下载掌阅APP，畅读海量书库
立即打开
9. “呃，” 我最后说， “你干吗不往家里打个电话？如果她先你到达这里，她可能已给你家打过电话。”
10. 他懊恼地看了我一眼。 “我到城里才两天。我们打算见面之后开车去南方，我在那儿找到了一份工作。她--她也没给我任何地址。” 他摸了摸电报。
11. 第二天我去值班时他还在那儿。一看见我，他就走了过来。
12. “她在哪儿工作过吗？” 我问。
13. 他点了点头。 “她本来是个打字员。我给她以前的老板拍了电报。他们只知道她不干了，结婚去了。”
14. 哈里在后来的三四天接了每趟车。当然，铁路方面作了例行检查，警察也参与了这件事。但是实际上谁也没帮上忙。我看得出来，他们都觉得梅只不过是跟他开了个玩笑，但不知怎么我却根本不这么认为。
15. 有一天，大约是过了两周之后，哈里和我聊天，我给他谈了我的想法。 “假如你等得时间够长的话，” 我说， “总有一天，你会看见她走上楼梯的。” 他转过身看着楼梯，仿佛过去从来没见过似的。
16. 第二天我去上班时，哈里已经站在托尼杂志摊的柜台后面了。他不大好意思地看着我说， “呃，我总得在哪儿找个工作，是不是？”
17. 于是，他开始给托尼卖杂志。我们再也不谈梅，谁也不提我的看法。但是我注意到哈里总要看看每个上楼的人。
18. 到年底时，托尼由于赌博发生争执而被别人杀了。托尼的妻子将杂志摊完全交给了哈里打理。过了些时候她再次结婚，哈里就从她那儿把杂志摊买了过来。他借了钱，装了个冷饮柜，不久小生意就做得不错了。
19. 于是到了昨天，我听见了一声叫喊，还听见好多东西掉到地上。是哈里在叫。掉在地上的是一大堆玩具和其他的东西，都是他跳过柜台时弄翻的。他从这些东西上面跑过去抓住了一个女孩，她就在离我窗户不到10英尺的地方。她个子小小的，黑黑的，眉心处有一个小点。
20. 好一会儿的时间他们就那么呆着，相对着笑呀，哭呀，讲些没什么意义的话。她好像说 “我指的是汽车站--” 而他则把她吻得说不出话来，告诉她自己为找她所做的许多事情。显然，3年前梅是乘汽车而不是火车来的。她电报里指的是 “汽车站” 而不是 “火车站” 。她在汽车站等了好几天，为找哈里花掉了所有的钱。最后，她找了一份打字的工作。
21. “什么？” 哈里说， “你在城里工作？一直都在？”
22. 她点了点头。
23. “哎呀，老天爷--你就从来没到这个车站来过？” 他把手指向杂志摊。 “我一直就在那儿。那个摊儿是我的。我看过每个上楼的人。”
24. 她的脸色开始变得有些苍白。过了一会儿，她向楼梯看去，声音微弱地说： “我--我过去一直没上这个楼梯。你看，我昨天出城是去办点公事--噢，哈里！” 然后，她伸手搂住他的脖子，真的哭了起来。
25. 过了一会儿，她往后一站，用手直指车站的最北头。 “哈里，3年，整整3年，我就在那儿--就在这个车站工作，在站长办公室里，打字。”
Never Put off Till Some Other Time不要推迟到改天
1. After 21 years of marriage, I discovered a new way of keeping alive the spark of love. I started to go out with another woman. It was really my wife’ s idea.
2. “I know that you love her,” she said one day, taking me by surprise. “But I love YOU,” I protested. “I know, but you also love her.”
3. The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my mother, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally. That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie. “What’ s wrong, are you well?” she asked. My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news. “I thought that it would be pleasant to pass some time with you,” I responded. “Just the two of us.” She thought about it for a moment, and then said, “I would like that very much.”
4. That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel’ s. “I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed,” she said, as she got into the car. “They can’ t wait to hear about our meeting.”
5. We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady. After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. “It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,” she said. “Then it’ s time that you relax and let me return the favor.” I responded.
6. During the dinner we had an agreeable conversation-nothing extraordinary-but catching up on recent events of each other’ s life. We talked so much that we missed the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, “I’ ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.” I agreed.
7. “How was your dinner date?” asked my wife when I got home. “Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined.” I answered.
8. A few days later my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’ t have a chance to do anything for her. At that moment I understood the importance of saying in time: “I LOVE YOU” and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till “some other time”.
1. 结婚21年后，我发现了保持爱之火花的一种新方法。我开始与另一个女人出去约会。其实这还是我妻子的主意呢。
2. “我知道你爱她，” 有一天她对我说，这令我感到惊奇。 “但我也爱你，” 我声明。 “我知道，不过，你也爱她。”
3. 我妻子想让我去拜访的另一个女人就是我的妈妈，她守寡19年了，但由于我的工作需要以及有三个孩子要抚养，我很少有机会去看望她。那天晚上，我打电话约她吃饭看电影。 “出什么事了？你还好吧？” 她问。我妈妈是那种认为深夜电话或出其不意的邀请代表坏消息征兆的女人。 “我觉得与您共度一段时间将是一件愉快的事，” 我这样回答。 “就我们两个人。” 她想了一想，便说： “其实我很想这样。”
4. 于是周五下班后，我开车去接她。我有点儿不安。到了她的住所，我注意到，她对我们的约会好像也有些紧张。她穿着外套在门口等我。她将头发盘了起来，并且穿着最后一次结婚纪念日那天穿的套装，天使般容光焕发的脸上带着笑容。 “我告诉朋友们我要跟儿子出去约会，他们都很感动，” 上车时她对我说。 “他们急迫地想了解我们约会的情况。”
5. 我们去了一家虽不是一流却很优雅舒适的饭店。妈妈挽着我的手臂，宛如第一夫人。我们坐下后，我开始看菜单。她的眼睛现在只能看清一些大字。透过条目的缝隙，我抬眼看到妈妈正坐在那儿盯着我，嘴上带着怀旧的笑容。 “你小的时候，都是我看菜单。” 她说。 “现在轮到您休息了，该我回报您了。” 我答道。
6. 吃饭的时候，我们谈得很愉快--也没什么特别的事--只是简单描述一下彼此生活中最近发生的事。我们谈得太尽兴以至错过了看电影。当我送她回到家时，她说： “我会再跟你出去约会，但必须是我邀请你。” 我同意了。
7. “饭吃得怎么样啊？” 回到家时我妻子问。 “非常好。比我想象中要好得多。” 我回答。
8. 几天后，妈妈由于严重的心脏病发作去世了。发生的如此突然以至我没有机会为她做任何事。那一刻，我明白了及时说出 “我爱你” 以及给予我们所爱的人他们应该得到的时间的重要性。生命中没有什么比你的家庭更重要。多花些时间陪陪你的家人，因为这些事情不能被推迟到 “改天” 。
The Power of Your Actions简单的举止改变人的一生
1. One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, “Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.” I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friend the following afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
2. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes.
3. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him, and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, I saw a tear in his eye.
4. I handed him his glasses and said, “Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.”
5. He looked at me and said, “Hey, thanks!” There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. It turned out he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before coming to this school.
6. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We hung all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. And my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, “Damn boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!” He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends.
7. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class.
8. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn’ t me having to get up there and speak.
9. Graduation day arrived-I saw Kyle and he looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the girls loved him!
10. Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, “Hey, big guy, you’ ll be great!”
11. He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. “Thanks,” he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began. “Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach... but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story.”
12. I stared at my friend in disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn’ t have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. “Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.”
13. I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize its depth.
14. Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture you can change a person’ s life. For better or for worse. God puts us all in each other’ s lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others.
15. “Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.”
16. There is no beginning or end... Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift.
1. 当我还在上高一时，有一天，我看到我们班的一个孩子正步行回家。他叫凯尔。他似乎背着所有的书。我心想： “为什么有人在周五就把所有的书都带回家呢？他肯定是个书呆子。” 我的周末计划得非常详细（先是派对，在第二天下午和我的朋友踢足球）。因此我耸了耸肩，走开了。
2. 正走着，我看到一帮孩子朝他跑去。他们追上他，把他所有的书都从怀里扔到地上并把他绊倒，结果他摔在污泥里，眼镜也被打飞了，我看到它落在离他10英尺远的草地上。他抬起头时，我看到他眼里极度悲伤的表情。
3. 我的心也随他而去。因此，我慢步向他跑过去。在他爬着寻找眼镜时，我看到了他眼中的泪水。
4. 我把眼镜递给他，说道： “那些家伙都是些蠢蛋，他们真该遭到报应。”
5. 他看了看我，说： “嗨，谢谢了！” 笑容在他脸上展现。正是这样的笑显示出了真正的感激。我帮他捡起书，问他住在哪里。原来他住得离我很近。于是我就问他，怎么以前我从没有见过他呢，他说在来这所学校以前他上的是私立学校。
6. 以前，我从不与私立学校的孩子交往。我们一路聊着回家，我帮他拿着书。他原来竟是一位非常讨人喜欢的孩子，我问他是否周六想跟我及我的朋友一起踢足球。他答应了。整个周末我们都在一起，对凯尔了解得越多，我越是喜欢他。我的朋友也都这么认为。到了周一早晨，凯尔又要背上那个巨大的书包了。我制止他，说： “傻孩子，你每天背这么一大堆书，想练就一身强壮的肌肉呀！” 他只是笑，并把一半书都递给了我。接下来的四年里，凯尔和我成为最好的朋友。
7. 到了高年级后，我们开始考虑上大学的事。凯尔决定去乔治敦，而我要去杜克。我知道我们永远都是朋友，距离决不会成为问题。他以后想当一名医生，而我则要用足球奖学金经商。凯尔是我们班致告别词的学生代表。
8. 我总是取笑他是一个书呆子。他必须为毕业准备一个演讲。我很庆幸不是我要站在那儿演讲。
9. 毕业日来临了--我看到了凯尔，他看起来帅极了。他是那些在高中真正把握住自己的人之一。他长大了，实际上带着眼镜更好看。他的约会比我还要多，几乎所有的女孩都喜欢他。
10. 天哪，有时候我都有些嫉妒。今天就是这样。我能看出他对于演讲有些紧张。因此，我拍了拍他的后背，说： “嗨，大小伙子，你会很出色的！”
11. 他看了看我，带着那样的表情（真正出于感激的那种），笑了。 “谢谢，” 他说。开始演讲时，他清了清喉咙，开始说： “毕业的时候，你应该感谢那些帮助你度过最困难时期的人。你的父母、老师、兄弟姐妹、也许还有教练……但主要是你的朋友。我在这儿要告诉你们，做别人的朋友是你能给予他们的最好礼物。我要给你们讲一个故事。”
12. 我不敢置信地望着我的朋友，他讲的就是我们第一天相遇的故事。他本来打算要在那个周末自杀，他谈到自己如何把课桌收拾干净，把他所有的东西都带回家，这样就不用妈妈以后再收拾了。他直直地看着我，给了我一个笑容。 “谢天谢地，我获救了。我的朋友阻止了我去做那不堪设想的事情。”
13. 当这位帅气的、受欢迎的男孩告诉我们有关他的最脆弱的时刻时，我听到人群中都深吸了一口气。我看到他的爸爸妈妈都看着我，带着同样感激的微笑。直到那时我才意识到它的深刻。
14. 决不要低估你行动的力量，一个简单的举止也许会改变人的一生，无论是好是坏。上帝让我们走进彼此的生命，在一定程度上影响着彼此。我们也要在其他人身上寻找到上帝的影子。
15. “朋友就是天使，当我们的翅膀不知如何飞翔时，他们能够帮你站立起来。”
16. 根本不存在开始或者结束--昨天已成为历史，明天还是个谜，今天才是我们手中的礼物。
30 Things Can Be Done in Only 30 Seconds30秒可以完成的30件事情
Attitude is foundational to success. A generous person with a positive attitude will thrive. If you change your attitude, you change your perception, change your actions, and change your life. As every life changes, you change the world. Over at Lorelle On Word press she challenges bloggers to create a list of 30 things that can each be done in only 30 seconds. Imagine if millions or billions of people each did one of these-how would the world be different? In keeping with the theme of personal development, I have put together ways to improve yourself or others and create a better you in 30 seconds or less. Imagine if everyone did just a few of these at once? Here is my list.
1. Change your tone of voice. For 30 seconds, speak softer, calmer, or just more pleasantly. You might be surprised at the results. Did you know, for example, that a softer voice giving clear instructions commands more authority with children than a yell? If frustrated in a business dealing, try a more peaceful tone, even if only for 30 seconds, and see if it leads to a quicker resolution.
2. Choose one idea you gave up and re-visit it. For 30 seconds, consider giving it one more try. Was there an invention, a project, or some task that just seemed too daunting or frustrating? Choose one and decide to try it one more time. Imagine if everyone mustered up the courage to use their God-given ingenuity in whatever their gifting. What new things would the world see created?
3. For 30 seconds, give someone another chance. Listen for just one more time, re-evaluate a first impression, or give one more opportunity to see if they have changed. You may be surprised.
4. Tell your children “I love you” or “I am proud of you”. Make it meaningful, look them in the eye, and show how you value them. It will mean the world. Imagine if every parent said affirming words to every child, for 30 seconds, everyday.
5. The next time you find yourself wanting instant gratification, impatiently wanting something you cannot have at that moment, give thanks to God for what you already do have for 30 seconds. It may change your attitude.
6. For 30 seconds, stand up straighter and with your head held high. Look others in the eye and walk with confidence. See how great it feels?
7. Choose one thing you were putting off for another time that could be done today, and decide to do it! It only takes 30 seconds to make a decision to act. Be sure you value keeping your promise to yourself, and then know that this will lead to action.
8. Clean up someone else’ s mess.
9. Compliment someone with a genuine comment on what you appreciate or respect about them.