优美英语文章摘抄

优美英语文章摘抄

　　美文,大概就是美的化身,它是一种情感,一种体验和一种表达。下面是我带来的经典英语美文摘抄，欢迎阅读!

　　经典英语美文摘抄篇一
　　什么东西比金钱更重要

　　It is physically impossible for a well-educated intellectual, or brave man to make money the chief object① of his thoughts; as physically impossible as it is for him to make his dinner the principal object of them.

　　一个受过良好 教育 、有头脑的、有胆识的人完全不可能将金钱当作他考虑的主要对象，正如他完全不可能将美餐当做他主要考虑对象一样。

　　All healthy people like their dinner, but their dinner is not the mainobject of their lives. So all healthy-minded people like making money--ought to like it and to enjoy the sensation② of winning; but the main object of their lives is not money; it is something better than money.

　　所有健康的人都喜欢享用美餐，但美餐并不是他们生活的主要目标。同样道理，所有思想健全的人都喜欢挣钱--喜欢并体验挣到钞票的兴奋感是正当的;然而，他们生活的主要目标并不是金钱，而是比金钱更珍贵的东西。

　　A good soldier, for instance③, mainly wishes to do his fighting well. He is glad of his pay--very properly so --and justly grumbles④ when you keep him ten months without it; still, his main notion⑤ of life is to win battles, not to be paid for winning them.

　　例如，一位优秀的士兵主要想打好仗。他为自己的薪饷感到高兴--完全合乎情理;假如，你扣发他十个月军饷，他发牢骚理所应当。不过，他的人生主要目标仍然是打胜仗，并非为了薪饷而打胜仗。

　　So too of doctors. They like fees no doubt--ought to like them; yet the entire object of their lives is not fees. They, on the whole desire to cure the sick, would rather cure their patients and lose their fee than kill them and get it. And so with all other brave and rightly trained men: their work is first, their fee is second, very important always, but still second.

　　医生也是如此。毫无疑问，他们都喜欢收诊费--本应如此;然而他们人生的全部目标并不是诊费。总的说来，他们都想把病人治好，而且宁愿把病人治好而得不到诊金，也不愿为了诊金而把病人治死。所有其他有胆识的、受过正当培训的人也是如此：他们总是工作第一、报酬第二。报酬尽管总是非常重要，但还是第二。

　　But in every nation, there is a vast class of people who are cowardly⑥, and more or less stupid. And with these people, just as certainly the fee is first and the work second, as with brave people the work is first and the fee second.

　　可是，在每个国家，都有一大批怯懦的、多少有点愚蠢的人。对于这些人而言，无疑是报酬第一、工作第二，正如有胆识的人工作第一、报酬第二一样。

　　And this is no small distinction⑦. It is the whole distinction in a man. You cannot serve two masters; you must serve one or the other. If your work is first with you, and your fee is second, work is your master.

　　这决非细微差异，这是根本性差异，区分一个人的根本性差异。你不能侍奉两个主人，你必须侍奉其中一个，非此即彼。假如就你而言是工作第一、报酬第二，那么工作就是你的主人。

　　Observe, then, all wise work is mainly threefold⑧ in character. It is honest, useful, and cheerful. I hardly know anything more strange than that you recognize honesty in play, and do not in work.

　　请注意，一切明确的工作本质上都具有三重性：诚实、有用和愉悦。人们在娱乐中讲究诚实而在工作中却不讲诚实--据我所知，没有比这更奇怪的事情了。

　　In your lightest games you have always someone to see what you call "fair play". In boxing you must hit fair; in racing, start fair. Your watchword is fair play; your hatred, foul play. Did it ever strike you that you wanted another watchword⑨ also, fair work, and another hatred also, foul⑩ work?

　　在最不重要的比赛中，你总是请人做裁判，确保人们常说的公平竞赛。 拳击 中，你出拳必须公正;赛跑时，你起跑必须公正。你的 口号 就是公正比赛，你所深恶痛绝的就是违反规则。那么，你可曾想过，你还需要另一个口号，那就是老老实实地工作;你深恶痛绝的应是投机取巧。
　　经典英语美文摘抄篇二
　　Mother & Child 妈妈与孩子

　　It was Christmas 1961. I was teaching in a small town in Ohio where my twenty-seven third graders eagerly anticipated the great day of gifts giving.

　　那是1961年的 圣诞节 。我在俄亥俄州的一个小镇上教小学三年级。班上27个孩子都在积极参加"礼物赠送日"的活动。

　　A tree covered with tinsel and gaudy paper chains graced one corner. In another rested a manger scene produced from cardboard and poster paints by chubby, and sometimes grubby, hands. Someone had brought a doll and placed it on the straw in the cardboard box that served as the manger. It didn't matter that you could pull a string and hear the blue-eyed, golden-haired dolly say, "My name is Susie." "But Jesus was a boy baby!" one of the boys proclaimed. Nonetheless, Susie stayed.

　　教室的一角被一棵树装点得熠熠生辉，树上缀满了金银丝帛和华丽的彩纸。教室的另一角是一个涂着海报油彩由纸板制成的马槽，这出自孩子们那胖乎乎、脏兮兮的小手。有人带来了一个娃娃，把它放在纸板槽里的稻草上(假装小耶稣)。只要拉拉它身上的一条细绳，这个蓝眼睛、金发的娃娃就会说道，"我叫苏西"，不过这都没有关系。一个男孩提出："耶稣可是个小男孩呀!"不过苏西还是留了下来。

　　Each day the children produced some new wonder -- strings of popcorn, hand-made trinkets, and German bells made from wallpaper samples, which we hung from the ceiling. Through it all she remained aloof, watching from afar, seemingly miles away. I wondered what would happen to this quiet child, once so happy, now so suddenly withdrawn. I hoped the festivities would appeal to her. But nothing did. We made cards and gifts for mothers and dads, for sisters and brothers, for grandparents, and for each other. At home the students made the popular fried marbles and vied with one another to bring in the prettiest ones. " You put them in a hot frying pan, Teacher. And you let them get real hot, and then you watch what happens inside. But you don't fry them too long or they break."So, as my gift to them, I made each of my students a little pouch for carrying their fried marbles. And I knew they had each made something for me: bookmarks carefully cut, colored, and sometimes pasted together; cards and special drawings; liquid embroidery doilies, hand-fringed, of course.

　　每天孩子们都会做点儿新玩意--爆米花串成的细链子、手工做的小装饰品和墙纸样做的德国式风铃，我们把这些风铃挂在了天花板上。但自始至终，她都是孤零零地远远观望，仿佛是隔了一道几里长的障碍。我猜想着这个沉默的孩子发生了什么事，原来那个快乐的孩子怎么突然变得沉默寡言起来。我希望节日的活动能吸引她，可还是无济于事。我们制作了许多卡片和礼物，准备把它们送给爸爸妈妈、兄弟姐妹、祖父母和身边的同学。学生们在家里做了当时很流行“油炸"玻璃弹子，并且相互比着，要把最好看的拿来。"老师，把玻璃弹子放在热油锅里，让它们烧热，然后看看里面的变化。但不要炸得时间过长否则会破裂。"所以，我给每个学生做了一个装"油炸弹子"的小袋作为礼物送给他们。我知道他们每个人也都为我做了礼物：仔细剪裁、着色，或已粘集成串的书签; 贺卡 和特别绘制的图片;透明的镶边碗碟垫布，当然是手工编制的流苏。

　　The day of gift-giving finally came. We oohed and aahed over our handiwork as the presents were exchanged. Through it all, she sat quietly watching. I had made a special pouch for her, red and green with white lace. I wanted very much to see her smile. She opened the package so slowly and carefully. I waited but she turned away. I had not penetrated the wall of isolation she had built around herself.

　　赠送礼物的那天终于到了。在交换礼物时我们为对方亲手做的小礼品不停地欢呼叫好。而整个过程，她只是安静地坐在那儿看着。我为她做的小袋很特别，红绿相间还镶着白边。我非常想看到她笑一笑。她打开包装，动作又慢又小心。我等待着，但是她却转过了身。我还是没能穿过她在自己周围树起的高墙，这堵墙将她与大家隔离了开来。

　　After school the children left in little groups, chattering about the great day yet to come when long-hoped-for two-wheelers and bright sleds would appear beside their trees at home. She lingered, watching them bundle up and go out the door. I sat down in a child-sized chair to catch my breath, hardly aware of what was happening, when she came to me with outstretched hands, bearing a small white box, unwrapped and slightly soiled, as though it had been held many times by unwashed, childish hands. She said nothing. "For me?" I asked with a weak smile. She said not a word, but nodded her head. I took the box and gingerly opened it. There inside, glistening green, a fried marble hung from a golden chain. Then I looked into that elderly eight-year-old face and saw the question in her dark brown eyes. In a flash I knew -- she had made it for her mother, a mother she would never see again, a mother who would never hold her or brush her hair or share a funny story, a mother who would never again hear her childish joys or sorrows. A mother who had taken her own life just three weeks before.

　　放学后，学生们三三俩俩地离开了，边走边说着即将到来的圣诞节：家中的圣诞树旁将发现自己心系已久的自行车和崭新发亮的雪橇。她慢慢地走在后面，看着大家拥挤着走出门外。我坐在孩子们的小椅子上稍稍松了口气，对要发生的事没有一点准备。这时她向我走来，双手拿着一个白色的盒子向我伸过来。盒子没有打包装，稍有些脏。好像是被孩子未洗过的小手摸过了好多遍。她没有说话。"给我的吗?"我微微一笑。她没出声，只是点点头。我接过盒子，非常小心地打开它。盒子里面有一条金色的链子，上面坠着一块闪闪发光的“油炸"玻璃弹子。然后我看着她的脸，虽只有8岁，可却是成人的表情。在她深棕色的眼睛里我找到了问题的答案。我在一瞬间明白过来--这是她为妈妈做的项链，她再也见不到的妈妈，再也不能抱她、给她梳头或一起讲 故事 的妈妈。她的妈妈已再也不能分享她充满童稚的快乐，分担她孩子气的忧伤。就在3个星期前她的妈妈离开了人世。

　　I held out the chain. She took it in both her hands, reached forward, and secured the simple clasp at the back of my neck. She stepped back then as if to see that all was well. I looked down at the shiny piece of glass and the tarnished golden chain, then back at the giver. I meant it when I whispered," Oh, Maria, it is so beautiful. She would have loved it."Neither of us could stop the tears. She stumbled into my arms and we wept together. And for that brief moment I became her mother, for she had given me the greatest gift of all: herself.

　　我拿起那条链子。她用双手接过它，向前探了探身，在我的脖子后把简易的项链钩系好。然后她向后退了几步，好像在看看是否合适。我低下头看着闪闪发亮的玻璃珠和已失去光泽的金色链子，然后抬起头望着她。我很认真地轻声说道：“哦，玛丽亚，这链子真漂亮。你妈妈一定会喜欢的。"我们已无法抑制住泪水。她踉踉跄跄地扑进我的怀里，我们都哭了。在那短暂的一刻我成了她的妈妈，而她送给了我一份最珍贵的礼物：她的信任和爱。By Patricia A. Habada
　　经典英语美文摘抄篇三
　　FAMILY

　　FAMILY= (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER, (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

　　A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

　　Daddy, may I ask you a question?

　　Yeah sure, what is it? replied the man.

　　Daddy, how much do you make an hour?

　　That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing? the man said angrily. I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?

　　pleaded the little boy.

　　If you must know, I make $20 an hour.

　　Oh, the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, Daddy, may I please borrow $10?

　　The father was furious, If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior.

　　The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn't ask for money very often.

　　The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

　　Are you asleep, son? He asked.

　　No daddy, I'm awake, replied the boy.

　　I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier, said the man, It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $10you asked for.

　　The little boy sat straight up, smiling. Oh, thank you daddy! He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father.

　　Why do you want more money if you already have some? the father grumbled.

　　Because I didn't have enough, but now I do, the little boy replied. Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.

精美英语短文摘抄带翻译

中国学生主要通过英语课和阅读学习英语。阅读是提高学生外语学习兴趣、积累语言知识、提高学生外语学习能力的重要途径。我精心收集了精美英语短文摘抄带翻译，供大家欣赏学习!

Today, it is worth celebrating this festival. On Christmas day, of course, we can not live without Santa Claus and Christmas presents. I think Christmas is a holiday for children. Today, children will "carnival". They will go out to travel, to play.

I like Christmas hat, it is red. Every Christmas will be present in it. There is also a stealth, of course, is happy. Only today happy, can be blessed.

Today, I want to receive a Christmas gift, of course, is a teddy bear and a Santa Claus, I like it very much. This desire, I realized. Mother bought me. She saw through my heart.

I also want to send each of children welfare orphanage a Santa, but it can only be achieved after I grow up.

This afternoon, we went to the supermarket. The door had the Santa Claus in candy, of course, is that people play. Go to the supermarket, there is a high Christmas tree, hung above the bells, a flash, etc. With card, of course, is a blessing to people.

Is worth celebrating this day, Christmas day is to cheer!

今天，是大家值得欢庆的节日。圣诞节当然不能没有圣诞老人和圣诞礼物。我觉得圣诞节是孩子的节日。在今天，孩子会“狂欢”。他们会出去旅游，去玩。

我喜欢圣诞帽，它是红色的。每到圣诞节里面都会有礼物。当然也有隐身的，就是快乐。只有今天高兴，就能会受到祝福。

今天，我想收到一份圣诞礼物，当然是一个熊宝宝和一个圣诞老人了，我非常喜欢。这个愿望，我实现了。是妈妈给我买的。她看透了我的心。

我也想送给福利院里的儿童每人一个圣诞老人，可这件事只能我长大后才能实现。

今天下午，我们去中百超市。门口居然有圣诞老人在分发糖果，当然那是人扮的。走进超市，有一棵很高的圣诞树，上面挂满了铃铛、有闪灯等。上面还有贺卡，当然是对人们的一种祝福。

圣诞节是值得欢庆的日子，是值得欢呼的日子!

I like green, because I see green you can think of the endless prairie, here in the green grass was full of all kinds of flowers, beautiful! Standing on the grassland, looked up to see blue sky, there are tens of thousands of white clouds in the sky, like a lovely cotton candy, cows and sheep are grazing grassland, there are horses in the running on the grass.

Green represents health, make people for life is full of vitality and hope. Rose up in the morning, looking at the distant green, eyes will become more bright; Green grass will make cows and sheep have become more strong. The green grass and trees, flowers, can make the air more fresh; Dense forest to animals brought a beautiful and happy home; From a distance, a rolling tall green mountain, budao edge of the mountain is linked together with day, like a picture.

Green is the standard of health, green can beautify the environment, we should jointly building a green, green protection, protect the environment. Let the world become more beautiful.

我喜欢绿色，因为我看到绿色就能想起一望无际的大草原，在那绿油油的草地上开满了各式各样的鲜花，美丽极了!站在草原上，一抬头就能看见蓝蓝的天，天空上有成千上万朵白云，像一个个可爱的棉花糖，草原上有牛儿、羊儿在吃草，有马儿在在草地上奔跑。

绿色代表健康，使人们对生活充满了活力和希望。早晨起来，望着远处的绿色，眼睛会变得更加明亮;绿油油的小草会让牛儿、羊儿变得更加强壮;绿色的小草和树木、鲜花可以让空气变得更新鲜;茂密的森林给动物带来了美丽而幸福的家园;从远处看，一片连绵起伏高大的绿山，望不到边，这些山与天相连，犹如一幅图画。

绿色是健康的标准，绿色能美化环境，我们大家要共同建设绿色，保护绿色，保护环境。让世界变得更加美丽。

Everyone has the responsibility of protecting the environment, the environment to our life have a close relationship, throw rubbish casually, spitting, throw waste batteries, these small things will pollute the environment.

Usually it is not hard to see on the way people throwing rubbish and spitting everywhere. They throw a garbage, face is the feeling of guilt, they don't know a group of waste paper, throwing a plastic packaging will pollute the environment; They don't know what cleaners are, how much effort to clean the ground, was one of their small garbage. They don't know what they unconsciously spit out phlegm can make a lot of people have a cold, and those people don't know, is the ground of sputum for their disease. Now everyone knows the forest area is greatly reduced, yeah! That is so disorderly cut down trees, people killed animals living environment. Without the protection of the forest will make dust storms ruined city, dust storms have left many people were killed. The usual thick forest became desolate desert.

Although there are a lot of people pollute the environment, but also have to protect the environment.

Since the people began to advocate environmental protection, green. Our schools are beginning to have a batch of volunteers, small to primary school, to university. The middle-aged and elderly people also have to attend. They protect the environment, advocate environmental protection shopping bags, don't use plastic bags, because he is hard to break down; Don't throw battery anywhere, please put them in the village of professional recycling station; Don't open car, please try to walk or by bus. Leading everyone doesn't want to cut down a tree, they take the lead in planting trees, make the air more pure and fresh, to build forest construction of animal house. The leadership don't spit, they clean the ground, let us live in a clean, comfortable environment. They believe that their homes will be more beautiful.

"Everyone needs to help protect the environment," from now on, from now on, let us act, environmental protection, environmental protection, make the city more beautiful tomorrow.

每个人的身上都有保护环境的责任，这对我们的生活环境有着密切的关系，随便扔垃圾，随地吐痰，扔废电池，这些不起眼的小事都会污染环境。

平时我们不难在路上看见随地扔垃圾和随地吐痰的人们。他们扔一个垃圾，脸上毫无愧疚之感，他们不知道扔一个废纸团，扔个塑料包装都会污染环境;他们不知道清洁工们费了多大力气所清洁的地面，就被他们的一个小垃圾所破坏。他们不知道他们无意中吐出的痰会使很多人得上感冒，而那些的病的人也不知道，是地上的痰所让他们的病。大家都知道现在森林面积大幅度减少，对啊!那都是人们乱砍伐树木惹得祸，使得动物没有生活环境所死亡。没有森林的保护也会使得沙尘暴破坏城市，沙尘暴使得许多人们丧生。使往常茂密的森林变成了荒凉的沙漠。

虽然有很多人污染环境，可也有保护环境的人们。

自从人们开始提倡环保，绿色。我们的各个学校都开始有一批批的志愿者队伍，小到小学，大到大学。连中年人，老年人也有参加。他们保护环境，提倡用环保购物袋，不用塑料袋，因为他难以分解;不要随地扔电池，请把他们放入小区专业的回收站;不要多开汽车，请尽量步行或乘公交车。领导大家不要私自砍树他们，他们带头种树，使空气更加清新，重新建造森林建造动物的家。领导大家不要随地吐痰，他们清洁地面，让我们生活在一个干净，舒适的环境下。他们坚信家园会更美好。

“保护环境，人人有责”从现在起，从现在开始，让我们行动起来，环保，保护环境，使城市的明天更加美好。

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I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem. It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. It begins with innocent childhood, followed by awkward adolescence trying awkwardly to adapt itself to mature society, with its young passions and follies, its ideals and ambitions; then it reaches a manhood of intense activities, profiting from experience and learning more about society and human nature; at middle age, there is a slight easing of tension, a mellowing of character like the ripening of fruit or the mellowing of good wine, and the gradual acquiring of a more tolerant, more cynical and at the same time a kindlier view of life; then In the sunset of our life, the endocrine glands decrease their activity, and if we have a true philosophy of old age and have ordered our life pattern according to it, it is for us the age of peace and security and leisure and contentment; finally, life flickers out and one goes into eternal sleep, never to wake up again.

One should be able to sense the beauty of this rhythm of life, to appreciate, as we do in grand symphonies, its main theme, its strains of conflict and the final resolution. The movements of these cycles are very much the same in a normal life, but the music must be provided by the individual himself. In some souls, the discordant note becomes harsher and harsher and finally overwhelms or submerges the main melody. Sometimes the discordant note gains so much power that the music can no longer go on, and the individual shoots himself with a pistol or jump into a river. But that is because his original leitmotif has been hopelessly over-showed through the lack of a good self-education. Otherwise the normal human life runs to its normal end in kind of dignified movement and procession. There are sometimes in many of us too many staccatos or impetuosos, and because the tempo is wrong, the music is not pleasing to the ear; we might have more of the grand rhythm and majestic tempo o the Ganges, flowing slowly and eternally into the sea.

No one can say that life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement; the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its seasons, and it is good that it is so. There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season. And if we take this biological view of life and try to live according to the seasons, no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem. Shakespeare has expressed this idea more graphically in his passage about the seven stages of life, and a good many Chinese writers have said about the same thing. It is curious that Shakespeare was never very religious, or very much concerned with religion. I think this was his greatness; he took human life largely as it was, and intruded himself as little upon the general scheme of things as he did upon the characters of his plays. Shakespeare was like Nature itself, and that is the greatest compliment we can pay to a writer or thinker. He merely lived, observed life and went away.

I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervish in the desert. The farmer can work alone in the field or the woods all day, hoeing or chopping, and not feel lonesome, because he is employed; but when he comes home at night he cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts, but must be where he can :see the folks,:” and recreate, and, as he thinks, remunerate himself for his day’s solitude; and hence he wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and most of the day without ennui and :the blues:; but he does not realize that the student, though in the house, is still at work in his field, and chopping in his woods, as the farmer in his, and in turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does, though it may be a more condensed form of it.

Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other’s way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications. Consider the girls in a factory---never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live. The value of a man is not in his skin, that we should touch him.

I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls. Let me suggest a few comparisons, that some one may convey an idea of my situation. I am no more lonely than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond itself. What company has that lonely lake, I pray?

And yet it has not the blue devils, but the blue angels in it, in the azure tint of its waters. The sun is alone, except in thick weather, when there sometimes appear to be two, but one is a mock sun. god is alone---but the devil, he is far from being alone; he sees a great deal of company; he is legion. I am no more lonely than a single mullein or dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or sorrel, or a horse-fly, or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Millbrook, or a weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house.

Have you thought about what you want people to say about you after you’re gone? Can you hear the voice saying, “He was a great man.” Or “She really will be missed.” What else do they say?

One of the strangest phenomena of life is to engage in a work that will last long after death. Isn’t that a lot like investing all your money so that future generations can bare interest on it? Perhaps, yet if you look deep in your own heart, you’ll find something drives you to make this kind of contribution---something drives every human being to find a purpose that lives on after death.

Do you hope to memorialize your name? Have a name that is whispered with reverent awe? Do you hope to have your face carved upon 50 ft of granite rock? Is the answer really that simple? Is the purpose of lifetime contribution an ego-driven desire for a mortal being to have an immortal name or is it something more?

A child alive today will die tomorrow. A baby that had the potential to be the next Einstein will die from complication is at birth. The circumstances of life are not set in stone. We are not all meant to live life through to old age. We’ve grown to perceive life3 as a full cycle with a certain number of years in between. If all of those years aren’t lived out, it’s a tragedy. A tragedy because a human’s potential was never realized. A tragedy because a spark was snuffed out before it ever became a flame.

By virtue of inhabiting a body we accept these risks. We expose our mortal flesh to the laws of the physical environment around us. The trade off isn’t so bad when you think about it. The problem comes when we construct mortal fantasies of what life should be like. When life doesn’t conform to our fantasy we grow upset, frustrated, or depressed.

We are alive; let us live. We have the ability to experience; let us experience. We have the ability to learn; let us learn. The meaning of life can be grasped in a moment. A moment so brief it often evades our perception.

What meaning stands behind the dramatic unfolding of life? What single truth can we grasp and hang onto for dear life when all other truths around us seem to fade with time?

These moments are strung together in a series we call events. These events are strung together in a series we call life. When we seize the moment and bend it according to our will, a will driven by the spirit deep inside us, then we have discovered the meaning of life, a meaning for us that shall go on long after we depart this Earth.