每天讀點好英文：思想改變世界

這是值得收藏的一本書，無論用哪種語言，都可見到閃亮的思想光輝！ 儘管有很多單詞都不認識，但還是硬着頭皮一點點看完。以前不太喜歡政治，因爲那是謀略家的戰場。現在覺得不是特別厭煩政治了，偉人的思想來自他生活的那個時代環境，總是在爲他那個時代的大多數的小人物而奮戰着！我相信他們的思想不僅改變了他們同時代的很多人的命運，也會改變我及我的同代人對這個世界的看法，並且會繼續改變着大多人的世界觀。 思想改變世界，這個標題不大。人的偉大和脆弱都因其有思想，但無論怎樣，只要能改變這個世界一點點，它都是偉大的。所以，要堅持做個有思想的人。

短文，故事，智慧/哲理/情感。

2023年10月23日 星期一 祝福早安 天氣晴朗 氣溫9℃ 《思想改變世界》 我要用虔誠的愛來迎接今天。因爲，這是一切冒險事業得以成功的最大祕訣。強力可以劈開盾牌，甚至摧毀生命；但只有無形的愛的力量，才能打開人們的心扉。我要讓愛成爲我最強大的無人可敵的武器。 我該做些什麼呢？自此，我將充滿愛心地對待一切，使自己重獲新生。我愛陽光，它能溫暖我的體魄；我愛雨水，它能淨化我的心靈；我愛光明，它能照亮我前進的道路；我也愛黑夜，它使我看到星辰。我將迎接快樂，它使我心胸開闊；我將忍受悲傷，它使我靈魂開啓；我將接受我應得的報酬；我也不畏懼挑戰的艱險。 我該說些什麼呢？我歌頌敵人，於是他們成爲我的朋友；我鼓勵朋友，於是我們情同手足。我要常找些理由去讚美別人，而絕不絞盡腦汁尋找藉口搬弄是非。當我憤怒得忍不住要批評人時，我會咬住舌頭；當我激動得情不自禁想要讚美別人時，我會大聲說出口。 鳥兒、風兒、海浪以及世間的萬物不都在用它們美妙悅耳的歌聲讚美它們的造物主嗎？我爲什麼不能用同樣的歌聲去讚美他的兒女們呢？從此，我要記住這一祕訣，它能改變我的生活。 我該如何行動呢？我要把愛奉獻給所有的人，因爲每個人都有令人欽佩的優秀品質，雖然有時它們不易察覺。我要用愛擊垮阻礙人們心靈自由溝通的懷疑與仇恨之牆，同時，我要用我的愛在人們之間搭建一座橋樑，使它能自如地進駐他們的靈魂。 我愛野心勃勃的人，因爲他們能激勵我。我愛失敗者，因爲他們能教育我。我愛王侯，因爲他們也是凡人。我愛弱者，因爲他們也是天才。我愛富人，因爲他們也很寂寞。 我愛貧者，因爲貧者甚多。我愛少年，因爲他們虔誠。我愛長者，因爲他們睿智。我愛貌美的人，因爲他們有憂鬱的眼神。我愛醜陋的人，因爲他們有顆平靜的心。 I will greet this day with love in my heart. For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures. Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of men. I will make love my greatest weapon and none can defend against its force. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and I will be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge. And how will I speak? I will laud my enemies and they will become friends; I will encourage my friends and they will become brothers. Always will I dig for reasons to applaud; never will I scratch for excuses to gossip. When I am tempted to criticize I will bite on my tongue; when I am moved to praise I will shout from the roofs. Is it not so that birds, the wind, the sea and all nature speaks with the music of praise for their creator? Cannot I speak with the same music to his children? Henceforth will I remember this secret and it will change my life. And how will I act? I will love all manner of men for each has qualities to be admired even though they be hidden. With love I will tear down the wall of suspicion and hate which they have built round their hearts and in its place will I build bridges so that my love may enter their souls. I will love the ambitious for they can inspire me! I will love the failures for they can teach me. I will love the kings for they are but human; I will love the meek for they are divine. I will love the rich for they are yet lonely. I will love the poor for they are so many. I will love the young for the faith they hold; I will love the old for the wisdom they share. I will love the beautiful for their eyes of sadness; I will love the ugly for their souls of peace. My friend, This is not a fireside chat on war. It is a talk on national security; because the nub of the whole purpose of your president is to keep you now, and your children later, and your grandchildren much later, out of a last-ditch war for the preservation of American independence and all of the things that American independence means to you and to me and to ours. Tonight, in the presence of a world crisis, my mind goes back eight years to a night in the midst of a domestic crisis. It was a time when the wheels of American industry were grinding to a full stop, when the whole banking system of our country had ceased to function. I well remembered that while I sat in my study in the White House, preparing to talk with the people of the United States, I had before my eyes the picture of all those Americans with whom I was talking. I saw the workmen in the mills, the mines, the factories; the girl behind the counter; the small shopkeeper;the farmer doing his Spring plowing; the widows and the old men wondering about their life's savings. I tried to convey to the great mass of American people what the banking crisis to them in their daily lives. Tonight I want to do the same thing, with the same people, in this new crisis, which faces America. We met the issue of 1933 with courage and realism. We face this new crisis—this new threat to the security of our nation—with the same courage and realism. Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now. For on September 27, 1940—this year—by an agreement signed in Berlin, three powerful nations, two in Europe and one in Asia, joined themselves together in the threat that if the United States of America interfered with or blocked the expansion program of these three nations—a program aimed at world control—they would unite in ultimate action against the United States. The Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world. [插圖] In other words, the Axis not merely admits but the Axis proclaims that there can be no ultimate peace between their philosophy—their philosophy of government—and our philosophy of government. In view of the nature of this undeniable threat, it can be asserted, properly and categorically, that the United States has no right or reason to encourage talk of peace until the day shall come when there is a clear intention on the part of the aggressor nations to abandon all thought of dominating or conquering the world. At this moment the forces of the States that are leagued against all peoples who live in freedom are being held away from our shores. The Germans and the Italians are being blocked on the other side of the Atlantic by the British and by the Greeks, and by thousands of soldiers and sailors who were able to escape from subjugated countries. In Asia the Japanese are being engaged by the Chinese nation in another great defense. In the Pacific Ocean is our fleet. … Thinking in terms of today and tomorrow, I make the direct statement to the American people that there is far less chance of the United States getting into war if we do all we can now to support the nations defending themselves against attack by the Axis than if we acquiesce in their defeat, submit tamely to an Axis victory, and wait our turn to be the object of attack in another war later on. If we are to be completely honest with ourselves, we must admit that there is risk in any course we may take. But I deeply believe that the great majority of our people agree that the course that I advocate involves the least risk now and the greatest hope for world peace in the future. The people of Europe who are defending themselves do not ask us to do their fighting. They ask us for the implements of war, the planes, the tanks, the guns, the freighters which will enable them to fight for their liberty and for our security. Emphatically we must get these weapons to them, get them to them in sufficient volume and quickly enough so that we and our children will be saved the agony and suffering of war which others have had to endure. … We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war. We have furnished the British great material support and we will furnish far more in the future. There will be no “bottlenecks” in our determination to aid Great Britain. No dictator, no combination of dictators, will weaken that determination by threats of how they will construe that determination. The British have received invaluable military support from the heroic Greek Army and from the forces of all the governments in exile. Their strength is growing. It is the strength of men and women who value their freedom more highly than they value their lives. I believe that the Axis powers are not going to win this war. I base that belief on the latest and best of information. We have no excuse for defeatism. We have every good reason for hope—hope for peace, yes, and hope for the defense of our civilization and for the building of a better civilization in the future. I have the profound conviction that the American people are now determined to put forth a mightier effort than they have ever yet made to increase our production of all the implements of defense, to meet the threat to our democratic faith. As president of the United States, I call for that national effort. I call for it in the name of this nation which we love and honor and which we are privileged and proud to serve. I call upon our people with absolute confidence that our common cause will greatly succeed.

Here you are.The Only Thing We Fear Is Our Own.

書讀罷，特借用扉頁一段話做爲書評：本書爲中英雙語對照讀物，優美的語言，深厚的情感，地道的英文，既能讓你欣賞到原汁原味凝練生動的英文，又能深層次的品讀其語言特色與藝術之美，可以說這是一本英語學習愛好者和文學愛好者不可多得的課外讀物！

多位領導人的講話，對喜愛英文演講的夥伴是很好的參考。我用它來練習口語，消磨時光…

雖然不怎麼喜歡政治，可是這些思想還是值得去了解一下的，同時可以體會地道的英語表達[強]

用來朗讀的材料，振奮人心的演講最合適。陽臺，陰雨天，安靜的小天地，心懷世界（解放，動員，黨派，危機，合作……），能說不牛嗎？給這個角落裏的小蟻民，我，一絲精神召喚，雖然大多八杆子打不着的主題，聽聽式浸入學習，也是一種別樣學習不是。

收集了衆多的名人名言，尤以美國總統、名人的文章爲主，但本書中給人留下更深刻印象的是西雅圖原住民酋長和蘇格拉底的發言，一個表達的是家國情懷，一個表現的是生離死別，所以比其他的文章更感人至深，其它文章也或多或少地表達了對民主、自由、獨立、和平、環保、富裕的渴望與嚮往。

You do read languages, you read minds.