晨读美文人生如歌Word格式.docx

1、you know, one of those big cookersthat heats the whole room so it was always warm there,and there was a kind of clothes horse above itthat we used to hang all our clothes on,and it was just lovely. It was a very warm roomwith baked bread and my grandmother used to make ice creamand wed eat it in the

2、re and.there was a vegetable garden leading from thereso I spent a lot of time in the vegetable gardenpicking peas and eating themmy grandmother used toget really cross with me because I used topick all the vegetables and the fruit for our mealsand then Id eat half of them,because they tasted so del

3、icious coming fresh from the garden.Now, I went back to it a few years ago and it was a big mistake.Theyve modernized it inside,theyve got rid of those lovely old fire-places.have just gone. And theyve knocked a wall downso the drawing room and the living room havebecome one big modern plastic kind

4、of room.But I think what upset me most about it was the feelingthat the house had shrunk,it had become smaller and that my memory ofthis lovely large warm comfortable househad turned into an old house with modernized rooms inside it.And it taught me a lesson really,that you cant go back on the past

5、and recapture it.But theres a beautiful memory there.Dads MandolinMy father was a self-taught mandolin player.He was one of the best string instrument players in our town.He could not read music, but if he heard a tune a few times,he could play it. When he was younger,he was a member of a small coun

6、try music band.They would play at local dances and on a few occasionswould play for the local radio station.He often told us how he had auditioned and earned a positionin a band that featured Patsy Cline as their lead singer.He told the family that after he was hiredhe never went back. Dad was a ver

7、y religious man.He stated that there was a lot of drinkingand cursing the day of his auditionand he did not want to be around that type of environment.Occasionally, Dad would get out his mandolinand play for the family. We three children:Trisha, Monte and I, would often sing along.Songs such as the

8、Tennessee Waltz, Harbor Lightsand around Christmas time,the well-known rendition of Silver Bells.“Silver Bells, Silver Bells, its Christmas time in the city”would ring throughout the house.Dad loved to play the mandolin for his family.He knew we enjoyed singing, and hearing him play.He was like that

9、. If he could give pleasure to others,he would, especially his family. He was always there,sacrificing his time and efforts to seethat his family had enough in their life.I had to mature into a man and have children of my ownbefore I realized how much he had sacrificed.In August of 1993 my father wa

10、s diagnosedwith inoperable lung cancer.He chose not to receive chemotherapy treatmentsso that he could live out the rest of his life in dignity.About a week before his death,we asked Dad if he would play the mandolin for us.He made excuses but said “okay”.He knew it would probably be the last timehe

11、 would play for us.He tuned up the old mandolin and played a few notes.When I looked around, there was not a dry eye in the family.We saw before us a quiet humble man with an inner strengththat comes from knowing God, and living with him in ones life.Dad would never play the mandolin for us again.We

12、 felt at the time that he wouldnt have enough strength to play,and that makes the memory of that day even stronger.Dad was doing something he had done all his life, giving.As sick as he was, he was still pleasing others.Dad sure could play that mandolin!Entering the New Room of Your LifeIt must be o

13、ne of the most frequently asked questionsin the English language“What do you want to be when you grow up?”And for most of us the answer is simple“I dont know.” And thats just fine.For teenagers all over the world it is difficult to imaginelife outside the familiar school groundsand comfortable famil

14、y home.But when the university entrance exams finishand high-school graduation wraps up,it is time to move on to a whole new stagein ones lifeadulthood.One day when you are 40, you may look back on your lifeand wonder exactly how you became an adult.When did you change? Quite often the answer will l

15、iebetween your first day of universityand the first day of your professional career.While you cannot pinpoint an exact time,somewhere in the “roommate days” or “dorm days”you learnt things far more valuable than anythingyou could learn in a classroom.For it is in this time we learn independence-Mum

16、and Dad cant take care of you anymore;responsibilityyou have to clean your own bedroomand make your own meals; maturitysuddenly joking about “girls germs” doesnt seem so funnywhen you actually have a girlfriend or boyfriend;respectyou should take care of Johns computer,he spent a lot of money on it;

17、 and budgetingshould you spend your last $50 on new shoes or pizza?And a big part of the living-away-from-home processis communication. High-class celebrities andhighly paid psychologists are always telling us,to fix our relationship problems,“the key is communication.”And nothing can provide better

18、 training indeveloping communication than living with other people.“Whose dirty socks are these?“Where is your share of the rent money?“Lets have a party on Friday night!“I think Im going to break-up with my boyfriend.”This special period of time is guaranteed tomake you feel every emotion possible,

19、but at the same time it will provide youwith the best memories you could ever dream of.When the “dorm days” come to an end,we finally know where we belong in the world.And finally, we know exactly what we want to be when we grow up.Failure is a Good ThingLast week, my grand-daughter started kinderga

20、rten,and I wished her success. I was lying.What I actually wish for her is failure.I believe in the power of failure.Success is boring. Success is provingthat you can do something that you already know you can do,or doing something correctly the first time,which can often be a problematic victory.Fi

21、rst-time success is usually a fluke.First-time failure, by contrast, is expected;it is the natural order of things.Failure is how we learn. I have been told of an African phrasedescribing a good cook as“she who has broken many pots”.If youve spent enough time in the kitchen tohave broken a lot of po

22、ts,probably you know a lot about cooking.I once had a dinner with a group of chefs,and they spent time comparing knife woundsand burn scars. They knew how much credibilitytheir failures gave them.I earn my living by writing a daily newspaper column.Each week I am aware that one columnis going to be

23、the worst column.I dont set out to write it; I try my best every day.I have learned to cherish that column.A successful column usually meansthat I am treading on familiar ground,going with the tricks that work or dressing uppopular sentiments in fancy words.Often in my inferior columns,I am trying t

24、o pull off somethingIve never done before,something Im not even sure can be done.My younger daughter is a trapeze artist.She spent three years putting together an act.She did it successfully for years.There was no reason for her to change the actbut she did anyway. She said she was no longerlearning

25、 anything new and she was bored.So she changed the act. She risked failureand profound public embarrassment in order to feed her soul.My granddaughter is a perfectionist.She will feel her failures,and I will want to comfort her. But I will also,I hope, remind her of what she learned,and how she can

26、do whatever it is better next time.I hope I can tell her, though,that its not the end of the world.Indeed, with luck, it is the beginning.Free Up Time to Do What You Love MostTwo years ago Shirley Michels of St. Louis found herselfgetting up earlier and earlier,and going to bed later and later,just

27、to meet everyday demands.The wife, mother and ophthalmic technicianmet her responsibilities，but lacked time for the thingsthat mattered most.She and her husband, Vic, an attorney,began searching for ways to simplify their lives.“We had to decide what was really important.”says Shirley. They knew the

28、y wanted more timeto play with their three-year-old son, Ryan,to exercise and eat right, and to nurture friendships.So the couple chose to live more modestly，shopping with care for necessitiesand enjoying inexpensive pleasures such as reading,cooking and going to the park.Shirley quit her job and began working part time from home.She printed up business cards that read“At your service buy yourself a little time”and hired herself out for personal tasks such as sho