"Eighteen, sir," said John.
"But your brother was eighteen, too," said the doctor. "Are you twins?"
"Oh, no, sir," said John, and his face went red. "My brother is five months older than I am."
大五个月
第二次世界大战开始了，约翰想参军，可他只有十六岁，当时规定男孩到十八岁才能入伍。所以军医给他进行体检时，他说他已经十八岁了。
可约翰的哥哥刚入伍没几天，而且也是这个军医给他做的检查。这位医生还记得他哥哥的姓。所以当他看到约翰的表格时，感到非常惊奇。
"你多大了?"军医问。
"十八，长官。"约翰说。
"可你的哥哥也是十八岁，你们是双胞胎吗?"
约翰脸红了，说："哦，不是，长官，我哥哥比我大五个月。"
West Point
My father, brother and I visited West Point to see a football game between Army and Boston College. Taking a stroll before kickoff, we met many cadets in neatly pressed uniforms. Several visting fans asked the recruits if they would pose for photographs, "to show our son what to expect if he should attend West Point."
One middle-aged couple approached a very attractive female cadet and asked her to pose for a picture. They explained, "We want to show our son what he missed by not coming to West Point."
父亲、哥哥和我到西点军校去观看一场陆军与波士顿大学之间的橄榄球赛。开始之前，我们到处转了转，碰到许多穿着整齐制服的学员。几名游客问新兵是否愿意摆出军姿来让他们摄。"好让我们的儿子知道，如果他到西点军校来学习会得到什么。"
一对中年夫妇走近一名非常漂亮的女学员，问她是否愿意摆个姿势照相。他们解释说："我们想让儿子知道他没来西点军校错过了什么。"
(6)Present for Girlfriend
At a jewelry store, a young man bought an expensive locket as a present for his girlfriend. "Shall I engrave her name on it?" the jeweler asked.
The customer thought for a moment, and then said, "No-engrave it “To my one and only love“. That way, if we ever break up, I can use it again."
送给女友的礼物
在一家珠宝店里，一位年轻人买了一个贵重的小金盒作为送给女友的礼物。"要我把她的名字刻在上面吗?"珠宝商问道。
那名顾客想了一会儿，然后说道："不--在上面刻“给我唯一的爱”。这样，如果我们闹崩了，我还可以再用到它。"
Be Careful What You Wish For
A couple had been married for 25 years and were celebrating their 60th birthdays, which fell on the same day.
During the celebration a fairy appeared and said that because they had been such a loving couple for all 25 years, she would give them one wish each.
The wife wanted to travel around the world. The fairy waved her hand, and Boom! She had the tickets in her hand.
Next, it was the husband“s turn. He paused for a moment, then said shyly, "Well, I“d like to have a woman 30 years younger than me."
The fairy picked up her wand, and Boom! He was ninety.
慎重许愿
一对结婚25周年的夫妻在庆祝他们六十岁的生日。他们恰好在同一天出生。
庆祝活动中，一位仙女出现了。她说，由于他们是已经结婚25年的恩爱夫妻，因此她给许给这对夫妻每个人一个愿望。
妻子想周游世界。仙女招了招手。"呯!"的一声，她的手中出现了一张票。
接下来该丈夫许愿了。他犹豫片刻，害羞地说，"那我想要一位比我年轻30岁的女人。"
仙女拾起了魔术棒。"呯!"，他变成了90岁。
Wood Fire
One woman lectured her best friend on the nature of the male animal. "Husbands are like wood fires; they go out if left unattened."
"Does that mean," asked the other, "that they make ashes of themselves?"
森林之火
一名妇女向她最好的朋友大谈雄性动物的特性："丈夫们就像是森林里的火，一不注意，他们就会燃烧起来。"
"那是不是意味着，"另一个问道，"他们将自己烧成灰烬?"
Best Reward
A naval officer fell overboard. He was rescued by a deck hand. The officer asked how he could reward him.
"The best way, sir," said the deck hand, "is to say nothing about it. If the other fellows knew I“d pulled you out, they“d chuck me in."
最好的奖赏
一名海军军官从甲板上掉入海中。他被一名甲板水手救起。这位军官问如何才能酬谢他。
"最好的办法，长官，"这名水手说，"是别声张这事。如果其他人知道我救了您，他们会把我扔下去的。"
Napoleon Was Ill
Jack had gone to the university to study history, but at the end of his first year, his history professor failed him in his examinations, and he was told that he would have to leave the university. However, his father decided that he would go to see the professor to urge him to let Jack continue his studies the following year.
励志英文短文带翻译一：A Little Bit More
Today is an excellent day for small improvements. Whatever is working for you, find a way to improve it just a little. There’s no need to make a huge change, just a small one, something you can do right now.
If you called just one additional customer each day, over the course of the next month you would talk to about 20 new people. If you learned just one more new word each day, in the next year you would increase your vocabulary by more than 300 words.
Small improvements can add up over time into big accomplishments. Look around you. Consider the work you do each day. Think about how you could do it just a little bit better.
In a marathon race, each step the winner takes is just a little bit longer and a little bit faster than each stride taken by the 100th place finisher. Yet over the course of the race, that small difference adds up in a big way.
Do just a little bit more today, and tomorrow too, and each day after that. Anyone can make just a small improvement, and that can make a big, big difference.
翻译：再多一点点
今天就是你可以做改进的极好的一天。无论你在做什么，找一个方法去做一点点的改进。不用做太大的改变，只要一点点——你现在可以做到的一点点。
如果你每天多给一个顾客打电话的话，一个月下来你会发现你又多认识了差不多二十个人。如果每天多学会一个新词，过一年，你的词汇量将会增加300多个。
小小的改进能够逐步积累成大的成就。观察你的周围。思考你每天所做的工作。英语短文想一下你怎么能做得更好一点。
在马拉松比赛中,冠军的每一步都只比第一百名的选手的步伐大一点点、快一点点。英语短文但是在比赛过程中,那些小小的不同积累成了巨大的区别。
今天、明天、今后的每一天尽力做更多一点点。任何人都可以做一点小小的改进，但那小小的改进将会起到非常大、非常大的`作用。
励志英文短文带翻译二：The Power of the Dream
When someone looks into your eyes they should see something alive within you. Having a dream is like owning a lighthouse1 which directs you on your journey.
At every turn we come across its mystery. At each new level we become more of the person we were meant to become. In lonely times, when we pass through a storm of disappointment, we find our faith is unshaken, our strength still strong.
Believe in your faith. Set the vision before your eyes. Write down your most sincere dreams and when the opportunity comes, step into your dream. It may take one season or more, but the result is the same. Make big dreams and then go out and make them realities. The highest hopes of the dreamer are revealed with every step taken in their journey to the impossible. For a season we must protect the dream so that it can grow quietly on the inside. But if we tenderly care for our deepest expectations, slowly but surely the dream will become new life.
Dreaming is an act of faith. The light of your expectations will cast off the shadows of a disbelieving world. God has given us the dreamer as a gift to light an unbelieving world.
Find your treasure within and cherish2 it. Tomorrow is waiting for you to take the first step.
翻译：梦想的力量
别人看你的眼睛时,他应当体会到你内心的活力。怀揣梦想就好像是拥有一座引领你前行的灯塔。
每个转折关头，它给我们带来奇迹。每个新的起点，我们脱胎换骨，焕然一新。孤独中我们挺过失望的阴霾,发现我们的信念不曾动摇,我们的力量依然强大。
秉持信念,期盼未来。许下你最真诚的梦想，一旦机会来临，就为之拼搏。也许要花一季甚或更多的时间,但结局不会改变。立大志,倾全力,成现实。前途未卜，唯有一步一个脚印,梦想者的至高希冀才会实现。我们必须珍存梦想,给它一季的保护,让它在内心悄然生发。然而我们还得温柔呵护我们内心至深的期许,慢慢地梦想必将成就新的生命。
梦想是实现信仰的第一步。你的期待熠熠光辉，它会驱逐不信的阴影。上帝赋予我们梦想的天资,去点亮不曾确信的世界。让梦想的财富寄于心中,珍爱它,明天正等着你跨出第一步。
励志英文短文带翻译三：A Better Tomorrow
People often wonder why historians go to so much trouble to preserve millions of books, documents and records.
Why do we have libraries? What good are these documents and history books? Why do we record and save the actions of men, the negotiations1 of government officials and the events during wars?
We do it because, sometimes, the voice of experience can cause us to stop, look and listen. Sometimes, past records, when understood in the right way, can help us decide what to do and what not to do. If we are ever to create lasting peace, we must seek its origins in human experience and in the records of human history.
From the stories of courage and devotion of men and women, we create the inspirations of youth. History records the suffering, the self-denial2, the devotion, and the heroic deeds of people in the past. These records can help us when we are confused and when we really need peace.
The main purpose of history is to create a better world. History gives a warning to those who promote war, and inspiration to those who seek peace.
In short, history helps us learn. Yesterday’s records can keep us from repeating yesterday’s mistakes. And from the pieces of mosaic4 assembled5 by historians come the great murals6 which represent the progress of mankind.
翻译：一个更好的明天
人们常常心存疑虑,为什么历史学家要费尽周折地保存数以万计的书籍、文献和记录。
我们为什么要有图书馆呢？这些文献和史书有何用处呢？我们为什么要记载并保存人类的行为、政府官员的谈判和战争中的事件呢？
我们这么做的原因在于有时候经验之音可以促使我们停步、观察和倾听。也因为有时候过去的记载经过正确地诠释，能帮助我们决定何事可为、何事不可为。如果我们想要创造永久的和平,我们就必须从人类的经验以及人类历史的记载中去探索其渊源。
从体现男性和女性勇敢和奉献精神的故事之中，我们获得了青春的启示。历史记载着人类的一切苦难、克己、忠诚和英勇的事迹。这些记载在我们困惑和渴望和平时可以对我们有所帮助。
历史的主要目的是创造一个更加美好的世界。历史对那些力主战争的人给以警告，给予那些寻求和平的人以启示。
简而言之，历史帮助我们学习。昨日的记载可以使我们避免重蹈覆辙。这些历史学家们创作的好像马赛克一样色彩缤纷的历史片断汇聚成了代表人类进步的伟大壁画。
园艺手套
几个月以来，我一直在向丈夫暗示我需要一枚新的结婚戒指，因为我对黄金有点过敏。生日那天，我正在干园艺活时，丈夫问我想要什么礼物。我举起双手说："嗯，你肯定看到了，我的两手都是光光的。"
那天晚上，我满怀热情地拆开了丈夫送的礼物。"生日快乐!"他说。我打开一看：里面包着一双园艺手套。
Warning
Several weeks after our son began his freshman year at Alma College in Michigan, my husband and I decided to visit him. I was careful to call him a few days in advance to "warn" him that we would be coming. When we arrived at the dorm, however, I was taken aback by the disarray of his room. "Forgot we were coming, didn“t you?" I teased.
"Are you kidding?" he replied, "Why else would I have bothered to clean?"
提醒
我们的儿子是密歇根州阿尔马大学的新生，开学几个星期之后，我和丈夫决定去看看他。我特意提前给他打电话，"提醒"他我们将光临。但是当我们来到宿舍时，他的房间凌乱不堪，我非常吃惊。"忘了我们要来，是吧?"我取笑他。
"开什么玩笑?"，他回答说，"要不我凭什么费神打扫?"
Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing childlike appetite of what's next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.
小短文
无论是60岁还是16岁，你需要保持永不衰竭的好奇心、永不熄灭的孩提般求知的渴望和追求事业成功的欢乐与热情。在你我的心底，有一座无线电台，它能在多长时间里接收到人间万物传递来的美好、希望、欢乐、鼓舞和力量的信息，你就会年轻多长时间。
An individual human existence should be like a river—small at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and over waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.
人的生命应当像河流，开始是涓涓细流，受两岸的限制而十分狭窄，尔后奔腾咆哮，翻过危岩，飞越瀑布，河面渐渐开阔，河岸也随之向两边隐去，最后水流平缓，森森无际，汇入大海之中，个人就这样毫无痛苦地消失了。
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity,of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty.Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.We grow old by deserting our ideals.
青春意味着战胜懦弱的那股大丈夫气概和摈弃安逸的那种冒险精神。(励志英语 www.lztxw.com)往往一个60岁的老者比一个20岁的青年更多一点这种劲头。人老不仅仅是岁月流逝所致，更主要的是不思进取的结果。
Years may wrinkle the skin,but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
光阴可以在颜面上留下印记，而热情之火的熄灭则在心灵上刻下皱纹。烦恼、恐惧、缺乏自信会扭曲人的灵魂，并将青春化为灰烬。
Think Positive Thoughts Every Day 积极看待每一天
If your life feels like it is lacking the power that you want and the motivation that you need, sometimes all you have to do is shift your point of view.
如果你觉得心有余力不足，觉得缺乏前进的动力，有时候你只需要改变思维的角度。
Welcome to Faith Radio Online-Simply to Relax, I'm Faith. By training your thoughts to concentrate on the bright side of things, you are more likely to have the incentive to follow through on your goals. You are less likely to be held back by negative ideas that might limit your performance.
欢迎收听Faith轻松电台，我是Faith。试着训练自己的思想朝好的一面看，这样你就会汲取实现目标的动力，而不会因为消极沉沦停滞不前。
Your life can be enhanced, and your happiness enriched, when you choose to change your perspective. Don't leave your future to chance, or wait for things to get better mysteriously on their own. You must go in the direction of your hopes and aspirations. Begin to build your confidence, and work through problems rather than avoid them. Remember that power is not necessarily control over situations, but the ability to deal with whatever comes your way.
一旦变换看问题的角度，你的生活会豁然开朗，幸福快乐会接踵而来。别交出掌握命运的主动权，也别指望局面会不可思议地好转。你必须与内心希望与热情步调一致。建立自信，敢于与困难短兵相接，而非绕道而行。记住，力量不是驾驭局势的法宝，无坚不摧的能力才是最重要的。
Always believe that good things are possible, and remember that mistakes can be lessons that lead to discoveries. Take your fear and transform it into trust; learn to rise above anxiety and doubt. Turn your “worry hours” into “productive hours”. Take the energy that you have wasted and direct it toward every worthwhile effort that you can be involved in.
