晨读美文人生如歌.docx

1、晨读美文人生如歌A Beautiful MemoryEr.the loveliest house that Ive ever lived in was onethat I lived in with my grandparents when I was a child.And the name of the house was Crosslands.And I have some very happy memories of Crosslands.It was, it seemed, so huge to me as a child.And it had a lovely living roo

2、m with a piano in itand a lovely sort of hall with lots of carpetsand chests and antiques and so on. And there was a mysterious room,it was the drawing room, and we only used it on Sundays,or when the vicar came for tea,or Christmas Day or Easter Day,and I was used to be amazed about this roombecaus

3、e it had the best furniture in itbut it was covered up with sheets-it was as if all the furniture was wearing clothes-and it seemed to me ridiculousthat we couldnt enjoy this beautiful furnitureall the week through really.And probably my favorite room was the kitchen.It had a lovely red flagstone fl

4、oor,which was always highly polished, and an Aga,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 grandm

5、other used to make ice creamand wed eat it in there 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 th

6、en Id eat half of them,because they tasted so delicious 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 li

7、ving room havebecome one big modern plastic kind 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

8、 lesson really,that you cant go back on the past 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. Wh

9、en he was younger,he was a member of a small country 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 af

10、ter he was hiredhe never went back. Dad was a very 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

11、 and I, would often sing along.Songs such as the 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 enjoy

12、ed singing, and hearing him play.He was like that. 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

13、 he had sacrificed.In August of 1993 my father was 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 “o

14、kay”.He knew it would probably be the last timehe 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.

15、Dad would never play the mandolin for us again.We 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 mandol

16、in!Entering the New Room of Your LifeIt must be one 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

17、 the familiar school groundsand comfortable family 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.W

18、hen did you change? Quite often the answer will liebetween 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.

19、For it is in this time we learn independence-Mum 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

20、 of Johns computer,he spent a lot of money on it; 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

21、 is communication.”And nothing can provide better 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 i

22、s guaranteed tomake you feel every emotion possible,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 Goo

23、d ThingLast week, my grand-daughter started kindergarten,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 fi

24、rst time,which can often be a problematic victory.First-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

25、enough time in the kitchen tohave broken a lot of pots,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

26、.Each week I am aware that one columnis going to be 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 fa

27、ncy words.Often in my inferior columns,I am trying to 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 actbu

28、t she did anyway. She said she was no longerlearning 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 h

29、ope, remind her of what she learned,and how she can 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 earlie

30、r and earlier,and going to bed later and later,just 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 wh

31、at was really important.”says Shirley. They knew they 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