每天读点好英文：思想改变世界

这是值得收藏的一本书，无论用哪种语言，都可见到闪亮的思想光辉！ 尽管有很多单词都不认识，但还是硬着头皮一点点看完。以前不太喜欢政治，因为那是谋略家的战场。现在觉得不是特别厌烦政治了，伟人的思想来自他生活的那个时代环境，总是在为他那个时代的大多数的小人物而奋战着！我相信他们的思想不仅改变了他们同时代的很多人的命运，也会改变我及我的同代人对这个世界的看法，并且会继续改变着大多人的世界观。 思想改变世界，这个标题不大。人的伟大和脆弱都因其有思想，但无论怎样，只要能改变这个世界一点点，它都是伟大的。所以，要坚持做个有思想的人。

短文，故事，智慧/哲理/情感。

2023年10月23日 星期一 祝福早安 天气晴朗 气温9℃ 《思想改变世界》 我要用虔诚的爱来迎接今天。因为，这是一切冒险事业得以成功的最大秘诀。强力可以劈开盾牌，甚至摧毁生命；但只有无形的爱的力量，才能打开人们的心扉。我要让爱成为我最强大的无人可敌的武器。 我该做些什么呢？自此，我将充满爱心地对待一切，使自己重获新生。我爱阳光，它能温暖我的体魄；我爱雨水，它能净化我的心灵；我爱光明，它能照亮我前进的道路；我也爱黑夜，它使我看到星辰。我将迎接快乐，它使我心胸开阔；我将忍受悲伤，它使我灵魂开启；我将接受我应得的报酬；我也不畏惧挑战的艰险。 我该说些什么呢？我歌颂敌人，于是他们成为我的朋友；我鼓励朋友，于是我们情同手足。我要常找些理由去赞美别人，而绝不绞尽脑汁寻找借口搬弄是非。当我愤怒得忍不住要批评人时，我会咬住舌头；当我激动得情不自禁想要赞美别人时，我会大声说出口。 鸟儿、风儿、海浪以及世间的万物不都在用它们美妙悦耳的歌声赞美它们的造物主吗？我为什么不能用同样的歌声去赞美他的儿女们呢？从此，我要记住这一秘诀，它能改变我的生活。 我该如何行动呢？我要把爱奉献给所有的人，因为每个人都有令人钦佩的优秀品质，虽然有时它们不易察觉。我要用爱击垮阻碍人们心灵自由沟通的怀疑与仇恨之墙，同时，我要用我的爱在人们之间搭建一座桥梁，使它能自如地进驻他们的灵魂。 我爱野心勃勃的人，因为他们能激励我。我爱失败者，因为他们能教育我。我爱王侯，因为他们也是凡人。我爱弱者，因为他们也是天才。我爱富人，因为他们也很寂寞。 我爱贫者，因为贫者甚多。我爱少年，因为他们虔诚。我爱长者，因为他们睿智。我爱貌美的人，因为他们有忧郁的眼神。我爱丑陋的人，因为他们有颗平静的心。 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. [插图] 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.

书读罢，特借用扉页一段话做为书评：本书为中英双语对照读物，优美的语言，深厚的情感，地道的英文，既能让你欣赏到原汁原味凝练生动的英文，又能深层次的品读其语言特色与艺术之美，可以说这是一本英语学习爱好者和文学爱好者不可多得的课外读物！

多位领导人的讲话，对喜爱英文演讲的伙伴是很好的参考。我用它来练习口语，消磨时光…

虽然不怎么喜欢政治，可是这些思想还是值得去了解一下的，同时可以体会地道的英语表达[强]

用来朗读的材料，振奋人心的演讲最合适。阳台，阴雨天，安静的小天地，心怀世界（解放，动员，党派，危机，合作……），能说不牛吗？给这个角落里的小蚁民，我，一丝精神召唤，虽然大多八杆子打不着的主题，听听式浸入学习，也是一种别样学习不是。

收集了众多的名人名言，尤以美国总统、名人的文章为主，但本书中给人留下更深刻印象的是西雅图原住民酋长和苏格拉底的发言，一个表达的是家国情怀，一个表现的是生离死别，所以比其他的文章更感人至深，其它文章也或多或少地表达了对民主、自由、独立、和平、环保、富裕的渴望与向往。

You do read languages, you read minds.