My Favorite Color 我最喜欢的颜色
Blue has always been my favorite color, and I think it will always continue to be so.
I have several reasons for liking this color best. First, it is a very soothing color and makes people happy. How do people feel when they wake up to day when the sky is a dirty grey? Sad and gloomy. But when the sky is a deep blue, good cheer and joy enters our hearts.
Another reason why I am most partial to blue is that it is the color of oceans and rivers and lakes on a sunny day. Whenever I go swimming, I feel as though I were reborn.
In my estimation, blue is a very refined a noble color. I have several suits of clothes of different colors, but somehow blue seems to be most becoming to me. At the same time, all my friends say that I tend to look slim and taller whenever I’m dressed in blue.
I have also heard that in English, the term “true blue” means to be faithful. As I have a great respect for the quality of faithfulness, this is one more reason for my liking blue so much.
蓝色一直是我最喜欢的颜色，而且我认为一直都会是这样。
我有几个最喜欢这种颜色的理由。第一，它是一种使人平和、快乐的颜色。当人们睡醒时，看到一个灰暗的天空，他们会感觉如何？沮丧忧郁。但是当天空是深蓝色时，喜悦和快乐就进入我们心中。
我偏爱蓝色的另一个理由，是因为它是海洋、河流、湖泊在晴朗日子时的颜色。每当我去游泳，我觉得我好像重生了。
我认为，蓝色是一种优雅、高贵的颜色，我有几套不同颜色的衣服，但是不知怎么，蓝色似乎是适合我。同时，我的朋友都说，每当我穿蓝色的衣服时，似乎看起来更修长、更高佻。 我也听说过英文里有个名词，“不褪色的蓝”，意思是忠实的，因为我很崇尚忠实这种品德，这又是我这么喜欢蓝色的另一个理由了。
gloomy a.忧郁的
partial a.偏爱的
refined a.优雅的
becoming a.合适的
The Generation Gap 论代沟
I remember that when I was in my teens, I used to rebel at many of the “do’s” and “don’ts” my parents used to dictate to me. For example, when I kept on playing jazz records on the record player, my father used to condemn such music as sheer noise and replace them with disks of classical music that I always considered extremely dull.
My mom and dad were also very particular about the friends I went out with, always quoting the maxim the “one rotten apple could ruin a whole barrel of apples.” When I insisted that I sleep with my pet dog Peppy, they immediately said NO because they thought that I would be bitten by fleas.
These are just a few examples of many of the things that I thought my parents were unreasonable about. Today, however, I am also the father of a boy of fifteen, and I find that I, too, am pressuring my son with a lot of rules and regulations that he seems to find hard to swallow. The other day, I noticed that my son’s hair was altogether too long, so I told him to go to the barber’s and get it trimmed short. Ordinarily, he is fairly obedient, but this time he put his foot down.
“What’s wrong with long hair?” he said. “All my buddies have long hair. And besides, it’s my own hair, isn’t it? I don’t think you have the authority to order me to cut it short, even if you’re my father!”
When I was a boy, if I had spoken with such impertinence to my father, I know that he would have given me a good thrashing. But I suddenly realized that we are now living in a more liberal world, and that my son’s insistence on wearing his hair long was merely an instance of the generation gap that existed between us. So I relented, and so he still wears his hair long.
论代沟
记得我十几岁时，我总是反抗父母指定我做及不要我做的许多事。例如，当我用唱机听爵士唱片时，父亲总指责这种音乐只是噪音，而换上我一直认为是最沉闷的古典音乐唱片。 我爸爸妈妈对和我一起出去的朋友也很挑剔，并常引用格言说：“一颗老鼠屎坏了一锅粥。”当我坚持要和我的小狗佩比一起睡，他们马上说“不行”，因为他们认为我会被跳蚤给咬了。 这些只是我认为父母许多不合理的事中的一个例子。然而，今天我也是个十五岁小孩的父亲。我发现自己也用一大堆我儿子似乎觉得难以忍受的规定来压迫他。前几天，我注意到我儿子的头发实在太长了，所以便叫他到理发店去修短。平常他是很听话的，但这次他坚持。 “长头发有什么不对？”他说，“我所有的朋友都留长头发，况且，这是我自己的头发，不是吗？我认为你没权力命令我把它剪短，即使你是我父亲。”
小时候，如果我对父亲讲话这么无礼，我知道会招来一顿好打。但是我突然了解到我们现在是生活在一个更自由的世界。我儿子坚持留长发，只是存在于我们之间的代沟的一例。因此我态度变温和了，也因此他现在还留着长发。
generation n.一代
dictate v.指定；命令
jazz n.爵士乐
condemn v.指责
particular a.挑剔的
maxim n.格言
flea n.跳蚤
put one’s foot down坚持反对
The Person I Admire Most 我最敬佩的人 There are quite a few people that I admire greatly, but the one that comes first on my list is Abraham Lincoln, the great American emancipator. Although he was born poor, he worked hard and honestly, and eventually became President of the
United States.
A part from the many fine qualities that Lincoln had, I admire him most because he dared to do what he thought was right at a time when his beliefs were very unpopular with many people. He also had infinite patience and tolerance for those who disagreed with him, and bore their discourtesy toward him with admirable restraint. He also had the manliness to forgive his opponents. When the Civil War ended, he treated his erstwhile enemies with great generosity. The words which are carved on the walls of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. were taken from his famous Second Inaugural Address and begin with he phrases which I shall never forget: “With malice toward none, with charity for all…”
我最敬佩的人
我敬佩的人有很多，但是我表上列的第一个是亚伯拉罕.林肯，美国伟大的解放者。虽然他生下来就很穷，他努力、诚实地工作，终于成为美国总统。
除去林肯的许多优良品德不谈，他最令我钦佩的原因是，只要他认为是对的，即使他的信念还未普遍为人接受，他就敢去做。他对那些不赞同他的人，有着无比的耐心和宽容，克制自己忍受他们对他的无礼，令人敬佩。他也有男性气概原谅他的反对者。内战结束后，他对待以前的敌人无比宽大。刻在华盛顿特区林肯纪念堂上的几句话，是从他著名的第二次就职演说是摘录出来的。开头的几句话，我永远不会忘记：“不要对任何人怀有恶意，要博爱世人……。”
emancipator n.解放者
discourtesy n.无礼貌
restraint n.（感情之）抑制
manliness n.男子气概
opponent n.对手；反对者
erstwhile a.以前的
inaugural a.就职的
Environmental Protection 环境保护
I was born in the countryside near Kaohsiung and I came up to Taipei when I was still a lad of twelve. Seven years have elapsed since then, and just recently, I returned to my home town for the very first time since I had left it. Would you like to know just how I felt when I set eyes again on the place that I had always remembered as being a real Shangrila? The image that I had so carefully cherished was dashed to the winds. Instead, I was struck by the sharp realization that civilization and modern industry were destroying our world. The beautiful hills that were formerly covered with trees were now bald. All the trees must have been chopped down for lumber that went into the building of cheap apartment houses that were now ubiquitous all over the town. The crystal-clear river where I had enjoyed fishing and swimming when I was a lad was now a filthy ditch into which chemical factories were dumpling all their
waste matter.
I could go on describing the horrible changes that my hometown had undergone, but time is limited. So I wish to say in conclusion that the time has come for the introduction of strict measures to protect our environment.
环境保护
我出生于高雄附近的乡下，当我才十二岁时，就搬来台北。七年过去了，就在最近，我回到睽违已久的家乡。你想知道，当我看到这个我总记得是真正香格里拉的地方时，内心的感受吗？我小心珍爱的形象都在风中破灭了。代之而起的是，我痛心地了解到文明和现代工业正在毁灭我们的世界。
原本覆盖着树木的美丽山丘现在已经秃了。所有的树木一定被砍下作为木材，来建筑镇上到处都是的便宜公寓。那条我少年时候喜欢钓鱼和游泳、水晶般清澈的河流，现在变成化学工厂倾倒垃圾的臭水沟。
我可以继续不断地描述我故乡遭受的可怕改变，但时间有限。所以最后我想说的就是，用严厉措施来保护环境的时候已经到了。
elapse v. （时间）溜走；（光阴）逝去
Shangrila n. 香格里拉（人间的理想乐园）
cherish v. 珍视，珍爱
civilization n. 文明
ubiquitous a. 无所不在的
crystal-clear a. 如水晶一般透明的
filthy a. 污秽的
measure n, 措施
Small Kindness 平凡的善行
Small kindnesses are those simple deeds of goodness that we perform in our daily life, not merely to our friends and kin, but also to complete strangers, not for the sake of receiving some remuneration in return, but sheerly out of a spirit of generosity and unselfish consideration for the welfare of others.
When we read the daily newspapers, we are frequently apprised of the Big Kindnesses performed by well-to-do philanthropists who donate large sums of money for the establishment of schools, libraries, free hospitals for the poor, orphanages, and the like. These, of course, are laudable acts of charity that deserve wide public acclaim. But in my estimation, those many minor acts of kindness performed daily ion assorted situations by public-minded citizens who receive no recognition or plaudits from the mass media are equally commendable.
I think that in the eyes of the Almighty, the good-hearted white-collar worker who gives up his seat on a crowded commuter train to someone frail, aged or crippled, even though he himself is extremely tried after his day’s work, is just as deserving of praise, or maybe even more so, than the billionaire philanthropist who has given away a million dollars for the establishment of a
new old people’s home.
In the large cities of any country, where the general tendency of the people is “to look out only for one’s own interests”, the atmosphere is cold and miserable for those unable to keep up with the rapid pace of competition. Let us all try remedy the situation by launching a personal campaign to perform a small kindness each day, no matter how inconsequential it may seem, so that our society will be a much better place to live in.
平凡的善行
平凡的善行就是一些我们在日常生活当中所做的、简单的好事。不只对我们的亲友，结全然陌生的人也一样；不是为了报酬，完全是出自一种为他人福祉的慷慨、无私的精神。
我们每天看报，常得知富有的慈善家所作“伟大的善行”。他们捐很多的钱盖学校、图书馆、免费为穷人看病的医院、孤儿院等等。当然这 值得民众赞美的慈善行为。但我认为，那些没受到大众传播媒介褒奖或赞扬、具有服务大众热忱的市民所作较小的善行，一样值得赞赏。 我认为在上帝眼中，一个好心的白领阶级，即使在工作一天后极度疲惫，在挤满通勤者的火车上让位给老弱或残障者，也一样值得赞美，甚至比那些捐一百万元建造一座新的老人院的亿万慈善家更值得表扬。
在任何国家的大城市，居民的共同倾向就是“自扫门前雪”。对于那些无法赶上这种快速竞争步调的人，气氛是冷默无情的。让我们发起个人运动，试着来修正这促情形。无论事情多么微不足道，每天是行一善，那么我们的社会将会更适于居住。
remuneration n. 报酬
apprais v.报告，通知
philanthropist n. 慈善家
orphanage n. 孤儿院
laudable a. 值得赞美的
acclaim n. 称赞，喝采
plaudit n. 赞扬
commendable a. 值得称赞的
commuter n. 通勤者
crippled a. 残废的
atmosphere n. 气氛
inconsequential a. 不重要的