人生感悟篇

人生感悟篇

Life Is to Be Whole

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening! Today it is my great honor to be here and share with you some of my thoughts about life.

I would like to begin with a story.

Once a circle missed a wedge^[43], the circle wanted to be whole, so it went around looking for its missing piece. But because it was incomplete, it could roll only very slowly. It admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with worms. It enjoyed the sunshine. It found lots of different pieces. But none of them fit. So it left them all by the side of the road and kept on searching. Then one day the circle found a piece that fit perfectly. It was so happy. Now it could be whole, with nothing missing. It began to roll again. Now that it could be a perfect and complete circle, it could roll very fast, too fast to watch flowers or talk to the worms. When it realized how different the world seemed when it rolled so quickly, it stopped, left its found piece by the side of the road, and rolled slowly away ever after.

Well, this is a simple, short story, simple in the words, but deep in the meaning. I have really learned something from it, in some strange sense, our life would be more whole, more complete when we are missing something. In some ways, the man who has everything is a poor man. He will never know what it feels like to yearn, to expect, and to hope. He will never know how sweet and pleasant it would be when his beloved ones give him something he has always wanted or never had. He is rich in his possessions but poor in experiences and feelings.

Life is not a spelling game, where no matter how many words you have got right, you are out of the game it you make a single mistake. Life is more like a baseball season, where even the best team loses one-third of its game and even the worst team has its days of brilliance. Our goal is to win more games than we lose.

We should accept that we human beings are not perfect. But if we can continue rolling through life and appreciate it, we will have achieved wholeness. I believe that is what god ask of us not “Be perfect”, not “Don’t even make a mistake”, but “Be whole”.

So ladies and gentlemen, if we are sincere enough to love, kind enough to forgive, brave enough to admit our mistake, strong enough to face the failure, generous enough to share others’ happiness, and wise enough to understand that love is going around, then our life will be whole.

Thank you!

[点评] 作者以一则富有哲理的故事开篇，推出中心论点——生命的真正意义。接着文章采用对比及排比的方法，如: “... if we are sincere enough to love, kind enough to forgive, brave enough to admit our mistake, strong enough to face the failure, generous enough to share others’happiness, and wise enough to understand that love is going around, then our life will be whole.” 综观全文，有精当的议论，有浓郁的抒情，有对人生的赞美，字字有情，句句有理，有较强的说服力和感染力。

Pain and Growth

Ladies and gentlemen, dear teachers and fellow students,

Good morning! Today I feel much honored to give a speech about “Pain and Growth”.

Looking back over my life, it seems to me that I have learned most when I felt the greatest pain. For example, my sister’s death made me more deeply aware of the beauty in the world. Each time I lived through great sorrow^[44], I have always been able to find joy more easily in the most ordinary events, such as flowers opening, leaves turning red, and birds taking a bath. I have realized that pain and growth are like twins. Just as a saying goes, “No pain, no gains.” And I believed “No pain, no growth.” Death makes life more precious; frustration makes success more satisfactory; and failure makes the next accomplishment more meaningful.

If we want to feel deeply, we need to feel everything, no matter how small or unimportant it is. For example, if we don’t know the sadness of separation, we cannot really know how great our sense of joy will be at the reunion; if we don’t know the pain of failure, we cannot really feel how great our sense of joy will be at the success; if we don’t know the pain of failure, we cannot really feel how great our sense of satisfaction will be; if we don’t taste bitter, we cannot really know how great the taste of sweet will be. It is through pain that we discover ourselves and others, feel more deeply about the surrounding world, and explore the potential for a full, significant and meaningful life.

However, some of us have the mistaken idea that being happy is good, while being sad is terrible. They are afraid of failure and pain. When they meet something hard, they choose to run away. Usually, this kind of people doesn’t have confidence in themselves. They don’t believe in themselves. They don’t have the capacity^[45] to explore the full range of human experiences. Their life is dull, lifeless and fragile.

We need to understand that suffering, frustration and failure are inevitable, because life is not always a bed of roses. You may be caught short and live from hand to mouth. You may be in hot water or have difficulties in your work. You may fail in your scientific experiment. You may receive a low grade after diligent study. These experiences are inevitable. And we need them to grow up, to become more mature in mind. They help us to develop patience, persistence and the ability to copy with pain. There is nothing so terrible about failing and feeling pain; what hurts in the long run is to avoid trying because of the fear of pain.

At last, let me use Garland’s poem to finish my speech, “Go face the force of the wind, and fight the slash of the rain, the palms of your hands will thicken, the skin of your cheeks will tan. But you will walk like a man.”

Thank you very much!

[点评] 人生天地，浩渺广阔。对于复杂的生活，作者抓住自己的真实感受，写出了自己在成长过程中所经历的艰辛，体现了对当今纷繁复杂生活的理解。从全文整体上来看，能把握中心，分析透彻、中肯，并能联系实际，在进行全面分析的同时也注意使文章的立意更加新颖。

The Road to Success

by Andrew Carnegie^[46]

Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning!

It is well that young men should start at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom, and spent the first tours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors and jam tresses now in offices, and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary^[47] branch of a business education. But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning, the boy who has the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. The other day a fond fashionable mother in Michigan asked a young man whether he had ever seen a young lady sweep in a room so grandly as her Priscilla. He said no, he never had, and the mother was gratified beyond measure, but then said he, after a pause, “What I should like to see her do is sweep out a room.” It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.

Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started, my advice to you is “aim high”. I would not give a fig for the young man who has not already seen himself the partner or the head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk, or foreman, or general manager in any concern, no matter how extensive. Say to yourself, “My place is at the top.” Be a king in your dreams.

And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret: concentrate your energy, thought, and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged; having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line, to lead in it, adopt every improvement, have the best machinery, and know the most about it.

The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital, which means that they have scattered their brains also. They have investments in this, or that, or the other, there, and everywhere. “Don’ put all your gees in one basket” is all wrong. I tell you “put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch that basket”. Look round you and take notice; men who do that do not often fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too many baskets. That breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head, which is apt to tumble and trip him up. One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.

To summarize what I have said: Aim for the highest, never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor, or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make the firm’s interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket, and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly be not impatient, for as Emerson says, “no one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourselves.”

[点评] 该演讲稿以流畅的语言就怎样成功细细点染，勾勒出对成功的体味和领悟的过程。最后一段作者对成功的因素进行了高度概括和总结，富有人生哲理，给人启示并尽显观点的鲜明和深刻。内容充实，具有较强的说服力。本篇结构严谨，自然巧妙。