作家，作品富於機智幽默。著有《格言集》等。

本文以演繹的手法論述快樂對人的影響。作者先藉梅斯菲爾德的詩引出「快樂」與「智慧」的關係，接著以人在快樂時的種種心理反應，點出快樂無處不在。最後再給予肯定的結論：快樂是智慧的開端。

「快樂的日子，使我們聰明。」

CD約翰．梅斯菲爾德

一次讀到英國桂冠詩人梅斯菲爾德這行詩的時候，我非常驚訝，它真正的寓意是什麼呢？不仔細考慮的話，我一直認為這句詩倒過來才對。不過他的冷靜與自信卻俘獲了我，所以我一直無法忘記這句詩。

終於，我好像領會了他的意思，意識到其中蘊含著深刻的觀察思考。快樂帶來的智慧存在於清晰的心靈感覺中，不因憂慮擔心而困惑，不因絕望、厭煩而遲鈍，不因惶恐而出現盲點。

跳動的快樂CD不僅是滿足或愜意CD會突然到來，就像四月的春雨或是花蕾的綻放。然後你發覺智慧已隨快樂而來。草兒更綠，鳥兒的歌聲更加美妙，朋友的缺點也變得更加可以理解、原諒。快樂就像一副眼鏡，可以修正你精神的視力。

快樂的視野並不受你周圍事物的局限。只不過當你不快樂的時候，思想便轉向你感情上的苦惱，眼界也就被心靈之牆隔斷了。而當你快樂的時候，這道牆便崩塌了。

你的眼界更寬了。腳下的大地，身旁的世界CD人們、思想、情感、壓力CD現在都溶進了一個更加宏偉的情境中，每件事都恰如其分。這就是智慧的開端。

Be Happy！

Lloyd Morris

he days that make us happy make us wise.?

CDJohn Masefield

When I first read this line by England’s Poet Laureate, it startled me. What did Masefield mean? Without thinking about it much, I had always assumed that the opposite was true. But his sober assurance was arresting. I could not forget it.
Finally, I seemed to grasp his meaning and realized that here was a profound observation. The wisdom that happiness makes possible lies in clear perception, not fogged by anxiety nor dimmed by despair and boredom, and without the blind spots caused by fear.

Active happiness not mere satisfaction or contentmentCDoften comes suddenly, like an April shower or the unfolding of a bud. Then you discover what kind of wisdom has accompanied it. The grass is greener, bird songs are sweeter, the shortcomings of your friends are more understandable and more forgivable. Happiness is like a pair of eyeglasses correcting your spiritual vision.
Nor are the insights of happiness limited to what is near around you.Unhappy, with your thoughts turned in upon your emotional woes, your vision is cut short as though by a wall. Happy, the wall crumbles.

The long vista is there for the seeing. The ground at your feet，the world about you

CDpeople, thoughts, emotions, pressuresCDare now fitted into the larger scene. Everything assumes a fairer proportion. And here is the beginning of wisdom.